Getting around Hungary

By plane

Hungary presently has no regular domestic flights. As Budapest lies in the center of the country and pretty much any point can be reached within three hours by train or bus, there isn't much need for scheduled domestic flights. However there are many opportunities for people with a valid pilot's license to rent a plane and explore by air.

• A Pilot's Academy of Malev Flying Club [4] +36(20)565-6467, Dunakeszi. Lightweight gliders and other stuff.

By train

The Hungarian national train company is MÁV and GYSEV (some lines in the west of the country). MÁV has online schedule and pricing site with online booking system coming soon. The train network is star-shaped, fanning out from the centre at Budapest. This is caused by history because half of the once complete train system went to the neighbor countries after World War I. If none of the start or endpoint is Budapest, expect to travel for a long time often with change in Budapest. Intercity (IC) trains are the fastest, and they're up-to-date, well maintained and cleaned. They link the major cities with Budapest. For these trains usually you pay 550 Forints (= 2 EUR) extra fee independently from the distance which includes a 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 amongst the cheapest with an excellent record of speed and comfort. In almost all cases they also have a restaurant car. 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. Other train lines usually are not that fast, and not always cleaned up to the high standards (even in the 1st class), and often vandalised (mostly in Budapest region) however quality standards are considerably raising. During summer period trains linking Balaton to Budapest are sometimes overcrowded. 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. When in the train, keep in mind that there are smoking and non-smoking cars--check a sign over a door inside a car. Young people (under 26 years) may travel with 33% reduction at the weekends (Friday afternoon included). Children (under 6 years) and retired (citizens from EU countries over 65 years) can travel free except on InterCity trains where the extra fee (reservation) must be paid. It is possible to buy Inter Rail pass for Hungary. Check whether buying tickets for each journey is cheaper.

By bus

Bus lines often are more complete than train lines, the prices and the speed is quite similar. Buses are normally clean. There are several companies that provide coach services. Most of them belong to the Volán conglomerate [5]. You can search for connections at http://www.menetrendek.hu/cgi-bin/menetrend/html.cgi (Hungarian only).

By boat

These are not used very often (since Hungary has limited amount of waterways). Although from April to October there is a good hydrofoil boat connection between Vienna and Budapest. There are some ferries on Danube and Tisza but their undetermined working hours make them non-recommended. You can trust the ferry on Lake Balaton, though, for a modest price.

By car

Most roads in Hungary are two lane apart from a few, modern motorways. Main roads 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. Usually you can travel by using a map and the road signs. Highways are not free, but there are no other toll roads or tunnels. Don't count on Western European travel times though: 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 60km/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, travel is similar to Western Europe, and on the inside lane it is very common to have someone speed by you. 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. It is a legal requirement to drive with headlights on, even during the day -- a requirement that is becoming more common across the EU. Highways There is a fast growing highway network in Hungary (1,000 km in total). Each highway starts at Budapest.

• M0 - ring around Budapest. The eastern and northern section are under construction, planned to be ready at the end of 2010
• 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, planned to reach Nyíregyháza in 2007 (east)
• M5 - connection to Serbia, via Kecskemét and Szeged (south-east)
• M6/M56 - Connection to Dunaújváros, section to the center of Budapest planned to be ready in 2007, and further sections to Pécs are planned to be ready in 2009 (south)
• M7 - connection to Lake Balaton, Croatia and Slovenia. Some sections are under constructions. (south-west)

Planned:

• M4 - will provide connection to Romania via Szolnok by the year 2015 (east)
• M44 - will provide connection between the M5 at Kecskemét and the Romanian border via Békéscsaba (east)
• M8/M9 - will cross the country east-west by 2015

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 http://www.ppo.hu, at filling stations and at ÁAK (State Motorway Management Co.) offices. A 4-day vignette for a passenger car costs HUF 1520 (~EUR 6) during summertime. Vignettes are controlled automatically through a camera system. See http://www.motorway.hu/ or http://www.nart.hu/ for details.

By taxi

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. See also: Budapest#By taxi.