Getting to know Budapest..

greenhorn_0125 wrote:

..... Can anybody help me learn the tricks of the trade with the Hungarian public transport system? Like, what kinds of tickets are best and recommended? ....

If you go the link below, it tells you almost everything about the Budapest transport system. It's the web site of the transport company BKV and it's in English, German and of course, Hungarian. Useful journey planner too.

http://www.bkv.hu/en/

If you're staying here for a long time, and use transport at least daily - the best way for you would be to buy monthly pass - havi berlet, price is 9800HUF. If less - it makes sense to go for 10-tickets pack for 2800HUF.
Hope this would be helpful, also you can use this site:
http://www.bkv.hu/en/14_day_and_monthly_passes
it is city transport company site.
Cheers,
Max

Hi, and welcome to Hungary!

greenhorn_0125 wrote:

I don't know for sure if the system works the same way here but it probably does, like if i use a ticket that it's valid for one hour to get to certain areas, or in this case, probably districts?

Sadly, no.
A single ticket is valid for taking one vehicle one way for any number of stops uninterrupted, within city limits.
The only exception is the subway system, you can transfer between the 3 subways on Deak Ter with a single ticket.

There's a transfer ticket for 490 HUF, you can ride two vehicles consecutively.

The passes are much better value: no hassle, get on and off at your whim:
1550 for a 24 hour pass, 3850 for a 72 hour one, 4850 for a week.

If you are staying longer, you need a picture pass (socialist heritage, BKV is more like an authority than a service company.)
They do it pretty quickly, you just need to bring a passport photo.
Then you can get two week passes for 6500, monthly passes for 9800 HUF as stated before.

You can buy all passes anytime, you don't have to wait for the end of the day, week or month:
A day pass you buy late at night works till next late night, a monthly pass bought in the middle of the month is valid till the middle of next months. (OK, maybe February is a bit of a ripoff :-) )