Has anyone been in Budapest recently? I need some recommendations on what to do and where to stay while I am in the city. i only have two days but I want to make the most of it. This is where I will be staying. (http://avenuehostel.hu/) Maybe someone could recommend how to get there from the airport?

Here's my recent TR to Budapest which might help you.

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...n-budapest.cfm

There are bus services from the airport which drop you in Deak Ferenc square and/or at the bottom of Kiraly Utca. Onward travel from there is easy by metro (I haven't looked at the location of your hotel but am assuming it is fairly central).

Ok it looks like staying on the bus or getting the metro to Octogen is your best bet - your hotel is just a stones throw from there.

I was there last month. For the two days you are there I would buy a 24 hr Budapest card and plan your trip from there. I started using my card at 11am, took the free Buda tour at 2pm that day, traveled around the city like crazy and then took the free Pest tour the 2nd day at 10. I found it really hit everything I wanted to see and then you can go back to see inside what you saw. Don't forget Parliament but should buy tics online as they fill up fast. Hit the Central Market and a bath (free with card which I did that first night. I REALLY got my money's worth.

Spa visit should be at the top of your list, then the castle and possibly parliament followed by the main market and the opera

Your hostel seemed to be located at the crossing of Oktogon Metro/Tramway. The Terror House is very close by.

If you decide to buy 24-hour BKK Pass as mentioned above (Budapest Public Transport - metro, bus and tramway ) or the next is 72 hours, then you can take Bus 200E from Airport to Kobanya – Kispest and change to Metro 3. At Corvin-Negyed, change from Metro 3 to Tram 4 or 6 that will take you to Oktogon. The BKK pass will cover all this and you can buy it at Airport at BKK Service Counter. This is the cheapest way if you use it for the transport from airport to the city and for your transport while your are in the city, at HUF1650.00 for 24 hours ( a little more than €5) .

However be careful with M3. Reconstruction work is going on now and you’d better be informed of eventual interruptions on the page : http://bkk.hu/m3felujitas/

> There are bus services from the airport which drop you in Deak Ferenc square..

This poster refers to the new bus line 100E which opened last July. A good thing about this is this is an express airport bus that stops only at 1 or 2 stops ( Astoria and Kalvin Ter ) so quicker and usually less crowded than 200E. 200E is really an Omnibus. Downside, BKK Pass does not cover this express bus and it costs HUF950.00. If you do not need to care about small extra expenses like this, then it is a way to go. In July and September I kept doing the older way 200E + M3… But once I used 100E last month, that was much easier, one change less at least and quicker, I have used 100E for 3 times so far. If you do take this bus to Deak Ferenc Ter, there you can change to a small Metro 1 ( the 2nd oldest metro after London’s ?) buying a single ticket or a pass for a direct ride to Oktogon.

If you get a BKK pass ( Not "Budapest Card" but simple BKK Pass, just for tram/metro/bus ), you can take BUS No 16 once at Deak Ferenc Ter bus stop (this is the beginning of the line so easy to get a seat) located by Ritz Carlton side to Fisherman's Bastion hill on Buda Casle Side. Once there you can walk fom Fisherman's Bation, on to th Castle hill and to Citadel hill all give great view of Danube with the Parliament, etc. Otherwise, you can walk on Pest side, on the river bank all the way from Liberty Bridge till Margit Bridge past the Chaine Bridge and the Parliament.

But if you are a walker, young and energetic, you can do all this on foot ( except city - airport ). Heroe's Square is less than 2 km straigt on the large boulvard from Oktogon, maybe not your priotiry though when you have only 2 days.

One warning: do NOT mess with the ticketing. If you are hopping on public transport in Budapest with a ticket that needs to be punched or franked on board the tram or train (like the single ticket on the Metro 1 line Kappa1 is discussing above), make sure to get it stamped asap.

The Budapest transit police are NOT forgiving of tourists who fail to stamp their tickets - big fines, big inconvenience. There's beeen a good deal of chatter on this board about how tough they are. Do not eff with them.

Budpest metro monitors: I used the machine to buy a ticket. The "ticket" came out immediately. What actually came out was the credit card receipt of the previous purchaser which looked exactly like a ticket. I punched "my ticket". I showed it to the transit monitor and got waved through to catch the metro.

Upon exiting the metro, I got caught with no "ticket". I explained what happened and got hauled off to the ticket office.

Ticket from machine does not drop down quickly. Check and make sure it is a ticket.