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A Music Lover’s Dream

ARIA HOTEL BUDAPEST

hen I learned that the where. Each accommodations had a
Aria Hotel Budapest was personal media player so guests could
Wnamed the #1 Hotel In play their preferred choices behind
the World, my curiosity was piqued. sound-proof walls. A Music Director
There are other hotels that have sat in the Music Library and asked if
five-star service, plushy rooms, and a I wanted to take a complimentary CD
gourmet restaurant, but what makes of any genre to my room. The Aria
one of those rise to the status of #1? building was built in 1875, the same
I decided to arrive a few days early for year Franz Liszt founded the Music
my Emerald Waterways cruise from Academy in Budapest, and the two
Budapest to Nuremberg and answer buildings are located within walking
that question for myself. I liked the fact distance of each another.
that the Aria was part of the Library I indulged myself in the hotel’s com-
Hotel Collection, whose Hotel Giraffe, plimentary afternoon wine and cheese
Casablanca Hotel and Library Hotel reception held in the Music Courtyard.
(one of my favorites) were just voted The hotel also offered free WiFi, an
the only NYC hotels to claim spots in in-room iPad, Nespresso Coffee
the Best US Top 25 Hotels. Would this Machine, full complimentary breakfast,
be another favorite? chocolates at turn-down, and access
I walked into the Aria Hotel Budapest to the Harmony Spa. Offering a typical
and almost gasped as I saw a curv- assortment of treatments, a Jacuzzi,
ing black-and-white piano key path sauna, and steam room, what I loved
leading to a Bogányi piano (known best was the spa’s 35-foot-long heated
as the Hungarian Wonder Piano) in pool with a silhouette of a full jazz
the Music Courtyard lobby. The place band painted on the wall.
was a large as a palace. Pianist László The rooms, too, were based on
Pecek Lakatos, a multi-generation music: the four wings (with a total
member of a Hungarian Roma musi- of 49 accommodations) each had a
cian family was playing jazz and the different theme: Classical, Jazz, Opera
music echoed right up to the towering and Contemporary. The Classical wing
all-glass Sky Dome. There was a fire had white and turquoise baroque style
in the fireplace at Satchmo’s bar with furnishings and a violin sketch etched
dozens of mirrors, some autographed into the carpet. The sound system
by Sting, Placido Domingo and others. played mainly symphonies, concertos,
No wonder they called it the “Aria.” and sonatas, with much of the playlist
The theme of music was every- composed or performed by Hungarian

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