We recommend that you use Alajos not only because he is very good at what he does (and very honest and reliable) but because he stays in touch with our manager Ilona Molnar and with us in case you are delayed, to coordinate our meeting you at the apartment and showing you around. And we stay in touch with him in case there are any glitches on our end (thus far, knock on wood, we’ve never had need of the latter).
You can reach him at +36 20 574-4546 or alajos@bvr.hu. In general, if you wish to use him it’s best to ask us to schedule your arrival so that we can coordinate meeting you at the apartment, and it is probably best if you make your departure arrangements with him directly (either when he drops you off at the apartment or several days in advance of leaving Budapest), so that you and he directly confirm your plans, but keep us in the loop.
But there are several other options: You can also take a shuttle bus (about the same in cost for 2 people, more costly than a taxi for 3+), or a private taxi other than Alajos’. See below for more detail. Alternatively, public transit from the airport in Budapest is like it is in New York City, which is to say that it is manageable but awkward, indirect, and time-consuming. From the train stations it tends to be excellent, but can be a bit difficult to maneuver if you have a lot of luggage. Here are more detailed directions to the apartment via public transit.
From the Airport
Via public transit: Take the #200 bus from the Airport (stops at both Ferihegy 1 -- used by most of the lowcost carriers -- and Ferihegy 2 -- used by most of the transatlantic carriers) to the Kobanya/Kispest Metro station (the end of the bus line; it takes about 24 minutes from Ferihegy 2, 12 minutes from Ferihegy 1). At the Metro station you will take the Blue Metro line to Kálvin ter. Kobanya/Kispest is the start of the Blue line, so any train will do, but you are headed in the direction of Újpest.
You need to validate your tickets for the bus or tram immediately after entering the bus/tram and immediately before heading down the escalator to the Metro; as a result, the simplest thing to do if possible is to purchase either a several day unlimited ticket or a discount book of single tickets before starting out from the airport. If you buy single tickets you will need one each for the bus and the Metro. There is more detailed advice on the ticketing process in the Survival Skills letter, which is repeated in our EverythingBudapest website.
FROM THE BLUE METRO AT KÁLVIN TER: you will be coming up an escalator. As you come up, look straight ahead of you; the far wall will an exit up onto the street, marked by three orange signs:
This is the exit you want … you are aiming to walk a couple of blocks up Üllöi ut. As you exit up the stairs, stay on the left, it dumps you straight onto the large street Üllöi ut (ut means avenue). There will be a traffic light almost immediately, , then a second … keep walking. Before you get toi the third light there will be a street starting on your left, Szentkirályi utca (utca means street; if you were to continue on Üllöi across Szentkirályi, you’ll know you’ve gone too far because there is a large, , somewhat dilapidated, fenced-in compound with buildings and trees – the medical school and its hospitals).
Take the left onto Szentkirályi and walk 2/3 of a block down the left side of the street to #49 (the last old, somewhat beaten up, building, up before a newer, white building):
Here is a map of the area (the Metro symbol M at the top is the Ferenciek station, the J at the center points to the apartment).
Via shuttle bus: There are also shuttle buses from the airport to major hotels, and there is, conveniently a major hotel not very far away. The Ibis Centrum Hotel is 2 blocks away (on Raday utca between Kálvin ter and Erkel). The Mercure Korona is on the opposite side of Kálvin ter. The pricing of the shuttle is such that if there are two of you the taxi fare is about the same; for 3 or more taxi is cheaper. Again, we recommend Alajos, but if you choose to take the shuttle, ask to go to the Ibis Centrum and ask the bus driver or doorperson at the Hotel to aim you at Üllöi ut. It’s around the corner and down the block. Then follow the directions above.
From the Keleti train station:
By Taxi: It is an easy Metro ride from Keleti; even so, we recommend that you use our driver, Alajos Pulai (see above). He charges a flat fee from the train stations, the same as from the airport – 20 Euros one way, 38 roundtrip – because meeting passengers at the train station inevitably involves considerable waiting time for him…the scheduled arrival and departure times are, shall we say, inexact. Alajos will wait for as long as it takes even if your train is seriously delayed, and he knows exactly where the apartments are and stays in touch with Ilona Molnar, our manager to let her know the status of the train’s arrival.
