Budapest

From Hitchwiki
Revision as of 21:36, 3 April 2011 by 80.99.120.39 (talk)

Earth > Europe > Eastern Europe > Hungary > Budapest
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Budapest
<map lat='47.506534' lng='19.125824' zoom='10' view='0' float='right' height='270' width='350' />
Information
Country:
Flag of Hungary
Hungary
Population: 1,702,000
Major roads: E 60, E 71,E 75,E 77
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. It is often abbreviated as BP, which is easier to see for car drivers on a sign.

Hitching out

M1, M7 West towards Bratislava, Vienna, Zagreb (M1, M7) E 60 E 75

When heading to west (M7 to Balaton or M1 to Austria and Slovakia), you should take a bus #272 from Kosztolányi Dezső tér or Sasadi út to Budaörs, benzinkút. It stops right in the Agip service station with a lot of traffic to both motorways. The journey takes 20 minutes. Great place.

However, starting from inside the city (between Moszkva tér and Kelenföld) is a possibility worth trying, especially because there are some good spots that are quite popular among local hitchhikers, so if you pick a place farther on your way, some of the cars may be already full!

There's a good point inside Budapest, in the above-mentioned neighborhood Kelenföld, on Budaörsi út (road). Get to the bus stop called Sasadi út and try on the OMV petrol station a bit farther outwards next to the McDonald's. You can check the schedule on the homepage [1] of the local transport company, but the bus #40, #53, #139, #153 are OK. Another option to get to this petrol station is to take the tram #19 or #49, go to the last stop Kelenföldi pályaudvar (it's in the front of small train station), then walk along the train station until the walking tunnel, go to the right inside the tunnel, on the exit walk straight until you see the motorway, then go to right and cross the road by the walking bridge, go to left and walk in direction of the McDonald's (the petrol station is next to it). Recently the staff of the petrol station expels hitchhikers to the McDonald's, which is a considerably worse place to get a long ride.

The best is to use a sign "M1" or "M7", according if you want go to west or to south.

There is another OMV petrol station which is even closer to the city center. It is situated at the beginning of Budaörsi út. You can reach it easily by walking across the big white suspension bridge, from Pest towards the Citadel, or by taking tram #61 from Moszkva Tér. Coming from Pest side you could also take bus #112. There is a lot of traffic to M1 and M7. It took us 20min to get a lift to Tatabanya. If you're on foot you'll pass a running track just before arriving at the major M7 intersection.

Public transport in english : [2]

South towards Szeged, Belgrade, Arad, Timisoara (M5) E 75

First you have to get to Határ út. That's a station of the 3rd/blue metro. Take the buses #84E, #89E or #294E (the buses do go rarely so check the timetables first - february 2011) and go until the Naszód utca (Használtcikk piac) station [3]. You should see a Citroen carmarket on the other side of the road. Here you can start to hitch. It can be good to use a sign "Szeged".

Another good possibility is to take Bus Number 84E from Határ út. This one goes straight onto the motorway passing by an OMV petrol station, where you can start to hitch. It took some people less than 15 minutes to get a ride from there.

This OMV gas station can also be reached by taking bus number 54 or 55 (both go twice a hour). They ride more often than number 84E (84E goes only once or twice per hour). They leave from Boraros square which you can easily reach with tram no. 4 and 6. Get out from the bus at the stop Radnó utca. You see the gas station just next to you (behind noise barrier-wall). Hitch there in the bus stop on the bus-only lane. Don't go any further, this road will change into a motorway in few hundred meters. (This option is the best... Some tried the to find buses from Hatar Ut in July 2010 and there was no such thing. The buses from Boraros square leave often and the hitch spot is perfect!)

South towards Érd, Pécs (6, M6) E 73

To get out of Budapest, get to Móricz Zsigmond körtér. You can take tram #61 from Déli Pályaudvar/Southern railway station; or tram #6 from Blaha Lujza ter or Ferenc krt to direction to Moricz Zs. krt; also you can take bus #7 from Ferenciek Tere. At Móricz Zsigmond körtér, which is the last stop (with tram #6), cross the street [and walk along the street to direction from where you came by the tram, it's just like 20m] and get on bus #33 or 33A.

