Travel to Hungary

Flying to Hungary

Flights to Hungary from the UK are operated by British Airways (www.ba.com), easyJet (www.easyjet.com), Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) and Wizz (www.wizzair.com).

The major airport is: Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport.

Airport Guides

Flight times

To Budapest: from London - 2 hours 25 minutes; New York - 11 hours (including stopover).

Departure tax

None.

Travelling to Hungary by Rail

MÁV (tel: 06 40 494 949, in Hungary only or +36 1 444 4499; www.mav.hu) operates Hungary's rail network. International routes include direct trains from Belgrade, Berlin, Ljubljana, Vienna and Zurich.

Rail passes

InterRail: offers unlimited first- or second-class travel in up to 29 European countries for European residents of over six months with two pass options. The Global Pass allows travel for 15 days, 22 days, one month, five days in 10 days or 10 days in 22 days across all countries. The One-Country Pass offers travel for three, four, six or eight days in one month in any of the countries except Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro.

Travel is not allowed in the passenger's country of residence. Reductions are available for travellers under 26. Children under 12 are free when travelling with an adult using an Adult Pass. Supplements are required for some high-speed services, seat reservations and couchettes. Discounts are offered on Eurostar and some ferry routes. Available from Voyages-sncf.com (tel: +44 844 848 5848, in the UK; www.voyages-sncf.com).

Eurailpass: offers unlimited train travel in up to 28 European countries. Tickets are valid for 15 days, 21 days, one month, two months, three months, five days in 10 days, 10 days in two months or 15 days in two months. The Global Pass allows travel across all participating countries. The Select Pass is valid in four bordering countries. The Regional Pass lets you travel in two bordering countries. The One Country Pass offers travel in one of 27 countries.

Adult passes are valid for first-class travel, while youth passes (under 26) are valid for second-class travel. Children under 12 are free when accompanied by an adult using an Adult Pass. The passes cannot be sold to EU citizens or residents. Available from Eurail (www.eurail.com).

Driving to Hungary

Anyone driving from the UK has to travel via the Channel Tunnel (tel: +44 8443 353 535, in the UK; www.eurotunnel.co.uk).

Coming from northwest Europe, the M1 motorway from Vienna and Bratislava enters Hungary just before the city of Györ and continues on to the Hungarian capital. The main route from Croatia in the southwest follows the south shore of Lake Balaton to become the M7 motorway that leads to Budapest. The M5 motorway leads south from Budapest to Szeged, from where there are nearby border crossings to both Serbia and Romania.

Getting to Hungary by boat

The Danube River runs through the country west to east passing through Budapest and is navigable all of the way. In addition to Budapest, a few other minor ports are located on the River Danube, but services to/from these do not connect to neighbouring countries.

Cruise ships

Most cruise ships travelling along the River Danube to the Black Sea call in at Budapest.

Ferry operators

From mid-May to September there is a thrice-weekly hydrofoil service run by MAHART PassNave (tel: +36 1 484 4013; www.mahartpassnave.hu) between Vienna and Budapest via Bratislava. The journey takes approximately six hours.