Budapest Short Breaks Guide

Budapest has long been regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Often compared to Prague, it is in our view even prettier, and less crowded. Its extended UNESCO World Heritage site consists of Buda Castle overlooking the banks of Danube, Andrassy Avenue, Hero’s Square and the superb Millennium Underground Railway (that’s the turn of the 20^th century). Only the London Underground is older than Budapest’s.

Greater Budapest has grown into a zone inhabiting nearly 3 million people, with the inner city accounting for about half of that.

Originally founded by Celtic tribes (the earliest Celtic remains were found in Hungary), who were forced west by the expansion of the Roman Empire from about the time of Christ. The Romans turned it into a fortress which became part of Pannonia. In the 9^th century the Bulgarians built fortresses on both sides of the Danube, Buda and Pest, which were then conquered by Árpád who founded the Kingdom of Hungary. It wasn’t until after the Tatar invasion in the 13^th century that Budapest became the capital having been reinforced by stone walls.

Budapest was eventually occupied by the Ottoman Turks from 1541 who remained in charge of the city for 140 years. The western parts of Hungary remained part of the Holy Roman Empire who finally won back the capital and the Eastern part of Hungary as far as Timisoara in 1686, but had to wait until 1718 for the borders to become internationally recognised.

The 19^th century brought domination by the Habsburg Empire who made Budapest their capital.

The Western part of Romania, Transylvania remains disputed territory with a large ethnic Hungarian population, much of it lost after 1918 when Hungary declared itself an independent republic.

The Battle of Budapest in 1944 obliterated large parts of the city, but was finally dominated by the Soviets which led to it becoming a communist state until 1989.

Reaching Budapest
Malev, the Hungarian flag-carrier now flies from London Gatwick, but you can get direct flights from Heathrow with BA at very convenient departure times i.e. out at 08:30 and back at 18:20. Austrian Airlines are well worth trying out as well with some very low fares but travelling via Vienna. From the UK regions try Easyjet or KLM. Ryanair doesn’t fly to Hungary at all. To get an at-a-glance view of flights available, try using our Budapest flights search engine.

Arriving at Budapest
Remember Hungary is not part of the Eurozone, they deal in Hungarian Forints.

If you want to taxi into the city you’ll probably come across a Főtaxi rank outside all the three terminals. A single journey into the city will cost between 14 Eur and 24 Eur on the time of day and where you are going in the city.

Try booking a minibus transfer in advance on the Airport Shuttle, they’ll take you door to door for about 7 Euro.

Budapest Ferihegy Airport is easily accessible by trains from the Budapest Nyugati Railway Station. On weekdays train number 110 and at weekends train number 89 get you from the city center to the airport in less than half an hour. Tickets can be bought from vending machines at Terminal 1.

Getting around in Budapest
Given Budapest Metro’s age, and heritage status, it would be a shame not to use it. Take a look at the map on this page, we couldn’t find a PDF download anywhere.