Transport in Hungary: Trains, Buses, Fares and Airport Runs

Hungary is cheapest and easiest to cross by train, and the single ticket worth knowing about is the Magyarország24 day pass at 4,999 Ft (about €14, $16, £12), which covers unlimited national train and coach travel for one calendar day. Hungary runs its trains and its long-distance coaches under one group, MÁV-Volán, on one fare system, so a train ticket and a coach ticket come from the same app and the same passes cover both.

The network radiates from Budapest. That makes the capital an easy base and makes city-to-city journeys that skip Budapest slower than the map suggests, which is the single fact that shapes a Hungarian itinerary. For everything else about the country, start at our Hungary travel guide.

Every fare below is a current published figure from the operator. Hungary uses the forint (HUF) and has not adopted the euro, so the forint price is what you pay at the machine; the conversions in brackets were made in September 2026 and are an indication only.

How do you get from Budapest Airport to the city?

You get from Budapest Airport to the city on the 100E Airport Express bus, which runs to Deák Ferenc tér in the centre and takes a dedicated ticket. Budapest Airport sits about 16 km (9.9 mi) southeast of the centre and has no rail link to the terminals, whatever older guides say. A dedicated airport railway has been approved and costed at around €1 billion, and it has not been built.

The four ways in, with the operator’s own 2026 prices:

A standard Budapest single ticket is not valid on the 100E. That is the mistake visitors make most often at this airport: a 500 Ft single will get you an inspection and a penalty. Buy the 2,500 Ft airport ticket, or if you already hold a pass, buy the 1,000 Ft add-on instead.

On the taxi, the tariff is fixed by city decree. Airport journeys carry a one-off base fare of 2,100 Ft, then 520 Ft a kilometre and 130 Ft a minute of waiting, so an ordinary run to the inner districts works out at roughly 11,000 Ft (about €30, $35, £26) before traffic. Take a car from the official rank and never from someone who approaches you in arrivals.

How much does public transport cost in Budapest?

Budapest public transport costs 500 Ft (about €1.40, $1.60, £1.20) for a single ticket, and a 72-hour travelcard at 5,750 Ft is the better buy from about your fourth journey. Budapest’s metro, trams, buses, trolleybuses, suburban HÉV lines and Danube ferries all sit on one BKK ticket.

Validation is enforced and the rules are unforgiving, so learn them before your first ride.

1. On the metro, validate at the station entrance, not on the platform.
2. On a bus, tram or trolleybus, validate immediately after boarding.
3. Validate a new ticket every time you change line or mode. A single ticket is one ride, not one journey. The 30-minute and 90-minute tickets are the ones that allow transfers.
4. Keep the ticket until you leave the system. Inspectors work the exits as well as the platforms.

If you are planning a museum-heavy few days, work out whether the Budapest Card beats a travelcard, because it bundles transport with entries.

How do you travel between Hungarian cities?

You travel between Hungarian cities by train for the main corridors and by coach for everything the railway misses. MÁV runs the trains and Volánbusz the coaches, both inside the MÁV-Volán Group, and a single ticket or pass from one is valid on the other’s intercity services.

Buy tickets in the MÁV app or at jegy.mav.hu, at station machines and at ticket offices. Buying in the app is cheaper: the operator gives a 15% discount on point-to-point domestic tickets and on seat reservations bought through MÁVPlusz.

Passes and day tickets

The national fare system is built around passes rather than point-to-point tickets, and for a visitor the day tickets are usually the answer.

The Magyarország24 is the figure to plan around. A day return to Debrecen, Pécs or Szeged from Budapest costs more in single tickets than 4,999 Ft buys you in unlimited travel, and it covers coaches as well, so you can go out by train and come back by bus.

Seat reservations are separate and cheap:

• Non-InterCity trains: 300 Ft (about €0.80, $0.95, £0.70)
• InterCity, booked before the day of travel: 650 Ft (about €1.80, $2.10, £1.55)
• InterCity, booked on the day: 990 Ft (about €2.70, $3.15, £2.35)

A reservation is compulsory on some InterCity services and worth buying on any Friday or Sunday train out of Budapest regardless.

