Originally Posted by
xichang08
If you plan to take public transport while in town, a good idea would be to purchase your travel pass at the staffed desk in the airport.
Originally Posted by
JBord
I agree. This is easy, right before the airport exit, and I've never had to wait in line. You can get basically anywhere you want to go for a decent price, and not have to worry about finding a ticket vendor after you get to the hotel.
I've just arrived in Budapest. August seems to be the worst time to come; I'm attending an event so had no choice.
There is no need to find a ticket vendor as ticket machines are everywhere.
The staffed desk in arrivals is a good choice mainly because nobody else seems to know about it. There was one person ahead of me in the line when I got there.
There are also ticket machines outside at the bus stops themselves, but there were 10 people queueing up at each one, and most of them appeared to be clueless about how to use them plus unfamiliar with Hungarian currency.
I watched a 100E depart which was packed full like sardines. I wouldn't want to stand like that for 45 minutes, especially if having to pay extra (the 200E route was free for me since I bought the 5/30 ticket).
The 200E bus was also full, but many people got off at the first few stops. I had a seat all the way. The only negative was that the heating was on!
Originally Posted by
beltway
I agree with
EmailKid that riding the old subway rolling stock is interesting. It's easy to buy the right ticket (one that includes the bus-to-rail transfer) from the staffed transit desk at the airport.
Reasons not to do this:
- It's very hot. (Subway is not air-conditioned.)
- You have a lot of unwieldy luggage or have mobility issues. (IIRC, you have to climb a flight of stairs at Kőbánya-Kispest to get to the rail platform.)
- Somebody else is paying.
There is an escalator at K-K station, but you have to be patient and wait 1 minute extra while the driver goes round to the final stop rather than getting off at the P+R.