For once in his charmed life, acclaimed New York hotelier Henry Kallan wasn’t happy. Having turned select businesses in the Big Apple into success stories, and found a downtown property in his beloved Budapest, he had sent away one Italian architect after another. No concept worked. Then in walked relatively untried designer Zoltán Varró, Hungarian and balls-out imaginative.
The moment changed both mens’ lives and created the Aria Hotel. Kallan’s impressive portfolio now included one of the most unique hotels in Europe, while awards the Aria garnered led Varró to commissions from Colombia to Lake Como. The idea that he slid across the desk in New York remains in place a decade later, a giant piano keyboard spanning the floor, supporting a shiny grand for the hotel pianist to accompany afternoon coffee.
Music not only themes this hotel and its 49 rooms, it imbues every corner – the Aria even employs a full-time music director, partly tasked with building relationships with star performers and key institutions.
As for guests, they can be accommodated in the opera, jazz, classical or contemporary wing, most rooms with a balcony overlooking the internal Music Garden Courtyard. Some opera-themed suites have terraces – you can even customise your own lay-out.
All visitors, residents or otherwise, may relax in the Harmony Spa, with its expert treatments and sought-after Éminence Organic Skin Care creams, and can sink a sunset cocktail in the rooftop Sky Note bar at eye level with the clock atop the Basilica.
Special events and seasonal packages often involve an intimate musical performance in the courtyard, and/or a screening in the in-house Teatro Aria cinema, with its live broadcasts from London’s Opera House. This is when the Aria comes into its own, staff serving champagne and fine bites from the Café Liszt alongside.
Neighbourhood
Right in the heart of town, over the road from the focal square of Erzsébet tér, you almost couldn’t get more central. The Basilica is also close, where a skating rink and Christmas market are set up during December.
Nearby
Borkonyha: One street over from Aria, Michelin-starred Borkonya is both superb and informal, open evenings only on weekdays, all day Saturday.
Akvárium Klub: If your kind of music is more electrobeats than sopranos, then Budapest’s major party spot and live venue is barely five minutes’ walk away.
Essência Restaurant: If you’re here on a romantic getaway, then this Michelin-starred, Hungaro-Portuguese eatery is a love story between Éva and Tiago, its husband-and-wife co-owners.
Time Out tip
Given Aria’s musical connections, staff here are expert in advising on how to snap up tickets for a certain performance at one of Budapest’s main concert halls.