Health, vaccinations and medical care in Hungary

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.