Point-to-point fares

Point-to-point domestic fares are distance-banded rather than route-priced, so a ticket costs the same per kilometre wherever you are going. Check the live fare in the MÁV app or at jegy.mav.hu before you travel, because the fare tables are revised without much notice. Omio prices Hungarian trains and coaches against each other in one search if you want to compare a rail route with a bus route before you commit.

The main routes from Budapest, with typical journey times:

Those six routes cover most of what a visitor wants. Our city guides have the arrival details for Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged and Eger, and places to visit in Hungary covers the rest.

Trains leave Budapest from three terminals, and which one you want depends on the direction. Keleti (Eastern) handles most international services and the east; Nyugati (Western) covers the northeast and the Great Plain; Déli (Southern) covers Transdanubia and the Balaton. Check the terminal on the ticket, because they are far apart.

Long-distance coaches use Népliget bus station, on metro line M3.

How many airports does Hungary have?

Hungary has one airport that matters for scheduled international flights, Budapest Ferenc Liszt International, and a handful of smaller fields with limited or seasonal traffic. Budapest Airport handled a record 19.6 million passengers in 2025 and is where almost every visitor lands.

• Budapest Ferenc Liszt International (BUD). The national gateway, 16 km (9.9 mi) southeast of the centre. A third terminal and a rail link have been approved and are not yet built.
• Debrecen International (DEB). The second airport with scheduled services, serving eastern Hungary, with a small Wizz Air-led route list.
• Hévíz-Balaton (SOB). Seasonal charter and holiday traffic for the western Balaton and the Hévíz spa town.
• Győr-Pér (QGY), Pécs-Pogány (PEV) and Fertőszentmiklós (FTS). General aviation, charter and business flying. None of them has a useful scheduled passenger service, so do not plan a domestic hop into Pécs or Győr.

There are no scheduled domestic passenger flights within Hungary. The country is small enough that the train is faster door to door than any internal flight would be.

Is a rental car worth it in Hungary?

A rental car is worth it in Hungary everywhere except Budapest, where it is a liability. A car earns its keep for the Balaton uplands, the Danube Bend, the wine regions and the national parks, all of which are badly served by public transport and close together once you have wheels.

Where the car wins:

1. Hortobágy National Park, on the Great Plain, where the bus timetable will not fit a day’s visit.
2. The Balaton north shore, where the villages, cellars and lavender fields sit between the train stops.
3. Aggtelek, the karst caves on the Slovak border, which are effectively car-only.
4. The Danube Bend loop, Szentendre to Visegrád to Esztergom, which takes all day on public transport and half a day by car.
5. Anywhere with children and luggage, where the door-to-door saving outweighs the parking hassle.

Where it loses: Budapest, where parking is paid, scarce and expensive, and where the metro and trams reach everything. Pick the car up on the day you leave the city, not on arrival.

Compare rental prices for Hungary here, and read renting a car in Hungary for the deposits, age limits and extra charges. Before you take a car onto a motorway, read driving in Hungary: the toll network needs an e-vignette bought in advance, the alcohol limit is zero, and the surcharge for getting the first one wrong is 27,790 Ft.

Are taxis safe in Hungary?

Taxis are safe in Hungary when you order them, and a risk when they approach you. Taxi fares in Budapest are set by city decree, so every licensed taxi charges the same and there is nothing to haggle over. From 1 August 2026 the Budapest tariff is a 1,300 Ft base fare, 521 Ft a kilometre and 130 Ft a minute of waiting, with a higher 2,100 Ft base fare on airport journeys.

How to avoid the one scam that still runs:

• Order by app or phone, or take a car from a marked rank. Never accept a driver who approaches you at the airport, at Keleti station or outside a bar.
• Check the taxi is yellow with a roof sign and a visible tariff card. Budapest taxis are required to be.
• Watch the meter start, and ask for the receipt at the end.
• Bolt and the local apps work in Budapest and give you a price before you get in.

