BLINC 3

3^rd Budapest Linguistics Conference

Budapest, 6–8 June 2019

 Getting Here

·         miniBUD airport shuttle service: it is probably better to pre-purchase tickets online (https://www.minibud.hu/en) in order to minimise the wait at the airport. Tickets per person are 4,900 Huf (17.5 EUR) one way and 8,400 (30 EUR) return. The minibus can take you directly to your hotel (though depending on where in the city this is, the price may be more – see their website for more details). 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 regulated by law and should be around 7,000 Huf (22 EUR), depending on where in the city you are going.

·         Bus: Bus 100E runs 3 times an hour between the airport and the city centre (stops at Kálvin tér metro, Astoria metro and Deák Ferenc tér metro) and takes between 30 - 50 minutes depending on trafic conditions. It costs 900 Huf and tickets can be purchased from the machine near to the bus stop right outside the airport terminus building (you can't use normal bus tickets and passes on this bus). You can buy a ticket for the return journey at any BKK machine in Budapest, which can be found in all metro stations and at major stops throughout the city. The service operates from 5 in the morning and the last bus is 1.20 in the morning. After this time you should use the 200E (information directly below).

      Alternatively, bus 200E, going from the same stop as the 100E, takes you to the end stop of metro line 3 (Kőbánya-Kispest) from where you can travel into the city centre. It runs roughly every 10 minutes and the whole journey (including the metro) will take just under 50 minutes. Tickets can be purchased from the machine next to the stop for 350 Huf for a single (you will also need another single ticket for the metro journey - see Public Transport section for more information about ticket options). After23.00, when the metro stops running,  the 200E will take you to Határ út, where you can transfer to the night bus services to the city centre (914A). After 23.00 the 200E runs a more restricted service of between 3 and 1 bus per hour, depending on the time (the timetable can be found at (https://bkk.hu/apps/menetrend/pdf/2005/20180616/11.pdf).

·         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).

Public Transport inside Budapest

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, 72 hour and 7 day travel cards (1,650, 4,150 and 4,950 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

last touched 2017-02-07