Budapest. Troubles?
 

Booked Budapest for three nights later this month. We are a bit concerned with recent events. Should we just skip it?

If I may just jump in here for a moment...

The refugee crisis in Europe is obviously a big and hot topic. And, as bigguyinpasadena has noted, it could well have an impact on travel.

Please keep discussion on this thread to the practicalities of travel in affected areas. General discussion on the crisis in general is good material for OMNI/PR or similar, and will be moved there if necessary.

stut
Moderator
Europe Forum

From what I've heard, there's not much to worry about in Budapest at the moment, although ground travel to/from neighbouring countries is currently difficult, with trains curtailed to the borders, crowded connecting trains, and extra checks.

But it's difficult to predict what will happen in the next few days.

What are your travel plans for Hungary, bigguyinpasadena? If mostly in the city, and fly in/out, it looks OK for the moment.

I wouldn't be concerned about personal safety yet - just avoid desperate crowds. Last place refugees want to stay is Eastern Europe. I hear no impact on flights neither, rail travel is impacted.

mfk

If flying, no issues. Don't plan to take the train to/from Vienna. Possibly driving to/from Austria might also be disrupted especially on the main M1 motorway.

In Budapest (afaik) only the Keleti station and its direct neighbourhood is affected, the rest of the town is OK (except for tonight with the Hungarian-Romanian football game and both sides' ultras are out in force. Still they tend to beat up only each other and the riot police :td: )

taking the train from vienna is no problem
leaving west is problematic
even the hungarian train call center is suspended

flights from budapest to austria and germany just skyrocketed in fares (im talking 1500 EUR to vienna)

driving to border is also difficult as checks are in place with a long delay. it is possible to route through slovakia.

the city should be no problem

this is a day-to-day situation so things might very well have changed by end of month

Thanks for the responses. And thanks to Stut for cleaning up the thread (I missed the OT responses)
Flying into BUD from LHR . Flying BUD/PRG via VIE Third week of September

I will keep checking back for updates/advisories. Thank you in advance.

I wouldn't worry about it. The refugees are camped outside the station - if you don't venture near the station, you wouldn't know anything is going on. Seriously.

In any case, their protests have mainly been in the form of chanting. There has been hardly any violence at all - although, of course, these things are beefed up by the media.

I'd be far more concerned about encountering Premier League football fans on a Saturday afternoon in England (or even Bundesliga fans in Germany, if it comes to that).

I was planning on going to Budapest in a few weeks. But I think I might put that on hold. I'd be coming by train. And the trains from both Vienna and Bratislava use Keleti station. I'm not concerned over the safety of the matter; just the nuisance of train cancellations and people camped out in public. It seems that most of the refugees are trying to get on trains heading towards Vienna. Does anyone know if they are trying to board the Budapest-Bratislava-Prague-Berlin ones? (Which is the service I'd most likely use).

I've been keeping an eye out on the situation as well, with a short overnight in Budapest in a couple of weeks. Looks fine for now, in terms of fly in/fly out. Wasn't planning on being at Keleti station, where most of the migrants are; just heard in the last hour that the Hungarian government finally started providing bus transport to the Austrian border, so hopefully the backlog of humanity will be eased.

Unless more refugees keep trying to come in from the Serbian border. I really don't see this as a one-time event, but an ongoing saga. And I was under the impression that Hungary was providing busses for those who have started wallking to Austria alongside the autoway. Are they doing it for those at the train station as well?

As of about 10:00 CET today, international trains are getting back to normal.

The EC Hungaria to Prague and Berlin was the first, leaving Keleti about 30 minutes late.

They're saying the buses were a one-off, a response to the people who started walking en masse along the motorway towards the border.

So, I wouldn't necessarily count on the situation on the railways being resolved - or on the road border being a smooth crossing.

I'm supposed to be arriving in Budapest on Tuesday arriving by train from Prague and departing 4 days later to Vienna via train. I'm debating canceling both Vienna and Budapest based on possible train issues and concern about the possibility of the migrant issues continuing. I have non refundable bookings for accommodation but am thinking that it's better to take the loss rather than run Into issues.

Wow. That one is a tough call. Have you tried contacting the hotel in Budapest to see if they will allow you a refund? I'm not sure what I would do in your position. Especially since there are several direct trains each day between Prague and Vienna. One option if you want to still go to Budapest: you can take an EC train to Bratislava from Budapest. And then one of the hourly trains from Bratislava to Vienna (If the direct route between Budapest and Vienna is still chaotic when you're there).