HU Hungary: how to get around

Intercity (IC) trains are the fastest, and they're up-to-date, usually well maintained and clean. They link the major cities with Budapest. Expect to pay about 550 Ft extra fee independently from the distance for the mandatory seat reservation (not in international ICs, ECs). In some cases the extra charge can be lower. Compared to the majority of Western European ticket prices, Hungary's IC trains are among the cheapest, with an excellent record of speed and comfort. At the weekends many students use these IC trains to commute between Budapest and other cities, so an early advance booking is recommended on Friday afternoons for the trains leaving Budapest and on Sunday evenings for trains towards Budapest. Working with a notebook is generally safe, unless it's heavy overcrowded. Fast trains (Gyors) are usually older train cars coupled with IC services, but you don't need a seat reservation to use them.

Other train lines (Személy, Sebes, InterRégió, Zónázó) usually are not that fast and use older carriages (even in the 1st class). However, quality standards are improving. During the summer, trains linking Balaton to Budapest are often overcrowded with the IC usually being sold out. Pricing depends only on the distance and on the car class. Cash desks assume 2nd class by default for non-IC trains (at least in Budapest for English speakers), so if you didn't catch your IC, consider asking 1st class, paying small extra for much more comfort. Smoking is prohibited on all trains, as well as on the station platforms.

Since March 2024, people aged 65 and older and people under 14 generally travel free of charge. People under 26 receive a 50% discount. The 90% discount for students only applies for those living in and studying in Hungarian institution.

Buy tickets and passes for all trains, long-distance buses and HÉV, and some international tickets on jegy.mav.hu or the MÁV app.

Regular tickets are valid from/to specific stations, but are valid once for any train within 24 hours.

Passes are valid for valid for almost all long-distance and some local services: trains (2nd class), long-distance buses, some local buses, trains, HÉV.

These operators accept the passes:

• the MÁV-Group: MÁV trains and VOLÁN buses
• GYSEV trains
• BKK (public transport within Budapest: you can also buy a Hungary or County pass from the BudapestGO app)
• local bus operators in Csongrád, Érd, Esztergom
• and some small bus companies: G-Busline Kft. (Budapest–Lenti), Trans-Tour 90 Kft. (Budapest–Beregsurány), Trans-Vonal Kft. (Nyíregyháza–Balsa), and Weekendbus Közlekedési Zrt. (Budapest–Csömör).

If you have a pass and would like to use local services in a city outside of Budapest, check the local operators' site as your Pass might be valid for all transit, just buses or neither. If you travel on an IC train, you still have to reserve a seat alongside your pass.

A County Pass is valid for 30 days within one county, costs 9450 Ft.

A Hungary Pass is valid for the entire country. If you are planning to visit multiple regions or take lots of train trips, it might make sense to buy this at 18900 Ft.

There is also a nationwide 24-hour pass. It's called Hungary24 and costs 4999 Ft.

It is possible to use your Interrail pass in Hungary. Check whether buying tickets for each journey is cheaper.

Most train stations will let you use a debit or credit card. Some stops might be served only by vending machines. A gépi menetjegykiadás is a staffed cashier desk; jegykiadó automata is a vending machine.

You can buy tickets with euro. It is possible to purchase an international ticket and supplement at every Hungarian railway station which has an international cash desk. Cash desks do not accept euro bank notes of values above €50, and you will get the change in forints.

If you boarded at a station without a ticket office or vending machine, you can buy a regular ticket from the conductor.

If you boarded at a station where purchasing a ticket was possible, you have to buy a ticket from the conductor and pay a 2600 Ft surcharge.

If you boarded at a station within the Mandatory ticket pre-purchase zone around Budapest, you have to buy a ticket and pay a 25000 Ft fine. This fine isn't fully enforced yet, there is a grace period until 31 Aug 2025.

Some lines might operate without a conductor: in this case buy a ticket before boarding.

Bike transport

The easiest way to check if you can transport bikes is to check the Bicycle checkmark on emma.mav.hu or jegy.mav.hu when planning a trip. You will have to buy a separate bike ticket (500 Ft) and on very popular lines you might have to reserve a bicycle space as well.

International bike transport on the train also possible on selected trains cost €4-10 (vary), first price to Vienna, the highest to Hamburg (via Berlin).

List of e-ticket acceptance points like a vending machine. Buy the ticket on the Net and find at the station the pre-purchased ticket issuing machine to validate and print your ticket.

There are luggage rooms or lockers (Hu: csomagmegörző) in train stations. Lockers cost (since 2010): small 400 Ft, or bigger 600 Ft per 24hours. More than one day cost 600 Ft per each started day. An incomplete list of stations with Luggage rooms or/and lockers: Budapest-Déli, Kelenföld (Budapest), Budapest-Keleti, Budapest-Nyugati, Debrecen, Győr, Miskolc-Tiszai, Nyíregyháza, Siófok, Sopron, Szolnok, Szombathely.

Hungary’s national bus network is operated by the MÁV-Group (previously run by the Volán Association). Connections are frequent, and prices are identical to those on non-Intercity trains. Bus lines often are more complete than train lines, but the speed is quite similar. Long-distance buses are clean and safe, but often subject to delays. Buy your ticket at the station ticket desk before boarding; if you do not take your bus at a main station, purchase a ticket from the driver. In Budapest and major cities, make sure that you validate tickets even when buying from the bus driver. The small orange boxes are used for validating tickets and are seen at several points throughout the bus. It is a good idea to reserve your tickets for national holidays, Friday and Sunday evenings beforehand. Online booking is available in English. You can plan your trip with any of the trip planning services mentioned at the beginning of the chapter.