Outside Budapest, provincial towns set their own tariffs and fares are lower. Phone the dispatcher rather than hoping for a passing cab, because ranks outside the capital are thin.

Can you get around Hungary by boat?

You can get around parts of Hungary by boat in summer, on Lake Balaton and on the Danube, and both are scenic routes rather than fast ones. Boat services are seasonal: timetables thin out in autumn and most stop in winter.

• Lake Balaton has a ferry network linking the north and south shores, including the short Tihany to Szántód crossing, which saves a long drive around the lake.
• The Danube has scheduled boats between Budapest and the Danube Bend towns in summer, and Budapest’s own BKK river service runs as part of the city transport network.
• Budapest’s evening cruises are the tourist product rather than transport, and they are worth it once for the lit Parliament.

Treat a boat as an experience with a timetable rather than a way to make a connection, and check the operator’s current season dates before you plan around one.

Is cycling a realistic way to travel in Hungary?

Cycling is a realistic way to travel in Hungary on the flat, and the country has built the routes to prove it. Hungary’s terrain is mostly plain and low hills, and the marked long-distance routes are well surfaced.

The two that matter:

1. The Balaton circuit, a fully marked ring of roughly 200 km (124 mi) around the lake, which is the country’s signature ride and can be broken into three or four days.
2. The EuroVelo 6 Danube route, which crosses Hungary from the Slovak border through Budapest to the Croatian and Serbian frontiers.

Bikes travel on Hungarian trains for a supplementary fee, and there is an annual national bike pass for people doing this often. Budapest has a public bike-share scheme and a growing lane network, though traffic on the big boulevards is not for nervous riders.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a train from Budapest Airport to the city centre?

No. Budapest Airport has no rail connection to its terminals. The 100E Airport Express bus is the direct public transport option, and the 200E bus connects to metro line M3 at Kőbánya-Kispest. A dedicated airport railway has been approved but not built.

Can you use a Budapest travelcard on the 100E airport bus?

Not on its own. If you hold a valid Budapest pass, Pest County pass or Hungary pass, you buy a 1,000 Ft add-on airport ticket. Without a pass, the 100E needs its own 2,500 Ft ticket, and an ordinary single is not valid.

Is the train or the bus better in Hungary?

The train for the main corridors from Budapest, the bus for everything else. Trains are faster and more comfortable on the InterCity routes; coaches reach the towns and villages the railway never got to, and they are often the only option for a cross-country journey that does not go through Budapest.

Do you need to book Hungarian trains in advance?

Not usually, but a seat reservation is compulsory on some InterCity services and sensible on any Friday or Sunday departure from Budapest. It costs 650 Ft booked ahead and 990 Ft on the day.

How much is a day of unlimited travel in Hungary?

4,999 Ft for the Magyarország24 national day ticket, or 999 Ft for the Vármegye24 if you are staying inside one county. Both cover trains and coaches.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Four things about Hungarian transport that catch visitors out are listed below.

1. Buy the Magyarország24 before you price single tickets. At 4,999 Ft it covers a whole calendar day of unlimited trains and coaches nationwide, which is less than most Budapest day returns to Debrecen, Szeged or Pécs. Almost no English-language guide mentions it, because it was designed for commuters.
2. The 100E needs its own ticket and a normal single will get you fined. Budapest’s airport bus sits outside the standard fare system. Buy the 2,500 Ft airport ticket at the machine before you board, or the 1,000 Ft add-on if you already hold a pass.
3. Check which Budapest terminal your train leaves from. Keleti, Nyugati and Déli serve different directions and are a long way apart, so a ticket to Szeged and a ticket to Győr start from different stations. Read the terminal off the ticket before you set the alarm.
4. Validate again every time you change. A Budapest single ticket buys one ride, not one journey, so switching from a tram to the metro means a second ticket. The 90-minute ticket at 850 Ft is the one that lets you transfer.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, who has spent years working out which European cities reward a rail pass and which need a hire car. The team covers Hungary for independent travellers, including the trains, coaches, airport transfers and rental cars worth booking, and updates this page when fares and timetables change.