🇭🇺Hungary

The Schengen basics

• 90 days in any rolling 180 days, counted across the whole Schengen area rather than Hungary alone.
• Hungary has been in Schengen since 2007 and there are no routine checks arriving from Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia or Croatia.
• The borders with Serbia and Ukraine are external Schengen borders. Full checks, and in summer the Röszke crossing from Serbia can take hours.
• Coming in from Serbia by bus or train, budget serious time. Everyone is processed and the bus waits for the slowest passenger.

No stamps since April 2026

• The Entry/Exit System has been fully operational since 10 April 2026.
• Your face and fingerprints are recorded at the external border instead of a stamp. Children under 12 give no fingerprints.
• The first registration adds a few minutes, which is another reason the Serbian crossing is slow this year.
• Keep your own record of entry and exit dates. Nothing goes in your passport now.

ETIAS is not running

• The official EU site says ETIAS is not in operation and no applications are being collected.
• The Q4 2026 target was withdrawn in July 2026.
• It will cost EUR 20 when it eventually starts, for visa-free visitors aged 18 to 70.
• Any site selling you one today is a scam.

Where your nationality lands

• The Schengen visa fee rose to EUR 90 on 11 June 2026.
• Russian applicants inside Russia now get single-entry visas as a rule, following the Commission's decision of 7 November 2025.
• Travel medical insurance of at least EUR 30,000 is a visa condition.
• Passport valid 3 months beyond departure and issued within the last 10 years.

Carrying ID

• Hungarian law expects you to be able to identify yourself. Police can and do ask.
• A photocopy or a phone photo is usually accepted for casual checks, but carry the real passport if you are near a border.
• Your accommodation registers you and will take your passport at check-in. That is normal and required.

• Between EU countries there is no duty-free limit. Goods bought tax-paid in another member state travel with you; customs may only ask what a very large quantity is for, against indicative figures of 800 cigarettes and 10 litres of spirits.
• The tobacco allowance is the lower one for land and sea arrivals: 40 cigarettes rather than 200. The rest of the allowance is the EU standard - 1 litre of spirits over 22 % (or 2 litres of fortified or sparkling wine), 4 litres of still wine and 16 litres of beer.
• Other goods are capped by value - EUR 430 arriving by air or sea, EUR 300 by land - and the allowance cannot be pooled between travellers for a single item.
• Cash of EUR 10,000 or more must be declared, counting notes, coins, cheques and prepaid cards together. The money is seized for not declaring it, not for carrying it.
• The Serbian and Ukrainian crossings are external EU borders and both are searched thoroughly for tobacco.

Cover

• EU, EEA and Swiss visitors: bring the EHIC. UK visitors use the GHIC. Both give medically necessary state treatment on the same terms as an insured Hungarian.
• A small co-payment applies to some services, as it does for locals.
• Everyone else needs travel insurance.
• State hospitals are underfunded but competent. Emergency care is reliable.

Private care is cheap and good

• Private clinics in Budapest are modern, English-speaking and fast. A GP consultation is roughly HUF 20,000 to HUF 35,000.
• Dentistry is a Hungarian export. People fly to Budapest specifically for it, and quality at the established clinics is high at a third of western European prices.
• If you go private, the EHIC does not apply. You pay and claim from your insurer.

Pharmacies

• "Gyógyszertár" or "Patika", with a green cross.
• Every district has a 24 hour duty pharmacy, listed on the door of the closed ones.
• Pharmacists often speak English in Budapest, less so in small towns.
• Bring your own regular medication with the prescription.

The baths

• Budapest's thermal baths are a genuine health tradition, not just a tourist attraction, and doctors prescribe courses at them.
• The Gellért Baths are closed for renovation until 2028. If your guidebook or your plan says Gellért, change it.
• Széchenyi, Rudas and Lukács are open and cover everything from the huge outdoor pools to the Ottoman-era ones.
• Shower before entering, and a swimming cap is required in the lap pools. Caps are sold or hired on site.
• Avoid the hot pools if you are pregnant, have heart problems, or have been drinking. People do faint in the 40 °C pools.
• Do not stay in the hottest pool more than 20 minutes and drink water between rounds.

Everyday

• Tap water is safe throughout the country and Budapest's is good.
• Summer heat on the Great Plain regularly passes 35 °C.
• Ticks carry encephalitis in Hungarian forests. Check yourself after walking in woodland.
• No vaccinations are required to enter.

