If you are planning travel Budapest or just Europe in general by yourself or with your friends (not with an actual tour group), you will need get connected with the Internet! Even though a lot of places in public and hotels/hostels offer free Wi-Fi, you still won’t want put yourself into the situation that you might get lost in a foreign country. Therefore, here are the two things that might make your life so much easier!
Buy a local SIM card with data plan. I know most of the Canadian telecom companies such a Rogers and Bell are all offering the international data packages with an additional cost. However, that could add up fast and getting pretty expensive. Thus, if you are travelling for more than three days in Europe, you should really considering switch to a local SIM card! A lot of European telecom companies such as Giffgaff from the UK and Vodafone from Germany offers great prepaid deals of a calling, texting, and data bundle plan. Normally you don’t need to worry about the country coverage since most of them covers 30 EU countries, but I guess it is always safer to check if the country/countries you plan to visit is in the list. You can click here for more information and choose the most suitable one for you!
Personally my favourite one is the Orange Holiday Europe plan , it offers 20GB data, 2 hours call, and 1000 text messages in 14 days period for $49.9 USD (approximately $65 CAD), Even though it might seems quite expensive, but most of the time, we only get one card per group and we will just share the data by hotspot the others! I found their 4G speed is super-fast and it has strong signal even in small Austrian towns like Hallstatt!
Hallstatt is a village on Lake Hallstatt’s western shore with an ancient salt mine! It was ranked as one of the most beautiful towns in Europe! Go check it out!
Tip: If you choose to go with the Orange Holiday Europe plan like I did, I would also recommend that you purchase them online on either their official website or on Amazon in advance. There are two reasons. First of all, it is very hard to figure out if there is any Orange store in the airport you will be arrive. At the same time, you wouldn’t know their store hours or if they have the exact one you have in mind in stock. Therefore, in that case, if you purchase them in advance, you would receive your European Sim card before departure and have them ready to go as soon as you arrive Europe!
Attention! If you do choose to purchase them through Amazon, the shipping time is faster, but there might be an additional duty fee charge when you receive your package, so be aware!
Just like most of popular touristy cities, Budapest got its own official travel card. Budapest card has various options of free entrances of popular tourism attractions which includes 19 museums, Lukacs Bath, and Palace of Wonders. It also offers free public transit, walking sightseeing tour and cave tour. You may found their full listed service here!
Attention! Even though you get free public transit with your Budapest Card, airport express bus tickets, boat tours tickets, Buda Castle Funicular tickets, and Zugliget chairlift tickets are NOT included! You will have to purchase them separately or buy a Budapest Card Plus (plus option is only available in 72h tickets) to have them covered.
The price of the Budapest Card depends on the length of its validation period. There are six options which are 24h for 22 euros, 48h for 33 euros, 72h for 43 euros, 72h Plus for 67 euros, 96h for 53 euros, and 120h for 63 euros. The most popular options are the 72h and 96h since that would the amount of time you need to go through all the museums and other attractions in order to get your money worth.
So … Should I get my Budapest card or it is a rip-off? Well, it depends! If you are there for at least three days and you are a huge fan of history and museums, then it’s an absolutely yes! Palace and museum tickets can be very expensive, so if you are going there for its rich history, Budapest card will save you a decent amount of money on that for sure. On the other hand, if you are like me, going there with no specific purpose in mind, mostly just to experience and learn about the city, then I would say no to Budapest Card. Going through all the museums can be quite time-consuming, especially if it is your first visit and you would like to see everything in a short period of time. Personally I recommend doing some research beforehand, list 3-4 the most interesting museums that you would like to see and plan your schedule around that since it could be tricky with their un-regular opening hours (some of them close at 4pm!).
Tip #1: bring your valid student ID with you! Most of the palaces and museums offers discounted tickets to students who is under 26 years old and has a valid student ID even if you are a non-EU citizen! Tip #2: Budapest is famous of their natural spring and bath culture. If you are interested of trying some popular baths, make sure you save sometime for that in your planning! It will be worth it!
Most places in Budapest accept both euros and forints so there is no need to panic if you are running out of forints and has to use your leftover euros. ·
Even though a lot of stores, restaurants, and box offices have their price list with both currencies, I did found that use forints would be little bit cheaper due to the exchange rate, so if you can, you should use forints in both cash or credit card option.
Do not exchange money with random people on streets!! We all know that we shouldn’t bring too much cash when we are travelling, but we do still want some as our emergency money just in case if our credit cards are not working. Therefore, I would recommend that either have your forints ready before you are in Budapest (either exchange them in Ottawa), or just use your euros. There are a lot of people trying to scam tourists with their ridiculously high exchange rate or simply just trying to steal your wallet. So make sure that you reject these people directly if they come to you, and if you have to, go to a bank which is your home bank’s partner or an official money exchange store. Check out this link for more information.
I believe most people who is reading this blog are travellers with a budget just like me, thus, spend 50% of your money on fancy hotel rooms is little bit unnecessary. However, if this is the trip you are planning to “treat yourself”, then hotels it is! Some of my friends stayed at this gorgeous hotel called New York Palace and they loved it. Not only because it is located in the heart of the city centre in the pest side (west side), but one of the most beautiful café in Europe which is New York Café is also located at this hotel’s bottom floor. Therefore, if you are staying with them, you wouldn’t need a reservation for the café since you would be considered as a priority and you could go there whenever you prefer. This could be an advantage since there is always a huge queue for the café.
Personally, as a university student in my 20s with a travel budget, I would highly recommend staying at hostels and here is why!
Hostels are so cheap! You can choose either shared rooms if you are travelling alone or with a group of friends, that will be your cheapest option, or you could choose private rooms if you prefer little bit personal space. However, a private room in hostels are often cheaper than the ones in hotels still. Hostel systems are very mature in Europe, safety is often not a concern or issue. Almost all of them has security cameras and elevators with room key lock. Some of them are also offers female only/male only dorm rooms, so make sure you choose the right one for yourself.
Hostels always have the best locations! Have a good hotel/hostel location is one of the most important factor in most people’s travel plan. Your time there is limited and obviously you wouldn’t want to spend a lot of them commuting. Hostels are designed for young people who loves travelling, they often located in city centres or little bit further away but right besides public transit access. Either way, it should be very easy for you to get to most of the tourism attractions.
Hostels have 24/7 front desk and free luggage storages. One thing I don’t like about Airbnb is you would need to communicate with your host on your check-in and check-out time. It wouldn’t be an issue if you arriving during regular hours, however, if you got an extreme early or late flight, that might costs trouble. In that case, if you stay in the hostel, even if your flight leaves at night, you can still check-out on time during the day, but simply put your suitcases in their storage room and you can earn yourself an extra day!
You can make lots of friends and earn some valuable tips that might being really beneficial in your trip! Hostels are always have a restaurant or a bar attached on the side. They often have lots of social events planned for their guests to make friends. Everyone there comes from different places, with a various background and has their own adventure stories. It is very interesting to meet them at a foreign city, exchange stories, tips, and all the unique experiences.
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