Info & Facts

Location of Budapest in Hungary:

 

Coordinates

47°28′19″N 19°03′01″E

Unification of Buda, Pest and Óbuda

17 November 1873

Mayor

István Tarlós (Fidesz-KDNP)

Area

525.16 km2 (202.8 sq mi)

Population (2011)

1,733,685

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postal code(s)

1011–1239

Area code

1

 

Foreign tourists entry

Citizens of the European Union can enter Hungary with an ID card as well. For the others,for the citizens of  the United States, Australia and Canada enough to have  passport,  however, the citizens of other countries  are  required to have visa as well. Tourists are allowed to stay for up to 30 days in the country.

Weather

Hungary is a country where you can see a real winter, spring, summer and autumn. During the long Winter months temperatures are on avarage between -4˚C to 4˚C, although they can reach as low as - 20˚C. The air is very dry in Hungary  which helps makes the winters more bareable. The snow will fall several times each winter and gives a new lights to the city.  The much awaited Spring arrives with a rise in the temperature and a chance to get rid of our winter clothes. April is the unpredictable month full of rainshowers and the occasional heatwave, May is one of the most beautiful month to visit the city with nice sunny days, good temperatures and fresh green colours from the many trees in abandance. Summer can be hot with temperatures reaching 40˚C. The locals leave Budapest for the Balaton and their weekend homes for much of the summer leaving the city to the tourists. This gives Budapest a strange but  lovely atmoshpere at the weekends with a city that is so quiet and empty. As with many places to visit Autumn in Budapest is the most beautiful and colourful time to visit. The city starts to return to normal after the long hot summer with the cultural scene starting up.  Temperatures are mild and September often provides an Indian Summer.

Transport 

Hungary has five international airports, although only the Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport and the Sármellék airports situated near the Balaton provide  international scheduled services.The railway network has star structure and in the center of it is Budapest. You can travel from one endpoint to another often through Budapest indirect lines.At present there are six highways in the country, all start from Budapest (M1, M3, M5, M6, M7) and Budapest is encircled by M0 highway.In the local transport of the cities buses are mostly used. In addition, in Budapest metro, tram, trolley bus, the cog railway and suburban railway play an important role.
Special means of transport serve tourism, in Budapest the Funicular, Children's Railway and Chair-lift, as well as the dinky-line railways in several parts of Hungary.

Money

We strongly recommend checking the current exchange rate prior to your departure. ATM's will give cash only in the local currency of forints (HUF).
Currently used coins: 5 HUF, 10 HUF, 20 HUF, 50 HUF, 100 HUF, 200 HUF
Currently used banknotes: 500 HUF, 1,000 HUF, 2,000 HUF, 5,000 HUF, 10,000 HUF, 20,000 HUF
Be sure when receiving change that all 1,000 HUF notes contain a vertical silver strip. Older notes without the strip are no longer valid. 200 HUF banknotes are also no longer valid, look out for these too!

Accessibility

More and more hotels, tourist attractions and museums, attractions are  accessible and usable for disabled tourists moving with  wheelchair or stick  in Budapest and in the country's other settlements as well.

Important phone numbers:

Police 107
Fire:105
Stay healthy Ambulance: 104
Central Emergency: 112 


Phone

Calling outside Budapest press city code (Budapest is 36-1) or mobile (06-30/ 70 /20 ) Calling international press 00 + country code + area code + local number (Hungary country code is 36).
Mobile phones work in the metro, even in tunnels between stations.
Some phone booths take coins (including euro coins), but others only take pre-paid cards. The posted number for cr card calls will lead to unexpectedly high charges (1USD for a one minute call to the US) and is to be avoided. Unfortunately, you cannot trust T-mobile to charge reasonable prices on their pay phones. You can make international calls from callshops and internet cafés at more reasonable prices.


Language

Hungarian is like no other language. It is said that Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language that includes Turkish, Finnish and Mongolian. It is often said that Hungarian has the closest link to Finnish – these two languages are completely unintelligible from each other. Learning a few basic words and phrases however is not difficult and can be said easily and learnt in a short space of time. Hungarians love hearing foreigners trying to speak their language as they know how difficult it is.

Yes – Igen
No – Nem
Good day – Jó Napot
Hello/bye – Szia
Good bye – Viszlát
Please – Kérem
Thank you – Köszönöm
Your welcome – Szívesen
Open/Closed – Nyitva/Zárva
Entrance/Exit – Bejárat/Kijárat
Restaurant – Étterem

Tip

In Hungary tipping is an accepted custom, which means that for certain services (if we are satisfied), we pay 10% more than the official price approximately,  generally it is considered the total  price to be rounded. (For example, instead  of HUF 1120 we pay  HUF 1,200 or HUF 1,300 ). It is a custom  to tip as in restaurants, in taxis or in the hairdresser's.