We were incredibly fortunate to have experienced some wonderful hotels and meals on this trip. Each restaurant, bar, and hotel was selected carefully and booked well in advance.
When we settle on a trip I’ll first book the air so that the trip dates are bracketed, and then I’ll work on hotels. Then finally I’ll secure reservations at interesting and fun restaurants, and then if possible cocktail bars that are noteworthy.
The restaurant scene in Chicago is really excellent and varied, so we when we travel we look for places that are unique and usually offer cuisines local to where we are traveling. The one exception to that is French – we’ll always dine at a French restaurant and if it is well regarded all the better.
First up in this post are our hotels. I can’t lie, we like a big room in a nice hotel and so I generally look for sweet spots in room pricing among a usually short list of properties.
In Amsterdam we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam. The location was on the edge of the canal zone but had great public transport options, including a streetcar stop just down the block.
We had a one bedroom suite that overlooked a canal (just not one of the charming ones).
Our rate included breakfast in the lobby cafe which was excellent. Room was great but we had a service failure when housekeeping neglected to clean our room. The property made up for it, but I can’t deny that it was deflating to return to a lovely, but unmade, room at the end of the day. Still we’d stay there again.
In Prague we booked a room at the Andaz Prague and received an upgrade to what is possibly the most outrageous room we’ve ever stayed in.
To be honest we were stunned by the room. Full dining and living room, sunroom, dressing area, separate bedroom and bath.
The suite overlooked a quaint street in Prague’s old town and the hotel was very centrally located with a streetcar stop right outside the hotel.
It was difficult to leave! We had a tremendous stay here and can’t recommend the property enough. Even if we weren’t upgraded this is a great choice for travelers to Prague.
In Budapest we stayed in the historic Parisi Udvar hotel. The lobby was stunning and was set in the original shopping arcade. People come here just to see the lobby.
Our room was lovely but not nearly as gorgeous as the lobby.
Oddly shaped but very nicely appointed.
We managed to score an upgrade to this room at a reasonable last minute price at checkin.
The last hotel of the trip was the Andaz Belvedere Vienna. It is outside the Altstadt, which is the most desirable location in Vienna. However, the Andaz is located down the block from a streetcar that takes you there in less than 15 minutes. It is also located next to the Vienna main train station and so it is an easy trip to the airport from there.
We booked this room several months in advance and so secured an excellent rate that doubled as we got closer to our stay. This room was perfect for three and the hotel was kind enough to provide a rollaway at no charge.
For restaurants we had some good choices. We arrived in Amsterdam from our trip across the Atlantic at about 4pm. Usually your first day is about just making it to bedtime and so we planned to go to a low commitment Food Hall the first night.
What a fun place! Can definitely recommend it if you come here. Lots of great choices to choose from including a place that makes bitterballen.
Bitterballen once again prove that everything tastes better when it’s deep fried. You can read more about Foodhallen at their web site https://foodhallen.nl/en.
On our second night in Amsterdam we dined at a place called Gitane. They had a great menu and a fun atmosphere.
It’s a little out of the way but honestly central Amsterdam is not that big so it didn’t take long to get here via streetcar. You can check out their menu at https://restaurantgitane.nl
Moving on to Prague, we were here for the challenging night of Christmas Eve. The Eve is actually a bigger deal in most of Europe than Christmas Day, so it was hard to find a place that was open. But we did, and it was great!
A small neighborhood Czech restaurant called U Zpěváčků that was open and serving a Christmas goose!
Goose and red cabbage has to be one of the all time great food combinations. While maybe not at the top of anyone’s restaurant list, we were charmed by dinner here. You can check out their menu at https://uzpevacku.cz. The owners are super friendly and even saved us two goose dinners.
The other night in Prague we enjoyed dinner at a place called Alma.
A lovely dinner of sliced duck. The restaurant was super trendy and modern and packed with couples on dates. Great atmosphere and lovely menu. Their web site is at https://www.almaprague.cz/restaurace.
Next up in Budapest we found what might have been our favorite place on the trip. Called 21, they served some fantastic dishes including a delicious Hungarian chicken soup. They were open on Christmas Day which made them an easy pick for dinner.
We also enjoyed chicken paprikash and a duck leg with spätzle.
We liked it so much we went back another day for a snack of chicken soup and plum pie.
It’s located in the Buda hills near the castle. You can see their web site at https://21restaurant.hu.
Our other choice in Budapest was in a less glamorous neighborhood over on the Pest side. The restaurant was called Szaletly and the meal was lovely but the service was puzzling.
After our initial interaction with our server, we got our drinks and even made it through our first course where he then just disappeared. Never saw him again, not even to present the bill. Of course other servers were left to pick up the slack, and did so admirably, but we were not their table so it was weird.
Of course while in Budapest you have try goulash, and it was great. But the real surprise was the Hungarian red that our disappearing server recommended at the beginning. By far the best wine of the trip!
Only 120 bottles were made and Szaletly managed to grab a couple dozen. Honestly an excellent wine.
You can see their menu at https://szaletly.hu.
Restaurants in Vienna ran a little cold this time. So many places were closed for the holidays so it was tough to find places we wanted to go.
We went to the widely recommended Figlemüller for wienerschnitzel and despite the lines outside we wouldn’t recommend it.
Our best choice proved to be a place called Salzamt, located in the Altstadt. The menu was hilarious because it was generally in French but written in a script with such flourish that you couldn’t actually read it! Here we are trying to make sense of it.
With the help of our trilingual server we worked our way to an excellent meal. You can find Salzamt at their web site here https://salzamt-wien.at.
Of course we couldn’t escape Vienna without stopping at a cafe. We tried Demel but the line was brutal and so settled on Cafe Central:
While the line was also rough here, it moved pretty fast and we were rewarded with a beautiful apfelstreudel.
Now for bars. One thing we definitely wanted to do on this trip was have a pre-dinner cocktail at a swanky bar somewhere near the evening’s restaurant. Some were winners, some just okay.
Best of the bunch were the Hemingway Bar in Prague, Black Swan in Budapest, Truth and Dare in Vienna.
Black Swan in Budapest had the best vibe and a killer soundtrack. All require reservations, especially Black Swan as it only seats about 20 people.
Overall some all around really good choices! If you go to any of these places please let us know, would love to hear about your experience.
