Update Feb 2016: Wheelchair Taxis in Budapest, Following a request we have researched taxis in Budapest. My advice below was to ask the concierge/manager of the hotel used. Failing that here are a couple of sites that can help,
AirportCollections.net, their fee for airport transfer is €95
HolidayTaxis.com Fee is not known until you book!
They both go to other destinations as well. Let us know if you’ve used them.
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Update on Budapest: Jo Knight has sent this review of the Gresham Palace, Four Seasons Hotel and as we thought, it’s worth the maximum 3 BBS Ticks:
Stayed here for a long weekend. The trip was a gift from my son, and he had phoned to checked suitability of facilities for me in advance – so no bad surprises. I do not need a disabled room, as I do not use a wheelchair often. But I do have mobility problems, so accessibility in a hotel is very important . The Gresham Palace was fantastic. It is a lovely building, and the service first rate. The spa on the top floor was accessible, and had lovely treatments Nothing was too much trouble such as finding me a chair with a higher seat height.
The concierge was very helpful, suggesting easier routes to the sights if you couldn’t walk far. He also got tickets for the opera, and a puppet show – making sure the seats were easy to access by liaising with box office. A spacious Mercedes B class was used by the hotel to take us to and from airport, and to our evening events. I was sorry to leave at the end of my stay, as the best accolade from me was that I was not treated as less abled, just appropriate help offered discreetly…..
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Just back from the Social Innovation ‘Bootcamp’ in Budapest – a contest in which we’re finalists. The purpose was to prepare our presentations for the final in Madrid in October however, it was more of a ‘search & find’ mission for disabled toilets. We thought Budapest would be a good city to review from a disability perspective and it certainly gave us some challenges.
First impressions of Budapest is how beautiful it is – the eclectic architecture is a feast for the eyes, from Neoclassical columns to Baroque Restaurants to Ottoman Turkish domes, Art Nouveau hotels and Minimal Modernism. A meeting of many cultures from Turk, Roman, Russian and Magyar appear in Budapest. The most spectacular hotel is the Four Seasons, Gresham Palace which is straight out of the film Grand Budapest Hotel. We didn’t have time to inspect their facilities but they assure us they have a disabled room with all the bars necessary and a roll-in shower. There’s also a disabled toilet in the lobby area – this is good to know as DTs are few and far between in Budapest. We gave them a provisional 3 BBS Ticks and if anyone has been send us a review!!
We stayed at the Kempinski in the ‘Pest’ side of the Danube for two reasons, first they had a concierge who knew immediately what I meant by a wheelchair accessible taxi for the airport transfer & secondly they had a wheel in shower. I also learnt the Hungarian for disabled person and wheelchair, following my own travel tips, but everyone in Budapest spoke perfect english and my Hungarian stayed in the closet!
The taxi transfers were fine but only two companies in Budapest had accessible/wheel in vehicles and they were of course very busy so transfers to and from the university in ‘Buda’ (Bootcamp HQ), became a real headache for me and the kempinski concierge. Accessible information on Budapest is scarce and I would say not very reliable as I used the Hungarian National Federation of Disabled Persons’ Associations MEOSZ Tel +36 (06 1) 250 9013………. as they said, “No there is no wheelchair accessible taxi in Budapest, but we, have a few accessible vans and according to free capacity we can provide transfer between airport and hotel …”
Unfortunately the information arrived the day after I got back and the transport they mention has to be booked 2 weeks in advance!!! They did tell me that Trams No. 4 & No.6 are fully accessible and only Metro Line M4 is fully accessible at all ten stops. During our stay, on two occasions, the concierge was so desperate to help and so upset at the lack of accessible taxis he ordered a private ambulance to transport me to the university, much to my colleagues amusement……..
