E-Ticket System for the Public Transport
Public Transport Tiecket Budapest
It will be over with the little orange strips called “Vonaljegy” that you need to validate in trams, busses and the metro in Budapest soon. Well not too soon but at least starting from 2014 progressively a new so called E-Ticket system will be introduced. Plan is to have it all done by 2014 which is not a tough deadline I would say.
The tickets will be step by step replaced with a plastic card which is based on the same technology as PayPass and many people know already from cities like London where the Oyster Card also replaced paper tickets.
The first step will be to replace time based tickets such as monthly tickets which allow owners to travel unlimited within Budapest. As a second step than the one time tickets will fade out and the last step is the installation of automated entrance and exit stations that might will probably result in less jobs in the public transport sector as inspectors will drop out by 2015.
Additionally the city is planning to introduce P+R parking spots connected to the HÉV stations which are the suburban trains and also for Metro Line M2. With this step obviously the heavy city traffic should be reduced.
The entire project is connected to a cost of 1.1 billion HUF which is roughly 3.75 million Euro.
Hungarian Worlds 2. Hardest Language
Sziasztok, a poll of lexiophiles.com in 2009 (I know it is long time ago) about “which are the hardest languages to learn in the world” resulted in a number 2 position for Hungary, meaning that Hungarian is the second hardest language to learn. Of course that is always in the eye of the beholder as for Europeans Chinese or Arabic is probably much harder and the other way around. Nevertheless it is very interesting to see that Hungarian is on the list at all since it is a fairly small country and spoken by a few people over the world it is not always in the picture as Chinese or Arabic. Number 1 by the way is Basque and number 3 is Chinese.
I myself started learning Hungarian in 2005 and can agree that it is a very hard to learn language but once you get into it and you mix with the locals and speak to Hungarians a lot e.g. at work or in the pub it just gets in your brain as it probably does with any other language to learn. In case you would like to learn Hungarian here is a list of Language Schools in Budapest or in case you just come for a visit check out some words you can learn and use quick.
So Hungarian is hard to learn and it is spoken only by a few people, why to bother? I think that it is only fair and showing respect towards locals if you at least make an effort towards them the same you would expect it from foreigners in your country as well. Not that you need to speak perfect Hungarian but at least some basics and some friendly expressions that help you through the day. Just my 2 cents concerning this topic.
What is your opinion on Hungarian as a foreign language? And what do you think, should expats learn Hungarian or is it not necessary?
This article was written in Daily Life, EducationCost of Living in Budapest
If you are thinking about to move to Budapest for studying or working here you have to face the daily life and costs in Budapest and Hungary. Most people moving here from all over the world come to Hungary because of the job, just think about big companies such as Vodafone, Mercedes or Audi, or the second reason is love. So you come to the country, find an apartment and start your job but there are of course duties that have to be done. From my own experience I can tell you that there are a lot of things that have to be taken care of from paying the bills for gas to shopping your daily supplies. In this article I would like to give an overview about how much do things cost, something like the Big Mac index, and what you have to expect to spend for your daily life. Please note that all prices are just approximate numbers and can change very fast such as cigarettes or gasoline. To get an idea how much Hungarians can afford, the average net income in Hungary is around 120.000 HUF per month.
