mike

1. I am staying for a few days for work in Budapest later in June. My evenings will be free. any recommendations?? <BR> <BR>2.I will be staying at the Holiday Inn which seems to be some way out of the center. Any ideas on the best way to get there from the airport? <BR>Are the taxis metered and reliable? A colleague had a bad experience in Rome recently and I am a bit leery about taking cabs on my own <BR>3. Is it best to take Hungarian currency or foreign to change? If foreign which is the the preferred? <BR>Thanks for any info

Thyra

HI Mike, <BR>Actually Taxi's in Budapest are not reliable at all IMHO. There are 1 or possibly two city licensed cab companies and about 300 Non-licensed ones. You need to pick up a good guide book and get some phone numbers of legitimate taxi companies. My husband and I didn't do this and were charged 500 times the proper amount for a fair the first time...(we were stupid I know, but when my husband threatened to not pay, he was physically threatened). We then tried taking a more legitimate looking cab with an "apparently" working meter.. and still ended up paying over 100 times more then the fare should have been... our hotel staff was good naturedly chiding us about that one. We took busses around for the next few days, but when we left we had our hotel call the licensed cab company.. I think it's just called City Taxi.. and ended up paying the the proper fare... something like 6 dollars... and it was $60.00 for the first ride we took... luckily we learned from our mistakes... we travel all over the world and can laugh about it now... but I suggest you get a good pocket guide and follow it religiously in terms of choosing taxi's. Otherwise Budapest is a great city, and the food divine. Have a great time.

mimi

I would not ride a taxi in Budapest unless it was a flat rate from the hotel. Our hotel the Victoria had flat rates to the airport, train station, etc. We hear horror stories about how the taxi drivers charged the American tourist. We also found this to be true in Prague and got taken by $5.00 from a train station. We were lucky that it was not for more. On arriving at the Budapest airport, outside of baggage,there is an airport shuttle, takes visa, that takes you to your hotel. They took only us and another couple straight to our hotel for only $6.00 a person. This was great for we did not need to get money until we went to a bank. The shuttle said it goes to all the major hotels so I hope that this helps. As far as the evening goes see if the Opera house has anything playing. While we were there it was the Ballet Romeo and Juliet. There are also concerts all around Pest almost every evening. Try to eat at one of George Lang's restaurants such as Gundel or Bagalor(can't spell it but everyone knows it near the Museum of Fine Arts. If you have time try to go to the baths at the Gellert Hotel. Two other restaurants we enjoyed were near the Chain bridge on the Buda side; Garden of Paris and Brussels Brasserie.

Simon

The preferred foreign currency is the German Mark (DM). Visa and Mastercard are often accepted. But you should be paying in Hungarian forints. There is a currency exchange at the airport. <BR> <BR>Be careful, especially in Vaci Utca, but enjoy!

s.fowler

The advice you are getting is good. The hotel will have the names and numbers of the few reliable taxis -- and always agree to a price before you get in. NEVER hail a taxi on the street -- only call the numbers the hotel gives you. The hotel may be getting a "cut" -- but it's better than playing the Budapest version of taxi roulette. <BR> <BR>Depending on where you are you may be near atram or metro line. They are simple, fast and reliable -- just be sure to galidate your ticket in the boxes as you get on the tram or go into the station. Best bet is to get a travel card for the number of days you will be there.

joan

The travel card is great. We were just in Budapest this spring and the travel card came with our special package for the Hotel. We come from an area of the US that has virtually no mass trans. We had a blast riding theirs and it was really easy and efficient. They do have transit police in the stations checking your pass or ticket...esp. if you look like a tourist..they figure you don't know what you're doing. The travel pass works on the metro, bus and tram. Well worth the money, and you aren't trying to figure out transfer tickets, validation, or exact change for tickets late at night.

mark

I agree with s. fowler - I just got back from Budapest also. I used taxis that were waiting at the hotel (the Gellert) - I asked the bell captain (?) how much the fare would be to use as a rough estimate. Not sure what I would have done if the estimated and the actual fare were excessively different. I also used the subways and trolleys - which were very frequent and easy to use. As for transport from (and to) the airport - use the minibus. Last year there was a problem with my round trip fare ticket I bought. This time I just bought one way fares each way (1800 fts) - it eliminated the possibilty of being scammed. It's very inexpensive. <BR>As for currency - exchange windows are at the airport and atms abound everywhere in the city. I exchanged $40 when I landed at the airport which got me to the hotel, a massage and soak at the Rudas baths and a long relaxing lunch which included a bottle of pezgo (champange - to take the edge off my jet lag). Budapest is a wonderful city.

