Public transport

Budapest has a good public transportation system, with three subway lines, trams, and buses, but I did get some unpleasant surprises.

For starters, yesterday I expected to head from the train to the adjacent subway station and buy a pass for several days, as I had done in Prague and Vienna. Surprise: they don't take any credit cards or Euros - you must have Hungarian currency. The tourist books have convinced me not to trust taxis, mystery ATMs, or change bureaus in this part of the world. Fortunately, I had studied maps of the city to plan my visit, so I decided to head in the direction of the hotel and look for a bank where I could either trade Euros for Hungarian money or trust the ATM. Alas, as it was Saturday, I didn't find any that were open and ended up just walking to the hotel. It's a good thing I have learned to travel very light!

On the bright side, Budapest has several tram lines which provide great introductory tours of the city. This is the #19 tram, which runs north-south on the west side of the Danube. I also rode the length of the #2 tram, which runs north-south on the east side of the river.

The larger, more modern trams on lines #4 and #6 make a loop around most of the city and I saw a lot of the area that way today. Here's one at the Oktagon stop. They don't make a complete circle, as the #1 and #2 do in Vienna, but you can turn around and come back to your starting point or you can connect with the other trams or the subway.

It's easy to find a subway map in guidebooks and tourist maps. Detailed maps showing the tram lines are posted at all the stops and in the subway stations, but they are not available at the transit ticket offices, even for sale. I marked up some of my maps with tram lines, but it would be nice if I could buy one of their maps.

The subways are very far underground. Here's a typical escalator -- amazingly long and also amazingly fast. These things really fly, and you need to make a quick exit at the end so you don't block the way for the people behind you.

The prices are very reasonable. A 3-day pass costs 3100 HUF (about $18) and a 7-day pass costs 3600 HUF (about $20). Don't even THINK about travelling without a valid pass or ticket. I had to show mine today to inspectors three times -- once on the #19 tram, once as I left a subway stop, and once as I entered another one. In over three months in Bratislava, I've only encountered one inspector. In Prague and Vienna, none. If the Budapest inspectors catch you without a valid pass or ticket, you have to pay an immediate fine of 7500 HUF (about $43).

Here's one bright spot for those who are so inclined: Budapest is as bicycle-friendly as Vienna, with separate bike lanes on all the busy streets. I took this on the west side of the river, by the Batthyány tér subway stop.

Let me mention another thing to watch out for at the train station. Budapest is the last stop on this Eurocity line, and I noticed a lot of people on the platform as we were pulling in. At first, I assumed they were getting ready to board for the return trip, but nobody seemed to have any luggage. These were taxi drivers, waiting to pounce at every door opening on the train, offering to carry your language and take you in their taxi. Hang on tight to everything you own and just keep moving. I haven't encountered that in other train stations, although the tourist books are full of warnings about pickpockets and scam artists in the train stations throughout Europe.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.