For the trip down to Debrecen is definately worth it but upon arriving the hardest thing was to find someone who worked there who wasnt involoved in a personal conversation or had their back to the front desk to serve the waiting people. We asked to see some rooms, we were shown the cheaper ones first that hadnt been renovated, these were so bad that we asked to see the renovated ones. Weí took the renovated one but once arriving at the room which wasnt the one we had seen we realized what a bad decision. Bathroom tiles were vracked and mouldy they were in need of a very thouough clean. Remindyou that the room was more than 1ŐŐ Euros. There was no remote contol for the TV and the reception on all channels was fuzzy. No english channels either. The closet in the room was so old it was falling apart and splinters sticking out of it, beware with small children. I wish I would have taken some photos for you but trust me do not stay at this hotel unless for free. The only nice person was the girl atthe buffet breakfast, the only pleasant person we dealt with the entire stay and my girlfriend is from Hungary so it wasnt the language barrier.

This was a surprisingly disappointing hotel, given the tariff and the supposed 4-star rating. We had booked one of the 4-star rooms, which overlook the dining room and main hall, and found it pretty basic, though spacious, with hard beds and sparse, old furniture. Elsewhere, this would have been classed as 2-star. Food quality was low and unappetising, and we had to take our meals elsewhere. However, there is an Italian restaurant nearby, the Toro Doro, associated with the hotel, where food is good and modestly priced. The hotel itself is pleasantly sited in the main square in Debrecen, and public transport (in particular the tram system) is regular and cheap.

Our biggest problem was noise. We had been told on making our booking that the hotel did not allow functions to go past 11.30pm "to avoid disturbing our guests". This proved seriously misleading. A few days after our arrival, a wedding party took place in the dining room, below the bedrooms. By 1am the noise was deafening, and so loud it was causing the door to buzz in its frame with the incessant disco thumping. Repeated calls to the management assured us that it would finish "soon". By 3.30am it was still going on, and impossible to sleep through, and we went downstairs to the reception desk, where there was already a queue of other guests all around, disturbed by the phenomenal din, to complain, where we found, curiously, that the Duty Manager was suddenly "unavailable", either in person or by telephone, and the staff suddenly began to have difficulty with their previously excellent English. It was obvious that this party was still not stopping "soon", and we had to be decanted at 4 in the morning in to the cheaper 3-star wing, with peeling paint and broken stair-rods, to escape the din. I could not, with a clear conscience, recommend the Aranybika Hotel.

The Grand Hotel is situated in the centre of Debrecen overlooking the fountains and the Great Church.
Rooms are large and basic and the whole building brings back memories of an Agatha Christe novel.
Large marble stairways lead to the rooms. Breakfast (as much as you can eat) is taken in a huge dining room which is also used as a ballroom.
The hotel offers a range of complimentay medecines and has a rooftop pool. This is truly a trip back in time.

For being supposedly "one of the best" hotels in the second largest city in Hungary, this hotel was unappealing at best. The "renovation" that might have taken place some years ago must have been done "a la low budget", i.e., cheesy! Our Hungarian interpreter confirmed that they had wireless internet access in the rooms...I guess "wireless" means "phone modem" in Hungarian. When they renovated this old hotel they must have forgotten to remove the beetles, as there were ongoing beetle wars in the bathroom - you know when they flip each other over and their little legs are kicking in the air. Beds were so hard, I did not notice when I woke up in the middle of the night that I was actually sleeping on the bed frame against the wall rather than the mattress. Breakfast buffet eggs were swimming. Coffee had something extra - not sure what, but it wasn't a coffee bean.

One good note: On our arrival we ate at their pizza restaurant. They had really good pizza and we had great service there!

Summer 2004