District VI no longer allows short-term rentals

This is new and it is absolute.

• From 1 January 2026, short-term rental in private and other non-hotel accommodation is prohibited in Terézváros, Budapest's District VI.
• It was decided by a binding local referendum and the ban was upheld by the Kúria, Hungary's supreme court.
• About 2,700 listings disappeared, and the district began inspections in the first week of January.
• Only hotels, guesthouses and community accommodation may operate there now.
• District VI is central, taking in Andrássy út, the Opera and the edge of the party district, so this is exactly where visitors used to book.
• Check the district before you book an apartment. A listing still showing there is either a hotel, mislabelled, or operating illegally, and an illegal one can be shut while you are in it.
• Other central districts are debating the same thing, so check again close to your trip.

The tourist tax

• Budapest charges 4 percent of the net room price per night, excluding VAT.
• Under-18s are exempt.
• It is usually collected at the property and is often not in the online price.
• Outside Budapest, towns charge a flat nightly amount, typically HUF 300 to HUF 700 a person.

Registration

• Your host must register you. They will take your passport at check-in and enter your details in the national system.
• This applies to apartments as well as hotels. A host who does not ask is not registering you.

Practical notes

• Districts V, VI and VII are the centre. District VII is the Jewish Quarter and the party district, which is lively and noisy until very late.
• If you want to sleep, do not book the middle of District VII on a weekend.
• Buda, across the river, is quieter and greener and still 15 minutes from everything by tram.
• Book well ahead for the August formula one weekend and the New Year, when prices double.
• Many older buildings have no lift and the "first floor" is up two flights. Ask if you have heavy bags.

The networks

• Yettel, Telekom and One are the three operators. One was Vodafone Hungary until it was rebranded.
• Telekom has the strongest network in eastern and southern Hungary. In Budapest all three are fine.
• A tourist prepaid package runs roughly HUF 4,000 to HUF 9,000 for 30 days with generous data, and includes an EU roaming allowance.

Registration is mandatory and awkward

• Hungarian law requires every prepaid SIM to be registered against a photo ID.
• You must do it in person at a shop. Foreign passports cannot be verified through the online portals, so the self-service route that Hungarians use is not open to you.
• Some smaller shops will not do it at all rather than deal with a foreign document. Go to a flagship operator store in Budapest and it is straightforward.
• This friction is why an eSIM is often simply easier. All three networks support eSIM, as does Saily, and a travel eSIM skips the shop entirely.

Coverage

• 4G everywhere, 5G in Budapest and the larger cities.
• The Budapest metro has coverage on all four lines.
• Rural Hungary is well covered, and the Great Plain and Balaton are no trouble.
• Free wifi is widespread in cafes, on many buses and trains, and across central Budapest.

Sockets in Hungary are Type C and F at 230 V, 50 Hz - the round Schuko outlet used across central Europe.

• A Europlug fits every socket in the country.
• British, American and Australian plugs need an adapter.
• 230 V, so only American 120 V-only appliances need a converter.
• Older Budapest apartment buildings frequently have unearthed sockets of the same shape, which take the same plugs and connect no earth.
• The whole region matches. Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Romania all use the same Schuko socket, so nothing changes at a Hungarian border.
• The earth is a pair of clips on the rim, so a two-pin travel adapter leaves an appliance unearthed even when it fits snugly.

Language

• Hungarian is unrelated to the languages around it. It is not Slavic and not Germanic, and you will not guess a single word.
• "Szia" (see-ya) for hello and goodbye informally, "jó napot" formally, "köszönöm" for thank you.
• English is widely spoken in Budapest and by younger people. Much less so in villages, where German is often the second language.
• Surnames come first in Hungarian. Bartók Béla, not Béla Bartók.

Eating and drinking

• Check the bill for szervizdíj before tipping. Most Budapest restaurants add 10 to 15 percent already.
• Lunch is the main meal and the daily menu (napi menü) is very cheap, often HUF 2,500 for two or three courses.
• Portions are large and paprika is in everything. "Not spicy" still means paprika.
• Pálinka is fruit brandy at 40 to 50 percent and is offered as hospitality. It is not a shot to be raced.
• Do not clink beer glasses. The custom traces to 1849 and, while few under 40 care, older Hungarians still notice.
• Ruin bars are in District VII, built into derelict courtyards. Szimpla Kert is the original and still worth it.