People aged 65 and older and people under 14 generally travel free of charge. Persons between 14 and 25 get 50% discounts.

There are several scheduled riverboat and hydrofoil lines operated by MAHART PassNave Ltd. from the capital city Budapest to towns in the Danubebend, like Szentendre, Visegrád and Esztergom, and also a good hydrofoil boat connection operated by the same company between Vienna and Budapest from May to September.

In the capital city there are several sightseeing and night cruises operated by MAHART PassNave Ltd. and other shipping companies, like Legenda Ltd.

There are some ferries on Danube and Tisza but their working hours are undependable. You can trust the ferry on Lake Balaton, though, for a modest price.

Aggressive and unpredictable driving and speeds significantly higher than in northern Europe are a constant source of traffic incidents. Traffic lights are not always obeyed.

Most roads in Hungary are two-lane, apart from modern motorways. Roads and motorways leading to Budapest are mostly in good shape; however, cracks, potholes and bumpy roads are common on minor roads and in major cities, though they are constantly being repaired. It is usually not difficult to travel by using a map and following road signs.

Expressways are not free, but there are no other toll roads or tunnels. A vignette system is used, similar to that in neighboring Austria and Slovakia, but as of 2013 the vignette is stored electronically and checked for using gantries that read licence plate numbers. You can purchase them in intervals of 10 days (called "Weekly vignette"), 1 month, or 1 year. The vignette is very important and it is a good idea to buy it even if you don't plan to use the highway. Control is automatic with video cameras and you will get a high ticket (20,000 Ft) automatically without any warning.

If you travel by normal roads the speed limit is 90 km/h between cities and 50 km/h inside, which slows you to the average around 60 km/h. Roads often have high traffic (especially main roads like #8 to the west, #6 to the south and #4 to the east). On highways the speed limit is 130 km/h, travel is the same as in Germany, and on the inside lane it is very common to have someone speed by you.

Expect the Police to use speed traps of all kinds: fixed ones on all motorways which are signed, and mobile ones from bridges, cars standing on the shoulder or behind bushes and trees. Beware that some policemen hide around speed limit signs, especially when the sign visibly useless or if it's extremely slow for the given road type. Police corruption is widespread especially around Budapest (generally 10,000 Ft solves usual problems if you don't get arrested for it).

When you cross the country from the west to the east (or vice versa), take into account that there are only a few bridges crossing the Danube outside Budapest. There are some ferries available though.

Outside urban areas, it is a legal requirement to drive with headlights on, even during the day—a requirement that is becoming more common across the EU.

Hungary has a policy of zero tolerance for driving under the influence of alcohol. If you are caught driving even after only having a couple of units of alcohol you are most likely to be arrested.

There is a fast growing highway network in Hungary (1,480 km in total). Each highway starts in Budapest.

• M0 - Motorway ring around Budapest. The north-east and south sections are ready.
• M1 - connection to Győr, Austria and Slovakia (west)
• M2 - connection to Vác, planned to reach the border to Slovakia by 2015 (north)
• M3/M30/M35 - connection to Miskolc, Debrecen and Nyíregyháza (east)
• M5 - connection to Serbia, via Kecskemét and Szeged (south-east)
• M6/M60 - Connection to Dunaújváros and Pécs(south)
• M7/M70 - connection to Lake Balaton, Croatia and Slovenia (south-west)

• M4 - connection to Romania via Szolnok (east)
• M44 - connection between the M5 at Kecskemét and the Romanian border via Békéscsaba (east)
• M8/M9 - will cross the country (east-west)

A single vignette is required to use all highways, except for M0 and short sections around major cities, which are free. Vignettes can be purchased online with bankcard on the official web (and several private online companies, e.g. Hungary-vignette ), at filling stations and at ÁAK (State Motorway Management Co.) offices. A 10-day vignette for a passenger car costs 2975 Ft during summertime, the 4-day ticket for car has been cancelled. Vignettes are controlled automatically through a camera system.

The Hungarian oszkar.com social car pool network/website will allow you to find cheap transport around the country and from (and to) many European cities (especially Vienna, but many German cities are also well "serviced").

In case you're not familiar with the idea: people who travel by car and willing to take passengers post their itinerary. You can hitch a ride by booking it on the website and then contacting the driver, whose contact information the website furnishes you with. People wishing to travel by car pool can also post and hope to be found by a prospective driver. Passengers are expected to contribute to the cost of the trip, but "fares" are typically much lower than bus/coach or rail fares (e.g. as of 2013, a trip from Vienna to Budapest may cost 2,500–6,500 Ft). A significant downside is that the site is in Hungarian (although you might be able to navigate it with a service Google Translate) and that booking (but not searching) requires registration, which is free. Drivers as well as passengers can rate each other after trips, much like at auction sites.

Drivers are typically young adults (young enough to be familiar with the Internet and old enough to own their own cars); this also means they're slightly more likely to speak a foreign language than the average Hungarian, but you still shouldn't depend on it.

Some commercial "shuttle operators" use oszkar.com to offer rides too; their postings are visually distinguishable from "amateur" ones.

Oszkar.com is a buyer's market: there are generally many more passenger seats available than passengers.

Inspect the change that taxi drivers give you. Cabbies commonly rip off tourists by giving them change in outdated Romanian currency, which looks similar to Hungarian currency, but is worthless and cannot be redeemed.

Ride-hailing is available in Hungary and the following are the most anticipated providers:

• Bolt. Works in Budapest, Debrecen and Pécs. (updated Jul 2020)