Cost for Food in Budapest
- Daily Menu in the business district – 1.300 HUF
- Fast Food Menu (e.g. Big Mac menu) – 1.200 HUF
- 1kg of chicken breast – 1.200 HUF
- 1 liter of milk – 250 HUF
- 1kg of tomatoes – 480 HUF
- 12 Eggs – 400 HUF
- 1kg of normal, local cheese – 800 HUF
- 1kg of apples – 300 HUF
- 1kg of potatoes – 330 HUF
- 0,5l can of beer – 200 HUF
- 1l bottle of normal quality red wine – 1.800 HUF
- 1l Coca Cola – 330 HUF
Housing costs in Budapest
- monthly rent for a 85 m2 furnished downtown apartment – 125.000 HUF
- monthly cost of utilities such as gas, electricity, heating etc (2 people in a 85 m2 apartment) – 40.000 HUF
- 8MB internet flatrate per month – 5.000 HUF
- 40″ flat screen TV – 150.000 HUF
- Microwave – 20.000 HUF
- Cleaning help (hourly rate) – 2.500 HUF
Costs for Clothes in Budapest
- Pair of Levis 501 – 25.000 HUF
- 1 pair of Adidas trainers – 20.000 HUF
- 1 pair of average business leather shoes – 18.000 HUF
Costs for Transportation / Mobility in Budapest
- Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI – 4.300.000 HUF
- 1 liter of gasoline – 420 HUF
- 1 ticket for Public Transportation – 360 HUF
- Monthly ticket for Public Transportation – 9.000 HUF
- Taxi from the airport to the city center – 3.000 HUF
Costs for Personal Care
- 6 days of normal medicine against flue – 1.500 HUF
- Average Deodorant – 580 HUF
- Regular Hair Shampoo – 750 HUF
- 4 rolls of toilet paper – 370 HUF
- Tube of toothpaste – 470 HUF
- Standard Mens haircut – 2.500 HUF
Costs for Entertainment in Budapest
- Basic dinner for 2 persons in neighborhood area – 4.500 HUF
- 2 cinema tickets – 2.500 HUF
- 2 theatre tickets – 7.200 HUF
- Dinner for 2 in an good restaurant incl. wine and dessert – 10.000 HUF
- 1 cocktail in a city center bar – 1.300 HUF
- Cappuccino in the downtown area – 500 HUF
- 1 beer in the pub – 450 HUF
- Monthly fee in the fitness studio – 15.000 HUF
- 1 package of Marlboro cigarettes – 690 HUF
Please keep in mind, as mentioned above, that prices are only approximate as they very much depend on the place and also change very fast. A proper dinner for 2 can also be 6.000 HUF only or exceed 15.000 HUF easily. Beer in a real kocsma can be 300 HUF only but in trendy bars don’t be surprised to pay 750 HUF. This article should just give a rough overview of what to expect for certain services. If you have a special request for a service or product or you disagree strongly with a point just drop me a line in the comments.
This article was written in Daily Life, General, StudyThe friendly garbage collector
Today morning at around 7.30, I was already awake but still in bed, it rang on the front door so I had to get up and check who is it and what he wants. Well friday morning it is time to collect the litter bin which we put outside the property on thursday night already. As we moved in that house not long ago there was still some other gargabe on the property like parquet, old, ugly lamps, boxes and all kind of shit which doesn’t really fit in the normal garbage… usually.
Well today the garbage collector rang the bell and asked me if we need to get rid of that stuff. I answered “yes, sure”. From now on he called me “főnök úr” as he saw his business coming. So he asked me if I would pay 1000 HUF to take all the remaining garbage as well in this round. So I gave him the 1000 HUF and let them take it. Usually I would have put it step by step every thursday night in the litter bin until it is gone but come on for 4 Euro he took all the stuff. He and his 2 colleagues can have a nice beer in the pub tonight and I don’t have to care about the garbage anymore. Fine with me.
Thats how Budapest and Hungary is working. A bit of money and he just took the garbage. It is a one time thing, he is happy I am happy that’s it. You find these businesses everywhere, no matter if in the taxi, with the water installation guy or in the hair dresser. That is the daily life of Budapest.
This article was written in Daily Life, OddRossz, rosszabb, Rossmann
First of all excuse the partly Hungarian title of this post but it couldn’t fit better. “Rossz” is Hungarian and means bad, “rosszabb” is worse but the superaltive is not Rossmann of course, it would be “a legrosszabb”. It is not time for Hungarian lessons today so lets get to the point. Rossmann is a quite large German drug store company with several stores in Hungary as well.
Now why is Rossmann the superlative of bad? Well yesterday a friend of mine went to a Rossmann store to buy 3 articles. Now standing at the cash point the lady scanned all 3 of these articles and let my friend pay the bill but did not give a receipt. Well in 99,9% of the cases you don’t give a shit because you don’t need it anyways bit in this case she would have needed it. So when going to the exit the nice security alarm started to ring and the security guy (in nearly every store in Budapest you find a security guy) asked her to open the bag. She did, showed the three paid items but couldn’t show the receipt since she didn’t get it. They couldn’t even find it in the litter bin or anywhere.
My friend said that they should check the video camera to proof that everything was paid. The answer was a simple “we don’t have a monitor for it”. Second try was to check the system what was on the last bill. Next answer was “We can only do this after 24 hours”. Wow.
