Budapest has become one of the most popular European cities to visit recently, and there’s no surprise why. There is SO much to do, it’s pretty easy to get around, and it’s definitely possible to travel there on a budget.
All sounds great? And it is.
But it is still very easy to make some mistakes which could there quickly ruin your trip if you’re not careful.
So before you hop on your flight to Budapest, make sure you keep these things in mind!
1. Validate your tram tickets, without FAIL
Budapest transport can be great. It’s the most affordable way to travel the city with a ticket for a single ticket costing 350 HUF – which is about the equivalent of £1.
You will need to download the Budapest GO app to purchase your ticket. It doesn’t matter where you destination is, a single ticket with no transfer will cost the same price no matter how long you’re planning to be on the tram for.
But here’s the catch – paying for your ticket alone is not enough, you NEED to validate your tram ticket before getting on the tram by scanning a QR code on your app. This then provides you with some kind of image, which should match the image that the ticket attendant will have. Sometimes, they will also ask you to show them a code – once your ticket is validated there should be a button which says something along the lines of ‘show code’ or ‘generate code’, you need to press this and show the code to the ticket attendant otherwise they will still threaten to fine you. Unfortunately if you’re not familiar with the transport in Budapest, the whole process seems a bit complicated.
The issue is the trams don’t stop for long at all, so if you’re travelling in a relatively big group (like I was), then you’re best to split in half and get on at different doors so everyone has chance to scan the code and get on the tram, otherwise you might risk the doors shutting in your face.
Unfortunately for me the 5 other friends that I travelled with, we didn’t do this. Although three of us (including me) all scanned on before we got on, the rest of my friends decided to jump on without validating their tickets since nobody has checked them the entire time we’d been in Budapest.
Unluckily for them, the one time they chose to jump on without validating their ticket – the ticket attendants came down. They also came straight to people who were clearly tourists (I can only assume it was because they knew it was their best chance of making some extra money with the fines). My friends showed they had purchased a ticket, but because it was not validated the ticket attendants didn’t like it. There were actually some QR codes to validate tickets on the inside of the tram we were on, yet for some reason the ticket attendants didn’t let them scan to validate their tickets.
Instead they pushed my 3 friends off at the next stop and got off with them. As my 2 other friends and I tried to get off the tram to go with them, the doors shut in our face (classic – you couldn’t make this up if you tried), and we were then separated (but thankfully in two groups of 3).
We got off at the next stop and texted our friends to let them know where we were, so they knew where to go once they had delt with the situation. But I then suddenly got a call – the ticket attendants had taken my friends ID’s off of them and were refusing to give them back until they paid a fine of 8,000 HUF total (about £18.50), and were also threatening to call the police. Unfortunately, none of my friends really brought much cash with them despite my nagging (TIP – ALWAYS BRING AN EMERGENCY SET OF CASH WHEN TRAVELING). Thankfully, I had enough money on me so told them to get on the next tram with the ticket attendants and come to the next stop where I could give them the money.
Once they got to me, suddenly the fine price was changed to 12,000 HUF per person (about £28 each), they also refused to hand over my friends ID’s until they had the money – we even had some lovely local Hungarian residents try to step in to help us out and get the ticket attendants to hand over the ID’s first. But they continued to threaten to call the police.
Thankfully, once I gave them the money, they gave my friends ID’s back. As a group of 6 girls the experience felt quite scary for some people involved and the aggressiveness of the ticket attendants left some of my friends rather shaken up.
This is really common in Budapest – fines can go up as high as 16,000 HUF each. Proof of payment of a ticket will not save you from getting fined. It’s common that many of the ticket officers will even threaten to call the police, sometimes ticket officers have followed through and called the police – to which the police just tell you that it’s best you pay the fine.
They often will target tourists as they know they’re most likely to be caught out, so keep this in mind and don’t let what should be super cheap transport suddenly become very expensive.
Currently as I’m writing this in 2023, Citizens of the European Union countries and Switzerland aged 65 and up can use all public transport lines for free in Budapest. But they have to show a valid ID in order to verify age and nationality if asked by a ticket inspector. If this is appropriate for you, please ensure to research this before travelling to ensure this still remains in place at the time of your travel.
Tip: Remember it’s essential to download the Budapest Go app!
2. Avoid travelling on Lomtalanítás Day
Believe it or not, various districts in Budapest have a day which is dedicated to throwing rubbish out on the side of the roads. When I first heard of it, I thought the concept sounded crazy, but this is something the Hungarian Government has organised for years.
