Budapest Card - 2024 Guide
- travel tips
- May 10, 2024
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What is the Budapest Card?
The Budapest Card, also called the City Pass, is the city’s official travel card. It offers many benefits to those who buy it, including free travel with Budapest public transportation, deals on tours, museums, restaurants, thermal baths, etc.
Whether you spend 3 days in Budapest, a full week or just one day, there is an option for you. Let’s check it.
Top tip: the Budapest Card and the Budapest Travel Card are two different cards. While the Budapest Travel Card allows you to use the city’s public transportation system (like Budapest metros, buses, trams and trains), the Budapest Card also offers public transport, but has other perks, like entrance to museums and attractions, discounts, airport transfer, city tours, boat trips, and much more.
Read more: Budapest Card vs Budapest Travel Card
Going to Budapest? Travel smart.
• Get a miniBUD transfer to the city center
• Stay in Budapest with Booking.com
• Find the cheapest flights with Kiwi.com
• Get an Airalo eSim to use your phone
• Find the best tours in Budapest with GetYourGuide and Viator
• Get a Budapest Card for free public transport and entry to the best attractions
How much does a Budapest card cost?
The Budapest Card price depends on the duration you choose, if you buy them here online. Here you have the options:
- 24 hours: €39 / £33.20 / $42.53
- 72 hours: €69 / £58.75 / $75.24
- 96 hours: €87 / £74.07 / $94.87
- 120 hours: €96 / £81.73 / $104.68
- 72 hours+: €99 / £84.29 / $107.95
Pro tip when buying the Budapest Card: if you buy it on the spot, choose to pay in the local currency (HUF) in order to avoid hidden currency exchange fees. But if you buy it with GetYourGuide (above), you can choose your currency, and you’ll get the card reserved for your travel dates.
What is included on the Budapest card?
The Budapest Card gives unlimited access to BKK public transport, including all metro, bus, tram and train lines. And you also get free entry to more than 30 museums and other attractions like Lukács thermal baths, walking tours, a free Budapest river cruise on the Danube, and more than 50 discounts on other things.
Budapest Card Top 20 benefits and potential savings
In total, just from these 20 things included in the Budapest Card, you can save HUF 85,300, or EUR 213.
- BKK – Public Transportation: savings dependent on how many trips you’d take
- Walking Tour Buda: you save HUF 4,500, or EUR 11,25
- Walking Tour Pest: you save HUF 4,500, or EUR 11,25
- BKV Riverboat Service: you save HUF 1,800, or EUR 4,5
- Sightseeing Cruise: you save HUF 5,500, or EUR 13,75
- Danube River Cruise: you save HUF 5,900, or EUR 14,75
- Duna Bella Daytime Cruises: you save HUF 6,000, or EUR 15
- Official Budapest Castle Bus: you save HUF 6,000, or EUR 15
- Lukács Thermal Bath: you save HUF 5,200, or EUR 13
- Hungarian National Museum: you save HUF 5,800, or EUR 14,5
- Hungarian National Gallery: you save HUF 4,800, or EUR 12
- Museum of Fine Arts: you save HUF 5,200, or EUR 13
- Kunsthalle Budapest: you save HUF 3,500, or EUR 8,75
- Budapest History Museum Castle Museum: you save HUF 3,800, or EUR 9,5
- Saint Stephen’s Hall of Buda Castle: you save HUF 3,900, or EUR 9,75
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Ludwig Museum): you save HUF 2,400, or EUR 6
- Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center: you save HUF 6,000, or EUR 15
- Memento Park The Statue Park: you save HUF 3,000, or EUR 7,5
- BUDATOWER Mária Magdolna Tower: you save HUF 1,500, or EUR 3,75
- Pál-völgyi Cave: you save HUF 3,500, or EUR 8,75
Extra benefits with the 72h Budapest Card
If you buy the 72h Budapest card option, you get a few extras, including:
- Matthias Church: you save HUF 2,900, or EUR 7,25
- Budapest Funicular: you save HUF 4,000 or EUR 10
- miniBUD airport shuttle: you save 15,900 or EUR 40
- Mólnar’s Kürtőskalács: you save 2,000 or EUR 5
Besides all the free things we’ve mentioned before, there’s also a lot of discounts you get with the Budapest Card. Here’s our top 10 selection:
- 40% discount at Universal AirportHUB for luggage storage (1053 Budapest, Kálvin tér 4)
- 20% at other Budapest thermal baths, like the Széchenyi Thermal Baths, Rudás, Palatinus, Római or 25% at Lupa Beach.
- 20% discount at Bike & Relax Budapest Bicycle Tours (1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 12.)
- 20% at Madame Tussauds Budapest (1051 Budapest, Dorottya utca 6. Palazzo Dorottya)
- 20% on the Ferris Wheel of Budapest (1051 Budapest, Erzsébet tér)
- 50% off on Champion Wine Vinarium & Gastro Boutique (1061 Budapest, Jókai tér 6.)
