Budapest

 

With green filled parks full of charming pleasures, museums that will inspire, Budapest is one of Europe’s most delightful and enjoyable cities. Thanks to the perfect location, inhabitants’ hospitality and memorable monuments is it mentioned as “Little Paris of Central Europe” and “Pearl of Danube”.
Although Budapest is administratively divided into 23 numbered districts, it can most simply be divided into the two cities of which it is comprised (Buda and Pest) and one historic district Castle-Hill, the oldest part of the city.

If you wish to read briefly about the history of Budapest:
http://www.fsz.bme.hu/hungary/budapest/bphist/bphist.htm

By plane:

Budapest Franz Liszt International Airport: (pronounced “list-ferents”), formerly, and colloquially referred to Ferihegy; is the country’s largest airport, located about 16 km (10 miles) southeast of the city centre. The airport’s central telephone number for information is: +36-1 296-9696 or on +36-1 296-7000. Luggage services can be contacted on Tel.: (Terminal 2): +36 (70) 332-4006, +36-70-332-4007, +36 (1) 296-5966.

http://www.bud.hu/english

 

Airport transfer

Public transport. There is a railway station called Ferihegy connected to Terminal 1. Passengers from Terminal 2A or 2B can also reach it by local bus 200E to the stop “Ferihegy vasútállomás” (8 min). Bus tickets are available in airport terminals for HUF 350 at the newspaper vendors, or HUF 450 if you purchase from the driver. This bus also continues on until Nagyvárad tér where you can transfer to Metro M3 (an additional ticket is required for the metro for another 350 HUF, though with this ticket you can transfer to another metro line once).
All about public transportation:

http://bkk.hu/en/

Airport-city centre shuttle bus service (100E), which is a direct shuttle between Liszt Ferenc International Airport and Deák Ferenc tér. Only the 1500 HUF “Airport shuttle bus single ticket” is accepted for travel (paper based or as a mobile ticket bought in the mobile app). No other types of tickets or passes are valid. For more information please visit https://bkk.hu/en/airport-shuttle/; bkk.hu/mobileticket

Minibus service. If you travel alone, consider the Airport MiniBUD service, a shared taxi operation that collects passengers going in the same direction and will take you to or from anywhere in Budapest for HUF 3.200 per person or HUF 5.500 for a round trip. Join the queue at the airport and you will be on your way in 15 minutes. For the trip back, call the centre at +36-1 296-8555 at least 24 hours beforehand and Airport Minibus will pick you up.

Reservations are available at www.minibud.hu.

Taxi. Főtaxi is the only contracted taxi operator from Liszt Ferenc airport.  Queue at the taxi stand to receive a written quote for your fare, then pay it when you arrive at your destination. In Hungary the Taxi Decree is regulating the price* of the taxis at a fixed tariff of 300 HUF/Km (0.95 EUR/Km) in addition to the one-off basic fee of 1000HUF (2.9 EUR) and waiting fee. A ride to the city centre should typically cost around 9800 HUF (29 EUR) depending on traffic conditions. This system is designed to eliminate unjustified price hikes. IMPORTANT: unless you have pre-ordered a taxi from a different company, do not accept offers from taxi drivers waiting in the terminal or near the terminal entrances (but when you pre-order you get a better price than the Fotaxi rates). On your trip into town you might receive a business card from Főtaxi quoting cheaper fares bound to Liszt Ferenc airport (i.e. €16 from Pest). Reserve a car by phone and quote the offer to save some money.

https://www.bud.hu/en/passengers/transport/airport_transfer_and_other_services/taxi

Orientation

The Chain Bridge and a view of Pest Orientation is not a big problem in Budapest. The river Danube splits the city into two areas: Buda and Pest. Aside from the very center, the city’s structure is quite logical. Landmarks in Buda as the Royal Castle or Citadella Castle also help you to find your way.Besides the Danube itself, the best reference points for orienting yourself are the bridges crossing the river. From North to South, they are:

