Overview
Budapest's public transport network is run by BKK and knits together four metro lines, an extensive tram system, urban buses, trolleybuses and suburban rail lines. The city centre is compact and walkable, but for anything in the outer districts you will want to ride. The system is reliable, and night service is generally considered dependable, though rush hours are crowded and slow.
Riding it end to end is straightforward. First, buy your ticket or travel card — either in the BudapestGO mobile app, from a purple ticket vending machine, at a customer sales point, or at a newspaper kiosk. Second, validate your ticket at the start of your journey. On the metro, that means inserting it into the orange validation machine on a metal pole before you head down the escalator to the platform; the machine stamps the date and time and confirms with a musical tone and a small green light. Third, ride to your destination — travel cards let you hop on and off freely, while single tickets cover one uninterrupted trip. Finally, keep your ticket or card with you, because inspectors are common, especially in the metro, and fines for travelling without a valid ticket can reach 16,000 Ft.
The network
The Budapest Metro (Hungarian: Budapesti metró) is the backbone of the system. Opened in 1896, it is the world's second oldest electrified underground railway after the City and South London Railway, and it has grown to 39.4 kilometres and 52 stations since its most recent line opened in 2014. There are four colour-coded lines:
- M1 (yellow) — the oldest line, in constant operation since 1896. It runs northeast from the city centre on the Pest side under Andrássy út to the Városliget (City Park), and does not serve Buda. Its original stations retain their historic appearance, and the Millennium Underground Museum sits in the old station at Deák Ferenc tér. In 2002 the line was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- M2 (red) — runs east–west from Déli pályaudvar in Buda through the city centre to Örs vezér tere in eastern Pest, crossing the river. It connects with Hungarian State Railways at Déli and Keleti stations, with M1 and M3 at Deák Ferenc tér, with M4 at Keleti pályaudvar, and with suburban rail lines H8 and H9 at Örs vezér tere and H5 at Batthyány tér.
- M3 (blue) — the longest line, running broadly north–south on the Pest side and linking populous residential areas with the Inner City. It interchanges with M1 and M2 at Deák Ferenc tér and with M4 at Kálvin tér. A full renovation was completed in May 2023.
- M4 (green) — runs southwest–northeast from Kelenföld vasútállomás in Buda to Keleti pályaudvar, crossing the river. It is 7.4 kilometres long with ten stations, and connects to mainline rail at both termini.
Beyond the metro, the tram network is the other workhorse. Useful lines for visitors include:
- Tram 2 and 2B — run along the Pest Danube embankment between Jászai Mari tér and Közvágóhíd, passing the Duna Corso promenade and Kossuth Square (Parliament).
- Trams 47 and 49 — connect Pest and Buda.
- Tram 4 — runs along the Grand Boulevard.
- Tram 19 — runs in Buda, linking Kelenföld Train Station with Óbuda along the Danube between Liberty Bridge and Margaret Bridge.
Urban buses fill in the gaps across the city, and trolleybuses serve several inner routes. On the suburban rail side, lines H5, H6, H7, H8 and H9 connect the city with outlying towns and interchange with the metro at points such as Batthyány tér and Örs vezér tere. A proposed M5 line would one day link the H5, H6 and H7 suburban lines through a new north–south tunnel, but it remains a long-term plan without mainstream political support.
On the Danube, scheduled public boat services formerly ran in spring and autumn, but public boat services ceased in 2023 due to maintenance costs, so do not count on a ferry as part of your journey.
Tickets & fares
BKK tickets and passes are valid across the metro, trams, buses and trolleybuses. Travel cards are valid on all public transport except the Danube boat service. Prices are reviewed periodically by BKK, so treat every figure below as approximate and check the official price list before you travel.
Common ticket and pass types include:
- Single ticket — around 500 HUF, or 700 HUF if bought on board from the driver. Valid for one uninterrupted trip.
- Block of 10 single tickets — around 4,500 HUF, working out at roughly 450 HUF each.
- 30-minute ticket — around 600 HUF, with unlimited transfers within 30 minutes.
- 90-minute ticket — around 850 HUF, with unlimited transfers within 90 minutes.
- 24-hour travel card — around 2,750 HUF, valid from 0:00 to 24:00 of the indicated day. This is not the same thing as the 24-hour Budapest Card.
- 72-hour travel card — around 5,750 HUF, valid for 72 hours from the time and date of purchase.
- 24-hour group travel card — around 5,000 HUF, valid for up to five people for 24 hours.
Note that a single ticket covers only an uninterrupted ride, so changing metro lines requires a separate transfer ticket — but if you are using a time-based ticket, you validate it before travel and again each time you switch to another line, as long as the last transfer falls within the 30- or 90-minute limit. No revalidation is needed when transferring between metro lines. Tickets are pale purple in colour, and bicycles are permitted only on certain vehicle types, with a single ticket validated for the bike.
Discounts and free travel are generous. Children living in Hungary up to age 14 travel free with a Hungarian ID for age verification, and free public transport has been extended to children up to 14 and to people aged 65 or over, including non-Hungarian citizens. EU and Swiss citizens aged 65 and over travel free on all lines with valid ID showing age and nationality. Pupils and university students can buy discounted monthly or yearly passes with a valid student ID, though there is no student discount on single tickets.
The Budapest Card bundles unlimited public transport with discounts on tours and services, free entry to permanent exhibitions at many museums, and entry to Lukács Bath. Approximate prices are 17,990 HUF for the 24-hour card, 23,990 HUF for the 48-hour Classic, 29,990 HUF for the 72-hour Classic, 38,990 HUF for the 96-hour Classic, 39,990 HUF for the 72-hour Plus, and 27,990 HUF for the 72-hour Flexi. A Sziget Citypass is also offered for festival-goers.