So result was that they called the police because of a shampoo which wasn’t paid. By the way it was the cheapest Shampoo and the wallet was full of money. The police had to write a report and asked my friend to sign it in which it basically said that she is a thief. If she would have signed it she would be. So she asked the policemen to let her write her story on this report which they allowed her to do after a long discussion (unbelievable that they want you to sign this report even though you have the right not to do so and exlain the story from your point of view).
End of the story is that Rossmann checked the system yesterday and found out that my friend paid all items which she took. Today the head of Rossmann called her to apologize. She will of course get the Shampoo (she paid it but didn’t get it) and some compensation which most probably will be a rubbish 5000 HUF shopping coupon or something like that.
Well, for having so unfriendly and incompetent employees and security guards I recommend to you to either go to Schlecker, DM or buy your stuff in one of the big stores like Tesco, Auchan or Cora.
This article was written in Daily LifeNo parking in the city
Today and tomorrow will be a quite large meeting about the Nabucco gas pipeline which brings a lot of high ranked people to Budapest. Why this meeting is held is another story, I want to focus on the traffic situation in Budapest which is horrible, even worse than usual. The thing is that almost in the entire city the parking is not allowed for these 2 days of the gas summit so people working in the city can park nearly nowhere. This of course would not be a problem if people would use Budapests public transportation instead of coming into the city by car but the majority doesn’t.
While searching for free and legal parking spots the traffic will get stuck which will make it’s way anywhere into the city. I took a different way to work today because I saw already trouble on the Pest side of Budapest so I went on Buda side today because recently the Buda Rakpart, the fast road right next to the Danube, is almost completly open again.
I don’t know what the traffic is really like right in the city so I would be happy to hear somebodys view on that. Been in the city? Leave a comment!
This article was written in Daily Life6 Festivals you shouldn’t miss 2009
The year has just started and already plans are going on about all kinds of festivals in Budapest. Even though some festivals and their offers tend to be quite similar each and every event is a nice opportunity to see something really Hungarian and get a feeling for Hungarian food, drinks and mentality. Therefore I collected some festivals in 2009 which you shouldn’t miss in Budapest no matter if you are an expat living here or a tourist visiting for a week. If you have the chance to visit one of the festivals I highly recommend to do so.
1. Mangalica Festival
Most of you might ask yourselves what Mangalica is. Mangalica is a typical Hungarian type of pig which somehow reminds me of a sheep as well. The festival is all about this type of pigs, no matter if it is in shape of a sausage, living or in arts. Honestly this type of meat tastes absolutly amazing and has its price in the shops but it is worth to try it.
The festival offers a “pörkölt cooking competition”, pigs to see, information about the pigs and why they are Mangalicas as well as a lot to eat and drink as usual in Hungary. For further information on the Mangalica pig check out Wikipedia and for more information on the festival (unfortunaltey just in Hungarian) and its programme click here.
The festival takes place at Városligeti Vajdahunyad Vára between February 6th and 8th.
2. Budapest Spring Festival
The Budapest spring festival is taking place since years and years by now and is one of the most visited festivals in Budapest. It is mainly about concerts ranging from folk over opera to cross over concerts for 2 weeks. I assume that during these 2 weeks you are able to see more than 100 performances of all types of music. Also available are performances for children and some special which is this year Japanese performances.
It would be useless to start to tell you about the performers so I refer to the official website wich is the programme in the same time. For more information click here.
3. Summer on Chain Bridge
You might have seen it that during the entire summer the chain bridge in Budapest is closed for cars and busses because on saturdays and sundays the chain bridge is full of little shops selling arts, gifts, food and drinks as usual in Hungary. What you will find here is a nice walk across the chain bridge without disturbing traffic watching hand made arts and gifts while having a beer and a sausage or something similar traditional Hungarian.
The summer on chain bridge is not a spectecualar festival as it is not concentrated on one weekend per year but on the entire summer but for a nice sunday walk it is absolutly recommendable. I didn’t know but on research I found out that the festival has a website. Check it out here. It takes place from June 21st till August 17th.
4. Budapest Pálinka Festival
Probably the festival most people would like to go to because they can have a taste of Hungarys favourite shot, the Pálinka. Pálinka is like a fruit spirit in all kinds of flavours with honey (mézes) or without including fruits (ágyas) or not and so on. It is a really nice festival near Déak Ferenc Tér with Pálinka manufacturers from all over Hungary.
