Budapest’s iconic Aria Hotel celebrates its 10th anniversary in style
In 2025, Aria Hotel Budapest – one of the world’s most renowned music-themed luxury hotels – will celebrate its tenth anniversary. From classical to contemporary music, opera to jazz, the list of artists who have graced the Aria to mark the anniversary includes 16-time Grammy winner David Foster, John McLaughlin, Andrea Rost, Gergely Bogányi, Márta Sebestyén and Magdi Rúzsa.
Over the past decade, the Aria Hotel on Hercegprímás Street has not only shaped Budapest’s premium tourism offer, but has also helped to strengthen the city’s cultural position – while welcoming world stars and inscribing itself at the forefront of the world’s luxury hotels with a series of prestigious international awards.
The Aria Hotel Budapest is the only Hungarian hotel to have won prestigious international awards such as Europe’s Best Wellness Spa (World Boutique Hotel Awards), the World’s Best Rooftop Bar (Condé Nast Traveller) and the World’s Best Hotel in 2017 in TripAdvisor’s global ranking. The hotel’s iconic rooftop terrace, with its close-up view of the dome of St. Stephen’s Basilica, has contributed to these exceptional accolades, making it an unmissable Budapest destination. To celebrate the anniversary, the Sky Champagne Bar opened at the highest point of the hotel – a spectacular design by interior designer Zoltán Varró.
Spiritual and emotional enrichment – the new definition of luxury
Over the past ten years, Aria has redefined what true luxury in hospitality means: the hotel has moved away from the cult of empty glamour and objects and has focused on genuine attention, connection to culture, and spiritual and emotional enrichment. As Budapest’s luxury tourism offerings continue to expand, Aria remains unique in combining the guest experience with musical inspiration and a caring attitude where every gesture is about respect, thoughtfulness and emotional connection. The hotel’s four wings – opera, classical, jazz and contemporary – and its 49 rooms dedicated to musical legends mark not only a thematic design, but a mindset and sensibility that Aria guests can experience in the smallest details.
The Aria and the evolution of luxury in Budapest
Over the past decade, Budapest has seen a spectacular development in luxury tourism, with the city, which is increasingly sought after worldwide, now attracting discerning travellers with its highly positioned hotels and gastronomic offerings. In this process, Aria has brought a new standard and approach. Aria occupies a unique position in the boutique hotel genre: with its small-scale, personalised service, it can offer the kind of intimacy and attention that large hotel chains rarely can.
Henry Kallan’s hospitality philosophy, which focuses on personal service and genuine attention to guests, has not only won accolades but has also set a new direction in the domestic market. Aria Hotel’s vision has been made a reality with the support of business partner Alex Rovt.
The hotel also acts as a kind of professional incubator: the skilled staff who have grown up here are now key players in several major domestic hotel brands. Thus, Aria is not only a successful business, but has also helped shape the image of the premium hotel industry in Budapest.
New bar above Aria’s rooftop terrace
The Sky Champagne Bar, on the highest point of Aria’s rooftop terrace, on the floating terrace above the High Note SkyBar, opened on its tenth anniversary. The spectacular bar, designed by Zoltán Varró, offers views of Budapest’s most beautiful skyline. Music also plays a prominent role in this space: the opening was set the mood with a performance by singer DJ Myra Monoka, who will return regularly to further shape the character of Aria’s rooftop with her atmospheric music.
The name of interior designer Zoltán Varró has become synonymous with the spirit of the Aria Hotel. Since the Aria was designed ten years ago, he has designed hotels from Como to Colombia, always focusing on the uniqueness of the place and the guest experience.
A memory that stays with us
One of the emotional highlights of the anniversary event was Random Trip’s concert with Sena Dagadu and Vavra Bence on the hotel’s rooftop terrace. Founded by Jávor Delov and DJ Q-Cee, the group was not only one of the most exciting improvisational projects on the Hungarian music scene, but also one of the most important musical homes of the cult icon Juli Fábián, who tragically passed away at a young age in 2017. Juli’s voice, style and sensitive presence still define the band’s memory.
Juli Fábián was a central figure in the opening of the Aria Hotel in 2015. The birthday concert was thus both a celebration and a commemoration – a tribute to the opening of the hotel and to Juli Fábián’s extraordinary legacy.
The Random Trip concert on the rooftop terrace was recorded by a professional crew, and the improvisational musical experience, set against the panoramic backdrop of Budapest, will soon be available to the general public.
A new era of exclusive experiences
One of the highlights of the jubilee evening was Gigi Radics’ room concert in Nat King Cole Room 610. The unusual concert format, which features renowned artists in a small, intimate space with direct audience contact, has become a hallmark of Aria events in recent years. This kind of intimacy takes the guest experience to a new level: more personal, memorable and allowing for a deeper musical connection. The birthday concert was recorded on video and will soon be available online – so that those who were unable to attend in person can experience the intimate atmosphere of the Nat King Cole Room.
Behind the musical theme of the Aria Hotel is a carefully constructed artistic concept, put together by music director Kornél Magyar and joined by three music curators, Iván Fischer, Andrea Rost and Magdi Rúzsa. The birthday event also featured a performance by Magdi Rúzsa, the hotel’s curator of contemporary music, with a specially designed visual spectacle. The presence of classical music was represented by Ildikó Megyimórecz, Junior Prima Prize-winning opera singer, who came at the recommendation of Andrea Rost and sang the famous aria Je veux vivre from Gounod’s opera Romeo and Juliet.
Musical flavours
The Aria Hotel’s gastronomic offer for the birthday year is also based around music. The High Note SkyBar team and Chez Dodo have collaborated on cocktail-macaron pairings, with each flavour composition evoking an iconic musical genre or artist. SkyBar’s new signature menu also debuted on the anniversary: a selection of 10 musically inspired cocktails pays tribute to legends such as Elvis Presley, Maria Callas, Amy Winehouse, James Brown and Frank Sinatra, among others.
At the forefront of the world
The hotel has won prestigious international awards every year since it opened. The most prominent of these are:
- TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards: best hotel in the world
- Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards: best hotel in Central Europe
- Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards: top 10 city hotels in Europe
- World Boutique Hotel Awards: Europe’s Best Spa
- Forbes.com: High Note SkyBar among the world’s top 10 rooftop bars
- Condé Nast Traveler: High Note SkyBar is one of the world’s best rooftop bars
The most iconic guests
In the past decade, the Aria Hotel has hosted not only tourists, but also world-famous artists, musicians and film stars.
- Among the hotel’s guests have been: Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Will Smith, Hans Zimmer, Bobby McFerrin, Gregory Porter, Benny Golson, DJ Tiësto, Rita Ora
- Opera giants Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Edita Gruberova, Anna Netrebko
- Stars of the silver screen: Jennifer Lawrence, David Duchovny, Chris Noth
The Mirror Bar, one of the hotel’s venues, is decorated with the signatures of world-famous guests from the past ten years, whose signatures have become part of the Aria’s history.
The Aria Hotel Budapest is part of the New York-based Library Hotel Collection, founded by Henry Kallan and regarded as one of the world’s most personal hotel chains.
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