QuantumComm 2012

The western part of Budapest is Buda separated by the Danube (Duna) river. The eastern part of the city is Pest.

 

 

Public transportation

The public transportation in Budapest is done by the Budapest Transportation Company, BKV. You can find helpful information on that website, for example schedules and a route planner (regrettably, the latter one is only available in Hungarian).
Budapest has only three different subway (metro) lines, numbered 1, 2, and 3, or in colours yellow, red, and blue. Subways propose the best method to travel inside the city. Subways all cross at the single place: Deák Ferenc square (which is also a good starting point to visit the famous Váci street). Trams are the second best to use in Budapest, after the subway. Tram 4 and 6 are easy to reach from inside the city including most of the proposed hotels.

Tickets for the public transportation

You can get tickets at the counters, mostly at subway stations, or at some newspaper sellers. You can also buy tickets at automats, but mostly they are out-of-order, so buying tickets in advance is preferable. There are officers (ticket controlling personnel) who regurarly and accidentally check tickets throughout the city, mostly at subway stations. They are not very polite people, so please have a valid ticket with you and if any misunderstanding occurs, do not pay fines just get a yellow cheque about that. (Sometimes they find it funny to disturb foreigners, because they not always take care of the complicated transportation system of Budapest.)

• ticket for a single trip is about 320 Ft (~ 1.2 EUR). Single ticket means single trip on a single line, so if you change the line on the tram, bus you have to use separate tickets or buy a transfer ticket. For subway, a single ticket is valid even for transfers (only within the subway system), within 60 minutes of travel.
• you can get a ticket book of 10 tickets for about 2800 Ft (about 10 EUR) or
• more easily, you can buy a ticket for a day for about 1550 Ft (napijegy, about 6 EUR) or
• for a week (7-day travel card) that costs about 4600 Ft (hetijegy, about 18 EUR) or
• you can also buy a Budapest Card which contains unlimited travel and some discounts.

There are no sectors in the city, but if the bus goes beyond the borders of the city, additional/another tickets might be needed. It is not easy to use public transportation after 11 PM. Although there are special night lines, they go on different routes than in the daytime, so you might want to use a taxi in the night.

Taxis (cabs)

If you decide at the airport to get a taxi you can use Főtaxi the official taxi service of the airport. For other taxi services we prefer the taxi companies with a good reputation, like Tele 5 Taxi, Főtaxi (Főtaxi's telephone number 06-80-222-222 is free from public phones). At most Főtaxi cabs, You can use a credit card, but better ask about that when calling for a taxi by phone. Other good names are the 6x6 Taxi company (call +36 1 466 6666). Citytaxi (call +36 1 2 111 111). If you need a taxi you should call one by phone, since it is more cheaper in this way than stopping one on the road. Also, calling the taxi by phone decreases the chance that You will be cheated, what otherwise happens sometimes,... (We repeat this again and again, and those who avoid this advice report us very bad exprerience, so it's worth to call for a taxi by phone, even if they are waiting in long queues at your site).

 
For airport transfer, there are slightly different charges depending the company (and they are always changing throughout the years), and also the direction (from the airport or to the airport). Also, most companies use a sector-based scheme for aiport transfer. You have to ask abount airport transport price at the cab driver. However, at most cases airport transfer costs about the same as per taxameter from the university campus.

Public phones, GSM, Internet, Wi-Fi

The number of public phones decreased in the last years. Some of them are working with coins (mostly pink phones), others work with a pre-paid card (such cards can be purchased at newspaper stands). Operator and information: Magyar Telekom.

Hungary has three GSM providers: Pannon, T-Mobile, and Vodafone. 900 and 1800 Mhz and in some areas of Budapest also 3G is available. Maybe the best coverage and quality is provided by T-Mobile.

The meeting room will definitely have Wi-Fi connectivity. Many hotels provide Wi-Fi, some for an additional fee. Sometimes you are able to find open hot-spots, and there are cafes with free internet. Check the website of the Hungarian Wireless Community for open hot-spots. There are also several internet cafes.

Electricity

The electric power is 230V in Hungary, we use the german style Schüko socket.

Tourism

It is a very good idea to stay some more extra days in Budapest. Budapest is the most beautiful in the summer, and you can find a lot to see and to try. Some more specific examples:

• tour to the castle
• tour to the parliament
• the Váci street (walking street)
• there are a lot of thermal baths like Széchenyi fürdő
• visit churches, caves, monuments, etc.
• take a rest in public parks like Margit island, or Gellért hill
• check the beer in the night on the Liszt Ferenc square
• taste good Hungarian wines (especially the famous sweet Hungarian Tokaji Aszú)
• look for the hungarian cousine
• shop in big malls (like Westend plaza)
• visit the Zoo or the Tropicarium of Campona Plaza
• take photos of the bridges and scenes of Budapest in the night
• take a boat-trip to Visegrád (lasts one day)

You can find more information on various websites like the official touristical website of Budapest.

Tips

Please note that in Hungary the tip is usually 10% if not included in the price (it depends on the place). So if you eat in a restaurant or drink in a pub you should give 10% tip, because this money is part of the waiter's earnings (of course it is not valid if a service fee is on the receipt). If you travel with taxi it is also recommended to give a bit more (5-10%) to the driver, but you can ask him to write the total amount of money you give on the bill. Unlike some places, any companies, restaurants, shops, taxis must be able to give you a company VAT invoice with proper VAT ratios and amounts, with the name of the purchaser included, at any time or place (invoice on stamp and bus ticket might be problematic). Prices on the street are VAT included, VAT is 25% in most cases. You can expect to use your credit card at most places or get exchange from euro nearby. Lately, restaurants began to calculate services fees. If You see service fee on Your bill, there is no need to pay any tips. They often try to make foreigners overlook on that and give an additional tip over the service fee which is not ethical.

What to take home from Hungary?

You should better look around on the web for that, but some hints:

• Most of our partners take a bottle of Tokaji Aszú wine. It is a sweet dessert wine or such in a 0,5 l bottle. If you do not want to learn more about that, just buy a 3 puttonyos from 1993, 1998, 2000, or 2001 from brands like Cheateu Megyer, Babits, Disznókő, or Tokaj kereskedőház.
• A good wine shop is In Vino Veritas.
• You can also buy Hungarian paprika powder (red powder, from mild to very hot) or
• Hungarian salami, hungarian lace tablecloths, etc. for example on the Fővám tér (near Hotel Gellért). There is the Great Hall (Nagy Csarnok), a public market building with traditional stuffs like meat and fruits, but it is also good for finding some souvernirs.