All passenger planes land at Budapest Airport at either Terminal 2A (mainly on budget airlines) or 2B (on nonbudget airlines). You can walk from one terminal to the other. Call phones can be found in the arrivals hall of each. You can buy phone cards (1 000 HUF) at the Airport Minibus counter, and there are plenty of ATMs around. The currency exchange counters in Terminal A and Terminal B tend to have the same rates. The airport is approximately 24km east of the city centre.

Getting into town

The Airport Minibus will take you to any address within Budapest. The fee for the inner city is 3 200 HUF (return 5 500 HUF). Sign up and pay at the minibus counter inside the arrivals hall. There’s usually a wait of 10 minutes or so while the passengers are being collected.

The public airport bus is the cheapest option. Exiting the airport, walk to your right from to find the bus stop that says BKV Plusz Reptér busz. From 04:00 to 23:00, bus number 200E travels to the Kőbánya-Kispest metro terminal (metro line M3), via the Ferihegy train station. You also have the option of disembarking at the Ferihegy stop and taking a fast train to the Nyugati railway station, right in the centre of town.

From the Kőbánya-Kispest metro terminal, you can take the M3 metro towards Újpest Központ to the city centre. It is possible to change to metro lines M1 and M2 at the Deák Ferenc tér stop in the inner city.

For the determined budget traveller, there are still options late at night. From 11:00 to 01:00, bus 200E, and from 01:00 to 04:00 night bus 900 operates between Budapest Airport and the South Pest bus garage. There you can change to night bus 950 or 950A, which will take you to the inner city.

A little pricier but more convenient, is the Airport Shuttle Minibus. With desks in both terminals, they operate 24 hours a day and will take you door-to-door for a quite digestible fee: for example, to the inner city for 3 200 HUF one way, 5 500 HUF return.

The easiest option, unsurprisingly, is the most expensive. Finally catching up with the 21st century, the shysters and scam artists that used to wait around the airport offering vastly overpriced taxi rides into the city have been sent packing. Taxis are now required to charge a standard rate, during daylight, a 300 HUF basic fee, 240 HUF per kilometre, and 60 HUF/minute for waiting. At night: 420 HUF basic fee, 336 HUF per kilometer, and 84 HUF/minute for waiting. In any case, when you walk out of either terminal you will see a taxi rank and a booth decorated with the red and white logo of Fő Taxi. As a guideline, a ride to downtown Pest should set you back around 6-7000HUF. The driver will expect you to round the fare up but that, as the Judge said, is entirely a matter for you.