Public transport did appear to be abundant but it was too stressful not knowing about the precise accessibility. I’m sure if we’d been there longer we’d have worked it all out. Luckily the pavements are generally good and wheeling around was quite pleasant – plenty of dropped kerbs and many streets had no kerb at all. In fact in the centre of Pest in the square of St. Stephen’s Basilica, it was extremely easy to negotiate as all the surrounding restos and cafes had flat access. However, we didn’t find one with a disabled toilet (DT) but the hotel was close by. This was a large feature of our stay as hotels had to be relied upon as public DTs, thankfully there are plenty of them …..Budapest Hilton (near the castle), Sofitel, Gresham Palace and Boscolo. Pick a 5 star as they generally have the best facilities and they’re not as expensive as you think – the kempinski was €2oo including breakfast. They also have good concierge services and you can’t put a price on their help in Budapest!
(According to our Hungarian Host Laszlo)
The Boscolo ( formerly the New York Palace) is another recommended hotel as they have two accessible rooms and the beautiful New york Cafe has to be visited even though our host at Bootcamp said it was in the ‘rough’ end of town. The New York Cafe was a haunt for journalists and artists in the late 19th early 20th centuries and was an intellectual’s meeting place. It’s more of a tourist attraction now but still worth a visit as it has the original ‘cafe society’ ambience that many places are now trying to emulate, particularly in London. The Boscolo gets a provisional 3 BBS Ticks as it’s full of history and looked splendid in the edgy part of Budapest, we just had no time to inspect the rooms.
Back to the kempinski, it had an adequate disabled room with plenty of space but the wheel in shower was a little narrow and the toilet only had horizontal bars i.e. without a vertical bar. This turned out to be the norm which was a nuisance, obviously their building rules are different to that of the UK – who knew I’d become a Building Inspector??
The Kempinski gets 2.5 BBS Ticks as the service and room were excellent but it was lacking the architectural glamour of the other hotels.
One final Budapest hotel we have to recommend is in the minimalist/modern style, on the Buda side of town; Lanchid 19 is a Design Hotel and a 4 star yet has good disabled facilities. It sits below the castle and it’s known for it’s glass windows that are used to change the colour of the hotel’s exterior depending on what’s happening in Budapest. The video below explains all……
There’s a great disabled toilet in the reception that has automatic doors for entry but again no vertical bars,
The terrace is fully accessible as is the restaurant. The hotel is compact so nothing is too far away in terms of walking/wheeling. The only issue we had was the entrance, as the road was being excavated but it will be finished by August 20th (Hungarian workmen are far more precise than their British equivalents).
Lanchid 19 has two disabled rooms with a walk/roll-in shower but there are no apparent grab rails apart from those around the toilet. The flooring is flat and everything has a sliding door making the room as spacious as possible. There’s even a bedside table that slides in & out from the side of the bed to make more room. We gave Lanchid 19 2.5 BBS Ticks, we’re waiting to see how the road excavations affect the entrance but I would definitely enjoy staying there.
Eating out in Budapest is interesting as you need to love meat! Nevertheless most of the restaurants around the Kempinski and St. Stephen’s Basilica were accessible as they were all at street level. We looked for some that I’d read about but there’s a high turnover in restaurants/bars and many had changed their names (it was suggested to us that money laundering could be a cause!!). The best one we visited, again with a recommendation from the concierge, was Araz. It was buzzy with the Budapest elite and access was at street level (may have had a step, can’t remember). They also had seating outside and a lovely ladies toilet but no disabled facilities. However, the food was delicious including a superb soup of goose and barley, a tender beef neck main course and some plum dumplings with walnut ice cream for dessert. It’s Hungarian, French and Jewish cuisine and not for anyone on a diet!
The Terminal Bar/Restaurant (accessible with a disabled toilet, they say) and Mini Bar were also good for people watching and a cocktail or two as they were near the fountains and St. Stephen’s Basilica, respectively. This is where most of ‘young’ Budapest congregate at night. Cafe Kor was also recommended to us but there are two steps to negotiate and we gave up asking for a disabled toilet, it was too difficult to explain and a hotel was nearby as always!
To summarise in a sentence, Budapest is lovely and great to experience but you need Grand Hotels and a Concierge to get an accessible Hungarian experience – just like the film!