- 20% in any Bamba Marha Burger
- 10% on any Jewish Heritage Tours (1075 Budapest, Herzl Tivadar park)
- 10% on a boat ride in the City Park lake
- Organ Concert in St. Stephen’s Basilica (1051 Budapest, Szent István tér)
GetYourGuide too has a pretty good list with the Budapest Card benefits. But you can also download the official program here (pdf).
What public transportation lines are included in the Budapest Card?
With the Budapest Card, you can use any BKK public transport, which includes the bus, tram, metro lines and the BKK train railway within the city.
How and where to buy the Budapest Card?
1. First of all, you should buy the Budapest Card online. You can reserve now and pay later, and it has free cancelation up to 24 hours before the date.
2. After that, bring your ID Card or your Passport and exchange the voucher for the physical card in one of the possible locations.
Locations where you can get the physical card:
- Budapest Info Point Városháza Park (9 AM – 7 PM)
- BKK Customer Service Centre in Budapest Airport Terminal 2A (8 AM – 10 PM);
- BKK Customer Service Centre in Budapest Airport Terminal 2B, (9 AM to 9 PM)
- Deák Ferenc tér Metro (7 AM – 7 PM)
Other options: Tourist Pass and e-XPLORER Pass
The Tourist Pass and e-XPLORER Pass are alternative city passes similar to the Budapest Card. Please note that none of these two have public transportation included.
The Tourist Pass is a more budget-friendly option, with prices between €34 and €89. It offers similar discounts and free entries to attractions but does not include public transport.
The e-XPLORER Pass, priced between €87 and €129, provides more extensive benefits than the Budapest Card, making it a premium option. However, it also doesn’t cover public transportation. Both passes are good choices for those seeking extra perks or looking for a slightly different experience from the standard Budapest Card.
Tips to use the Budapest Card
1. Always carry the physical card with you
For now, there’s only a physical version of the Budapest Card. If you’d rather have a digital version to use in your phone, you need to buy the Tourist Pass or the e-XPLORER Pass, though these don’t have free public transportation (but you can also buy and use public transport tickets on your app — just not with these passes).
2. Remember to register your Budapest card
Once you’ve got your card, don’t forget to do its online registration here. It’s quick and simple, and it’s quite important to do so – only registered cards can be replaced if they get lost or stolen.
In order to get a replacement card, just make sure the original card is registered and still within its validity, and go to the Budapestinfo Tourist Information Office.
3. Always carry the full list of benefits
You might think that having a Budapest Card with you gives you less flexibility, but not really. There’s a great lot of places that you can visit for free, plus all the discounts you’ll get, like in the famous Széchenyi Thermal Baths.
So make sure you download the full official program here (pdf) and that you check the page 2 for all partners and offers.
Is the Budapest Card a good option?
In our opinion, the Budapest Card is a great option if you plan to public transport and to visit some attractions. For example, a visit to the Castle District could easily amount to over HUF 19,000, if you use two bus trips to and from the Castle (HUF 900), and if you visit Saint Stephen’s Hall (HUF 3,900), the Hungarian National Gallery (HUF 4,800), and the History Museum (HUF 3,800). Only those things are more expensive than the 48h Budapest Card, which costs HUF 17,990 and includes them too.
Nonetheless, this will always depend on what you intend to see — Budapest is a stunning city that offers immense history and really beautiful views, even if you don’t pay to get in most of its attractions.
Alternatives to the Budapest Card
If you’re still not convinced with the Budapest Card, you can opt for not buying anything and keep your travel plans more flexible. But you can also find other options that suit you better. It really depends on your travel preferences.
Here’s the most common options besides the Budapest Card:
Other types of City Pass
From the official City Passes that you can buy, the Budapest Card is the main one and most popular. However, there are another two types of City Pass that you can choose: the Tourist Pass, and the e-XPLORER Pass, both digital. None of them offer unlimited public transport like the Budapest Card.
• Tourist Pass: the cheapest of the 3 city pass options, this pass gives entrance to more than 30 museums and attractions, walking tours, thermal baths, a cruise on the Danube, and more than 50 discounts. It lets you have great local experiences, but has no public transport.
• e-XPLORER Pass: this one is made for those wanting to visit really lots of things – but it also doesn’t include public transport. But it adds some things to the other city passes, like Hop on Hop off sightseeing bus, Hop on Hop off cruise on the Danube, or an entry to the Mystica Cinema.
Public transport options
If your main interest is just to have public transport included, then we have a few ideas.
• Individual ticket: it costs HUF 450 and you’ll have to validate it every time you hop on a bus, tram, metro, or train within city. It’s more convenient if you’re planning to use public transport just a few times.
• Block of 10 tickets: good option if you’re staying longer in Budapest. You’ll pay HUF 4,000 for that, so you’ll end up saving 500 forints compared to the individual ticket option.
• Monthly pass: it gives you unlimited access to BKK public transport for HUF 8,950, and is valid for 30 days. It’s the cheaper option for someone staying a month, though it won’t include attractions like the City Pass.
• MOL Bubi bikes: you can find lots of docking stations all over the city, and all you need is a smartphone. It costs HUF 1,000 per month or HUF 40 per minute. Pretty convenient and cheap.
