🇭🇺 Hungary · Europe
Budapest
Thermal baths, ruin bars and Habsburg grandeur — at half of Vienna's price.
citycultureslow☀ best: Apr – Jun & Sep – Oct
SHOESTRING
€39/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€69/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€139/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€486 total
What Budapest costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
Bolt
Uber — not operating — use Bolt
Főtaxi
Metro/tram single€1
24-hour travelcard€5.6
72-hour travelcard€11
100E airport bus€4.8
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm bed€10–€19
Airbnb 1-BR€39–€69
3-star hotel€48–€82
Design hotel€104–€208
Monthly
Studio€521–€825
1-BR, decent area€651–€1,042
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Spar — central, reliable
Lidl / Aldi — cheapest baskets
Tesco — big weekly shop
CBA — local corner chain
Milk 1L€0.8
Bread€0.9
Eggs 12€2.3
Cheese 1kg€7.4
Chicken 1kg€4.8
Rice 1kg€1.3
Beer 0.5L€0.9
Coffee jar€3.5
🍜 Eating out
Lángos (fried-dough)€2.6–€4.3
Étkezde lunch menu€4.3–€6.9
Goulash + bread€6.1–€9.5
Bistro dinner€13–€24
Fine-dining tasting€52–€113
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Széchenyi Baths (family day)€21–€26
Buda Castle funicular + hill€4.3–€8.7
Zoo & Botanical Garden€10–€13
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
Széchenyi thermal bath€21–€26
Ruin-bar crawl (Szimpla etc.)€13–€26
Parliament tour (book ahead)€10–€17
Danube evening cruise€13–€22
🌤 Climate
Day °CRain
Best: Apr – Jun & Sep – Oct · Wet: May – Jul
Cold winters (baths are heavenly then), warm summers. Spring and autumn are the sweet spots.
✈️ Getting there
Wizz AirRyanaireasyJetLufthansaLondon€17–€52
Rome€22–€61
Berlin€17–€56
One airport (BUD). The 100E direct bus reaches the centre for ~€5 — skip the taxi touts.
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: Bank ATMs add no surcharge, but many now ask a rendszerdíj — decline the on-screen fee and use a bank machine. Euronet is everywhere and awful.
Limits: Bank machines 150,000–300,000 Ft; Euronet caps low to farm fees.
Best machines: OTPK&HErste
Always pay and withdraw in forint, never euros — the 'conversion' is a 10% tax. Budapest has good exchange offices away from Váci utca.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine; tick-borne encephalitis for forest hikers.
Health: Budapest tap water is excellent; the thermal baths are a health feature, not a hazard (shower first, hydrate after).
Tap water: ✅ Budapest tap water is safe and good; refill your bottle.
Safety: Budapest is a safe capital (~1/100k). The real traps are financial: rigged taxis (use Bolt), inflated 'ruin bar' tabs, and the old exchange-kiosk scam — all beaten by our standing rules.
Emergency: 112 (107 police · 104 ambulance)
🛂 Visa & entry
This is a Schengen-area country. Most US, UK, EU, Canadian, Australian, NZ, Brazilian, Japanese and Korean passports enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen zone. From 2025 the EU's ETIAS pre-authorisation applies to visa-free non-EU visitors — check before you fly.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Baths at dawn, ruin bars at dark — Hit Széchenyi when it opens (7am) to soak in near-empty steam, then save the buzzing ruin bars — Szimpla Kert and friends — for night. Two Budapest icons, both cheap, bookending one perfect day.
@thermal.tam · Jun '26 · ▲ 104