Budapest
Hungary
Thermal baths, ruin bars, and grand Danube views
Photo by Ervin Lukacs on Unsplash
Photos by Seth Fogelman, Linda Gerbec, Emma Fabbri and Arvydas Venckus on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Hungary
April to June, September to October
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 66mm in Jun
Where it is
47.50°N, 19.04°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Soak at Széchenyi or Gellért baths
- Tour the Parliament interior
- Drink at Szimpla Kert ruin bar
- Walk across the Chain Bridge at night
- See the city from Fisherman’s Bastion
- Visit the House of Terror museum
Budapest travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Hungary
Good valueHungary uses the forint, not the euro. Paying in euros is always a bad rate. Exchange offices in the centre are fine if they display a clear buy/sell spread — avoid any that advertise zero commission without showing rates.
ATMs & cards
Use OTP Bank, K&H or Erste machines. Avoid Euronet — they dominate the tourist areas and are expensive. Decline conversion, and be aware the ATM may suggest a large default amount.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- machines in the District VII bar streets
Use these instead
- OTP Bank
- K&H
- Erste
- Raiffeisen
Euronet dominates the tourist areas and defaults to large withdrawal amounts — check the figure before confirming.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Hungary
Very safeSafe city. Two specific scams to know: taxi drivers who quote in euros, and bars where a friendly local invites you in and the bill arrives enormous. Use Bolt and pick your own bar.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- District V
- Buda Castle
- Városliget — by day
- District VII — in the evening, when it is busy
Worth more attention
- Consumption-scam bars, where a stranger invites you and the bill is hundreds of euros
- Blaha Lujza tér — and District VIII around it, late at night
- Unlicensed taxis — only Főtaxi and the apps
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Hungary visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Hungary
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Tick-borne encephalitis for forest and countryside walking
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodGoulash here is a soup, not a stew. Try lángos from a market stall and chimney cake for dessert. District VII has the best value dining alongside the ruin bars.
Nightlife
The ruin bars — derelict buildings full of mismatched furniture — invented a genre and are still worth it, even overrun.
- Szimpla Kert — the original ruin bar, and still the best one
- Jewish Quarter — District VII, where all of them are
- Instant-Fogas — seven floors and about twenty rooms
Closing: 04:00, and Szimpla is busy at 03:00 on a Tuesday.
A beer in a bar: 600–1,200 HUF
Never accept an invitation from a woman in the street to "a bar I know" — the consumption-scam bars are still operating.
Getting around
Easy and cheap- BoltWorks here
- FőtaxiWorks here
- UberNot here
Főtaxi the licensed fleet
- From the airport
- Budapest airport to the centre 8,000–11,000 Ft
- Against a taxi
- Level. Budapest fixes one tariff for every taxi in the city, so nobody can undercut.
Uber does not operate in Hungary — it was legislated out in 2016 and has not come back.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Budapest — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Hungary
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.3× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 1.5× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Hungary, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Hungarian
- HelloJó napotyo NA-pot
- PleaseKéremKAY-rem
- Thank youKöszönömKUH-suh-nuhm
- Yes / NoIgen / NemEE-gen / nem
4 more phrases
- Excuse meElnézéstEL-nay-zaysht
- How much is it?Mennyibe kerül?MEN-yi-beh KEH-rool
- The bill, pleaseA számlát, kérema SAAM-laat
- Cheers!Egészségedre!EG-ays-shay-ged-reh
Religion
Catholic, with a Calvinist minority
Religion is culturally present rather than practised widely. Basilicas ask for covered shoulders.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Say jó napot on entering shops
- Toast with wine or spirits and make eye contact
- Bring a small gift if invited to someone’s home
- Try the thermal baths — they are an everyday institution, not a tourist novelty
Don't
- Do not clink beer glasses — the convention dates to 1849 and older Hungarians still hold it
- Do not put your hands under the table while eating
- Do not assume Hungarian relates to any neighbouring language; it does not
- Do not discuss the Trianon treaty lightly
Where to stay in Budapest
No Holistay rentals in Budapest yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Budapest on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Ferenc Liszt BUD
40 minfrom the airport· 18 km as the crow flies
100E airport bus to Deák Ferenc tér, 40 min.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
