[note that the pricing for up to four guests assumes that you are seeking only 1/2 of the apartment: either Sarah or Belle]

A lovely and romantic hideaway in the absolute center of the city. Quiet and bright, totally remodeled recently for use by our own family, Apartments Sarah and Belle are a pair of rooftop apartments overlooking a Bauhaus courtyard. It's your home away from home, with comfortable furnishings, fresh flowers and plants, welcoming fruit and wine and pastries, bathroom amenities and supplies, everything to make you feel at home, plus owners and a local manager who can provide the support of a Five Star concierge, and the infrastructure to address any emergency 24/7:

A few steps off the lift, pass through your small gated patio and enter 50 square meters of homelike comfort: full American kitchen, cable TV, wi-fi high speed internet, en suite separate water closet and bath with custom-built shower. Apartment Sarah is actually two adjoining, air conditioned, rooftop apartments on the south side of the building (Sarah on the east, Belle on the west). Overlooking a lovely and bright courtyard and away from the bustle of the city center just outside (two 5-star hotels are within 2 blocks of the front door; Budapest's oldest and most extensive music and record shop is on the ground floor of the building), Apartment Sarah/Belle has a cathedral ceiling more than 4 meters high, with nooks and crannies and skylights that render it romantic and unique.

The apartment is reached by either of the building’s two lifts (one at the Sarah end, one at Belle), and has its own locked entry gate. Each half has its own bathroom with luxury shower and a small but well-stocked American kitchen (convection oven, fridge, full sink, clothes washer and dryer; all staples are there when you arrive from coffee or tea to eggs and cheese, salt, sugar, everything you need to prepare a first snack; and we welcome you with pastry and wine). Dishware, cutlery, pots, and pans are all there when you arrive.

Each half has a small library of guidebooks and maps, and cable TV and high speed open-access wi-fi Internet, as well as a small stock of games and light fiction. Each half has a sleeping loft (up a set of stairs) with a comfortable bed sleeping two (larger-than-full 140cm in Sarah, larger-than-queen 160cm in Belle), and has a large convertible sofa that can sleep two in the livingroom (120 cm). A pair of locking doors can separate each half from the other, but when the doors are opened the two join for a large and luxurious apartment with two bedrooms, two convertible sofas, two baths and two kitchens (sleeping a total of 8 in comfort). Use of a mobile phone with Hungarian telephone number is included (airtime for the phone is the guest’s responsibility). A VOIP telephone in the apartment provides unlimited calling to the US/Canada and landlines in most of the world.

The apartment is in the very center of District V, or the Belvaros (City Center). District V is the heart around which the City of Budapest was built. The Building, a landmark marking the transition to Bauhaus from Art Nouveau, is at #5 Szervita Square, and Szervita Square is at the very center of District 5. One block away from the Deak Square Metro hub, where all three of the city’s Metro lines intersect. Take the historic Yellow line (the first subway in continental Europe) to Andrassy Street, the Opera, the Liszt Music Academy, Heroes’ Square and Gundel’s Restaurant. Take the Red line into Buda and explore the Castle, the Citadel, and the hills. Take the Blue line to Raday street’s bohemian bars and cafes.

Or walk two blocks to the Danube and take the #2 Tram, north to Parliament and the antique shops of Falk Miksa Street, or south to the Central Market Hall or the stunning new Palace of the Arts (the landscaping is not yet totally finished, but the acoustics are remarkable).

Or just walk a block to the historic pedestrian mall on Vaci Street, a boulevard lined with shops and restaurants. Several blocks to the south and you are at the Great Synagogue (second largest in the world) or go a similar distance north and you are at St. Stephen’s Basilica. Go half a dozen blocks to the northeast and you are at the foot of Andrassy Street, the grand boulevard leading to the Opera, Operetta Theatre, and Liszt Music Academy.

Free concerts abound within walking distance in the summers and, at Christmas and other celebrations, Vorosmarty Square a block away lights up with decorations and outdoor crafts and food vendors.

We are not the typical apartment rental business. We are a pair of midlife American academics who love to travel. John's father was born in Hungary and left in the mid-1930s. John grew up hearing tales of Budapest, but we first visited it in 2001, decades after John's father' had died. We fell in love with the city and its vibrant yet relaxed lifestyle and culture, and we purchased and renovated this place in 2005 for family use as well as rental. It is furnished and equipped to provide everything we would want to find in an apartment when we travel ourselves, and more. We want you to be as enthusiastic about this city as we are, and will be available to answer any questions or to assist in any way we can.

[Please read the NOTES section under pricing ... the many configurations of this apartment make VRBO unable to anticipate which will be the best for your party.]

Keywords: Apartment