Marc David Miller

In January I always used City Taxi to get around--I would call them from a phone booth in the opera or a restaurant, and the car would be there in 5 minutes. Reasonable prices too.

Art

Hi Mike, Budapest is one of my favorite cities in Europe and the most beautiful. Taxi's (other than city) are rip-offs. Fodors book on Hungary lists phone numbers for 2 taxi companies that are reliable. Be very careful with any others. Other than that I had absolutely no problems. The public transportation system is one of the best I've ever seen. As mentioned above, your 3 or 7 day pass covers the Metro, Trams and busses. Make sure that you have it with you. There are vans at the airport that go to hotels and also some like our super shuttles that take you door to door and are quite reasonable. <BR>Do NOT exchange currency at the airport in Budapest of any other country. Use the ATM's. They give you a better exchange rate and are everywhere. <BR>Do try the Opera and there are also other musical presentations in Budapest. I attended a operetta a block from the Mariotte hotel and in fact got my tickets at the Mariotte . <BR>

mark

Art - the exchange rate I got at the airport was pretty close to the rate that was quoted by Cheat Sheets for Travelers from the previous day - I think they charged a $1 commission. I don't remember seeing an ATM near baggage claim or on the first floor of the airport - it may have been located on the second floor near the gift shop but I wasn't going to quibble over $1 or roam all over an airport after flying for 8 hours plus I exchanged enough to pay for the minibus (1800 forints = $5.50 ) and a little extra till i could go to an ATM in the city ( I imagine the ATM fees would be less than at an airport) By hey - what do I know besides having just been there - to each their own.....

eva

Holiday Inn is OUTSIDE of Budapest,on the Budapest-Vienna motorway, 20 km from the citycenter,trip by taxi takes 20-40 min depending on the traffic. <BR>Airport transfer.Take the minibus, but the airport is on the other side of the town,so it could take more than 1 hour. <BR>It seems to me that there is a shuttle service from the hotel to the center-not free- but I'm not sure of it. <BR>There is bus -No. 40- going to near city center,but you have to change to No.7.Taking the No. 40 you have to validate 2 tickets-because the hotel is out of citylimits-and I'm afraid the Budapest card or metro/traffic passes are not valid on it either <BR>There are some honest taxi companies,some honest taxi drivers-and many more not honest ones.The best companies are the following <BR>FŐTAXI ,some of their cars are yellow,but not all of them, but the phone number 2-222-222 is allways written on the back window. <BR>CITYTAXI ,2-111-111,but be carefull, because the CITYPARK TAXI and CT Taxi are very dishonest ones. <BR>Last month I took a taxi from city center to holiday Inn, and paid 10 usd.Before getting in the cab ask for the price. <BR>Change. Hotel and airport rates are not very good,change only the amount you need on your first day.city center-Váci utca -is full of Bureau of change places, very near to each other.Check 3-4 of them ,pick the best of them-it can't be bad,but before actually changing your money ask the clerk the rate and the comission thing,sometimes there are a lot of numbers written on the board.Most of the shops take credit card,but for sums under 10000 huf-30 usd-they prefer cash, and the local one is the best.Paying Usd cash for 2 cokes, the rate is bad, there is no change in usd etc <BR>Enjoy our country! <BR>Eva

alan

We used City Taxi and never were ripped off. We always got an idea about the fares in general from the hotel and then ageed on the fare first. We were very worried about this ahead of time and it became a non-issue because we were prepared.

mike

Thanks for all the useful info. Ithink I know enough now. <BR>mike