Located at 1056 Budapest, Molnar utca 35, a quiet, dark street running parallel to the Danube (and only yards from the great river) the Bohem is understated from the outside, like a lot of businesses that ‘hide’ away from the general public on the same street. There are hairdressers and a coffee shop that don’t exactly advertise their presence to passers-by. I found myself surprised when I peered through various small windows and found a coffee shop and a couple of hairdressers.
When I got off the plane I jumped straight into a Mercedes taxi laid on for free by the Bohem – I had the choice of a free transfer to or from the hotel and opted for the former. In fact, the deal was wonderful: EUR271 for four nights! You can’t get much better.
The Boheme, as I suspected, was a typical 'boutique' hotel, meaning slightly contrived and quirky, but in a good way. The front desk was dark and cosy, there were big lamp shades, ‘modern’ furniture, and works of art on the walls. There’s nothing to moan about, put it that way. Check-in was simple and soon I found myself in the lift heading towards my room on the sixth floor (room 602 – written in large black figures on the door).
The room is a little basic, but again in a contrived, ironic sort of way, but it's not in any way uncomfortable and while I initially thought there were no wardrobes, I eventually found them – and a minibar – simply by pressing the walls and hoping that doors would open for me; they did.
There is a double bed, wooden floors, some kind of artwork over the bed, something written on the ceiling (Haász Katalin), a white Samsung television on the wall opposite the bed, a desk, free WiFi and, of course, space to hang clothes (with normal coathangers, not the type that implies the hotel doesn’t trust its guests).
As I've come to expect, the view from the hotel window is nothing spectacular – it never is – just roof tops, the odd satellite dish and, of course, chimney pots.
There are two free bottles of mineral water on the bedside tables, with the Bohem name on the label and in minibar there are small tins of snacks, such as wasabi peanuts, which are green, moreish and hot; and I'm now punctuating virtually every word I write with eating a wasabi peanut. They're hot but strangely pleasant. It's going to be difficult to ignore them until they've all gone.
There's a distinct masculine touch to the bathroom decor: woods and dark tiles plus some contrasting creamy white tiles. It's not a big space, but not cramped either and the shower worked fine. Despite being a 'boutique' hotel, they have adhered to the golden rule of 'function before form' – everything worked as it should have and I didn't encounter any problems with taps or plugs.
Breakfast
is served in the basement in a pleasant, airy space. There's a lot on offer,
but I steered away from the traditional rolls and sliced meats and chose
instead vegetables with cous cous, a strange thing to have for breakfast, but
it was there so I figured it must be what somebody regards as normal. It was
very nice so I had it every day. There was also something like a bread pudding
with cherries and that was also very nice. I chose Darjeeling tea in a glass
mug, I'm not sure I like drinking tea out of a glass mug, but the tea was so
good I had another (it was called 'Darjeeling Brilliant' so I'm telling you now
that it lived up to its name). A small bowl of yoghurt, an orange and a banana
followed and while I could have sat there all morning, I had things to do. But
let's say breakfast was good. Fortunately I didn't have a newspaper otherwise
I'd be down there now, pretending to be important.
Because
there’s no restaurant here, I was forced to eat out, but that wasn’t a problem,
there are plenty of places to eat in the street parallel to Molnar utca so
you’ll find you’re spoilt for choice.
The
staff are friendly, the hotel is centrally located, you really can’t go wrong
if you book this place and some of the deals online are amazing.
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