Travel Costs: Budapest, Hungary Budget Update
We’re continuing to post our spending numbers as a resource for other travelers. Here is a breakdown of what we spent for two people over 7 days in Budapest, Hungary.
The currency in Hungary is the Hungarian forint (HUF) and the exchange rate was 225 HUF to $1 USD in September 2013.
| Activity | $96.00 |
| Food/Drink | $176.49 |
| Lodging | $232.75 |
| Misc. | $6.62 |
| Transportation | $47.10 |
| Grand Total | $558.96 |
This works out to about $80/day for two people.
A few notes on our spending:
- Activities included two tickets to the Budapest Philharmonic at the State Opera House, admission to the House of Terror museum, and entry into the Szechenyi Baths.
- For lodging we negotiated a weekly rate at a beautiful apartment in Pest near the Klinikak metro stop.
- Food and drink was a mixture of eating out and cooking in the apartment. Cooking our own meals was both fun for us and a cost saver. We almost always had wine with dinner since the local wine is good and affordable. The numerous ruin pubs are fun for a cheap drink, too.
- For transportation we bought two 7-day metro passes and two one-way passes on our last day. The underground subway and above ground tram-way got us everywhere we needed to go.
- Our only miscellaneous expense was a haircut for me.
- Hungary is part of the EU so there are no immigration fees/visas requried for US citizens.
- This includes only our spending in the country. It excludes our airfare/train here and upfront costs like immunizations, travel insurance, etc.
Hungary is a pleasantly affordable European destination. As we wrote before, we regretted not spending longer here and using it as a base to explore surrounding cities like Prague, Krakow, Salzburg, and more. Next time!
Click here for our other budget updates.
