Four-star Erzsébet tér, Budapest
Al Habtoor Palace, Budapest
The Adria Palace on Elizabeth Square, built during the First World War for an Italian insurer, ran as The Ritz-Carlton until January 2025 and now carries the name of its Dubai owners.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Forbes Travel Guide
- Four-Star, 2026
- As Al Habtoor Palace
- Since January 2025
- From the airport
- 26 to 55 minutes from BUD
The hotel
An insurer's palace, three names on.
The Adria Palace went up between 1914 and 1918 as the Budapest headquarters of the Adria insurance company, an Italian firm. The builders gave it stained-glass cupolas and wrought iron shaped like sunflowers. It became a hotel in 2000, first as a Le Méridien, and the Al Habtoor Group of Dubai bought it in 2012.
In 2016 it reopened as The Ritz-Carlton, the brand's first hotel in Central and Eastern Europe. The sign came down on 7 January 2025 and the group gave the hotel its own name. It shares the square with the Kempinski, and Deák Ferenc utca, the shopping street, runs along the back.
- Kupola Lounge Breakfast and afternoon tea under a stained-glass cupola and a chandelier, with Arabic and Hungarian dishes on the menu.
- Silk Spa An indoor pool under a skylight on the eighth floor, with a hot tub, a sauna, a steam room and treatments with a Hungarian skincare line.
- The Club Lounge Food and soft drinks through the day and a concierge of its own, for guests in Signature Suites and Executive rooms.
Rooms & suites
The Basilica on one side, Deák Ferenc utca on the other.
High ceilings, large windows and marble bathrooms with a separate bath and shower. Some rooms look towards St Stephen's Basilica and the Parliament.
- Upper floors Signature Suites Suites high in the building, with butler service and access to the Club Lounge.
- Penthouse style Nora Suite Bolder colours, windows wrapping round the room and space outside.
- Largest Chairman Suite About 2,971 square feet in cream, tan and gold, with a private terrace.
Dining
Italian below, Arabic under the dome.
Venues as listed by Forbes Travel Guide. Shown for information.
- Ottimo Italian Family recipes, and a Sunday brunch
- Kupola Lounge Arabic, Hungarian and international Breakfast, afternoon tea and light meals
- Velvet Bar & Café Vermouth and cocktails A colonnaded hall in 1920s style
Recognition
Ratings and listings.
- Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star, 2026
- MICHELIN Guide In the hotel selection, without a Key
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Children Welcome at any age. Children up to eleven stay free in an existing bed.
- Pets Sources differ: Forbes lists the hotel as pet-friendly, the MICHELIN Guide says pets are not allowed. We confirm with the hotel before booking.
Getting there
Flying to Budapest.
Budapest Ferenc Liszt International (BUD) handles scheduled flights and private jets, and Forbes Travel Guide puts the drive at 26 to 55 minutes depending on traffic. Private passengers clear formalities at the General Aviation Terminal, and the hotel can arrange an airport pick-up.
- Vienna 35 min
- Munich 1 h 05
- Nice 1 h 40
- London 2 h 15
- Dubai 5 h 35
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Is Al Habtoor Palace the old Ritz-Carlton Budapest?
- Yes. The hotel in the Adria Palace on Erzsébet tér was The Ritz-Carlton, Budapest from 2016 until January 2025, when its owners, the Al Habtoor Group, renamed it.
- Does Al Habtoor Palace have a MICHELIN Key?
- No. It is in the MICHELIN Guide's hotel selection, without a Key. Forbes Travel Guide rates it Four-Star for 2026.
- Does the hotel have a pool?
- Yes. Silk Spa on the eighth floor has an indoor pool under a skylight, with a hot tub, a sauna and a steam room.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Budapest?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Budapest, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Budapest
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace The Art Nouveau palace of 1906 at the Pest end of the Chain Bridge, 179 rooms, with an infinity pool in the spa on the top floor.
- Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel Twin palaces by Giergl and Korb, built in 1902 for Archduchess Maria Klotild, with Spago by Wolfgang Puck and The Duchess on the roof.
- Anantara New York Palace On Erzsébet körút, 185 rooms and suites above the New York Café, which has been open since 1894.
- Párisi Udvar Hotel A listed shopping arcade by Ferenciek tere, a hotel since 2019, with Zsolnay ceramics, Miksa Róth glass and a dome over the passage.
- Verno House A former apartment house on Október 6. utca, near Szabadság tér, with the Flava restaurant downstairs.
- Dorothea Hotel, Autograph Collection Three nineteenth- and twentieth-century buildings joined by Piero Lissoni and opened in 2023, with 216 rooms and a garden restaurant.
- W Budapest The Drechsler Palace on Andrássy út, directly opposite the Opera, now 151 rooms with penthouse suites named after swans.
- Hotel Clark At the Buda foot of the Chain Bridge, with the Leo Rooftop high above the river and the funicular up to the castle close by.
- Kimpton BEM A nineteenth-century palace on the Buda side remade by Marcel Wanders, opened in 2024, with the feNNen Skybar on top.
- Kozmo Hotel Suites & Spa A protected building of 1910 that once housed a telecommunications centre, with two pools in the spa.
- Aria Hotel Budapest Next to St Stephen's Basilica, with rooms such as the Liszt Studio and the Opera Suite, live music in the garden each night and the High Note SkyBar on the roof.
- Corinthia Hotel Budapest A hotel on Erzsébet körút since 1896, whose restored Art Deco Royal Spa covers more than a thousand square metres.
- Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest Home to Nobu Budapest, and its 525-square-metre spa won Hungary's Best Hotel Spa at the 2025 World Spa Awards.
- Áurea Ana Palace Two buildings on Akadémia utca, a neoclassical one of 1847 and one of 1894 built for the Austrian delegation, now 107 rooms with a spa of pools and saunas.
- InterContinental Budapest On the Pest river front, where some rooms look across to the Royal Palace, with Lebanese cooking at ARZ.
- Pullman Budapest The former Hard Rock Hotel in the theatre street of Terézváros, reopened by Accor in 2024 with 136 rooms and a 280-square-metre rooftop lounge.
Staying at Al Habtoor Palace, Budapest?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Budapest, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.