Budapest + Hungary in 7 Days on a Budget
Seven days: the full Budapest gateway spine
Seven days completes the set: one day in Budapest itself, then six day trips, Szentendre and the Danube Bend, Eger’s wine cellars, Lake Balaton, Gödöllő Palace, Vienna, and Bratislava, one country or region a day. It’s the 6-day itinerary with a second capital-city hop added, and if seven days is more than you need, drop back to 6 , 5 , 4 , 3 , or 2 days using the same spine.
Book these before you go
- Check Budapest hotel rates on Booking.com for a 7-night stay before rates climb.
- Book a Danube Bend day tour if you want Visegrád and Esztergom folded into the Szentendre day.
- Book a guided Eger wine tour if you’d rather not plan cellar-hopping around a train timetable.
- Book your Vienna and Bratislava train tickets a few days ahead; both routes triple in price on a same-day walk-up fare.
| Day | Focus | Distance/train time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Land, check in, walk the free Pest and Buda sights | - | Hotel from ~15,000 HUF/night plus a 500 HUF transit ticket |
| Day 2 | Szentendre and the Danube Bend | ~40 min, HÉV line H5 | ~800 HUF each way combined fare |
| Day 3 | Eger wine country | ~1h50-2h20, direct MÁV train | ~2,290-2,900 HUF each way |
| Day 4 | Lake Balaton (Siófok, June-August only) | ~1.5h, MÁV from Déli | ~2,000-3,000 HUF each way |
| Day 5 | Gödöllő Palace | ~30-45 min, train or HÉV H8 | a small regional fare, confirm at the station |
| Day 6 | Vienna, Austria | ~2h16-2h37, Railjet | ~€12-19 booked ahead, up to ~€32 walk-up |
| Day 7 | Bratislava, Slovakia | ~1h54, ÖBB or RegioJet | ~€12 booked ahead, up to ~€40+ walk-up |
Day 1: land, settle in, keep it cheap
Fly into Ferenc Liszt International (BUD) and take the 100E Airport Express bus to Deák Ferenc tér, 2,500 HUF one-way, 1,000 HUF with a valid transit pass already in hand. Skip the arrivals-hall taxi touts; a Főtaxi booth fare runs 10,000-13,000 HUF, versus reported “hyena” cab fares five to ten times higher for the identical ride. A hotel near Keleti covers most of this week’s departures. Walk the free sights this afternoon: the Fisherman’s Bastion’s lower terraces and the Clark Ádám tér walk-up to Buda Castle both cost nothing, saving the funicular’s 5,000 HUF fare. The full Budapest guide and the 2-day Budapest itinerary cover the city in far more depth than a single afternoon allows. Decline dynamic currency conversion at any card terminal and pay in HUF; your own bank’s rate always beats it.
Day 2: Szentendre and the Danube Bend
HÉV line H5 leaves Batthyány tér roughly every 20 minutes for the 40-minute ride. A BKK single ticket (500 HUF) covers you only to Békásmegyer; the onward leg needs a separate fare, commonly cited around 300 HUF, for a combined one-way cost near 800 HUF. Szentendre’s Old Town fills three to four hours comfortably. Book a Danube Bend day tour (see the booking box above) instead if you want Visegrád’s citadel and Esztergom’s basilica added to the day.
Day 3: Eger’s wine cellars
Eger sits about 130km northeast, roughly 2 hours by direct MÁV train from Keleti, second-class fare around 2,290-2,900 HUF each way. Head to the Valley of the Beautiful Women for Egri Bikavér, Bull’s Blood, by the glass, then up to the hilltop castle on its own separate ticket. Consider a guided Eger wine tour (see the booking box above) if you’d rather not plan the tasting around a return train.
Day 4: Lake Balaton, summer only
Siófok sits about 1.5 hours from Budapest-Déli, second-class fare 2,000-3,000 HUF each way plus a 490 HUF seat reservation on InterCity services. The lake is swimmable June through August, quiet and often frozen the rest of the year, so this day only earns its keep inside that window; outside it, spend the day back in Budapest or add a slower morning at Gödöllő instead.
Day 5: Gödöllő Palace
Gödöllő, Empress Elisabeth’s former summer residence, still known locally by her nickname Sisi, is a 30-45 minute ride from Keleti by regional train or HÉV line H8 from Örs vezér tere, the M2 red line’s terminus. The park is free daily; the 31-room interior exhibition sells its own ticket, worth confirming at kiralyikastely.hu . It’s the shortest ride of the week, in by late morning, back for a late lunch, a deliberate breather before the two international days ahead.
Day 6: Vienna, a different country by lunchtime
Railjet trains to Vienna run 2h16-2h37 with 12-16+ departures a day from Keleti; advance fares run about €12-19, climbing to roughly €32 walk-up. No border check inside Schengen, and no real case for a guided tour over a plain train ticket. Check wien.info for what’s on before committing the day.
Day 7: Bratislava, the second capital
Bratislava is the fastest international hop on this whole list, 1h54 on ÖBB or RegioJet services, with roughly 12 trains a day. Advance fares start around €12, climbing past €40 on a same-day walk-up. The old town sits an easy walk from the main station, small enough to see properly in an afternoon before an evening train back to Budapest. Check visitbratislava.com for current opening hours before you go, and book this leg ahead of Vienna’s if you can only book one in advance; Bratislava’s advance-to-walk-up price gap is the widest of the two.
Do Vienna and Bratislava need to be on separate days?
Doing both from Budapest in one day is technically possible given how short each ride is, but it turns two relaxed capital-city afternoons into a single rushed one. Keeping them on separate days, as this itinerary does, leaves real time in each city instead of two stamped passports and no memory of either.
What’s the single best day to cut if seven days is too many?
Cut Lake Balaton first if your dates fall outside June through August, since the whole day depends on swimmable weather that isn’t guaranteed otherwise. If you’re visiting in summer and everything’s in season, cut Bratislava instead and keep Vienna, the shorter overall time investment for a broadly similar day.
Seven days and six day trips means more time spent on Hungarian and Austrian trains than in any single Budapest museum, which is the actual point of treating the city as a base instead of the whole trip.