BUDAPEST CITY INFO, FIGURES, PUBLIC TRANSPORT
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SAFE AND SOUND IN BUDAPEST
- published by the Tourism Office of Budapest -
Budapest is a friendly, colourful and hospitable city, which attracts visitors from all over the world, yet, just like in every metropolis, you should be careful here. In order to absorb the beauties of the city without worries, we would like to give you few pieces of advice.
Arrival at the station
Visitors are often fascinated by the beautiful and vivid city upon their first arrival in Budapest and often do not keep an eye on their valuables and thieves take advantage of this situation.
Our advice:
* keep an eye on your belongings at the station, where you can leave your luggage in lockers.
* If you do not have accommodation reserved in advance, please turn to the travel agent or information bureau at the railway stations and try to avoid agents who offer private rooms. Only agents with proper badges are permitted to offer accommodation to visitors on the trains.
Budapest by car
Just like in every big city, finding a parking place in Budapest could be a problem even for locals. If you do not know the city well, we advise you to use public transport instead. The are parking lots with parking meters around sights. Vehicles are not permitted to stay more than 3 hours in downtown parking lots. Your car my easily be clamped if you fail to pay the parking fee or run out of time. Should you violate the rules, the official fine on the spot cannot be more than HUF 2000.
Our advice:
* Leave your car in the guarded or indoor parking lot of your hotel or in a parking house. For further information please contact the information offices.
* Do not leave your belongings, car registration documents and mobile phone in the car.
* Please make sure you have properly locked your car and the alarm is on even if you leave it for a minute.
Currency exchange
You may easily bump into illegal money changers who seem to offer very favourable rates at frequently visited tourist spots. This activity is not only illegal, but is dangerous and usually turns out to produce considerable losses.
Our advice:
* We recommend that you exchange money at the banks, hotels, travel bureaux, exchange offices or the more than 100 ATM machines of the city. The majority of the exchange offices work non-stop.
Fake policemen
During the summer season uniformed tourist police patrols do their beat with interpreters on their side at the most frequently visited places of Budapest. Some people try to pose as tourist police and ask for the visitors' money, credit cards or travel documents in order to check them. The sole reason of the move is to cheat tourists.
Our advice:
* Please make sure the police patrol has a proper badge with a "police" sign on it and with an ID card with picture, hologram and rank. Police badge without an identification number is not valid.
Shopping, markets and public transport
Pick pockets, in Budapest too, prefer working in huge crowds. Careless travellers can easily be deprived of their belongings, you, therefore, should be extremely careful when travelling on crowded vehicles, or on public transport lines which connect sights of Budapest (tram number 2, 4 and 6, buses 7 and 26 in the summer, and the metro). At the most frequently visited places of Budapest, such as downtown streets, Matthias Church in the Castle, St. Stephen's Basilica, Heroes' Square, the Citadel, and the underpasses some groups of people may try to surround unsuspecting tourists making a loud noise and turmoil in an attempt to steal their belongings.
Our advice:
* You are recommended to leave your valuables, cash, plane or train ticket in the safe at your accommodation.
* You should not take more cash with you than necessary for the shopping.
* Keep your bag closed and do not keep your cash and credit card at the same place.
Taking a taxi
The tariffs of the taxi companies may differ to some extent, but there is one thing in common ceiling to the tariffs. If you take a taxi, you can find the tariff chart on both dashboard and on the right rear window.
If you take a taxi in Budapest, but your destination is outside the city, the driver may request the return price to the city border.
Our advice:
* If you arrive by plane or train, you can take the Airport Minibus or the MÁV Rail Bus service to get to town.
* You get price reduction if you order your taxi by phone. Some hints: City Taxi 211-1111, Radio Taxi 377-7777, Fötaxi 222-2222, Taxi 2000: 200-0000
Restaurants, entertainment
You can easily find a restaurant or a bar in Budapest to match both your purse and your taste. At some places frequently visited by tourists average quality food and drink may be overpriced. Quite often attractive women who speak foreign languages may recommend restaurants and bars to undecided guests. Accept these invitations only if the bill does not make any difference to you. We would rather discourage our friends to do so.
Our advice:
* Before ordering make sure you know the prices, a five-digit price for one dish in unrealistically high.
* Never accept menus, which do not contain prices or are coded, these are illegal.
Illegal street games
In the Citadel, Fisherman's Bastion, Váci utca or Heroes' Square people who play betting games turn up from time to time tempting visitors to make easy money. Players always co-operate with their friends who pose as spectators. If you enter the game, you can take it for granted that you will lose.
Our advice:
* Do not take your luck in the streets if possible, there are nine casinos in Budapest.
If you accept these recommendations from us, we hope you will not have to face any inconvenience and will retain nice memories of the city. However, if you need help, turn to the nearest police station or to the tourist assistance office, which works between June 1 and September 1 at the police headquarters at Teve utca 6., in district XIII, where complaints are accepted and assistance is provided in English. Phone: 443-5259 Please feel free to make your remarks and proposals to our colleagues at the information offices.
The above information was published by the Tourism Office of Budapest.