Should we drive or use metro in Budapest?
 

We will be in Budapest next mon 24 till wed 26. We have rented a car since we ill be travelling many more cities/countries.

Whilst in Budapest should we leave the car parked and use public transport or should we use the car to drive? Is parking easily accessible?

Thanks.

Public transport in Budapest is good and easy to use (so long as you don't risk travelling without a ticket). Where possible, use trams rather than the metro, because you can see things. But take a trip on Metro Line 1 because it is old and cute.

I have never driven in Budapest, but it doesn't look too difficult there. But I think parking seems like a nightmare.

No - do not even think about driving. You don;t want to waste valuable vacation time finding your way around a strange city on one-way streets - or looking for rare parking and risk expensive tickets if you don;t fully understand the rules. Just leave the car in the garage and use feet or metro or cab.

Use the trams! You get to see the city and you can get to every site with no problem. Much better than the metro. Most of the sites are in congested area and you will waste time parking etc...

Your cheap and convenient ticketing option is the Budapest travelcard (not the "Budapest Card", which costs about twice as much. See http://www.bkk.hu/en/budapest-72-hour-travel-card/

I'd encourage you to park the car and use public transportation.

We used public transport and walked a lot, had no problems. But make sure you have a valid ticket, make sure it is validated if necessary. There were often intimidating ticket inspectors waiting, once there were 3 or 4 all standing shoulder to shoulder. Not what we are used to but we had a valid ticket so were OK.
Kay

Thanks to all.... so we will use public transport...

yeah I know well about the inspectors as I've been there 2 years ago and 'thanks' to them my mobile got broken. They were so intimidating that I had a lot of bags after shopping and ended up dropping my mobile phone on the screen :(