After approximately 27 minutes, you’ll see a big shopping mall called Campona on your left. Get off at the next stop, Budatétényi Sorompó, which is just past the mall. After you exit, turn back and walk the way the bus just came. Cross the street at the first crossing to your right. There’s no street sign, so no name. That street has a railway overpass that crosses over it. Walk under the overpass and in a couple of minutes you'll arrive at a busy road. This is road #6 that goes south to Pecs. Turn left on that road and start hitching before traffic light near the bus stop. It's got enough room cars to pull over right there.

With bus #33 you can go until the last stop (Nagytétény, Chinoin). Walk forward (East) 200 meters then turn left to the ramp which leads you to a roundabout. It has an exit to M6. Hithhiking there is the best option.

For food, bathroom, and buses, get dropped of at the Tesco in Pécs. There's a bus station there.

The whole trip should be around 3-4 hours.

E60 East towards Miskolc, Cluj-Napoca, L'viv, Kosice (M3) E 71

  1. Take the trolleybus #74 from the centre (Astoria). you can go till the end but it's better to get of one before. from there, you should hear the noise of the M3 motorway, just follow it, walk back a bit (opposite direction of the cars), there'll be an entrance and also a petrol station. The entrance can work fine, however you can ask drivers at the station, not the best place, but it works.
  2. In August 2009 in Astoria someone found only bus #173E and it goes same direction [as suggested trolleybus before]. Exit at the last stop (Újpalota, Nyírpalota út) and walk a big street on your left for about 10 minutes, check the signs and exit to motorway. It's not the best hitchhike spot but it works after a while.
  3. Via petrol station; (it's an effective way and were taken several times by hitchhikers). You have to take the Metro 2 to the last station called Örs Vezér tér, then u have to cross the big square and go to the HÉV (it's the Hungarian S-bahn, RER etc.), this is the last station of it and u have to get on the one which goes to Gödöllő and u have to get out in Mogyoród. (normally one should buy special ticket as it is out of Budapest, but the control is rare and with a normal ticket they should let u in peace). There is an entrance to the motorway by 5 minutes walk, where cars can really easily stop but in two kilometers there is the petrol station which u can reach in 30 minutes by walk.

East towards Oradea, Cluj-Napoca E 60

Take metro line 3 to the end of the line where you will find a bus station. Take the airport bus, it will stop at terminal 1, stay on the bus until the second to last stop before the airport. You will notice that the city ends quite abruptly, prior to this you will see a petrol station, this is the last petrol station for at least 10-15 km. From the second to last bus stop you will have to walk back to this station. There is no good place to hitch after this point for around 10-15km as the road is motorway. Later on there are more hitching opportunities and its easy to get dropped off somewhere useful. Alternatively outside terminal 1 of the airport is as good as most roadside locations however its probable that a only a proportion of traffic is traveling right out of the city.

You can also get the train from Nyugati Pályaudvar for 550 huf to Üllő about 30 minutes by train, you walk through the town to a big round a bout where there is a mol petrol station. easy to get rides towards Szolnok/Oradea/Cluj.

M2 North towards Kraków, Warsaw, Poland E 77

File:Vacifoti.jpg
The bus stop at the Váci-Fóti intersection

There is one straight highway from Budapest to Warsaw. After construcion of M0 and M2 motorways getting out of Budapest became more difficult and made hitching on the border of the city quite pointless since most of the traffic is very local and going in wrong directions. Some options: 1) Take a local train from Budapest-Nyugati station to Sződliget (550HUF/2EUR) which goes very often, takes 33min. Road E77 (not a motorway anymore) is about 200m to the right (east) of the Sződliget station. Quick and easy. 2) Or try what Maxijazz reccommends below.

In Sahy you will easily stop a truck to Poland (don't go to Slovakia, just hitchhike there to directly to Poland). Than you can go out in Chyzne (it's Slovakian-Polish border). Almost every truck there goes to Krakow but you can hitchhike to Warsaw as well. If you decide to go to Krakow, try to get to city center (railway station) and there you can ask people where is Aleja 29 listopada (in English it means 29. November Avenue) or you can take bus no 105 (there is bus stop next to railway station) and go there. You can hitchhike there but better is 2-3 km on north (it's the road to Warsaw).

