Budapest Card: Prices, What's Included and When It Pays Off

Prices and what each card adds

BKK publishes the cards on its Budapest Card page and its price list, all marked valid from 1 May 2026. BKK also shows a "full price" for each card, calculated from adult ticket prices, which is its own estimate of the value if you used everything.

The 72-hour Classic page lists free public transport within the city, free entry to Szent Lukács Thermal Bath, a free Danube cruise, a free ride on the Zugliget Chairlift, and free entry to 30+ museums and attractions, including the permanent exhibitions of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery and the Hungarian National Museum. Heritage trams along the Danube are free only from May to October. Discounts of 10–25% apply at more than 30 further places, among them several baths, St Stephen's Basilica, the Dohány Street Synagogue and the Zoo. We read only the 72-hour product pages; BKK's overview table shows different highlights for each card length (Lukács, for example, is not among the highlights shown for the 24- and 48-hour cards), so check the product page for the length you buy.

The Plus page adds one round trip on the 100E Airport Express bus, one free ride on the Buda Castle Funicular, and one free lángos and one kürtőskalács at Molnár's. The funicular operator's Budapest Card Plus page goes further and says Plus holders ride free in both directions.

The Flexi page works differently: besides transport, you pick 5 of these 7 programmes:

1. a 100E airport round trip;
2. Lukács Bath admission;
3. a guided walking tour in Pest or Buda;
4. a folklore show with dinner at GastroCellar;
5. the Official Budapest Castle Bus;
6. one sightseeing cruise;
7. one attraction from a short list: the Castle Museum's St Stephen's Hall, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Hungarian National Museum or MOL Campus SkyDeck.

Is it worth it? The break-even test

Start from transport, because that is the part almost everyone uses. BKK's price list gives a 24-hour Budapest-travelcard at 2,750 HUF and a 72-hour one at 5,750 HUF; a single ticket is 500 HUF and an airport shuttle bus single ticket 2,500 HUF.

The Flexi and Plus rows count the 100E round trip at two single airport tickets (2 × 2,500 HUF), because both cards include it.

To use the table, list the free places you will really visit, look up each one's adult ticket price on its own website, and add them up. Discounts do not count towards the threshold; they only reduce what you pay on top. If your total sits below the line, buy a travelcard and pay for entries as you go.

Which card for which trip

• Arriving and leaving by air, three days, a bath and two or three museums: the Flexi is the cheapest card that includes the airport bus. Use one pick on the 100E, one on Lukács, and the rest on the National Gallery, a walking tour or a cruise. Our airport to city guide explains the 100E route.
• Museum-heavy stay without airport transfers: the Classic, sized to your days. Unlike the Flexi, which allows one attraction from a short list, it includes all 30+ free museums, from the Museum of Fine Arts to Memento Park and the Hungarian National Museum.
• Mainly baths at Széchenyi or Rudas: the card is weak value. BKK lists Széchenyi, Rudas, Palatinus and Római at 20% off on its spa list, while only Lukács Bath and Lupa Beach are free. Our Széchenyi tickets guide has the prices to compare.
• Mainly walking, markets and churches: a plain travelcard. The sights list gives 20% off at St Stephen's Basilica and 10% at the Dohány Street Synagogue; that will not recover the card's cost. Our Christmas markets guide covers a typical winter itinerary of this kind.

For transport-only trips, our public transport tickets guide explains the travelcards and the BudapestGO app.

Free places worth knowing

BKK says the cards give free or discounted entry at about 90 places, sorted on its places of acceptance page. Some highlights, as listed on 30 October 2026:

• Museums, free: Museum of Fine Arts, Hungarian National Gallery, Hungarian National Museum, St Stephen's Hall, Kunsthalle, Ludwig Museum, Memento Park, Vasarely Museum, Robert Capa Center, and the Budapest History Museum's sites including the Castle Museum and Aquincum (museums list).
• Museums, discounted: Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives and the Kazinczy utca Synagogue at 10%, Hospital in the Rock (listed as Nuclear Bunker) at 10%, Museum of Illusions at 15%.
• Views, free: the Citadel (Bastion of Liberty), MOL Campus SkyDeck and the Margaret Island water tower.
• Transport extras: the city transport list shows the 100E, the Official Budapest Castle Bus, the Zugliget Chairlift, historic vehicles and the Buda Castle Funicular as free, and the miniBUD door-to-door airport transfer at 20% off.

The category lists do not say which card type each benefit belongs to. Where they differ from the product pages, the product pages are more specific: the 100E, for example, is named only on the Plus and Flexi pages, and the funicular ride only on the Plus page, not on the Classic page.

The free cruise in late autumn and winter

The free cruise is one trip on one of four boats, according to BKK's cruise listing. On 30 October 2026 that page said BKV's boat services were suspended because the Danube was too low for safe navigation. The other three:

BKK says the Danube River Cruise timetable may change with water levels and recommends booking ahead by email or phone.

Buying, starting and using the card

You can buy online or at more than 300 points in Budapest. An online purchase gives you a voucher that you exchange for the physical card at the airport, in the city centre or at a BKK ticket machine, according to the Budapest Card page. The terms and conditions, in force since 1 July 2025, add the details that catch people out:

1. Validity is counted in hours from a start time that you write on the card yourself (date, hour and minute). A 72-hour card started at 15:00 on Friday ends at 15:00 on Monday.
2. The card must show your ID card or passport number.
3. Cards that are rewritten, altered or illegible are invalid and are not replaced, so write carefully.

The terms mention cards of up to 120 hours, but the price list on 30 October 2026 offered nothing longer than 96 hours.