Budapest: how to get there and around
Airports, stations, ports, where the hotels are and what the numbers say, from public data rather than a brochure.
Budapest is the capital of Hungary, 104 m (341 ft) above sea level. The nearest large airport is Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD), 18 km (11 mi) from the centre. It has 11 railway stations on record, including Budapest Keleti railway station. Our booking partner lists 6,485+ places to stay.
Key facts
Daylight in Budapest runs from about 8 h 30 min a day in late December to 16 h 2 min in late June (computed for 47.5° latitude), which matters more than the forecast when a day is built around one flight or one crossing.
Getting there
Budapest is served by one airport with scheduled flights. The closest large one is Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD), 18 km (11 mi) from the centre, whose 12,162-ft runway is long enough for long-haul wide-body aircraft.
Flights to Budapest: every airport, routes and times
By rail: stations on record include Budapest Keleti railway station, Budapest-Nyugati railway station, Budapest-Déli railway station, Budapest-Kelenföld railway station, Józsefváros railway station, Kőbánya felső railway station. Trains to Budapest
Buses to Budapest · Driving and car hire
Where to stay
Our booking partner lists 6,485+ places to stay in Budapest (statistics below are from the first 1,000). Of the 841 with a star rating, the largest group is 4-star (587), and 26 are five-star. Across 864 properties with at least 50 reviews, the average guest score is 9 out of 10. Guests have left 1,495,475 reviews in total.
Hotels in Budapest: the full picture, and book
What people come for
| Sight | Visitors a year | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue | 5,300,000 | 2023 |
The busiest is Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue at 5,300,000 visitors in 2023. At that volume, anything with a gate is worth a timed ticket or an early start.
UNESCO World Heritage in the city: Buda Castle; Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue.
Tours, tickets and day trips from Budapest
Nearby cities, and how to get between them
- Vienna, 214 km (Austria) — flights · trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Belgrade, 319 km (Serbia) — flights
- Kraków, 292 km (Poland) — flights · tours
- Zagreb, 299 km (Croatia) — flights · tours
- Bratislava, 161 km (Slovakia) — flights · trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Brno, 261 km (Czechia) — flights · tours
- Graz, 276 km (Austria) — flights · tours
- Katowice, 307 km (Poland) — flights
- Cluj-Napoca, 354 km (Romania) — flights
- Ostrava, 266 km (Czechia) — flights · tours
Twin towns and sister cities: Berlin, Frankfurt, Fort Worth, New York City, Tel Aviv, Vienna, Sarajevo, Lisbon, Beijing, Zagreb, Vilnius, Kraków, Florence, Lecce.
Common questions
Which airport serves Budapest?
Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD), 18 km (11 mi) from the centre.
How big is Budapest?
About 1.7 million people live in Budapest, across 525 km² (GeoNames and Wikidata).
What time zone is Budapest in?
Europe/Budapest, currently UTC+2.
What currency is used in Budapest?
The Forint (HUF). Traffic drives on the right.
How many hotels are there in Budapest?
Our booking partner lists 6,485 or more places to stay in Budapest, bookable on this site.
Which cities are near Budapest?
Vienna (214 km), Belgrade (319 km), Kraków (292 km), Zagreb (299 km), Bratislava (161 km).
Where these facts come from
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, elevation, time zone, postal codes
- Wikidata (CC0): area, sister cities, visitor numbers, heritage listings, stations and ports
- OurAirports (public domain): airports, runways
- Natural Earth (public domain): map outlines
Data compiled 13 September 2026. Hotel figures are from our booking partner’s catalogue on that date. Journey times on this page are estimates from distance, not timetables; check the operator before you rely on one.