By airport Shuttle

Shuttle service is available at Budapest Airport by the name Airport Minibusz. Operating 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, with a boarding capacity of 8 to 10 passengers, our minibuses handle transfers from the airport to the passenger's home back and forth. Our drivers speak many foreign languages and have an outmost experience in finding the shortest route in the city. Passengers onboard Airport Minibus can get in touch with the airport to gather all necessary information regarding their flight from the moment of starting their journey.

From your house to the airport and back, our minibuses operate as a shared-ride service, meaning passengers travelling to the same region are carried at once. The travelling time is optimized and supervised using our fleet monitoring system, which can display the actual location of every vehicle in real-time.

Reservations can be made personally at the AirportShuttle Desk – located at every terminal – or by using our on-line reservation system (www.airportshuttle.hu) 24 hours before your flight departure time. It is also possible to order our service at a partner travel agency or by calling the Call Center at +36-1-296-8555.


Our opinion:

Actually arriving back to Budapest by airplane, usually I use the Airport Shuttle service.

Advantages of Shuttle:

- the fare is cheap. For almost the same fare as 1 ride with Taxi, you will get a return ticket from the Airport Shuttle.
- At the arrival, you can arrange at once your way to return by giving the address and time of where and when they are going to pick you up. You do not have to risk a taxi or anything else. I have used the Minibus at least 20 times and I never missed any planes.
- The buses are ok (mostly Ford Transits) and the drivers are helpful.
- Its good for a first sightseeing, especially if your destination is the last on the list.:)

Disadvantages of Minibus:

- You have to wait for the driver. Most of the time its only 3-4 mins but at times (especially in the evening) I had to wait like 20-30 mins. Its too much.
- you have to share the vehicle with others. So if you are afraid of sitting beside a British man in suit, or a German couple who are always kissing, better to take the taxi.
- the system they introduced to find your driver is not user-friendly. When you arrange your ticket at the desk, it is ok. You can recognise the desk easily (look at the logo above on the photo) the helpdesk ladies speak English and they also help you to find an accommodation if you need one. But then they will tell you pls. sit down somewhere near to the desk and the driver will call you by the address of your destination. Well, this is the weak point of the service. Just try to catch when the Hungarian driver search for you like this:

- Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca?..(little pause and then louder)..Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca??

Prepare yourself!!:)

Anyway..I never seen any tourists who were there for years because they never recognised their address...so most likely you also will be able to manage it! And our advice is definitely Minibus among all the existing other options!


By Taxi

The choice taxi in Budapest is a sensitive question. We try to provide you a guide based on our own experiences. Taking a taxi from the airport is simple if you use the airport's official partner, the ZONA TAXI.

"After visiting our kiosks, which can be found at each of the three airport terminals, Zóna TAXI's unique ordering system provides each of our passengers with a voucher. On one hand, the voucher indicates the length of your journey and the fare to be paid, and on the other hand, it guarantees the quality of our services. We constantly monitor our services jointly with Budapest Airport." (from their website)

Contacts:
t.: +36 1 365 55 55
zonataxi@zonataxi.eu
www.zonataxi.eu


Other Taxi companies:

Since ZÓNA is the only contracted company with the Airport other taxis are not allowed to stay in front of the airport unless they are pre-booked or for drop off. So taxis belonging to other companies are usually waiting a few km away....sent by the operator to the terminal if there is an incoming call.

Taxi companies usually use a special airport rate what they advertise on the windows of the cab.

Here are some companies:




Főtaxi (phone: +36 1 222 22 22)



City Taxi (phone: +36 1 211 11 11) .

6x6 Taxi (phone: +36 1 666 66 66)

Our general advices for airport transfer by taxi in Budapest:

• Take only taxis belonging to taxi companies. Cars having only reference numbers on their sides are usually private sharks with higher prices.
• Before taking a taxi, agree on the fare first. As you can see above every company have a fixed rate for airport transfer if the driver tries to negotiate, simply leave him to a next one.

By Public Transportation

If you decide to get involved into the Budapest life immediately, not just wanting to see Hungarians from a taxi or your sightseeing bus, it is better to take the public transportation.


Two options when it comes to Public Transportation:

Bus

From Ferihegy 1 terminal

















In front of the terminal you will find a bus stop. Search for this sign:

During daytime (4 am to 11 pm) the 200E Bus departs Terminal 2 every 10 minutes, providing connectivity with the Metro Line 3 terminus at Kőbánya-Kispest. Journey time from Terminal 2 to the city centre (Deák Ferenc tér) is 50 minutes using the 200E bus and Metro 3. 

During nighttime (11 pm to 4 am) the 900 Nightbus departs Terminal 2 every 30 to 60 minutes, providing connectivity with the 950 Nightbus stop at Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út. The 950 bus travels to Rákospalota via the City Center (Deák Ferenc tér) and Nyugati railway station.

From the Ferihegy 2A and Ferihegy 2B Terminals

Your bus from the Ferihegy2A and 2B Terminals is the Bus number 200E.

From the terminal Ferihegy 2A, 2B to the city center (Deák tér) it is at least 38 mins trip but altogether with the waiting and changing the lines you better buffer it to an estimated 1 hour.

TicketingThe fares of the BKV Rt (Budapest Public Transportation Company) for 2009:

How to get these magical tickets when you arrive to the Budapest Airport?

First of all you will have to exchange money. We still use Hungarian Forint it seems for a few more years we wont introduce Euro. To exchange money you will find places at the airport but their rates are usually not the best. You will get better rates in the city, so if its nessecary just exchange a little amount there at the airport.
Other way is to use ATM which you will find at the airport too and at 100000000 places in the city. We remind you that Budapest is a "cash" city paying with credit cards is possible at some places only.

If you have forint you can buy tickets from the ticket automat in front of the airport. If its work...if it accepts banknotes. If not you can buy tickets at the driver too. A bit more expensive but less trouble.

Spite of the fact that among Hungarians is a habit to ride the public transportation without tickets, we do not advice you to do this. Controllers are usually hunting for foreigners since they are scared of them and feel embarassed even if its not their fault that they couldnt get ticket or they wasnt smart enough to find out the sophisticated rules of the public transportation company.

Train Since the 16th of July 2007 the Ferihegy 1 Terminal is available by from the downtown (from the Western Railway Station - Nyugati Pályaudvar). Actually its not like they invested into a superfast new train between the downtown and the airport just they have built a new stop for the train which has been passing by the airport for like 30-40 years. Congratulations!!!

Anyway the good news is that like this you can reach your cheap flight at the Ferihegy 1 from the downtown within 30 mins waving to all the shark taxis with a wide smile from the windows.:)

The following video is in Hungarian. The report from the NEWS about the launching of the "new train". Even if you dont understand the speech you can get an impression on the circumstances.



Our opinion on transport from airport using public transportation in Budapest: 

Its definitely the cheapest solution and perfect way to get a real impression of Hungary and Hungarians. The area of the airport..hmm...lets say not really touristic...since you have to cross the suburbs but even if ugly its not dangerous. To get the ticket is not easy from the airport especially if you still dont have the local currency but for bravehearts we definitely offer the public transportation!


Rent a Car

If you prefer to escape from the airport by driving your car, you can rent them right after you enter the terminal. Just search for their logos and you get the service just like everywhere else. Click on the logos and you will find their website:














Our opinion on rent a car:

We never rent a car..so we do not have any opinion. :) If you have any experiences, just share it with us by commenting here!