Each year, we have the pleasure of recalling our travel experiences and singling out a number of particularly memorable hotels and resorts. Here are the properties that Andrew Harper selected in Europe.
Follow in Andrew Harper's footsteps on his recent trip through Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest.
Major sites in Vienna and Budpest draw throngs of tourists, but with the right strategies, it's not difficult to escape the crowds.
Like the Belvedere, this more sober baroque palace stands amid delightful gardens just outside Vienna's Ring. We booked one of the once-monthly public tours of the Gartenpalais, home to a private art and decorative object collection rivaling the Frick in New York.
Videos from my trips to Europe and the Atlantic coast.
The energetic capital of Hungary has long been a favorite European destination, and every time I visit, I find new reasons to love the place. Ruled by the Ottoman Empire for a century and a half, Budapest retains an air of exoticism, only enhanced by the impenetrable Hungarian language.
Though Tokaj had a difficult 20th century, today it again ranks as one of the world's great wine regions. The area now has a handful of large, slick tasting rooms that wouldn't feel out of place in Napa or Chianti or Mendoza, but the great pleasure of touring this out-of-the-way region is the opportunity to visit some of its charming family-owned wineries.
A thoroughly enjoyable stop between Budapest and Tokaj is baroque Eger, a university town punctuated by grand churches and a ruined ridgetop castle. It requires a slight detour from the highway, but those who visit will be rewarded with winding cobbled streets lined with wine shops and boutiques, small squares full of outdoor cafe tables, and a grand central plaza surrounded by colorful baroque splendor.
In preparation for a visit to the Hungarian countryside, pick up the first volume of Count Miklos Banffy's sprawling and elegiac "Transylvanian Trilogy." Now a part of Romania, Transylvania was for centuries an autonomous Hungarian province, with a culture similar to that of regions in Hungary today.
Most travelers to Hungary experience only the capital, but a stay in the provinces makes a rewarding extension of a Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest itinerary.
The culinary scene in central Europe has come of age, and dining in Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest is a delight. We had no trouble finding soulful, traditional fare as well as sophisticated fine dining.
A video from my recent trip to Budapest, Hungary as reviewed in the August 2014 issue of the Hideaway Report.
A video from my trip to castle hotels in the Hungarian countryside as reviewed in the July 2014 issue of the Hideaway Report.
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