Esztergom lies in the very north of Hungary, right on the border with Slovakia. The town can be reached by train from Budapest, but you can also use the railway station in the cross-border Slovak town of Štúrovo.

Regional bus services also run to Esztergom, of course, and it is easily accessible by car.

Travelling by car and parking in Esztergom

There is no motorway leading to Esztergom. The nearest motorway, the M1, runs roughly 30 km south of the town.

Travelling by car is straightforward from both the Hungarian and Slovak sides; when crossing the Mária Valéria Bridge from Štúrovo, you will encounter no restrictions or border controls.

Distances and route maps to/from Esztergom. Click on the town name to view the map.

• Budapest – 48 km
• Bratislava – 156 km
• Vienna – 222 km
• Ostrava – 343 km
• Prague – 514 km

If your journey takes you along Hungarian motorways, find out how much you’ll pay for a Hungarian motorway vignette.

Parking in the city centre

Street parking in the Old Town costs 500 huf per hour; payment is by cash only at parking meters.

You can park for free in the car park by the basilica on the north side of Szent István Tér (location on googlecom/maps).

Another popular free parking spot is on the Slovak side of the Mária Valéria Bridge in the town of Štúrovo (location at googlecom/maps).

By train directly to Esztergom

The terminus railway station is situated in the south of the town and offers frequent services to Budapest.

Trains between Esztergom and Budapest’s Nyugati station run every half hour(on weekdays and at weekends); the journey takes 64 minutes and costs around 1 120 huf. You do not need to buy a ticket online; simply purchase one from a ticket machine or at the ticket office at the station.

You can find a detailed timetable, including the option to buy tickets online, on the website:jegy.mav.hu.

By train via Štúrovo

An alternative train route to Esztergom runs via the neighbouring Slovak town of Štúrovo. International EuroCity trains on the Prague – Pardubice – Brno – Břeclav – Bratislava – Štúrovo – Budapest route also stop at the local station.

International trains run every two hours; for the cheapest fares, buy your tickets online via the websites of the respective railway companies:

• from the Czech Republic on the website cd.cz
• from Slovakia on the website zssk.sk
• from Hungary on the website jegy.mav.hu

The station in Štúrovo is quite a distance from the town, and the journey to the Basilica of Esztergom is over 5 km.

A direct bus runs every two hours (at every odd hour) from Štúrovo station to the bus station in Esztergom without the need to change buses. You can buy a ticket from the driver for 1,50 eur, and you can find a detailed timetable on the Volánbusz website or on IDOS.

By bus

Frequent connections to Hungarian towns are also provided by the Hungarian bus operator Volánbusz.

You can take buses to Esztergom from the following towns. Click on the route number to view the timetable.

• Budapest – route 800: 1–2 times per hour, departing from Árpád Híd bus station; the journey takes 80 minutes, i.e. almost 20 minutes longer than by train; the ticket is slightly cheaper and costs 990 huf
• Visegrád – route 880, once an hour; a ticket costs 720 huf
• Tatabánya –routes 1784, 804, 805, 824; a ticket costs 1270 huf