Hungary Tourism - Travel to Hungary

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Quick Facts
Capital	Budapest
Government	parliamentary democracy
Currency	forint (HUF)
Area	total: 93,030 sq km water: 690 sq km land: 92,340 sq km
Population	10,075,034 (July 2002 est.)
Language	Hungarian 98.2%, other 1.8%
Religion	Roman Catholic 67.5%, Calvinist 20%, Lutheran 5%, atheist and other 7.5%

Hungary is a country in Eastern Europe. The country isn't big but still offers many diverse, beautiful destinations: mountains in the north, the Great Plain in the east, lakes and rivers of all sorts, and many beautiful small villages and hidden gems of cities. Top this all with Hungary's great accessibility in the middle of Europe, a vibrant culture and economy, and you get a destination absolutely not worth missing if you're in the region.

Destinations

Map of Hungary

Understand Hungary Tourism

A more in-depth description of the country -- the history, it's political and ethnic situation, its culture. The deeper context that makes the country worth going to.

This was the country maybe starting the goodbye motion from the socialist era into the capitalism, which was mainly a success: all the shady sides of the western culture were adapted, and the good sides are planned to be implemented. But apart from kidding the country is not very different from most of the european countries: you may expect safe food and water, good safety and generally political stability. Hungary doesn't attract terrorists and keeps drug and crime levels moderate.

Some people think that this country is "red" (communist), some other think it's the "country of gypsies". It isn't. Hungary had probably the softest socialist regime, and in its last 20-30 years there wasn't much "redness" in the country apart from the Russians, who left the country a bit late, but finally, around 1992. Since then the country has elected governments, and the economy is based on the laws of marketing (and miracles). There is a gypsy population (some census say around 5%), this surely doesn't count as "all of them".

Most Hungarians are friendly except most citizens of large cities.

Get in/Get out

Travel to Hungary By Plane

Main Airport is in Budapest (nicknamed Ferihegy), right now (end of 2003) there are no further international Airports.

Travel to Hungary By Train

There are direct connections to Hungary from all the immediate neighbors: Austria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Ukraine.

There are also direct trains from countries slightly further afield: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Russia.

Travel to Hungary By car

When driving into Hungary, ensure that the border crossing on the route you choose allows the passage of foreigners; a number of smaller crossings are only open to local residents.

Hungary Tourism By plane

It is possible to enter Hungary by international shiplines on the Duna (Danube) or Tisza rivers.

Customs

Since at the moment Hungary is on the border of the EU you can expect a little more thorough border check than usual, but it's not scary or offensive (except when you choose to ignore import/export laws). Citizens of most countries are free to enter with passport for normal travel, usual length of stay is 30 days without any additional permit.

Get around in Hungary

General information about how to get around the country once you are there. An overview of domestic travel possibilities: air, train, and bus travel, long-distance taxis, ferries, etc...

Hungary Tourism By Car

Roads of Hungary are in good shape, and 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 with 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 have often high traffic (especially main roads like #8 to the west, #6 to the south and #4 to the east).

Highways

There are 4 highways, each of them starts from Budapest:

Government arranges payments: for normal cars you expect to pay 1900 HUF for 10 day ticket, or 3200 HUF for monthly ticket for all of the three highways below.
- M1- connecting to Vienna (west)
- M3- connecting to Miskolc (east)
- M7- connecting to Lake Balaton (south-west)
Privately-owned
- M5- going towards Kecskemét and Szeged (south-east): Currently the most expensive highway in Hungary, you usually pay 2300 HUF per travel

Air

International airport in Budapest, Ferihegy. National flight company is Malév (Hungarian Airlines).

Train

Train system is star-shaped, middle is 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 long time.

Intercity (IC) trains are the fastest, and they're well maintaned and cleaned (so you pay more). Other trainlines usually are not that fast, and not always cleaned up to the high standards, and often vandalised. Prices are similar to bus lines.

Bus

Bus lines often are more complete than train lines, the prices and the speed is quite similar. Buses are often clean but they're not always in top quality: many lines don't have (working) air conditioning in the summer (sometimes the central information can help you knowing that beforehand).

Ferries and ships

These are not used very often (since Hungary has limited amount of waterways). There are some ferries on Danube and Tisza but you're advised to avoid them due to the undetermined working hours. You can trust the ferry on Lake Balaton, though, for a modest price.

Hungary Talk

The metro and tram system are easy to negotiate but the language is not. Magyar (Hungarian) is unrelated to any European language other than Finnish, Estonian, and the far north Sámi: the language group is called Finno-Ugric; no cheating with high school Romance or Germanic languages here.

In the west many people understand German, and English is usually handled with more or less success. Younger population usually speaks either English, German, French or some other larger language. The alphabet is latin, with some accented characters (ŐőŰű, which are the same sound as ÖöÜü but longer, plus áéíóú, which are long vowels).

See Hungary

Tiszavirágzás. In mid-June the Tisza produces swarms of mayflies which are likened to flowers. Once decimated by pollution, the population is rebounding.

Spend

Money is Forint (HUF), there is no "cents" coins. Bills are 20000, 10000, 5000, 2000, 1000, 500 and 200 HUF, coins are 200 (very rare, some actually have silver content), 100 (two colored, usually forged with (Italian) lire or other similar colored, often worthless coins), 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, 1 HUF.

A lunch in Budapest is from 1000 to 8000 HUF per person, and half or third of that outside Budapest (chinese fast food menu is around 500 HUF). You can use major credit cards (EuroCard, Visa) in major shops and larger restaurants, but never expect that without checking first. Small places cannot afford to handle cards. ATMs are available even in small cities, the coverage is good.

Eat - Travel to Hungary

Hungary is a great place if you like special food! Hungarians are quite proud of their food, and most of the time not without a reason. Food are usually spicy (but not hot by general standards), and it's rather tasty than healthy. National foods are Goulash (Gulyás, which is different from what you may have possibly tasted anywhere in the World), all kinds of Pörkölt. If you don't like hot paprika, ask whether the food you are about to order is hot or not.

Drink

Hungary has several famous vine regions, most known are Villány, Eger, Badacsony, Tokaj, Szekszárd. Prices are reasonable.

Avoid

Debrecen: Anything in the square Kálvin.

Sleep - Hungary Tourism

General information on the type of accommodations (and price range) travelers will encounter.

Prices vary greatly. Budapest is 3 times more expensive than anything else.

Learn

Information about schools and classes for language, culture, or other activities. This can be about general stuff, with contact info and other specifics in the city guides.

Work

Jobs, work visas, volunteer opportunities and resources, etc.

Stay safe - Hungary Tourism

Words of warning (includes natural hazards, 'war and civil unrest' and other potential dangers)

Watch your baggage and pockets, especially when you travel by public transports. Pickpockets are overpopulating the honest people. In large cities (especially Budapest) avoid walking in the night outside main, well lit roads.

Stay Healthy While You Travel to Hungary

Medical information including local health hazards, medical, pharmacies, etc

Food and water is almost always safe.

Health system is crap, if you get hurt, expect to be handled well (emergency system is usually fast) but cared for not at all. Corruption in the health system is extremely high, for money you get care, tender, and you may even get healed. Private doctors are usually expensive and safe, public system is the opposite. Stay healthy and be careful!

Pharmacies are everywhere, you may expect high prices (compared to local incomes) but good pharmaceutical coverage.

Respect

Customs and etiquette.

Don't try your freshly learnt swear words on locals, you may get some serious beatings.

Contact

Phones, post, email and cyber cafes in general.