• Árpád Bridge (Árpád híd), A modern bridge linking to Northern Margaret Island. The longest bridge in Budapest at 973 meters.
• Margaret Bridge (Margit híd), Easily identified thanks to its distinctive shape: it makes an approximately 35 degree turn half way across, at the southern tip of Margaret Island. Trams 4 and 6 cross the Danube here.
• Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd), Completed in 1849, the oldest, arguably most beautiful and certainly the most photographed of Budapest’s bridges, floodlit at night.
• Elisabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd), Completed in 1903. Its original chain structure was destroyed in World War II, and was eventually substituted by a modern cable bridge opened in 1964.
• Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd), Elegant but simple, opened in 1896; it connects the Gellért Baths (Gellért fürdő) in Buda with the Great Market Hall (Nagyvásárcsarnok) in Pest. Recently renovated.
• Petőfi Bridge (Petőfi híd), For a long time the southernmost bridge, it links the inner ring road (Nagykörút) of Pest with Buda.
• Lágymányosi Bridge (Lágymányosi híd), The newest bridge in Budapest, with modern architecture and a spectacular lighting system where mirrors reflect the beam of the upward facing floodlights. Built very next to a railway bridge on its southern side.

 

On foot

Many of Budapest’s highlights are easy to approach walking, and in the center you find more pedestrian zones from year to year. Car drivers tend to respect pedestrians and often give advantage on a cross-walk even if there is no traffic light. Don’t wear high-heeled shoes in the downtown as there are lots of stone pavements, especially in the Castle Hill.

 

By car

Apart from the summer holiday, Budapest has heavy traffic with long-lasting traffic jams in the morning and in the afternoon. If you don’t want to spend your visit to Budapest in a traffic jam, leave your car in the hotel’s garage, and use the public transport.

If you drive across downtown, plan your journey, otherwise you can get into tough situations. For example you cannot turn left in most of the crossings of the inner ring road (Nagykörút) or on the main avenues like Andrássy út, Váci út, Üllői út or Rákóczi út.

 

By taxi

Budapest’s taxi drivers are not always prepared for English speaking clients, but it does not necessarily mean that they intend to overcharge their foreigner guests – use one of the major taxi companies with English speaking switchboards to avoid problems. Most companies’ websites now have pages in English. If you wish to call any of the following phone numbers from abroad, use the +36-1 (Hungary-Budapest) code before the numbers.

Főtaxi, +36-1 222-2222
City Taxi, +36-1 211-1111
Tele 5 Taxi, +36-1 555-5555
6×6 Taxi, +36-1 666-6666

Do not accept offers from taxi drivers waiting in the airport terminals or railway stations. Ask about their price in advance or call any of the taxi companies above.

 

See

Most of Budapest’s famous sights are concentrated on Castle Hill on the Buda side, in downtown Pest and along the riverside walkways.

For tourism information:

Official Hungarian Tourist Board website: http://budapest.gotohungary.com/

Budapest brochure by Hungarian Tourist Board: http://gotohungary.com/documents/13008/580997/Invitativ_Bp_Angol_oldalankent.pdf/b449d645-0632-4cca-b1b1-2f6f43fa8603

City of Budapest website: http://budapest.hu/sites/english/Lapok/default.aspx

 

Currency

The currency in Hungary is the Hungarian Forint (HUF)
The exchange rate (as of January 2022) is approximately:

EUR 1.00 = HUF 406
USD 1.00 = HUF 407

ATM’s are widely available and most major credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club and American Express are widely accepted in Budapest. Options for exchanging money are easy to fin din Budapest.

 

Electricity

The voltage of the electricity in Hungary is 220 volts (220V-240V); 50 Hz. The electrical sockets are one of the two European standard types: the Europlug and the Schuko. It is recommended to bring your adapter plug and if needed to bring a transformer for your equipment using different voltage.