Budapest on a Budget: Prices and Free Days
What Budapest actually costs, line by line
Budapest still prices below Vienna or Prague for the same day of sightseeing, but two things wreck a budget fast if you don’t plan around them. Gellert Baths closed for renovation in October 2025 and won’t reopen before 2028, so drop it from any cost comparison entirely. And every card terminal here will offer to charge you in euros instead of forint, at a noticeably worse rate, the moment you tap; decline it every time. Handle both and the real number is encouraging: a full day of transit, one bath, and two meals runs 15,000-20,000 HUF (~€42-56/$49-65) per person, with genuinely free sights filling the gaps.
| Item | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 100E airport bus | 2,500 HUF one-way | Card or BudapestGO app; no metro link exists to BUD |
| Fotaxi airport transfer | 10,000-13,000 HUF | Official booth at arrivals; touts charge far more |
| Single transit ticket | 500 HUF | Valid 80 minutes, 120 at night, with transfers |
| Szechenyi day ticket | ~13,200 HUF weekday | Weekend runs ~14,800 HUF; Gellert is not an option |
| Rudas day ticket | ~12,000 HUF weekday | Night session ~15,000 HUF, online-only |
| Parliament guided tour | 7,000 HUF (EEA) / 14,000 HUF (non-EEA) | Books out 1-3 weeks ahead in summer |
| Budapest Card, 24h | 17,990 HUF | One free bath included: Lukacs only, not Szechenyi or Rudas |
Is Budapest actually cheap to visit?
Cheaper than Western Europe, not cheap in absolute terms anymore. A bath day, a transit pass, and two real meals still land under $70 a person, which beats a comparable day in Vienna or Amsterdam by a wide margin. What’s changed is that the easy headline bath, Gellert, is gone until 2028, and the remaining options, Szechenyi and Rudas, both sit in the 12,000-15,000 HUF range rather than the lower prices some older guides still quote.
Where the money actually goes
The airport is the first decision point: the 100E bus at 2,500 HUF beats Fotaxi’s 10,000-13,000 HUF fixed fare, which itself beats an unlicensed tout’s 50,000-100,000+ HUF for the identical ride. From there, a Szechenyi day ticket or a Rudas visit is the single biggest line item most visitors budget for; check current prices on szechenyibath.hu since they shift year to year. The Budapest Card only pays off with a genuinely packed multi-museum schedule, since its one free bath is Lukacs, not the two most visitors actually want. Everything else, transit fares included, is listed on bkk.hu and rarely changes the total by much.
What’s genuinely free here?
More than a first-glance cost breakdown suggests. Fisherman’s Bastion’s lower terraces cost nothing at any hour, and the paid upper towers (1,700 HUF) turn free after 9pm in summer or 7pm in winter. St Stephen’s Basilica’s nave is free to enter, with only a 1,000-2,000 HUF donation requested, not charged. Buda Castle’s grounds, Margaret Island, Heroes’ Square, City Park, Szimpla Kert’s entry, and tram 2’s Danube panorama (a single 500 HUF fare) round out a full day that costs next to nothing beyond food and transit.
Eating without the tourist markup
What most menus outside Hungary translate as goulash is actually porkolt, a thick stew; the real gulyas is a brothy soup, and a “traditional goulash” priced above 7,000 HUF in a central tourist zone is usually neither dish done properly. Langos from the Great Market Hall’s upstairs stalls runs 1,500-2,200 HUF, roughly half what the same fried dough costs a few streets over on Vaci utca. Check the bill before tipping: the legal service charge (szervizdij), capped at 15%, is often already added, and a second tip on top quietly adds 25-30% to the total.
For the full day-by-day version of this budget, see the Budapest guide and the 2-day through 7-day itineraries; check current Budapest hotel rates on Booking.com before locking in a District VII or VIII room, both of which undercut anything near the Basilica.