Is Budapest Expensive? What a Month There Actually Cost Us
We did not visit Budapest. We lived in it for thirty three nights, in one apartment, with a kitchen and a gym membership and a haircut.
That makes this a slightly different cost article to the ones you will find elsewhere, and I think a more useful one. Every transaction, for thirty four days, with the GPS still attached.
Is Budapest Expensive? My Quick Answer
No. It was the cheapest month we have had anywhere in Europe, and it is not close.
We averaged A$114 per person per day all in, including a full month of accommodation. In Türkiye the same figure was A$164.55, and Türkiye is meant to be the cheap one.
The Thing That Surprised Me Most
We spent more on groceries than we did in restaurants.
Groceries were 26.8 per cent of everything, restaurants 24.1 per cent. I have never seen that in our numbers anywhere. In Türkiye, restaurants were 47 per cent of what we spent and groceries were 4.
That single line is the honest answer to whether Budapest is cheap. It is cheap the way living somewhere is cheap, not the way a holiday is cheap. We had a kitchen, we did a weekly shop, we cooked most nights and went out when we felt like it. If you come for four days and eat every meal out, your numbers will look nothing like ours.
The Full Breakdown
Thirty four days, 124 transactions, August and September 2025.
One thing to be straight about: these are one person's numbers. The tracking is Dan's own spending, so it is per person, not the pair of us.
Scroll to see the full table →
| Category | Total | Per day | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groceries | A$708.03 | A$20.82 | 26.8% |
| Restaurants | A$638.19 | A$18.77 | 24.1% |
| Shopping | A$393.78 | A$11.58 | 14.9% |
| Activities | A$373.67 | A$10.99 | 14.1% |
| Cash withdrawn | A$232.95 | A$6.85 | 8.8% |
| Transport | A$123.61 | A$3.64 | 4.7% |
| Coffee | A$93.52 | A$2.75 | 3.5% |
| Drinks | A$79.68 | A$2.34 | 3.0% |
| On the ground | A$2,643.43 | A$77.75 | |
| Accommodation | A$1,197.50 | A$36.28 | |
| All in | A$3,840.93 | A$114.03 |
Accommodation: A$36 Each a Night, for a Whole Apartment
We paid A$2,395 for thirty three nights, which is A$72.58 a night for the two of us, or A$36.28 each.
That was a loft style Airbnb with everything about thirty minutes' walk away. Not a room. A whole apartment, with a kitchen, which is the reason the grocery number above exists.
The long stay is what makes it that cheap. Nightly rates in Budapest for a few days will be higher, and if you are staying a week rather than a month you will not get the same discount. But it does mean that if you have any flexibility about how long you stay, Budapest rewards it more than almost anywhere.
Getting Around Costs Almost Nothing
A$3.64 a day. In a capital city. That is the number that made me laugh when I added it up.
A single bus ticket is 500 forint, about A$2, and it is cheaper again if you buy a ten pack. You get them on the Budapest Go app, which is genuinely easy to use.
One warning, because it is the sort of thing that catches people out: you have to validate your ticket with the driver. If you do not, you can be fined, and having a valid ticket in your pocket is not a defence.
Mostly, though, we walked. Budapest is a walking city and our apartment put everything within about half an hour on foot.
Real Prices We Paid
Off our card, not researched.
Scroll to see the full table →
| What | What we paid |
|---|---|
| Single bus ticket | A$2 |
| Coffee | around A$3 to A$5 |
| Langos, the proper street food one | a few dollars |
| Palatinus thermal baths, all day | A$23 |
| Gellert thermal baths, all day | A$55 |
| Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library ticket | A$8.70 |
| Danube cruise with unlimited drinks | A$40 each |
| A novelty public toilet, genuinely | A$6.80 |
| Porridge at New York Cafe | A$27 |
| Gym, one month | A$104 |
| A round of golf | A$68 |
| Cinema | a few dollars a ticket |
The gym, the golf and three trips to the cinema are on that list on purpose. That is what a month somewhere looks like rather than a holiday, and those things are all noticeably cheaper than they are at home.
Where Budapest Is Not Cheap
Two places, and both are avoidable.
The famous cafes. The porridge at New York Cafe was about A$27 and I would not order it again. The eggs benedict was a ten out of ten, so it is not that the place is a rip off, it is that some items on that menu are priced for the room rather than the plate.
Brunch, if you pick the wrong one. Twenty Six is beautiful and it is definitely on the pricier side for what you get. A tiny smoothie was A$10. Go for a drink and to look at it, rather than for a full meal.
Everything else, honestly, is a bargain by European standards.
Could You Do It Cheaper?
Comfortably. Take out the gym membership, the golf, the ring and the tripod, and our on-the-ground spending drops by about A$300 straight away.
A$70 a day per person, all in, is very doable in Budapest if you have a kitchen and you are not shopping. That is a Western European capital for less than a lot of people spend in Southeast Asia.
Where we would stay if we came back for a few nights. We had a long-stay apartment for the month, and these are the two hotels we tried to book for a night in the middle of it. Neither had space, which is the most honest recommendation we can give you.
Hotel Oktogon Haggenmacher
Central Pest. One of the two we tried to book for a night while we had the apartment, and could not get in. The architecture is the reason.
Prestige Hotel Budapest
Also central, also gorgeous, and also full when we tried. If you are only in Budapest a few nights, this is the sort of building to stay in.
Our apartment worked out at A$36.28 each a night across thirty three nights, which is the other route: if you are staying a week or more, get a place with a kitchen.
So, Is Budapest Expensive?
No, and it is the best value city we have stayed in anywhere in Europe.
The thing I would tell you is not the number, though. It is that Budapest rewards staying longer. A whole apartment at A$36 each a night, a kitchen that turned out to be where most of our money went, transport at under four dollars a day and a gym you can actually afford to join for a month.
If you are choosing somewhere in Europe to slow down for a while rather than pass through, I have not found anywhere better.
Still planning? Here is how we would plan the whole trip and where all that food money went.
FAQs About the Cost of Budapest
How much money do you need per day in Budapest?
We averaged A$114 per person per day including accommodation across thirty three nights. Without the gym, golf and shopping, A$70 a day would have been comfortable.
Is Budapest cheaper than Prague or Vienna?
We have not stayed in either the same way, so I will not pretend to compare properly. What I can say is Budapest was cheaper than every other European city we have spent time in, and cheaper than Türkiye.
How much is accommodation in Budapest?
Our whole apartment was A$72.58 a night for two, so A$36.28 each, booked for thirty three nights. Short stays will cost more per night.
Is public transport cheap in Budapest?
Extremely. A single ticket is about A$2 on the Budapest Go app, cheaper in ten packs, and we spent A$3.64 a day on average. Validate your ticket or you can be fined.
What is the most expensive thing we did?
The Gellert thermal baths at A$55 each and the Danube cruise at A$40 each. Both were worth it. Gellert has since closed for renovation until 2028.
Want your Budapest itinerary planned in a couple of clicks?
Tell it how long you have got, and it lays the days out from everywhere we actually went.
- Two lengths, a short trip or the full week
- Only places we actually went, never a generic list
- Walking times, and when the tram is worth it
- Share it to your notes or send it to whoever you are travelling with
