Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary.

Hitching out

M1, M7 West towards Bratislava, Vienna, Zagreb

<map lat='47.506534' lng='19.125824' zoom='10' view='0' float='right' height='270' width='350' /> When heading to west (M7 to Balaton or M1 to Austria and Slovakia), you should take a bus or something to Budaörs. There is a petrol station with a lot of traffic to both motorways.

However I tried starting from inside the city a few times (between Moszkva ter (square) and Kelenföld), but I never got a lift, although there was a lot of traffic (really much) in my direction, and the place was good for stopping. So I have no clue, why don't want to pick up someone inside the city.

There's a good point inside Budapest also. It's in the above mentioned neighborhood Kelenföld, on the Budaörsi út (road). You can check the schedule on the homepage [1] of the local transport company, but the bus number 40, 41, 53, 139, 153 are OK. You should try on the OMV petrol station.

An other option to get to this petrol station is to take the tram 19 or 49, go to the last stop (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 (where the petrol station is).

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

There is also another petrol station just ~5km further directly before the fork of the motorway to M1 or M7. But it seems that you'll find less cars here than at the OMV petrol station.

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 no. 61 from Moszkva Ter. Coming from Pest side you could also take bus no. 112. There is a lot of traffic to M1 and M7. It took us 20min to get a lift to Tatabanya. Our Hungarian friend told us that he never has to wait more than 30min. If you're on foot you'll pass a running track just before arriving at the major M7 intersection. We waited for over an hour, then started walking down the M7 to see if there was a better hitch-out spot down the road, when by random luck a car pulled over to give us a lift. nuclearphyllis

M5 South towards Belgrade, Arad

First you have to get to Határ út. That's a station of the 3rd/blue metro. Take the bus red#94 (route) (watch out, there is only one at 8:20, the next one is at 12:50 - september 2008) and go untill you see a citroen carmarket on the other side of the road. Here you can start to hitch. I recommend with a sign "Szeged", that's a bigger city near to the border. Another good possibility is to take Bus Number 84 from Határ út. This one goes straight onto the motorway passing by a petrol station, where you can start to hitch. It took us less than 15 minutes to get a ride from there.

6 South towards Érd, Pécs

To get out of Budapest, get to Móricz Zsigmond körtér. You can take tram #49 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, 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.

If you get dropped off at Érd, you’ll find the motorway (M6) and the normal road (6). The road is probably a better choice than the M6 since there's less traffic on M6 because there's a toll to use it and it only lasts till Dunaújváros which is 60 kilometres away.

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.

M3, E60 East towards Cluj-Napoca, L'viv, Kosice

- 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. i usually do at the entrance, however you can ask drivers at the station. not the best place, but it works.

- in Astoria I found only bus [#173E] and it goes same direction [as suggested trolleybus before]. I exit the last [Újpalota, Nyírpalota út] stop and walked big street on your left for some 10min, then saw signs and exit to motorway. It was not the best HH spot but it worked after a while.

E60 East towards Oradea, Cluj-Napoca

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 travelling right out of the city.

M2 North towards Kraków, Warsaw, Poland

There is one straight road (no E77 / M2) from Budapest to Warsaw. In Budapest you should take a metro (blue line) and get out on second last stop (in north part of city). It is called Ujpest-Varoskapu. There is a river and road next to it. You can hitchhike there (there many bus stops and few petrol stations) to Sahy (it's Hungarian-Slovakian border). Or you can then take a bus (96 or 104), go down at Foti ut (one stop before the last one I think). Here you'll be on the intersection of Vaci ut and Foti ut, you have a bus stop and then behind that you have an old abandoned bus stop with a huge space for anything to stop. That's where you hitch and usually wait just a couple of minutes.

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).

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 travelling 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.

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).