Budapest: from the airport to the city centre

Going from airports to city centre could be pretty annoying while travelling: prices are usually expensive, there are not many options, timetable and instructions are not very clear…

In Budapest going from the airport (to the city centre is quite easy and, even if your flight lands during the night, you have different options to reach the city, beyond taxis that are usually expensive.

I’m going to tell you the best options for going from Budapest airport to the city centre.

Public buses

In Budapest you can use public transport to reach the city, and this – in my opinion – is an extremely good pro.

100E

The 100E bus is probably the best option: it is the specific Airport shuttle bus, and it stops in 3 different points in the city centre (Deák Ferenc, Astoria and Kálvin).

The airport bus stop is very easy to find: on the arrival floor, just find the exit door and go on the left.

For taking this bus you will need a special ticket that costs 900 HUF (3 euros). The trip lasts about 30 minutes, and this bus is operative from 4 am until 11:30 pm.

200E + Metro

If you want to save some money, you can take the 200E bus. It follows the timetable of normal buses (I talk about it in the Moving around Budapest post) and it takes you to the metro stop Kőbánya-Kispest (the blue one). From here, you have to take the metro to reach the centre of Budapest.

In this way, you will need two single tickets of 350 HUF each (one for the bus and one for the subway).

If you arrive at the airport after 11:30 pm the metro will be closed, but there are some options I’m going to tell you right now.

Night options

If you arrive at the airport at night, you have two options depending on the time.

The first one, in case you arrive before 12:20 am you have to take the 200E bus to Határ út metro stop and there, due to the metro will be closed, you can take the 914, 950 or 950A buses to Deák Ferenc Square.

The second option is valid if you land between 1 am and 3:30 am: at the airport you need to take the 900 bus to Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út and then take the 950 or 950A to Deák Ferenc.

In both cases you will need two single tickets.

Using public transport at night to reach the centre of Budapest from the airport is the cheapest option for sure, but also the longest one (the trip can last even 2 hours).

On the other hand, if you want a faster – but a little more expensive – solution, keep an eye on private minibuses. I recommend you the WizzAir service: it is the cheapest and my experience was very positive.

WizzAir minibuses

WizzAir has two types of minibuses.

One of them departs from the XX parking, just outside the arrival terminal (follow the signs in the airport) and takes you to the central square Deák Ferenc for 5 euros.

The second minibus takes you directly to your hotel (or any specific direction). In this case, the price costs double (10 euros), so the choice is up to you. 🙂

WizzAir minibus are scheduled to coincide with the flights. However, you don’t have to fly with this company to use the minibus service. You can buy the tickets on the WizzAir website.

The minibus service is also available during the day, if you prefer it to the public bus.

Going from Budapest airport to the city centre, as you can see, it’s easy and can be done at any hour for a very cheap price.

Once in the city, moving around is very easy and intuitive, thanks to the huge public transport network I talked about in the Moving around Budapest post.