Accommodation

Camping Hungary has more than 200 camping grounds, and these are the cheapest places to stay. Small, private camping grounds accommodating as few as six tents are usually preferable to the large, noisy, ‘official’ camping grounds. The sites around Lake Balaton are more expensive and an additional per person ‘tourist tax’ is levied in some areas, usually after the first night. Some sites on the Great Plain have poor drainage. Most camping grounds open from May to September (though some open in April and close in October) and rent small bungalows to visitors without tents. In midsummer the bungalows may all be booked, so it pays to check with the local tourist office before making the trip. Members of the International Camping & Caravanning Club (FICC) and holders of student cards sometimes get a 10% discount. Camping ‘wild’ is prohibited in Hungary. Hostels & Student Dormitories Despite all the ‘hostels’ listed in the HI/Hungarian Youth Hostel Federation handbook, an HI card doesn’t get you very far in Hungary, with the exception of those in Budapest, most of the hostels are in places well off the beaten track. Generally the only year-round hostels are in Budapest. From 1 July to 20 August only, Hungary’s cheapest rooms are available in vacant student dormitories. There’s no need to show a student or hostel card, and it usually won’t get you any discount. Tourist Hostels This is a class of accommodation similar to Western youth hostels but not included in hostel handbooks . A tourist hostel (turistaszallo) offers beds in separate dormitories for men and women. There are no rules (for example, there are no curfews, smoking and drinking are allowed in the rooms etc). Tourist hostels are found in many cities and most stay open all year. Private Rooms & Farmhouses Find your private rooms /self catering apartments in Budapest here! Hungary’s ‘paying-guest service’ (fizetovendeg szolgalat) is a great deal and still relatively cheap. Private rooms at Lake Balaton are slightly more expensive. Single rooms are often hard to come by, and you’ll probably have to pay a 20% or 30% supplement if you stay less than four nights. Private rooms are assigned by travel agencies which take your money and give you a voucher bearing the address or sometimes even the key to the flat. If the first room you’re offered seems too expensive, ask if they have a cheaper one. There are usually several agencies offering private rooms, so ask around if the price id higher than usual or the location inconvenient. If you decide to take a private room, you’ll share a house or flat with a Hungarian family. The toilet facilities are usually communal but otherwise you can close your door and enjoy as much privacy as you please. All 1stand some 2ndand 3rdclass rooms have shared kitchen facilities. In Budapest you may have to take a room far from the centre of town, but public transport is good and cheap. In Budapest individuals at the train stations may offer you an unofficial private room. The prices these people ask are often higher than those at the agencies, and you will have nowhere to complain to in case of problems. Sometimes these people misrepresent the location or quality of their rooms to convince you to go with them. In resort areas look for houses with signs reading ‘szoba kiado’ or ‘Zimmer frei’, advertising the availability of private rooms. ‘Village tourism’ , which means staying at a farmhouse, is in no way as developed as it is in say, Slovenia and most of the places are truly remote, but the price is right: from as low as 350 Ft per person. The HTB publishes a Village Tourism catalogue, available at Tourinform bureaus, which lists farmhouses accepting paying guests. Pensions Find your pensions in Budapest here! Privately run pensions, known as panzio, which form the biggest growth area in the Hungarian hospitality industry, are really just little hotels of four to six rooms. They are invariably new, spotlessly clean and usually have an attached restaurant, bar or coffee shop. You’ll find pensions in main tourist areas like the Danube Bend, Lake Balaton, Sopron, the Buda Hills and sometimes along highways. Hotels Find your hotels in Budapest here! Hotels, called ‘szallo’ or ‘szalloda’, can run the gamut from luxurious five-star palaces like the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus in Budapest to the derelict Beke (Peace) Hotel that you still find in many Hungarian towns and small cities. Cheap hotel rooms are more expensive than private rooms, but they are a real bargain by international standards. A hotel may be the answer if you’re only staying one night or if you arrive too late to get a private room through an agency. Two-star hotels usually have rooms with private bathroom, whereas at one-star hotels the bathroom is usually down the hall. Breakfast – a meal at which the Hungarians decidedly do not excel – is almost always included in the room price at hotels. Expect ersatz coffee, weak tea, unsweetened lemon ‘juice’, tiny triangles of processed ‘cheese’ and stale bread.