The baths

• Bring or hire a towel, flip flops and a swimming cap if you plan to use the lap pool.
• Lockers and cabins are separate ticket options. A cabin costs a little more and is worth it.
• Széchenyi is the huge yellow one in the City Park, open all year, and the outdoor pools in the snow are the classic image.
• Rudas has an Ottoman octagonal pool and a rooftop tub, with some single-sex days. Check before you go.
• Wednesdays and early mornings are far quieter than weekend afternoons.

Practicalities

• Plugs are type C and F, 230 V.
• Shops open roughly 09:00 to 18:00 on weekdays, shorter on Saturdays. Sunday trading is allowed but many small shops close.
• Public holidays: 1 January, 15 March, Easter Monday, 1 May, Whit Monday, 20 August, 23 October, 1 November, 25 and 26 December. 20 August, Saint Stephen's Day, brings fireworks over the Danube and a closed city.
• Smoking is banned indoors in bars and restaurants and at covered public transport stops.
• Tap water is safe, and asking for it in a restaurant is normal, though a bottle may be brought if you are not clear.
• Public toilets charge HUF 200 to HUF 400.
• The Danube separates hilly Buda from flat Pest. Almost everything a visitor wants is in Pest, except the castle and the views, which are in Buda.

The forint

• Hungary uses the forint (HUF) and has no target date for adopting the euro.
• As a rough anchor in late August 2026, EUR 1 is around 360 forints and USD 1 around 310. The forint moves; check the National Bank rate before you change anything rather than trusting a figure in any guide, this one included.
• Notes run from 500 to 20,000 forints. A 20,000 note is hard to break in a small shop.
• Prices look alarming until you divide. A 6,000 forint dinner is about EUR 16.

Where not to change money

• Avoid the exchange booths around Váci utca and the tourist streets. Headline rates hide enormous spreads, and the commission appears at the counter.
• Never change money with someone on the street. It is illegal in Hungary and it is always a swindle, usually with worthless notes from another country.
• Avoid Euronet ATMs. They are everywhere in the tourist districts, default to large withdrawals and push a bad conversion at you.
• Use a bank ATM: OTP, K&H, Erste or Raiffeisen.
• Always decline conversion into your home currency. Choose forints and let your own bank convert.
• If you must use a booth, Correct Change and the ones away from the centre are far better than anything on a main tourist street. Check the buy and sell rates on the board before you hand anything over.

Cards

• Cards work almost everywhere, including markets and taxis, and contactless is standard.
• Some places accept euros at a punishing rate and give change in forints. Pay in forints.
• Carry a little cash for market stalls, small bakeries and public toilets.

Tipping, and the double-tip trap

• Most Budapest restaurants add a service charge (szervizdíj) of 10 to 15 percent automatically.
• Check the bill before you tip. If szervizdíj is on it, you are done, and adding another 15 percent means you have tipped 25 to 30 percent.
• If there is no service charge, 10 to 15 percent is normal.
• Say the total including the tip when you pay by card. Leaving cash on the table is less usual than telling the waiter the figure.
• Taxis: round up. Thermal bath attendants: a few hundred forints.

What things cost

• Coffee: HUF 800 to HUF 1,500.
• A half litre of beer: HUF 1,200 to HUF 2,500, higher in the ruin bars.
• A main course in an ordinary restaurant: HUF 3,500 to HUF 7,000.
• A thermal bath day ticket: HUF 9,000 to HUF 13,000 at Széchenyi, depending on day and locker type.

Budapest fares

• The 24 hour travelcard pays for itself in six rides and removes the whole validation problem.
• The 100E airport bus is excluded from all of these. It needs its own HUF 2,500 ticket.
• BudapestGO is the official app and charges the same prices as the machines.

Validate, or pay

• A paper single ticket must be punched in the orange or red box at the metro entrance or on board a tram or bus, before you travel.
• An unvalidated ticket is treated as no ticket. The penalty is several times the fare and inspectors work the metro escalators in numbers.
• App tickets and travelcards do not need validating, which is the main reason to use them.
• Inspectors wear armbands and are often at the bottom of the escalator. They ask everyone.

The network

• Four metro lines. M1, the little yellow one under Andrássy út, opened in 1896 and is the oldest underground line on the European continent.
• Trams 4 and 6 run all night around the Grand Boulevard and are the backbone of the city.
• Night buses cover the city from midnight to dawn.
• The suburban HÉV trains reach Szentendre and the outskirts, and need a supplement beyond the city boundary.

