Cars
🚗
x
1
Passengers
🧑
x
2
Children included
The evening before a trip there is often one question left: when do we need to leave for the airport? It depends on where you start, how you travel and how much time you allow at the airport. Morning traffic, waiting for the bus or the shuttle from the car park all add to the journey, and even seasoned travellers can get the sums wrong. That is where BUDstart's journey planner helps: it puts the options side by side and works out when you should set off.
What is BUDstart?
BUDstart is an independent information site about Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport. You can follow departing and arriving flights, look up how to get to the airport, and check baggage rules or parking. The bus timetables come from BKK, the measured traffic data from Budapest Közút, and the taxi costs are estimated from the published tariffs. Fuel prices are holtankoljak.hu's national averages. Parking prices and the list of full car parks come from ParkoLow.
How does it work?
You only need to enter a few things:
- Where are you starting from? You can choose a Budapest district or a town anywhere in Hungary. This is also where you set whether it is a one-way or a return trip, and how many days you will be away. The length of the trip affects the cost of parking; for a one-way trip the planner does not offer the own-car option.
- How many of you are travelling? The planner also works out the cost per person. The number of people can change the recommendation too: what pays off for a group is not always what pays off alone.
- When are you flying? Enter your departure time or search by flight number. You also set how long before take-off you want to be at the terminal. Allow more time if you have a lot of checked baggage.
The planner lists places in Hungary only. If you are driving in from abroad, it may help to read our guide on driving to Budapest Airport from abroad as well.
The results show public transport, your own car and a taxi on separate cards, whenever all three make sense for the trip. Each card shows the suggested time to leave, how long the journey to the terminal takes, and the estimated cost. Labels mark which option the planner finds cheapest, fastest and most comfortable.
Open the details and you can see each leg of the journey. By bus, for example, the walk to the stop, the wait and the bus ride add up. By car, the drive to the car park is followed by parking and the shuttle to the terminal.
An example
Say two of you are travelling from Újbuda, Budapest's 11th district, for a week. Your flight leaves at 10 am, and you want to be at the terminal two hours earlier, at 8. With these settings, the planner gave the following when this article was written:
- By public transport: leave at 6:30, a journey of about 89 minutes: half an hour to Deák Ferenc tér, roughly ten minutes' wait, then 49 minutes on the 100E airport bus. The return trip for two costs 12,000 HUF.
- By car: leave at 6:40, a journey of about 80 minutes. In the morning rush the drive to the car park takes an hour, then another 20 minutes for parking and the shuttle. Petrol for the return trip is about 2,440 HUF. A week of parking costs 6,650 HUF at the cheapest car park and 13,900 HUF at an average one, so the car comes to between 9,090 and 16,340 HUF in total.
- By taxi: leave at 6:50, a journey of about 70 minutes, with an estimated return cost of 33,560 HUF.
So for two people the bus is cheaper than the car with an average car park, but with the cheapest car park the car wins, petrol included. For four, the bus tickets come to 24,000 HUF while the car costs the same, so the planner then puts the car down as the cheapest. The example shows why it is worth working out the costs for your own trip.
The time of day matters too. The same drive planned for a late-evening flight came out at 60 minutes instead of the morning's 80. The planner takes expected traffic into account, so it may suggest a different time to leave in the morning and in the evening.
What to keep in mind with the results
The planner helps you compare, but a few things are worth bearing in mind:
- Fuel is calculated for an average car. The planner estimates it from the distance, an average consumption and the current national average price. A thirstier car will cost more.
- Outside Budapest it does not plan public transport. It then compares the car and the taxi only. If you are coming to the capital by train or coach, you need to plan that part separately.
- Travel times and costs are estimates. The final taxi fare is set by the meter, and the parking price by the car park you choose. The cheapest and the average parking price are only a guide; you see the exact price when you book.
- It works from the scheduled departure time. If your flight is delayed, check-in, bag drop and boarding do not necessarily close any later. So do not set off later just because of a delay.
How long before take-off should you be at the airport?
The airport buffer is the time you plan between reaching the terminal and the departure of your flight. It has to cover bag drop, the checks and getting to the gate. These can be a guide for the planner's setting:
- 90 minutes: if you only have hand luggage, are flying within Schengen and do not expect crowds.
- 120 minutes: if you check in a bag, need a passport check, or are flying at a busy time.
- 180 minutes: at the start of school holidays, before long weekends, or if you are flying from this airport for the first time and want to find your way without a rush.
Always follow your airline's advice on when to arrive and the deadlines that apply to your flight. You can check them in your booking, on your boarding pass or on the airline's website.
Deadlines also change from time to time. Ryanair, for example, will close airport check-in and bag drop 60 minutes before the scheduled departure from 10 November 2026, instead of 40. If you fly with checked baggage, plan around the earlier deadline. If you check in online and travel with hand luggage only, the change does not affect you.
When is it worth using?
It helps most when you are still weighing up how to get to the airport. For the same trip and the same number of people, you see the estimated travel time and cost of the bus, the car and a taxi. If you have already decided, the suggested time to leave can still be useful.
A few situations where it comes in particularly handy:
- Morning departures, when rush-hour traffic and the wait for the bus both affect when you need to leave.
- Travelling as a group, because what is cheapest for one person is not necessarily cheapest for four.
- Longer trips, when a multi-day parking fee is worth comparing with a taxi there and back.
- The evening before, when you want to go over the plan once more before you set the alarm.
Just before you leave, it is also worth a look at BUDstart's road traffic page. It shows the measured speeds on the roads to the airport, along with reported closures and restrictions.
If you decide to drive
If your own car looks like the best choice, the next step is picking a car park. The prices you saw in the planner are a good starting point. For each offer, besides the price, it is worth looking at the distance from the terminal, the shuttle and other travellers' reviews.
On ParkoLow you can search for a parking space for the dates of your trip. You can also browse services and reviews on our comparison of Budapest airport car parks.
Bookings can be cancelled free of charge, and you only pay on site. If your plans change, or you end up taking the bus after all, you can cancel at no cost. Have a good trip!