Apartment when travelling?

Or why you should prefer renting an apartment than staying at a hotel when you travel?

People who know me well are aware that I am not a risk-taker. The security of my own home makes me calm because I know that everything is under my control and that I can react appropriately in every situation. This is the exact reason why when we travel with Kaloyan, we try to stay at a well-know hotel. Usually these are big-chain hotels (such as Best Western, Austria Trend, etc.) because they apply the same standard in all their hotels around the world. We know their procedures, the atmosphere is not something new, and we feel as if we are at home.

For our stay in Budapest, however, the things were a bit different. We searched for almost a month the most optimal option for our two nights there. Yes, the big chains have hotels in the Hungarian capital but unfortunately they were too expensive for our budget. Thus, a bit worried we started looking for an apartment.

Luckily our trusted partner – the Booking website – helped us a lot. The whole process of searching for and renting an apartment is so optimized and easy that we were certain that we need to use exactly Booking instead of any of the specialized website for apartment rents. Each fee is clearly indicated so that there will be no unpleasant surprises when you check out. Also, the whole communication with the accommodation goes through the messaging platform of the website which means that there are clear records of the communication and in case of any fraud there is evidence for everything. Last but not least, every Genius user can make use of the wonderful discounts which is always good for the budget 🙂

Thus, with the help from Booking, we booked for our travel an apartment for the first time. We chose a small apartment in the heart of Pest because we wanted two main things – to be close to the most points of sightseeing but also to be able to feel the atmosphere of the city far from the tourist groups. Of course, as with everything new we were a bit nervous but every worry disappeared when we arrived in Budapest and found out the many advantages of renting an apartment. In today’s post I will tell you about the three main advantages as these were the biggest differences that we found between an apartment and a hotel.

1. Most apartment are fully equipped.

This may sound as something extremely logical to you but we were very pleasantly surprised when we found out that the owner of the apartment had taken care of everything. The small kitchen was fully equipped with everything that you may need if you would prefer not to eat out. Of course I would not suggest that you spend a lot of time cooking difficult means but you can prepare something nice and quick. We did not use this option because we stayed only for two days in Budapest and we wanted to try the traditional Hungarian cousine. However, the fully equipped kitchens are a perfect choice for longer family travels.

2. You can enjoy the city as a local.

During our two days in Budapest I did not feel as a guest of the city but more like a local. It was really nice to get back to our apartment (our home) after long walks during the day – it was located in a typical Hungarian building and we were surrounded by normal Hungarian families. It was like coming home after a long day at work and this feeling cannot be found in a hotel where you are surrounded by many tourists.

3. You can get to know the locals.

Most people who give to tourists their apartments for rent prefer the communication to be done directly via some messaging application. This is possible only after you complete your official reservation on the Booking website. We used WhatsApp in our case in order to communicate with the owner of the apartment and ask all the questions we had even before arriving in Budapest. In this way we found out what was the best way to get to the bus station from where we had to take our bus to Vienna. Except the purely practical questions the communication with a local can be very useful in unforeseen situations in which you need to react promptly.