Between cities

• MÁV runs the trains and the network radiates from Budapest. Budapest to Lake Balaton takes 2 to 3 hours, Budapest to Debrecen about 2.5.
• Trains are cheap and mostly reliable, though the rolling stock is a lottery.
• Buses (Volánbusz) reach everywhere the trains do not.
• FlixBus covers the international routes to Vienna, Bratislava, Prague and Belgrade.
• 12Go sells Hungarian trains and buses in the same place as the rest of a central European route.

Driving

• A motorway e-vignette is compulsory, bought online or at petrol stations, and it is checked by camera. A 10 day national one costs around HUF 6,400.
• Buy it before you join the motorway. There is no grace period and the fine arrives by post.
• Zero tolerance for alcohol. Hungary's drink drive limit is 0.0, with no allowance whatsoever.
• Headlights on at all times outside built-up areas.

An electronic vignette sold nationally or by county, and zero tolerance for alcohol.

• The county vignette is a trap for a cross-country drive. It is cheap because it covers one county only; a Budapest-to-Lake-Balaton-to-Debrecen trip needs either several of them or the national one.
• Nothing goes on the windscreen - the e-matrica is registered to the plate and checked by camera.
• The alcohol limit is zero. Hungary means it: even a trace reading is an offence.
• Dipped headlights are compulsory outside built-up areas day and night.
• Motorway speed is 130 km/h and the M1, M3 and M7 are heavily camera-enforced.

The bar scam

This is the one thing to know about Budapest, and it is still running in 2026.

• How it works: a friendly stranger starts a conversation near Váci utca or in the Jewish Quarter, often a woman alone or a pair, and suggests a bar they like.
• Inside, drinks arrive without prices. The menu appears late or never.
• The bill is enormous. One documented case charged a visitor HUF 250,000, around EUR 630, for a single beer.
• Men on the door make paying feel non-optional, and people have been walked to an ATM.
• The rule that defeats it entirely: never go to a bar chosen by someone who approached you. Pick your own place, from your own map.
• Ask for the price list before you order anywhere you do not know. Venues are required to display prices.
• If it happens: stay calm, demand an itemised written receipt, and call the tourist police on +36 1 438 8080 from inside the venue. Pay by card if you must, since a card payment can be disputed and cash cannot.

Taxis

• All legal taxis are yellow with the tariff printed on the door.
• Never take a taxi that approaches you at the airport, at Keleti station or outside a club.
• Use Bolt or Főtaxi's own app, or a marked rank.
• The meter starts at HUF 1,300 with HUF 520 a kilometre since 1 August 2026. Anything wildly above that is a scam.

Pickpockets

• Trams 4 and 6, the metro, Keleti station and the Christmas markets are the working spots.
• Standard technique is a crowd surge at the doors.
• Front pockets, zipped bag in front. That is the whole defence.

Otherwise

• Violent crime against visitors is rare and Budapest is comfortable to walk at night.
• Ruin bars are legitimate and fun. Szimpla Kert and the well-known ones are not scams; the trap is the unnamed place someone walks you to.
• Drink spiking happens, as in any nightlife city. Watch your glass.
• Demonstrations occur in central Budapest and are usually peaceful. Walk away from them anyway.
• Cash machines inside bank branches are safer than street ones late at night.

The numbers

• 112 works from any phone, with or without a SIM, and reaches an English-speaking operator.
• The tourist police number is worth saving before you go out. It exists precisely because of the bar scam.

If a bar hands you an absurd bill

• Stay calm and do not get into a fight. The people in the doorway are part of the business.
• Ask for an itemised, printed receipt. They are legally required to give one.
• Call the tourist police from inside the venue. That alone ends many of these.
• Pay by card, not cash, if you have to pay. A card charge can be disputed with your bank; cash is gone.
• Report it afterwards anyway, with the receipt, so the venue can be acted on.

Other things going wrong

• Theft: report at a police station and get the written report. Insurers require it.
• Lost passport: your embassy is in Budapest, and most countries have one.
• Card lost or stolen: freeze it in your banking app first, then call your bank.
• Road accident: call 112. Hungary's drink drive limit is zero, and this matters for any accident investigation.
• Medical emergency: 112 or 104. State emergency care will treat you regardless of cover.