Renting a car in Budapest
 

I will be visiting Budapest this fall for 8 days and wondered if renting a car while visiting this city, to cover more sights is a wise decision. Has anyone rented a car while they were staying in Budapest? Is it difficult to find parking? Can you drive to a castle, church, museum, etc.and park at that site? Are there parking lots near tourist attractions and if so...are their tariffs reasonable? Is it dangerous to drive there and are locals considered to be responsible drivers. I lived a couple of years in the Carribean...drivers over there were blind to their road rules. Traffic cops were known to take bribes...you get the idea. Please let me know what your take is regarding these inquiries.

There is no need to rent a car in a Budapest. The city is very walkable and public transport like trams and the metro is excellent. Car traffic is busy and I imagine parking would be a real pain. I think you would lose a lot of sight seeing time if you were burdened with a car.

There is little need to rent a car in Budapest proper; as aggiegirl wrote, public transportation is excellent. If you're considering day trips (Esztergom, Szentendre, Gyor, for example), Hungarian railways has inexpensive and plentiful connections, as well.

Thank you for your advice...makes sense.

I broadly agree with suggestions. I rented a car at Budapest airport to drive to Eger and stay there for a week. On my return I stopped at Budapest. I found the traffic and parking situation to be no worse than other urban areas in Europe, and lot better than places like London, Paris and Rome. Parking (paying) was fairly easy to find in the centre (this was August). If you do decide to rent for trips away from the capitol, you find driving fairly civilised and main roads on the whole in good shape, but secondary roads can be poor with unpaved sections and pot holes. Didn't see many traffic cops. If you drive on the motorway/expressway, tolls are payable but it's by e-vignette (E-Matrica), so ask the rental company to get you one (quite cheap, around $13 for 10 days).