bornintheusa

Will be in Budapest for 5 nights/6 days and was reading in a Rick Steve's book that there is a 7 day travel card available but am not seeing it on the Budapest
webpage for their transit system--am seeing 24 and 72 hour passes...does a 7 day pass exist??

geetika

We were in Budapest a month back and got the 72hrs travel pass, don’t remember seeing a 7 day one. Though of course we weren’t there so long and didn’t particularly pay attention to the longer passes.

However, despite the pass we mostly walked everywhere as quite often taking public transport didn’t really make sense. We’d need to walk to the bus stop or metro, then again at the other end. And walking the whole distance took just about as much time. But maybe it was just the places we were visiting?

bornintheusa

Am now seeing a 15 day pass for a little more than the 72 hour pass--does the 15 day cover buses, trams and metro???

geetika

I believe it should cover all public transport, just like the 72 hrs pass.

LucieV

Our son and his family have been living in Budapest for almost 3 years. Last September he bought us each one of these when we were visiting for 2 weeks. We used public transportation. daily, often several times a day; we hardly ever even had to show it. We used the trains twice. Though Budapest is not my favorite city, their public transportation is excellent.
https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes...budapest-pass/

geetika

When we were in Budapest end April they were checking for tickets/passes on the metro regularly. Never on the bus or tram though. Our guide said they start getting strict as the tourist season begins.

Yes, as LucieV says the Budapest public transport system is very good.

bornintheusa

Lucie V just went to the link you provided and it says that the proof of ID should be a passport, drivers license, etc. issued by a Hungarian authority--does this mean that a US resident can not purchase the 15 day pass????

LucieV

That makes sense. We were there in late September-early October. Lots of Asian tourists, but otherwise relatively uncrowded.

LucieV

That's a good question, bornintheusa. Our son bought our passes for us. He does not have a HU passport, at least as far as I know. Married to a Hungarian citizen, he must have something that entitled him to purchase the passes for us.

bornintheusa

Just found out info on another site that says yes non Hungarians can purchase the 15 day pass--only a little more than the 72 hr card

LucieV

That's good news. You''ll get a lot of use out of it -- it's well worth it.

tomboy

If you're open to a restaurant recommendation.....
Trofea Grill
There are 3 of them in Budapest. There's one "downtown", ; we dined at the one labelled "B" on google maps.

The concierge at our hotel recommended it to us.
He described it as "I think you call it buffet in English"
Immediately, the hairs on the back of my neck went up,
Visions of Golden Corral, et al went thru my mind....thoughts of hard-fried chicken etc.
but it was 8 PM, so what the hey?

Got there. Nice interior, not buffet-like; warm, inviting
To the left was a buffet-like counter, but it was manned by 3 chefs (not mere attendants). If one wanted meat or fish, they hand-cooked it personally for the customer.
To the right were accompaniments, but my recall is that I pointed, they dished it up.
Everything was labelled tri-lingually.
The entire experience was highly similar to a 5 star US restaurant, except for the signage, the murmur of Hungarian in the background. Interesting food combinations (goulasch, schnitzel, foie gras {who knew?}, papriskash, etc. They didn't have hand-carved prime rib, or chicken wings, but we didn't want US food on a trip to Hungary.
We dined twice for dinner on our 3 days in Budapest, but Trofea was the most pleasant, tastiest, and memorable. Wish we had it back home here.
:

LucieV

tomboy, where did you stay in Budapest? (I'm assuming Pest.)

bornintheusa

Thanks tomboy--will give it a try--sounds amazing

Vicky

We got the 3 day pass. Used it once round trip to go to the NY Cafe. Walked everywhere else. The gates weren’t working and there was an inspector waiting to check our passes. We took the funicular to the castle district but the pass didn’t cover that

bornintheusa

We're staying south in an apartment near the Great Hall market/Kelvin ter Metro area so thinking it may come in handy to get to Momento Park, the baths, as well as Castle Hill and Gellert Hill...Never having been to Budapest am not sure if having the transport pass will get a lot of use considering we are not staying in the middle of the area...any thoughts????

geetika

We also stayed at an apartment near the Kelvin ter metro, very central and walkable. We also used the metro and trams, there was another metro on the other side from our apartment which connected us to other places. But we also walked a lot, taking the metro to places which were farther away.

bornintheusa

I just was on Tripavisor forum and they are saying that Budapest now allows 65+ to ride transport for FREE--don't need to be an EU citizen----just carry passport/drivers license to show if someone questions you...they said it's even good on the 100e bus to/from the airport. Anyone know if this is for sure true????

geetika

We were in Budapest end April and three of our group is over 65. But we still bought the 72hrs pass, neither did our private guide tell us about this. Is it something new? Please report back after your trip.

bornintheusa

geetika Yes must be something new-- found this on the BKK website-- Statement for seniors:

What kind of discounts are available to seniors?

Over 65 years, you can travel free with any original identity card (photo ID). No photos/copies of the ID are accepted! Eligibility is based on age, irrespective of nationality, legal status or any other consideration.

See link below for discounts
Link to page: https://bkk.hu/en/faq/tickets-passes-penalty-fares/