Personal notes

maxijazz hitched to Kraków in November 2010, and found it hard to catch a car going direct to Šahy. As the new M2 motorway begins from the M0 ring it is impossible to go there, and his advice is to:

  • hitch the old #2 road until Vác, and then hitch to Šahy.
    • if so than take the bus 104 further to "Székesdűlő", and start hitching there to Vác.
  • (the lazy option) take a bus from Vác to "Hont" (nearest village to the border) and walk there.

Public Transport

Public transport in Budapest is really good. A single ticket is about €1,10 (10-bunch ticket is about €7) and it seems like conductors don't check the stamps, so it might be possible to use them for a few days without getting caught. After you buy your ticket, you have to validate it. There are red machines on buses and trams that punch a hole in a different place on your ticket each day, which is how they determine if you validated your ticket that day (or at least not the day before...) I haven't had a ticket checked on a bus or tram yet, but if you want to be safe, hang around the machine and if you see an inspector coming, punch your ticket immediately.

The old "I didn't know I had to validate the ticket" thing will not work with an inspector. The Hungarian transportation system is going bankrupt and they need those fines, so inspectors can be quite insistent but you shouldn't let yourself get frightened.

On the underground there are inspectors posted at the entrance to the platforms during all operational hours who will demand to see your ticket. Most of the time they check those who are entering and don't bother with people who are leaving the platform (e.g. Keleti Railwaystation is one exception), so if you see no conductors at the entrance then you are fine. Either you take your chance that there will be no checking at the exit, or take the bus/tram, you can get pretty much everywhere without the metro.

Inspectors are rare on buses and trams except for the most popular lines e.g. tram no. 4-6. Rush hours are usually safe when the trams/buses are too crowded for the inspectors to walk through the vehicles.

If you get caught without a valid ticket, the official fine on the spot is 6000 HUF, which is about 20 EUR. Do not let you be fooled with other amount, it is 6000 HUF, and the received paper is valid for traveling that day. But if you are cool enough you can get away without paying at all.

On buses and trams you have the following options if you get caught: Refuse to pay saying you have no money on you and refuse to give them any ID/passport - they have no legal right to demand it or arrest you or anything, only the police. Sometimes they try to threaten you saying they'll call the police but that has never happened yet, the police will not bother to turn up every time someone tries to jump the tram. If they don't have your ID they can't sue you, so the following options are up to you:

- If you are not ashamed of it you can give a fake name/address and you'll get told to pay in 30 days a higher amount and get that paper which allows you to travel for free for the rest of the day. Because they don't have your real name/address you can just forget about paying at all. - If you wouldn't do this you can just refuse to pay, to give ID or name and address, after a while they will give up and tell you to get lost and to get off the bus/tram. You can always get on the next one anyway.

edit: from 11. 01. 2011. the control seems to be more serious. It means, that there are some guys called "public place inspectors". They can come with the controllers. And they have the right to check your identity. (especially on the buses 7, 7E, 173, 173E and on the trams 4, 6) Be careful, if you see them be sure you have your ticket.

Bum Camping

There are tons of abandoned buildings and "ruins" around the city, and you're sure to find one if you wander the central city a bit, Pest side especially. Sleeping in them should be no problem, though I haven't spent a full night in one. (nuclearphyllis, January 2009).

Sleeping in Budapest

There are a few really good places to spend the night if you don't want to spend any money for accommodation. In the summer, when it's warm, sleeping in parks should do the thing. The two big parks are Margitsziget (47.528694,19.047618) and Városliget (47.513566,19.085126). Margitsziget is an island in the Danube and it's a popular place to walk and escape from the busy city in the nice weather. Városliget is about the same. In both places you could find hidden places where nobody would bother you at night. Although there are sometimes people sill awake at nights, especially young ones, but they wouldn't do any harm to you. Homeless people are harmless. There's a big unfinished apartment building at Rákóczi út 66 (between Blaha Lujza ter and Keleti station), climb over the fence and enjoy some 9th floor rooftop camping. (47.498479,19.074106)