If you don’t want to spend as much as Alajos charges, be aware that there is a cottage industry of unscrupulous cab drivers who prowl Keleti and charge exorbitant fares. You should instead call a taxi when you have arrived and arrange a location where the driver can find you and pick you up, usually within 10 minutes; we recommend City Taxi: 06 1 211 1111; the dispatcher speaks some English. The fare should be around 1000 HUF, depending on traffic, roughly 5 Euros or less.
Via Public transit: It’s relatively easy, though there’s a fair amount of jockeying your luggage up and down stairs.
You need to purchase tickets for the Metro before boarding; the simplest thing to do if possible is to purchase either a several day unlimited ticket or a discount book of single tickets. If you buy single tickets you will need to validate the ticket once you board enter the Metro station. There is more detailed advice on the ticketing process in the Survival Skills document and in the http://EverythingBudapest website. If you do not purchase a transit pass, you will need two tickets for the trip, one for the Red line and one for the transfer to the Blue line, and you will need to validate a ticket as you enter each line.
There is a Metro station below the train station. It’s on the Red Line and you take the train headed for Deli Palyaudvar. Go three stops and get off at Deák ter. Transfer to the Blue line, headed for Kobanya/Kispest. Go two stops, to Kálvin ter. Then follow the directions above in the section on the airport for getting from the Kálvin ter station to the apartment.
From the Deli train station:
By Taxi: It is an easy Metro ride from Keleti; even so, we recommend that you use our driver, Alajos Pulai (see above). He charges a flat fee from the train stations, the same as from the airport – 20 Euros one way, 38 roundtrip – because meeting passengers at the train station inevitably involves considerable waiting time for him…the scheduled arrival and departure times are, shall we say, inexact. Alajos will wait for as long as it takes even if your train is seriously delayed, and he knows exactly where the apartments are and stays in touch with Ilona Molnar, our manager to let her know the status of the train’s arrival.
If you don’t want to spend as much as Alajos charges, be aware that there is a cottage industry of unscrupulous cab drivers who prowl Keleti and charge exorbitant fares. You should instead call a taxi when you have arrived and arrange a location where the driver can find you and pick you up, usually within 10 minutes; we recommend City Taxi: 06 1 211 1111; the dispatcher speaks some English. The fare should be around 1000 HUF, depending on traffic, roughly 5 Euros or less.
Via Public transit: It’s relatively easy, though there’s a fair amount of jockeying your luggage up and down stairs.
You need to purchase tickets for the Metro before boarding; the simplest thing to do if possible is to purchase either a several day unlimited ticket or a discount book of single tickets. If you buy single tickets you will need to validate the ticket once you board enter the Metro station. There is more detailed advice on the ticketing process in the Survival Skills document and in the http://EverythingBudapest website. If you do not purchase a transit pass, you will need two tickets for the trip, one for the Red line and one for the transfer to the Blue line, and you will need to validate a ticket as you enter each line.
There is a Metro station at train station. It’s on the Red Line and you take the train headed for Örs Vezer ter. Go four stops and get off at Deák ter. Transfer to the Blue line, headed for Kobanya/Kispest. Go two stops, to Kálvin ter. Then follow the directions above in the section on the airport for getting from the Kálvin ter station to the apartment.
From the Nyugati (West) train station:
By Taxi: It is an easy Metro ride from Keleti; even so, we recommend that you use our driver, Alajos Pulai (see above). He charges a flat fee from the train stations, the same as from the airport – 20 Euros one way, 38 roundtrip – because meeting passengers at the train station inevitably involves considerable waiting time for him…the scheduled arrival and departure times are, shall we say, inexact. Alajos will wait for as long as it takes even if your train is seriously delayed, and he knows exactly where the apartments are and stays in touch with Ilona Molnar, our manager to let her know the status of the train’s arrival.
If you don’t want to spend as much as Alajos charges, be aware that there is a cottage industry of unscrupulous cab drivers who prowl Keleti and charge exorbitant fares. You should instead call a taxi when you have arrived and arrange a location where the driver can find you and pick you up, usually within 10 minutes; we recommend City Taxi: 06 1 211 1111; the dispatcher speaks some English. The fare should be around 1000 HUF, depending on traffic, roughly 5 Euros or less.
