I'm planning a trip to Vienna, Prague and Budapest this summer and am deciding on the order of the cities to visit. A friend visted Budapest a couple of years ago and had problems with customs at the airport (they carefully examined every page of her passport (Canadian), examined the seams, etc., made her wait a long time while the officer took it away for further investigation and wouldn't tell her why). Her story has made me wary about flying in/out of Budapest. I was planning to fly into Prague, train to Vienna, then train to Budapest and then train back to Vienna to fly home. However, this is proving a hassle and I was wondering whether anyone's had any problems with Budapest customs. Was my friend just subject to random checking or is it a regular occurence for that airport? The incident scared her as there was no reason for them to suspect anything.

raindrops, we flew into Budapest, took a train to Vienna, rented a car and toured Austria, bused through Cesky Krumlov and ended the trip in Prague last June. I don't think whether you start in Budapest or Prague is that important, customs was quick in both cities. My suggestion is to fly "Open jaw", flying into one city and flying out of another. There is no extra charge for this and it will save you a return trip in the end.

I have flown to Budapest several times (from within the EU and on an Irish passport) and never had any difficulty. Nor have I noticed anybody else having problems.

You say that they (I presume you mean police on immigration control, and not customs) had no reason to suspect anything of your friend. That might not be true -- her name might have been on a watch list, or she might have resembled somebody they were looking for, or she might have inadvertently given a wrong signal. Such things can happen at any port of entry. Just the luck of the draw.

Flew out of Budapest in 2003 and flew into Budapest in 2006. No problems either way with a U.S. passport. I remember a customs agent, I presume, kind of randomly stopping me after I cleared immigration to casually ask if I were bringing in any liquor or cigarettes. I said yes, for personal use; she said o.k., have a nice visit. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

just flew out of budapest. no problem at all.

Just FYI, there are 19 euro tickets between vienna and budapest if you can get them.

I had that happen to me in 1984 during the communist era but I have flown 3 times to Budapest since and never a problem...have a great time!

I flew into Budapest last October on a UK passport and had no problems. I didn't notice anyone else having problems, either. I would use whichever routing works best for you.

No problems for us in Budapest, me on a US passport, my wife on her Australian one.

Maybe one of the easier airports I've been through.

No problem for me and my Canadian passport either. Flew into and out of Budapest twice in each of 2004 and 2005 and once in 2006, even with Middle Eastern stamps in my passport where I had been travelling, and not even a pause to read them (they saw them though) at the immigration desk.

Padraig's suggestions are quite likely.

Since December 2006, I have flown into Budapest 6 times with a US passport. I have had no problems, nor have I seen anyone else having difficulty.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I guess my friend just had bad luck. I'm glad I don't have to take a Budapest train back to Vienna to fly home!

lincasanova, what 19 euro tickets are you referring to? How far in advance do I have to book to get this discount?

my hotel got them a few days in advance.. but i saw it online but decided to just do it there. i was offered many options of times. this was in march, so it was low season.

that included reserved window seats, 2nd class.

i think it is the hungarian train system that offers this. hope someone can direct you to how to do it online.

trip takes three hours. no changes. ours left from westbanhof.

and that train had a really nice old world restaurant car my mom really enjoyed!

i iwll try to get my vienna/budapest report going before all this summer travel.

Just flew in to Budapest from London (after flying there from US) and had no problems whatsoever except that our bags didn't show up and the baggage claim people were very helpful to us.