I didn’t need to think twice about booking a trip to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, when I came across cheap flight tickets. For a rough 50 euros I could go to Hungary and come back, with insurance included. And add to that that I wouldn’t need to book a hotel room because my lovely friend Lea opened up her home to me; yup, trip was booked.
Before this vacation, I had no idea what Budapest had to offer, but now I’m completely in love with this city. There are many different buildings and places to visit, which make this city so interesting. Over the next few posts, I’ll discuss what I did every single day of my four-day trip. But first things first; how was my flight and what are the means of transport to use in Budapest itself?
To get to my destination, I flew Ryan Air. It was the first time I went with this airline and even though I’ve already heard many complaints about it from acquintances, I had a really nice flight. There was a 30 minute delay, but that can basically happen with any airline.
One thing I want to get off my chest though – and this counts for every airline and every airport -; why is water so freaking expensive? For all I care you can ask ten euros for a bottle of soda, but for plain water, I’d wish they’d lower their prices a bit. I was really thirsty on the flight and three euros for a small bottle is just a crazy amount.
That being said, I have nothing else to add but the fact that my flight went really smooth. There was an annoying bunch of people on the flight though (bachelor party – meh) but once again, that can happen with any airline. The staff was very professional and asked them to shut up a few times. I literally didn’t find anything bad about Ryan Air that couldn’t occur with other airlines as well. So count me a fan.
Then in Budapest itself, the public transport is really well worked out. You can literally get everywhere you want by using metro, tram or busses, and all with the same ticket. I got myself a ticket which was called 5/30. I just had to cross the time I used the ticket for the first time and then it was valid for 24 hours on every type of public transportation within the borders of Budapest. (Only for trains you sometimes need another ticket.) It’s a series of five tickets, and costs 4550 florints.
As you might have noticed above, in Hungary they don’t use euro, but florints. 1 euro is about 300 florints (depending the currency at the time of course). So keep in mind that you’ll need other money when travelling to Budapest. Food is generally cheaper than elsewhere, and entrance prices are decent as well, so you won’t need loads of money for this trip.
So, that’s it for the general part. As I didn’t stay in a hotel, I can’t give you any advice on that, although I have heard that hotels in Budapest are also pretty cheap right now.
In my next post, I’ll tell you all about my first day in Budapest, on which I discovered the Buda-side of Budapest.
Until next time,
With love, Ellen
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