Every district in Budapest has a couple of days during the year where the council will organise garbage trucks go around the Budapest districts and collect unwanted items that have been put out on the streets. They do this completely for free and it gives chance for residents to give unwanted items that they might’ve struggled to get rid of during the rest of the year. It also gives residents the chance to scavenge and find hidden treasures to take away for themselves.
When I was last in Budapest last November, I woke up bright and early for my first full day after our evening flight to find people throwing rubbish out onto the sidewalks, it stretched all the way down our street and several streets after.
After walking so long, there was no more rubbish on the sidewalks. But as we returned to our Airbnb in the evening, the rubbish was piled up so high that you couldn’t walk down the pavements. The only clear space on the pavements being in front of entrances to the various shops, restaurants and bars that remained open. But all I could think about was what is it doing there and why did nobody seem to care that it swamped the streets?
Overnight, it was extremely noisy with removal vans removing all the rubbish. By the following morning the streets were pristine. As someone who was totally unaware that this was a thing, it felt rather bizarre, and all the rubbish piled up high with random screws poking out of the piles and dirty matrasses leaning up against the walls of various stores, it did make me feel a bit uneasy about the safety of the area I was staying in.
We tried searching tried searching for “Budapest Rubbish on Streets” and struggled to find anything, until coming across as random Reddit thread which managed to give us the name ‘Lomtalanítás Day’. As soon as you go to search for that, you can find endless information about the tradition.
With Lomtalanítás Day very roughly translating to “get-rid-of-junk day”, it’s definitely something to keep in mind when planning your trip to Budapest.
Typically, this happens throughout the year as different districts in the city have different set dates, last year it happened between February and November. So if you’re planning a trip make sure to check which districts might be participating in Lomtalanítás Day and try to avoid staying there.
Now I understand what Lomtalanítás Day is, it wouldn’t throw me off witnessing it during my next visit to Budapest, but I’d definitely aim to stay in a district that didn’t have their disposal dates during my visit, purely for noise purposes and getting a decent nights sleep!
In a way, I think Lomtalanítás Day is a pretty cool concept. Imagine having a day each year where all your items that are useless to you are just taken away or taken by other residents who might have a use for them. You wouldn’t have to worry about taking your items to finding new homes for items.
3. The Bar Bill and the Tourist Menu Scam
The Bar Bill Scam
The Bar Bill Scam has been going on for well over a decade. This scam is primarily targeted at Male travellers and will involve more than one attractive females approaching you, and asking you if you’d like to join them for some drinks. They’ll take you to a bar that ‘they know is great’, and soon enough, a very expensive bill will arrive – typically worth hundreds, and in some cases, people have reported thousands of pounds or dollars’ worth.
The bar will typically have a conveniently placed ATM outside it, and sometimes the barmen that work there will escort you to the bar so you can’t run off.
Most of the places that have been reported to be out to get you, are located in one of the main tourist spots, Váci utca street.
If you walk into a club or bar that conveniently happens to have its own ATM, my advice would be to turn around and go elsewhere.
Keep in mind that it’s not just girls you might get approached by, but Taxi drivers have commonly been involved in the scam too. Do not take suggestions from seemingly friendly Taxi drivers. There have been cases where Taxi drivers have been known to take you to certain bars, because they will earn a commission from the owners that are ready and waiting to charge you an extortionate price.
The Tourist Menu Scam
As for the Tourist Menu scam, this is another kind of scam which has previously occurred in many bars and restaurants, whereby if you are obviously a tourist, the restaurant or bar might swap menus to one with higher prices when you go to pay, or not show you a menu to start with at all. In Budapest, most places will display menu’s in the windows of cafes and restaurants, so if you’re considering checking out somewhere for a bite to eat, or a couple drinks, and you notice they don’t have a menu outside, then it’s best you walk on elsewhere. Again this commonly happens around the Váci utca area, I would aim to avoid this area for food and drinks in the evening – but do keep in mind that these scams could still happen anywhere.
Make sure you always verify the price prior to the purchase and look out for any hidden costs.
Don’t let this put you off Visiting Budapest!
Budapest is a great city to visit, and in my opinion one of the cities in Europe with the most to do. It’s a great city to visit in the Summertime or during Winter, and they have some of the best Christmas markets in Europe!
Truth be told, a lot of this stuff can happen in any major city – I would always advise that you make sure you are aware of your surroundings wherever you are.
It’s always good to keep common scams, and mistakes that are easy to make in mind, so you can be aware what to look out for in Budapest. Although there are a few mistakes you need to make sure you don’t make, it doesn’t take from the fact that Budapest is an incredible place with lots to see and do – I can’t wait to visit again one day!
