This summer we became members of a travel club and we decided to sample what was on offer. We chose to travel to Budapest and we didn't regret it at all. The city is absolutely amazing. It very much looked like Prague but the people are a lot warmer and the atmosphere definitely more pleasant. The food is also great, way more refined than in Prague and very affordable.

We stayed at the Hotel Continental on the Pest side (Budapest is in fact composed of two cities separated by the river Danube), very close to the ruin bars and the shopping malls. This 4 star hotel was a bath complex which has been recently renovated and it was great. The room was comfortable, the restaurant delicious and there was a spa on top of the hotel. It was really nice to relax in the jaccuzzi, the sauna and take a dip in the indoor pool (although others prefered the outdoor one). We both (and together in the same room) indulged in a traditional thai massage which was very efficient in putting all the bones back into place !!!

Our trip included a private day tour with dedicated guide and minibus which took us around the city, visiting famous locations. The guide was great, very attentive to our needs, answering our questions. We were with an international community composed of Chinese, Germans, Austrians, Taiwanese and we enjoyed a planned lunch and strudel demonstration together as well as breakfast and the last dinner. But apart from that we were free to roam around when and where we wanted, following the suggestions of our local host who gave us very good advice concerning visits, restaurants and so on (for example sailing up and down the Danube or sightseeing in an open-deck bus which were part of the deal). Check out the picture gallery.

To sum up, we loved the experience especially the mixture of individual and group travel. As I don't want to include a forum or the possibility to post comments on my website, here is an email address you can use if you want more information on it (dreamtrips(-AT-)solsys(-DOT-)org - I have replaced the @ and the . signs in order to avoid being spammed).