Private Driver in Budapest
 

We are traveling to budapest in September and I've heard that it is not a true walking city (meaning, you will want to walk around certain areas, but it's not easy to walk from area to area of the city). As such, we would like to hire a private driver for at least part of our time there. We'd also like possibly to hire a private tour guide. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Budapest IS a walking city. There's also a very good and easy metro - subway - that will take you, in very little time, to many neighborhoods. In other words, you really don't need a driver to get around.

One other thing - we did have a driver for the first afternoon - so that we could get an overview of the city. His name was Lukacs Ferenc <[email protected]>. He is very knowlegdeable.

The rest of the time we just took the metro or trams (as mentioned before) or walked - yes you can walk from some neighborhoods to another. Depends how much you want to walk.

There is no central "old city" like in Krakow or Prague. But again, you don't need a driver for the whole thing, and you're better off, IMHO, to get yourself around and really take your time and discover things as you go, not just get to a site, then get to another site.

Is it a problem that I cannot read hungarian in getting around the metro system. Meaning, when I purchase tickets/read maps, am I going to have difficulty not knowing the language?

The Budapest metro is very simple to use. There are three lines, and only a few intersections. The lines are colour-coded for signage in the stations.

All you need to work on is knowing the name of your station and the station at the end of the line in the direction in which you need to go.

One caution: if you use single-trip tickets, be sure to cancel them when you enter the station, as inspectors can be rigorous and levy on-the-spot fines. It is probably worth your while to get passes that cover the duration of your visit. The passes also cover the trams, which constitute a more extensive network.

In Budapest, I enjoy travelling by tram, whereas metro journeys are merely functional (except for the first trip you make on Line 1).

Agree with Padraig - metro is easy.

We got the 7 day pass which covers all transport - that way we didn't have to constantly buy tickets - you need individual ones even if you tranfer between stations on the metro, I believe.

The inspectors are visible and will ask you for your ticket - almost always. So, yes, if you opt to use indiviudal tickets rather than a pass, make sure you get them "cancelled" at machines in front of the steps or escalators down to the platforms.

Trams can be fun. We took one that goes up and down along the Danube on the Buda side, just to see where it would go, what neighborhood it would leave us at. It's a good way to just sit and see the city along the river.