Budapest in 7 Days Plus Day Trips
A full week fits all 6 real day trips from Budapest: the Danube Bend, Eger, Vienna, Bratislava, Lake Balaton in season, and a Godollo Palace half-day on your way to the airport. Shorter trip? The 6-day version drops Godollo. This is the same spine throughout, just with the full set instead of a subset.
Book these before you go
- Budapest hotel near Keleti or the M2 red metro line: check rates on Booking.com
- Vienna Railjet ticket, book days ahead for the cheap fare tier: check fares on oebb.at
- Prefer a guided Eger wine day: Eger wine day tour
- Prefer a guided Danube Bend combining all three towns: Danube Bend day tour
Day 1: Land, settle into Budapest
Bus 100E runs from the airport straight to Deak Ferenc ter for 2,500 HUF, roughly 30-45 minutes depending on traffic; a Fotaxi booth at arrivals dispatches a fixed fare of 10,000-13,000 HUF if you’d rather not deal with the bus. Settle in near Keleti station or anywhere on the M2 red line, since it also reaches Batthyany ter and Ors vezer tere, this week’s other two departure points. Hungary uses the forint, not the euro, so decline any card terminal’s offer to charge you in euros.
Day 2: The Danube Bend, Szentendre
Take the HEV suburban line H5 from Batthyany ter, every 15-20 minutes, for the roughly 40 minute ride to Szentendre. A standard BKK ticket plus a small supplement covers it, around 700-800 HUF one way. Walk the Baroque old town and see the Skanzen open-air museum of relocated rural buildings.
Day 3: Eger’s wine cellars
A direct MAV train from Keleti covers the roughly 132km to Eger in about 1 hour 50 minutes, close to hourly, for a fare around 3,000-4,000 HUF. Pick two or three cellars in the “Valley of the Beautiful Women” rather than rushing five, and give the hilltop castle an hour if wine isn’t the whole point.
Day 4: Vienna, a whole other country
Railjet and EuroCity services from Keleti run 12-16 times a day, covering the roughly 2 hour 16 minute to 2 hour 37 minute ride. Book a few days ahead and fares start around EUR 12-19; walk up on the day and the same seat runs EUR 32 or more.
Day 5: Bratislava, faster and cheaper than Vienna
The fastest OBB and RegioJet services cover Bratislava in about 1 hour 54 minutes, roughly 12 trains a day, with advance fares from around EUR 12 climbing past EUR 40 on the day. Slovakia’s old town clusters tightly around the castle hill, walkable in an afternoon.
Day 6: Lake Balaton, if it’s actually summer
Trains from Budapest-Deli reach Siofok in about 1.5 hours and Balatonfured in about 2 hours, first departures around 6-6:30am, returns until roughly 10pm. Outside June-August, skip it, it’s a cold, half-empty lake not worth the round trip; use the day for a second look at Budapest itself instead.
Day 7: Godollo Palace, then the airport
A regional train from Keleti, or the HEV H8 line from Ors vezer tere, covers Godollo in 30-45 minutes. This was Empress Elisabeth’s, Sisi’s, favourite residence, small enough that a mid-morning visit still gets you back to Budapest with time to collect luggage and reach the airport for an afternoon or evening flight. A multi-year renovation of the Royal Palace is underway, but the palace and its permanent exhibitions stay open throughout.
Does a full week actually need all 6 day trips?
Only if you want them. The spine works with any subset; drop Balaton outside summer, drop Godollo if your flight is too early for a morning excursion, and you’re still left with a genuinely full week built around Budapest as a hub rather than a single destination.
Why put Godollo on the departure day instead of somewhere in the middle?
Because it’s the shortest trip on the whole list, 30-45 minutes each way, and the only one short enough to fit around a flight without wasting the day. Putting Eger or Vienna on a travel day would mean either missing your flight or cutting the trip short; Godollo is built for exactly this slot.
The 6 real day trips from Budapest, for reference
| Day trip | One-way time | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Danube Bend (Szentendre) | ~40 min, HEV from Batthyany ter | ~700-800 HUF |
| Eger | ~1h50min, MAV from Keleti | 3,000-4,000 HUF |
| Vienna, Austria | ~2h16-2h37min, Railjet from Keleti | EUR 12-19 advance, EUR 32+ walk-up |
| Bratislava, Slovakia | ~1h54min, train from Keleti | EUR 12 advance, EUR 40+ walk-up |
| Lake Balaton (summer only) | ~1.5-2h, train from Budapest-Deli | 1,900-3,000 HUF |
| Godollo Palace | ~30-45 min, train or HEV from Keleti/Ors vezer tere | standard suburban fare |
Book a late flight home, not an early one. A morning at Godollo plus the ride back into the city eats more of the day than it looks like on paper.