Budapest Public Transport - How to Travel in the city?

Basic Information
Budapest Airport-City Centre by Public Transport
Buying Tickets
Travelling by Metro
Travelling by Tram
Travelling by Bus
Travelling by Trolley
Travelling by Suburbian Railway
Travelling by Boat
Travelling by Special Vehicles

See also our Budapest Car Rental page.

 Basic information about travel in Budapest by public transport

Budapest has a fairly extensive and efficient public transport system. It is cheaper than in most Western European cities. A wide variety of trams, buses, trolleys and metro trains run in the city. Be prepared for typical rush hours: vehicles are crowded and traffic can be rather slow. This would be expected in any city.

Night service is quite reliable, too.

Most important types of tickets:

• Single ticket (vonaljegy or just jegy) 320 HUF, (400 HUF if purchased from the driver on board the vehicle): valid on all public transport vehicles for one uninterrupted trip.
  
  
• Single transfer ticket (átszállójegy): 490 HUF
  
  
• Metro Section Ticket: 260 HUF: valid for one uninterrupted trip without change on all 3 metro lines for 3 stops for 60 minues.
  
  
• 24-hour travel card (napijegy: 1550 HUF): vaild on all public transport vehicles for an unlimited number of trips from 0:00 to 24:00 of the day indicated on the ticket .
  
  
• 72-hour travel card (turistajegy: 3850 HUF): vaild on all public transport vehicles for an unlimited number of trips for 72 hours starting from the time and date you purchased it.
  
  
• 7-day travel-card (hetijegy: 4600 HUF): vaild on all public transport vehicles from 0:00 to 24:00 till the sixth day following purchase of the card for an unlimited number of trips.
  
  
• Block of 10 single tickets (tíz darabos gyűjtőjegy: 2800 HUF). You can tear tickets from the block and use them as single tickets. Costs less than 10 single tickets purchased individually.
  
  
• Family ticket (családi jegy): 2200 HUF: valid on all public transport lines for 1-2 adults and 1-7 children under the age of 14 for 48 hours starting from the time and date indicated on the ticket.
  
  
• Night tickets: single tickets, block of 10 tickets, travel cards are valid for the night services.
  

TIP: If you visit Budapest for 2-3 days and you stay in a city center hotel I recommend that you use single tickets or the discounted block of 10 tickets to make travlleing on Budapest public transport services hassle-free.

Fines for tavelling without a tciket on a Budapest Public Transport Service:

if you're caught without a valid ticket by a controller you are to pay a fine which is currently 6000 HUF paid on the spot.

If you don't want to bother with buying and validating tickets, purchase a Budapest Card. You can travel with the card free of charge on all public transport services within the boundaries of Budapest. Read more about the Budapest Card!

You'll find the most up-to-date information about tickets and their prices on BKV's website (the company operating Budapest's public transport system).

Public Transport Services from Budapest Airport to the City Centre

A one-way public transport ticket costs 300 HUF (400 HUF when you buy it from the driver onboard the bus). Read about other ways of getting to the city centre from Budapest Ferihegy Airport.

Travel in Budapest - Where to buy tickets?

You have to buy your ticket in advance. You can buy it at ticket offices, newspaper kiosks, or from ticket vending machines. Most of these machines have recently been modernized and are quite reliable.

You will find Ticket Offices (Jegypénztár) in the metro stations near the entrance at at major public transportation hubs.

Most cashiers speak only Hungarian so it's best to go to the cashier with a piece of paper on which you've written down in Hungarian what type of ticket you want to buy.

How to validate tickets?

You must validate your ticket at the start of your journey. In case of metro tickets you have to put the ticket in the ticket validation machine (orange coloured box on a metal pole) that'll stamp a time and date on the ticket. A short musical tone confirms that the ticket has been validated. Once you validated the metro ticket you head for the escalator that'll take you to the metro platform where you wait for the metro car.

At the top of the escalator ticket controllers will most likely stop you to check whether you've validated your ticket.

On other vehicles (trams, buses, trolley) there' s either the orange box similar to the ones in metro stations or a smaller red box in which you insert the ticket then pull the black part on the top towards you to punch the ticket (a pattern of holes apepar on the validated ticket).

Note: the slot on some ticket validation machines is clogged with chewing gum or paper (deliberately done by prank makers) so you won't be able to insert the ticket. Try another machine on the vehicle to validate your ticket.

Inspectors check passanger's tickets throughout the day.
An inspector usually wears dark blue uniform and a blue or red armband. Nowadays however they are in plain clothes (but still must put on the armband when checking tickets) in order to disguise themselves. To avoid problems buy the type of ticket or pass that are most suitable for your Budapest-visit and to your budget and rememeber to validate it. Keep your ticket until the end of your journey.

If for some reason you don't like the Budapest Card, buy a block of 10 or 20 tickets.

Fines are high (if caught travelling without a valid ticket or pass you have to pay 6000 HUF fine on the spot) and it's not worth ruining your stay with constant watching out for the inspectors.

