Where is Budapest located?

Are you planning a visit the capital of Hungary but you are not sure where to find it? Read the article and find out more!

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. It was formed as a union of two cities, Buda and Pest, located on the opposite shores of the Danube River. This is all you should know for the time being, but let’s analyse the question in details: “Where is Budapest?”.

If we zoom out, we will see that Budapest is located in central Europe, surrounded by the Carpathians. 

Where is Budapest within Europe?

Budapest is located in central Europe, surrounded by the Carpathians. Since the capital can be found in the very heart of Europe, it has got a lot of neighbouring countries and capitals. Looking at the map clockwise, starting with Austria the following countries share the borders of Hungary: Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.

Hungary is part of the EU and the Schengen Treaty as well.

Where is Budapest within Hungary?

The city has a central position in Hungary and is surrounded by several other smaller or bigger towns. Budapest is surrounded by settlements of the agglomeration in Pest County.

Some of the popular neighbouring settlements of Budapest are: Budaörs, Dunakeszi, Csömör, Szigetszentmiklós etc.

Budapest is divided into two sides, Buda and Pest by the Danube which flows vertically across Hungary. 

The Pest side is rather flat with all the buzzing bars, parks and vibrant nightlife, while Buda is the hilly, green, quieter residential area.

Did you know? 

• The city is populated by roughly 1,5 million people, which makes it the biggest town in Hungary 
• Its land area is about 525 square km
• The climate is the mixture of continental and oceanic with the presence of the 4 seasons
• GPS coordinates of Budapest: 47° 29′ 52.4868” N and 19° 2′ 24.8496
• It is good to know that the name of the country in Hungarian language is: Magyarország
• No one knows exactly where the Hungarian language came from

How to access Budapest

The good news is that thanks to its central position Budapest can be easily accessed by many means of transportation:

Car

• Coming to Budapest: The road infrastructure is pretty good in Hungary. After having crossed the border you can easily get to Budapest by driving on one of the many highways that link the capital to the other parts of the country.

• In the city: The traffic in downtown Budapest tends to be very busy and rush hours are quite unpleasant. Parking is not free in the city center, you have to pay a parking fee usually between 8am and 8pm depending on the rules of the local governments of each district. 

Train 

• Coming to Budapest: There are 3 main railway stations (Nyugati, Keleti and Déli) in Budapest that link the capital to other foreign cities. 

• In the city: In some cases, you can save time if you take the train to another destination in Budapest. If you have a daily/weekly ticket for the public transportation, you can use the train free of charge if you stay within the city.

Bus

• Coming to Budapest: You can visit Budapest by taking a coach. Most coaches come to one of the 2 big bus stations (Népliget or Kelenföld) 

• In the city: Public transport is very reliable, convenient and pretty cheap in Budapest. You can easily reach any destinations within the city by bus, metro or tram.

Airplane

• Your flight will land at Budapest Airport (BUD) from where you can access Budapest by taxi or bus.

Boat

• Coming to Budapest: You can take a boat travelling from Austria through Budapest to the Black Sea. 

• In the city: There are a lot of docks at the Danube bank. Going on a boat trip is a must-do activity when you visit Budapest.

Budapest on the map

Summary

I hope by now you are familiar enough with the location of Budapest to be able to decide how and when you want to visit the capital. Budapest is a lovely hidden gem of Europe that you must come to once in your lifetime. Let us give you some tips for choosing your means of transportation to Budapest from London.