Buses to Budapest are becoming the least frequent public transport, especially at the expense of the ever-accelerating rail connections, which are more convenient and significantly more predictable.
Today, however, buses are still important when travelling to smaller Hungarian cities, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Poland or Slovenia.
On the other hand, trains play the main role in the direction of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany or Slovakia.
International buses - routes and prices
There are practically only 2 relevant carriers operating routes from abroad to Budapest.
- Regiojet (buy tickets on regiojet.cz) - a Czech company operating on the route Budapest - Bratislava - Brno - Prague, also operates trains on the same route
- Flixbus (buy tickets on flixbus.com) - multinational company operating from Budapest to all neighbouring countries
On the competing route from Budapest to Bratislava, Brno and Prague, Regiojet tends to be cheaper in most cases.
Austria
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
| Vienna | flixbus.com | From 9 eur | 3 hours | 1x per hour |
| Graz | flixbus.com | From 25 eur | 4.5 hours | 1x per day |
| Linz | flixbus.com | From 15 eur | 5.5 hours | 3x daily |
Slovakia
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bratislava | regiojet.cz flixbus.com |
from 8 eur | 2.5 hours | 1x per hour |
| Košice | flixbus.com | from 15 eur | 3.5 hours | 4x daily |
| Banská Bystrica | flixbus.com | From 12 eur | 3 hours | 5x daily |
| Poprad | flixbus.com | From 17 eur | 5.5 hours | 2x daily |
| Žilina | flixbus.com | From 14 eur | 5 hours | 1x daily |
| Retrieved from | flixbus.com | From 10 eur | 2.5 hours | 5x daily |
| Prešov | flixbus.com | From 20 eur | 4.5 hours | 4x daily |
Czech Republic
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prague | regiojet.cz flixbus.com |
from 25 eur | 7.5 hours | 1x per hour |
| Brno | regiojet.cz flixbus.com |
from 17 eur | 4.5 hours | 1x per hour |
| Ostrava | flixbus.com | from 22 eur | 6 hours | 1x per day |
Romania
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bucharest | flixbus.com | From 31 eur | 15.5 hours | 2x daily |
| Timisoara | flixbus.com | From 18 eur | 5.5 hours | 1x daily |
| Targu Mures | flixbus.com | From 21 eur | 10.5 hours | 2x daily |
| Cluj | flixbus.com | From 27 eur | 8.5 hours | 2x daily |
| Arad | flixbus.com | From 16 eur | 4 hours | 2x daily |
| Oradea | flixbus.com | From 18 eur | 5.5 hours | 2x daily |
| Sibiu | flixbus.com | From 24 eur | 9 hours | 1x daily |
Croatia
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zagreb | flixbus.com | From 20 eur | 4.5 hours | 3 times a day |
Slovenia
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ljubljana | flixbus.com | From 17 eur | 6.5 hours | 4x daily |
| Maribor | flixbus.com | From 19 eur | 4.5 hours | 3x daily |
Serbia
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgrade | flixbus.com | From 20 eur | 6 hours | 2x daily |
| Novi Sad | flixbus.com | From 20 eur | 5 hours | 2x daily |
Other destinations
Buses from Budapest also go to more distant destinations, here are some examples of the most popular routes.
| Ticket booking | Price | Travel time | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venice | flixbus.com | From 32 eur | 10.5 hours | 6x daily |
| Trieste | flixbus.com | From 30 eur | 8 hours | 5x daily |
| Berlin | flixbus.com | From 37 eur | 12.5 hours | 5x daily |
| Munich | flixbus.com | From 32 eur | 8.5 hours | 3x daily |
| Krakow | flixbus.com | From 23 eur | 6.5 hours | 6x daily |
Where do the buses stop in Budapest
Both Regiojet and Flixbus stop at the same bus stations, and both have access to the metro and other transport.
Click on the station name to see a map.
Flixbus also stops at the M1 metro station "Mexikói út" for some services, especially to Slovakia or Romania.
National bus lines
If you're planning a trip from Budapest to other Hungarian cities without rail connections, you'll probably use the services of Volánbusz, Hungary's largest bus company.
You can buy or check tickets and timetables on the volanbusz.hu website.
The central bus station for domestic services is at Népligét metro station.