Tourist Scam: the latest tourist scam is when ticket controlers try to sell you tickets although they are not authorized to do this. Make sure you buy tickets only at the ticket offices or from a vending machine.

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Travel in Budapest by Metro

The metro system in Budapest is efficient and clean. Trains run from 4.30 am
to 11.10 pm.

They run quite often (2-5 minutes) during rush hours. The three lines meet only at Deák tér.

Read more about Budapest Metro!

Travel in Budapest by Tram

Budapest has more than 30 tram lines, you can recognize them by their bright-yellow colour.

The most important tram lines:

• 
  Trams No. 4 and 6, the busiest line in Europe: run along Grand Boulevard.

Note: trams 4 and 6 don't stop at Margitsziget (Margaret Island)) stop due to the reconstruction works on Margaret bridge.

• 
  Tram No. 2: runs along the Danube, between Margit hid (Margaret Bridge) and Boraros ter.

Important: Due to the construction of the M4 metro line the route of tram 2 has been cut into two sections at its Fővám tér stop (which is a huge construction site during the works) at Szabadság Bridge from 25th June 2007 for approx. 3 years:

From the temporary stops at south and north of Szabadság Bridge tram 2 travels

During the works you can travel on the two sections of tram 2 line with 1 single ticket, but remember to validate it again when you get on the other section of the line.
A shuttle bus marked 2V will also help carry passengers between Boráros tér and Március 15. Square.

Important:

Travel in Budapest by tram is slower but more spectacular than by metro, especially if you take tram No. 2.

A sightseeing tour by bus doesn't come up to a ride on tram No. 2. You get a very good view of the Gellert Hill, Castle Hill, the Budapest Parliament, not to mention the Danube and the graceful bridges over it.

You have to buy your ticket in advance and vaildate it onboard at the start of your journey.

You either find red punch-machines or orange automated machines.

Trams run between 4.30 am until around 22.45 pm on weekdays. You'd better check the timetables at the stops. You'll also see the route of the tram line there.

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Travel in Budapest by Bus

Budapest has a very extensive bus route system. I personally don't like to travel in Budapest by bus, but some parts of the city (e.g. Buda Hills) can only be reached by bus. During rush hours buses are crowded and they often get stuck in traffic jams.

Buses with the number in red are fast buses, they run on the same route than the black-numbered ones, but there are fewer stops.

If there's a letter "E" after the red number, it's an express service between two terminis without any stops.

Be careful not to mix it up with buses with a number and followed by letter "É", marking a night service. ("É" is a first letter in the word "éjszaka" meaning night").

You can buy tickets from the driver but you have to pay a bit more.

You have to press a button above the doors to signal that you want to get off at the next stop.

You'll find the stops posted inside the buses, but if no one gets off or on, the vehicle won't stop, so you may lose track of stops.

Your best bet is to ask locals travelling on the bus, they'll be happy to tell you where to get off.

Unfortunately you don't have to queue at the stops, so be prepared that particularly locals tend to thrust, in order to get on the vehicle. (Actually it's true for all kinds of transportation in Hungary.)

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Travel in Budapest by Trolley

There are 14 trolley bus lines in Budapest. Trolleys are red coloured. It's interesting that their numbers start from 70, according to the story the first line started operating on Stalin's 70th birthday.

Trolley buses operate until somewhere between 11-12 pm. You can check the timetables at the stops, they'll provide reliable information. Ticket validation is the same as on buses.

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Travel in Budapest by Suburbian Railway (HÉV)

You can travel by HÉV (green trains) to the outskirts of Budapest. The Szentendre line might be interesting for tourists. It runs between Batthyány tér (it's also on the red metro line) and Szentendre.

Szentendre is a small, charming town right on the Danube bank. Don't miss visiting it if you come to Budapest for a couple of days!

Tickets within the boundary of Budapest cost the same as discussed above. Outside Budapest you pay according to the distance you'll cover during your trip.

A ticket to Szentendre is about 400 HUF, slightly more than 1,5 €. You can buy it at the station. HEV trains run every 10 to 30 minutes.

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Travel in Budapest by Boat

There's a scheduled boat service on the Danube from 1 May till 1 September, between Boráros tér and Római fürdő.

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Travel in Budapest by Special Vehicles

Budapest offers several unique means of transportation:

• the Cogwheel Railway (Fogaskerekű),
• 
  the Cable Car (Sikló),
• 
  the Chairlift (Libegő), and
• 
  Children's Railway (Gyermekvasút)

Try riding at least on one of them during your stay!

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Summary of Travel in Budapest

You don't need to travel in Budapest if you come here for just a few days and would like to visit only the most important parts of the city.

You can explore it by walk. See our recommended walking tours in Budapest. if you're barve enough you can alos go biking in Budapest.

In case it's cold or a summer shower catches you, take one of the three metro lines, or trams No. 2, 4 or 6!
They'll take you to most of the places of interest.

For the brave ones: learn about car rental in Budapest!

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