Getting to Budapest by Airplane
Budapest is easily accessible by international flights from most of European countries.
Budapest International Airport (BUD) is situated outside of Budapest, Southwest from the centre.
The easiest and least budget way to the city centre is to use public transportation.
From the Airport to Budapest centre
Bus 100E leaves from Terminal 2B (just in front of the terminal building) and takes you directly to the city centre with 3 stops:
- Kálvin tér: this stop is right across Mercure Budapest Korona Hotel. You may change here to metro lines 3 (blue) and 4 (green), buses (9, 15, 100E, 72 83) and trams 47 and 49.
- Astoria: this stop is closest to Hostel Gaia. You may change here to metro line 2 (red), buses (5, 7, 8E, 107, 108E, 110, 112, 133E, 9, 15), and trams 47 and 49. The distance between Astoria and Kálvin tér is 500 m.
- Deák Ferenc tér: this is the terminal stop. You may change here to metro lines 1 (yellow), 2 (red) and 3 (blue), buses (9, 15, 72, 16), trams 47 and 49.
Tickets for bus 100E can be purchased at vending machines placed outside of Terminal 2. You may pay by card, a ticket (one-way) costs 2.200 HUF.
You may also take a taxi or a shuttle bus. Both can be booked at the airport. These are the most expensive options.
Getting to Budapest by train
You may also travel by train to Budapest. Trains arrive either to Nyugati Railway Station (‘Western’) or to Keleti Railway Station (‘Eastern’), and might also stop at Kelenföld Station (which is an intermediate station on the Buda side). All railway stations are easily accessible by public transport: metro, trams and buses.
Payments for tickets, taxis and shuttle buses
You can pay by card in all Taxis and for Shuttle bus tickets, as for your public transport ticket (at the vending machine), you don’t need to exchange HUF or withdraw cash from the ATM. Actually, you must not withdraw cash at the airport as the exchange rates are bad. Please check the actual EUR/HUF rate at MNB (National Bank of Hungary).
Navigation within the city
We highly recommend to download and use BudapestGO application (Google Play, App Store) provided by the Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK). The app is free, allows purchases of single tickets and day cards, helps in planning the travel, etc.