You can buy tickets and passes in several ways. The BudapestGO mobile app sells single tickets, time-based tickets and 24/72-hour travel cards, and also offers route planning, real-time information and BuBi bike rental points. Purple ticket vending machines — around 300 of them citywide, open 24/7 — sit at metro entrances, main stations and the airport, and accept cash and bank cards; card is the recommended option for tourists. The machines let you choose a language via flag icons and accept coins from 5 to 200 HUF and banknotes from 500 to 20,000 HUF, with limits on how many notes and coins you can insert per transaction. Staffed BKK Customer Sales Points operate at the airport, and ticket offices (Jegypénztár) remain at some metro stations including Corvin negyed, Népliget and Nyugati tér on M3, and Blaha Lujza tér and Széll Kálmán tér on M2 — though most ticket offices have closed and most cashiers speak only Hungarian. Tickets are also sold at many newspaper kiosks.
An automated fare collection system has been in the works for years: a contract was signed in 2014 but terminated in 2018 without completion. The Budapest Pay&GO system, introduced on bus line 100E in June 2023, has been available on all metro lines from 22 April 2026.
From the airport
Budapest Franz Liszt International Airport (BUD), still often called Ferihegy, sits about 16 km southeast of the city centre. All flights use Terminals 2A and 2B, which are freely connected landside by corridors and airside by the SkyCourt food and retail area. Your main public-transport options are bus, bus plus metro, bus plus train, and taxi or transfer.
- Bus 100E (Airport Express) — runs from the city centre to Terminal 2 arrivals level 24 hours a day, every 7–15 minutes most of the day and every 30 minutes between midnight and 5AM. The ride takes 30–40 minutes depending on traffic. The city-centre stop is by Deák Ferenc tér at Károly krt in front of Városháza Park; look for a blue articulated bus with an airplane sign. The only intermediate stops are Kálvin tér and Astoria tér (city-bound only). The fare is 2,500 Ft, payable by tapping your bank card on the machine inside the bus or at vending machines outside. Be careful not to buy the 450 Ft tickets, which are not valid on this service.
- Bus 200E plus Metro M3 — Bus 200E runs between Terminal 2 and Kőbánya-Kispest metro station in about 25 minutes for 500 Ft. From there you buy a metro ticket for another 500 Ft and ride line M3 to the city centre, roughly 20 minutes to the main interchange at Deák Ferenc tér. The bus runs all day every day, every 7–8 minutes during the day and every 30–60 minutes late at night; the metro runs every 3–5 minutes from 04:30 to 00:00. With slick connections the whole route takes about 45 minutes.
- Bus 200E plus train — Kőbánya-Kispest also has a mainline train station, with trains every 10–15 minutes to Budapest Nyugati in the northern city centre taking about 25 minutes. This is also where you would change for eastern towns such as Szeged, Kecskemét, Debrecen, Miskolc and Szolnok. Do not board a train for Budapest Keleti, as it will make a long scenic tour of the countryside before looping back to the city.
- Taxi — the only licensed taxi operator at the airport is Főtaxi, so do not accept offers from drivers or touts waiting around Arrivals. A trip inbound to central Budapest costs from around 13,000 Ft. Queue at the taxi stand first to receive a written quote for your fare, then pay it when you arrive. Official taxi fares are fixed citywide, with no surge pricing, and as of 1 August 2026 stood at a 1,300 HUF base fare, 521 HUF per kilometre, 130 HUF per minute waiting, plus an 800 HUF airport surcharge. Note that Főtaxi does not provide child seats.
- Shared and private transfers — the official shared shuttle is MiniBud, with fares from a central hotel of around 8,990 Ft single or 15,990 Ft return for one person, plus 2,000 Ft per extra person. Private transfers are also available, with one to three people costing around 13,500 Ft one way in an estate car, and four to seven people around 21,000 Ft one way in a minibus.
Etiquette & customs
Budapest's riding culture is orderly but brisk. A few habits will make your journeys smoother:
- Validate before you ride. Tickets must be validated at the start of the journey, and inspectors are common, especially in the metro. Keep your validated ticket or pass with you until you leave the system.
- Escalators. On the metro escalators, stand on the right and leave the left side free for people walking past.
- Priority seating. Seats reserved for the elderly, pregnant passengers and those with reduced mobility are marked; offer them up when someone needs one.
- Eating and drinking. Keep food and drink off the vehicles and out of the stations, and avoid messy or strongly scented food on board.
- Rush hour. Expect crowding and slower journeys at peak times. Let passengers off before you board, and move down the carriage rather than blocking the doors.
- Queuing. Queue at stops and stands in the order you arrived, and wait for your turn at taxi stands and ticket machines.
- Quiet. Keep phone calls and music low, and use headphones rather than a speaker.
Official links
Survival terms
- Metro / subway — metró (MEH-troh)
- Ticket — jegy (yedy)
- Line — vonal (VOH-nahl)
- Entrance — bejárat (BEH-yah-raht)
- Exit — kijárat (KEE-yah-raht)
- Transfer — átszállás (AHT-sahl-lahsh)
- Single fare — egy útra szóló jegy (edy OOT-rah SOH-loh yedy)
- Day pass — napijegy (NAH-pee-yedy)
Buy a travel card rather than single tickets if you plan more than a couple of journeys a day, and always validate it before you ride.