Getting from Budapest Airport to the city

The ticket trap

Budapest runs a good integrated transport system and then puts its airport bus outside it.

• The 100E Airport Express requires the dedicated airport single ticket, 2,500 HUF.
• Ordinary tickets, travelcards and the Budapest Card are not valid. This is the single most common way visitors get fined here, because every other line in the city accepts the pass they just bought.
• Some passes buy a discount rather than nothing. Holders of a Budapest-pass (except the 15-day), a Pest County Pass or a Hungary Pass can buy a 1,000 HUF airport add-on for the same journey.
• The fare was raised from 2,200 to 2,500 HUF on 1 October 2025.

The route

• Every 20 minutes, from 05:00 to 01:30.
• Stops at Kalvin ter (M4), Astoria (M2) and Deak Ferenc ter, where M1, M2 and M3 all meet.
• Reckon on 40 minutes to Deak Ferenc ter, longer in traffic.

The cheap alternative

• Bus 200E runs from the terminal to Kobanya-Kispest, the southern terminus of metro M3, on an ordinary ticket.
• The whole journey costs a fraction of the 100E and works with a normal travelcard or the Budapest Card.
• It takes considerably longer - the 200E is a local bus with many stops and M3 runs the length of the city.
• With luggage and after a long flight the 100E is worth its price. With time to spare and a pass already in your pocket, the 200E is the obvious answer, and almost nobody at the airport will tell you it exists.