Via Public transit: It’s relatively easy, though there’s a fair amount of jockeying your luggage up and down stairs.
You need to purchase tickets for the Metro before boarding; the simplest thing to do if possible is to purchase either a several day unlimited ticket or a discount book of single tickets. If you buy single tickets you will need to validate the ticket once you board enter the Metro station. There is more detailed advice on the ticketing process in the Survival Skills document and in the http://EverythingBudapest website.
There is a Metro station below the train station. It’s on the Blue Line and you take the train headed for Kobanya/Kispest. Go four stops and get off at Kálvin ter. Then follow the directions above in the section on the airport for getting from the Kálvin ter station to the apartment.
From the Népliget Bus Station
Take the Blue Metro at the Népliget station, in the direction of Ujpest. Go four stops to Kálvin ter (Nagyvarad, Klinikak, Ferenc korut, Kalvin ter); follow directions from Ká in the section on public transit from the airport, above).
By Car (and parking and car rental advice):
Coming from the north, you will want to get onto Üllöi ut. Follow the brown arrows to Kalvin ter. There is massive construction, but you want to get onto Üllöi ut after driving through the square. Continue until the first left after the second traffic light, that’s Szentkirályi utca, and you are going 2/3 of the way down the block to #49.
From the airport and points south the main road leads you directly into Üllöi ut:
PARKING: If you are arriving by car, you probably recognize that parking in the center of any large city can be a serious challenge. Parking near Jeff’s Place can be a challenge. And it’s been made much worse of late by a combination of massive infrastructure construction projects, ranging from the building of a fourth Metro line, to the closing of one of the major bridges over the Danube for a 2-year renovation, to a range of new water, sewer, and cable-TV projects that have all the city-center streets torn up.
Having said all that, the good (?) news is that there is a 24-hour indoor parking garage a block or two away (and the unequivocally bad news is that parking garge rates nearby have doubled recently to at least 25 Euros/day, and this close one at the Mercure Korona Hotel charges 550 HUF per hour, or more than 2 Euros, for a total of about 50 Euros per day; if you’re willing to spend that on your car I’d like to renegotiate the rate for the apartment!); there are other garages scattered around the area, two less expensive ones are across the Körút in the VIIth district (on a weekly basis they are less than 15 Euros/day). The better news is that slightly further there are three less expensive alternatives: Behind the National Museum there are two (one underground and quite new); and the least costly, but furthest away, is on Realtanoda utca between Magyar utca and Károlyi utca.
During the day (8:00am to 18:00 pm) street parking is theoretically not available without a residence permit on almost all streets in the very center of the city (in the area roughly between the Elizabeth and Chain bridges, which almost touches (but doesn’t quite) Henszlmann utca; on-street parking elsewhere requires payment (230-265 HUF/hour) at a Muni-Meter, whose instructions are (a) in Hungarian and (b) unintelligible. Parking is free from 6:00pm to 8:00am and on weekends. There is a map with prices and restrictions at (Henszlmann is basically at the exact center of the light blue zone):
http://www.fkpt.hu/english/3operation/tariffs.html
This is part of a decent English language website with detailed information and instructions on the use of the machines:
http://www.fkpt.hu/english/3operation/machines.html
Car rental is, of course, available at the airport. It is also available at a lower cost in the city itself. The Avis office is in the parking garage directly across the street from our Szervita ter apartments, about a 5 minute walk from Apartment Max. Internet reservations with Avis can sometimes be a bargain but be certain to print out the exact terms of your reservation and take into account Avis’ exchange rate for the local currency of European reservations (8% or so the last time I cecked).
We use Fox Autorent, which is lest costly and which operates out of the lobby and garage of the Intercontinental Hotel. You call and make your arrangements, and then go sit in the lobby until a Fox representative finds you and takes you to the garage. It’s a bit like trying to buy letters of transit at Rick’s Café Americain in Casablanca, but the service is good and the cars are fine, and the hotel is about a 5-10 minute walk away from Szerita, ten to fifteen minutes from Apartment Max.
Europacar is also nearby, but more costly.
