PersonalLuxury.net
A Travel Epilogue
Danubius Grand Hotel Thermal Spa, Budapest Hungary 2006
The Danubius Grand Hotel and Spa
Budapest, Hungary
20 February - 16 March 2006
Our Daily Schedule follows the pictures.
Charlene, Tom and Sandy in front of the Danubius Grand Hotel and Spa.
View from our room, looking out towards the park.
Charlene points the bird prints in the newly fallen snow.
Here Bob is in front of a rhododendron bush in the snow.
Charlene is warm as we watch the snow fall in fornt of the observation tower for the amusement center int he park on Margitziget Island, where the Danubius Grand Hotel is located.
Well, as Tom and Sandy show, it was warm and cozy by the pool watching the snow fall, from the inside!
The walk around the island while it was snowing was fairy-like.
The quiet of the falling snow on the Danube River looking down river.
The rush of the wind, made it seem so picturesque and serene as we looked up river.
Tom enjoying the snow, without his white robe.
Sandy enjoying the snow, without her white robe. We felt as though we had escaped form the "home" when we went out to enjoy the falling snow.
There were not colors it just seemed to be black and white.
It was beautiful and therapeutic, all wrapped in white.
No trip to Budapest would be complete without a trip to the world famous Danubius Gellert Hotel and Spa.
Though we could use the facilities, we chose to tour the faciliity and enjoy the ambiance of a stately structure that was never (built in the early 1900's) than the Danubius Grand Hotel (built in late 1800's).
This was sunset on the Danube crossing the Victory bridge and looking across to the park grounds on a more typical day in Hungary during our stay.
This is the same park only days before were covered in snow.
This is a picutre of the waiting area in the Spa. Teas were available all the time from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm.
This is the Olympic sized pool at a "cool" 25-27 degrees Celsius (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit).
Here are the acutal pools, this one is the hottest, coming from the spring on the island at about 36 degrees Celsius (100+ degrees Fahrenheit).
This pool is about 28-31 degrees (upper 80's). There was another pool to the left that was 32-34 degrees (upper 90's).
This is the ice cold rock walk that you wade through to help return circulation to your body after having sat in the warm thermal waters for more than 20 minutes at a time.
This is the exercise facility on the second floor. It was usually very busy.
This is our schedule:
From the 20th of February until the 16th of March Tom and Sandy Schiffhauer and Bob and Charlene spent over three weeks in Budapest at the Danubius Grand Hotel (picture above). We chose half-board which included an American breakfast buffet (which had a huge selection of everything imaginable) and lunch or dinner. Since our schedule was so full, we opted for the dinner each day. The meals were from a four star rated restaurant in the hotel and were certainly worthy in regards to both taste and display. We also had the option of going over to the restaurant in the Danubius Thermal Hotel and Spa across the parking lot. The rooms in the Grand Hotel were turn of the 19th century and offered old world charm and comfort. On the Hungarian register of historical places, the Grand was a magnificent structure with the amenities of current day Hungary. The actual thermal spa portion of the hotel was in the Thermal Hotel and Spa which was a short connecting tunnel walk away from the Grand.
Upon our arrival we met with a registered general practice doctor for evaluation of our program needs and she wrote prescriptions for the daily routines to help with our ailments, complaints, or general physical well-being. We were offered massage therapy; interference for isolated maladies of the muscles or bones; hydro-massage; mud-packs with volcanic mud; oxygen therapy for those who have allergies; and things like physio-therapy, kinetic therapy, balno-therapy, etc. It was also suggested that we drink from the thermal waters daily, and we would fill our water bottles with the water and take it back to our rooms so we could consume it prior to our meals, as well. The staff, while friendly and certified professionals, made each therapy treatment a pleasure and enjoyable. Nearly everyone spoke English, so there was little problem in understanding or being understood. Our daily routine was something like this: Rise about 8:00 am, dress for breakfast at 9:00 am. We would usually have a massage at 11:00 am and several additional treatments once an hour until around 3:00 pm. We would then change clothes and go to the exercise facility on the second floor and work out on the equipment for about an hour. Around 5:00 pm we would prepare for dinner, which was served buffet style at 7:00 pm. After dinner we would play cards until around 11:00 pm when we would prepare for bed. This was almost always the daily routine. We watched what we ate, as the food was prepared for spa participants, low fat, no sugar, low sodium, etc., etc.; yet, very plentiful and very tasty. We did not get outside very often but there were a couple of "great" snow days that we actually went out for playtime. We went into town several times for some walks, but because we spent several days in Budapest in October 2005, we felt it was unnecessary (and too cold) to tour about the city.
