last touched 2017-02-07
· AirportShuttle minibus: tickets can be pre-purchased online (https://www.minibud.hu/en) or bought at the AirportShuttle customer service desk in the airport’s arrivals foyer. Ticket price varies, depending on destination, but to the vicinity of the conference they are 4,400 Huf one way and 7,900 return. The minibus takes you directly to your hotel. The service works by taking groups of people and dropping them off at requested places, so the length of the journey depends on where you are going and how many drop-off points the driver has before yours.
· Taxi: fares are now regulated by law and should be around 6,500 Huf, depending on where in the city you are going.
· Bus: the bus stop (bus 200E) is right outside the airport terminus building and takes you to the end stop of metro line 3 (Kőbánya-Kispest) from where you can travel into the city centre. The whole journey will take just under 50 minutes. See Public Transport section for information on tickets. For those arriving late, the metro stops running after 23.00. But there are night bus services to the city centre (914, 950 and 950A). The 200E stops running after 1.00, but is replaced by a night bus service (900), though you will have to change to 950 or 950A services to get to the city centre.
· Train: not the most convenient method, as the station is a 10 minute bus ride away from the airport. Catch the 200E bus from outside the airport terminus building to Ferihegy vasútállomás (train station). There is a ticket machine on the platform (which is reached via the footbridge over the main road) where you can buy a ticket to Nyugati pályaudvar, one of the city’s main stations. You need to buy a ticket before getting on the train, otherwise a fine must be paid. Unfortunately the ticket machine does not issue the reservations that travel on InterCity trains requires. There are about 5 or 6 trains per hour, of which 3 will be InterCity. You can either wait for a non-InterCity train or pay the ticket inspector on the train the top up charge.
There are train links to Budapest from almost all countries in East and Central Europe. Most of these go to Budapest Keleti station, on the Pest side of the city. From the south, trains may arrive at Budapest Déli station on the Buda side. All main stations are served by the Metro and so travelling onward is relatively straightforward (See Public Transport section for information on tickets).
The main International bus lines servicing Budapest are Eurolines (http://www.eurolines.hu/en) and OrangeWays (http://www.orangeways.com/en). Please consult these web pages for information about travel from your country.
Budapest has a good public transport system consisting of busses, trolley busses, trams, metro and rail, all of which can be used with pre-paid tickets or passes, purchased at all Metro stations and ticket machines near many bus stops in the city. Ticket machines can be set to English and can be used with both cash and bank cards. The machine accepts all Hungarian coins and, for smaller sums, bank notes of up to 2,000 Huf. For larger purchases notes up to 20,000 are accepted (though the machines can be fussy at times). Change is given. You can also buy single tickets from the bus driver at an extra cost.
Some buses require you to get on at the front of the bus to validate tickets or show passes to the driver. Others have occasional ticket inspection by inspectors wearing arm bands. Tickets are validated by using the punching machines as you get on the vehicle or enter the metro and are valid for one ride. If you change vehicle, you must validate another ticket, except on the Metro, where a single ticket will last the entire journey with changes allowed from one line to another at the stations where they meet. If you exit the system, you will need to validate another ticket to get back in.
Single tickets can be purchased separately (350 Huf) or in lots of 10 (3000 Huf). There are also 24 hour and 72 hour travel cards (1,650 and 4,150 Huf respectively). These only need to be shown to drivers or inspectors and don’t require validation.
The Budapest transport company (BKV) has a very informative web site which contains all transport timetables and a useful rout planner, which can be found at:
http://futar.bkk.hu/?map=13/47.501/19.053&layers=SVB