Day trip from Budapest to Paks Hungary
 

Looking for transportion for a day trip from Budapest to Paks Hungary. I know it is a two hour drive. Looking for a tour quide who speaks English since we do not speak Hungarian. Also, could we rent a car for the day and drive it ourselves since we do not speak the lanquage? Thank you.

ttt

We drove easily in Hungary. To Eger (2 hr east) of Budapest. With map of course.
Why Paks?

my husbands father was born in Paks and we want to see where he and his grandmother lived and visit the Lutheran Church he was baptised in. It's good to know you had no trouble driving but do you speak the language?

We don't speak Hungarian, and drover in Hungary. We entered from the east (Slovakia), spent two nights in Eger , a gorgeous little city. Then we drove west for a day and night in the Danube Bend area. We didn't have any problems, driving or otherwise. I'm assuming (as I don't remember) that many road signs use international symbols.

While I tried to learn some Hungarian (the Pimsleur series), it's a very difficult language. Everyone we had contact with spoke some English.

Of course, I'm not familiar with Paks or the Lutheran church there. You might want to make contact with someone there before you arrive, top see if there's someone who speaks English who can help you read the church records.

We speak no Hungarian.
I'd heard how difficult the language was, so part of my advance preparation was to make a Word document of common phrases, with Col 1 being the Hungarian word, Col 2 being the phonetic pronunciation of the Hungarian word, and Col 3 being the English translation.
Since in these ex-East Bloc countries it's usually the younger people who were taught English, I'd planned to use the Word document if I got in a situation where I needed to communicate with an older person than a student.

So at one point that happened; I spoke the Hungarian (phonetically), he looked quizzical, I repeated the Hungarian, he looked at my paper, and said, "Do you speak English?"

I fully agree with Lexma90. You might also arm yourself with a printout of a family tree, and a list of genealogical word equivalents in Hungarian (such as father, grandfather, uncle, marry, death, born). Maybe look on Cyndi's list.com and Ancestry.com for Hungarian-related stuff.

Lexma, I Googled Lutheran churches and emailed two of them asking for information, here's hoping someone who receives them speaks English.

tomboy, your story is hilarious!

You souldn't have any trouble driving in Hunray without speaking the local language. Hungary has been a popular travel destination for generations of Germans and Austrians and most older people you meet on travels can get by in German, and younger people in English. Hungary was the most Westernised country in the communist days, and has remained so to this day. You'll find driving conditions, signposting etc of mostly Western European standards. If you are worried about getting lost, bring along or hire a sat nav unit. Remember there is electronic toll payment on Hungarian motorways, but almost all rental cars are registered for a year's toll, or you can arrange to pay for a shorter term (from a week) when you pick up the car.

Thanks Alec and everyone...We are seriously thinking of taking this trip, so your advice and suggestions are valued. No-one from the churches has emailed me back so I'm assuming that no one who received the email can speak English.

Try emailing in German (using Google, or ask a German speaker).

Alec, how do you email in German/Hungarian using Google?

http://www.freetranslation.com/

Type the text that you want to translate. Click on the drop down boxes to select your From and To languages.

Oh... and then copy and paste the translated text into your email.

Refreshing this post as we did not take the trip in 2011 but are planning for 2014.
Is there public transportation from Budapest to Paks? We are a little timid to drive because of not knowing the language.
Thanks for any new information.

Be brave. What's the worst that could happen? Having to ask 3 separate people, "which way to Pacs?" using gestures?

It looks like you can get there by bus: http://www.volanbusz.hu/en/menetrend...ype=interurban

Thanks oedipamaas, now to figure out how to read it! :-)