What I don’t really like at the Pálinka festival is the control which the exhibitors have from the organisators. Every visitor has to pay entrance which is justified with a useless Pálinka glas and you need value tickets for everything you want to buy if it is Pálinka, a juice or sausage. Also the Pálinka producers are bound to the prices the organizers give so that every exhibitor has to give a Pálinka away for a minimum of 200 HUF no matter if it is a really bad one or a high quality Pálinka.
Nevertheless it is a nice opportunity to try some different Pálinkas and maybe take a bottle home. Unfortunately there is no website for the year 2009 yet and no exact date but check out the website for more information.
5. Wine Festival Budapest
Another popular festival in Budapest which is quite much alike with the Pálinka festival as it has the same organizers I guess. What you find here is a large variety of wines from all over Hungary, from Villany to Tokaj you will get every wine and nearly every large winemaker of Hungary is present there. Of course you will get all types of other things as well like beer and food as usual in Hungary but it is all about the wine.
Same issue as with the Pálinka festival I don’t like the fact of control over the producers by dictating the price and asking money from the visitors but this is what we have to live with. Still there is no exact date for the wine festival in Budapest but it will be in the castle disctrict as every year.
6. Sziget Festival
Of course the Sziget Festival in Budapest has to be on this list as THE biggest festival among the listed and even in Europe according to the number of visitors. One week music on several stages on the “Óbudai-Sziget” which is the island in the north of Budapest. Still there is no lineup for this years Sziget but it will be a blast like every year. People from all over Europe coming for bands like Iron Maiden, Alanis Morisette, Jamiroquai, Sex Pistols, R.E.M. (all 2008), Manu Chao, Chemical Brothers, Pink, Sinéad O’Connor, Faithless (all 2007), Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Radiohead, The Rasmus, Placebo or Prodigy (all in 2006). You see I could go on and the names on the list don’t get worse but what I can guarantee you is that this festival is just blowing your mind. I mean you get anything from good music to sex, from food to drinks as usual in Hungary on Sziget festival. There is no way around not going there if you are from Budapest or here in this time.
The Sziget will take place between August 12th and 17th on Óbudai Sziget in Budapest and the ticket prices for the entire festival range from 100 to 150€ while the daily ticket will be again around 10.000 to 12.000 HUF (40-50€). Get more information, ticket information, videos and pictures here.
This article was written in Budapest News, Daily LifeLearning Hungarian with Youtube
Everybody knows that Youtube hosts tons of videos from professional HD ready movie trailors in 16:9 over semi professional Vodcasts to amateur movies made by all kinds of people in low quality. Anyways while surfing the other day on Youtube I found several videos dealing with learning Hungarian by watching videos. A voice is pronouncing the words and in the same time you see a picture of the object. In the case of the picture the video deals with fruits. The same is available for numbers and all kinds of topics.
I think it is a quite good idea to learn some words if you are really a beginner. Here you can find the fruits video, animals and seasons.
Honestly this should have been done by a language school in Hungary. I mean the 3 videos have been watched around 3500 times together so that would have been a lovley promotion for the language school. Anyways, check out the videos if you are learning Hungarian or even if you are Hugarian as it is quite funny. I embedded the videos also in my First words in Hungarian page which Idefinetly have to renew as soon as possible.
This article was written in Daily Life, InternetNeed help in Budapest?
If you have problems with the Hungarian language or need help in any way over here in Budapest or even before you arrive there is an interesting service called helpers.hu who takes care of all kinds of problems one might have when moving to Budapest or while living here.
The service ranges from B2B services for companies like all kinds of language problems over market research to an entire business launch of your company here in Hungary. Also available is PR work and much more. just check out their B2B section.
Further the “helpers” work for private persons, no matter if it is a moving problem or trouble with the public sector the helpers do their best to solve your problem. You have trouble finding a home? Buying a car? Finding your hobby in Budapest? Getting insurance? See, all kind of work can be done by the helpers for students, families, things concerning your house and just everything which might be a problem over here.
So who are the helpers? The helpers are a group of locals who all have experience in the life as an expat. As they describe it over at helpers.hu “The original concept – providing everyday assistance and problem-solving for foreigners – was a unique one, which quickly grew into the other areas of HELPERS Expat Services (paperwork, information search, property management).”
I think for people who have no private assistance and are left alone in Budapest, don’t speak the language and so on the helpers might be a good solution to get things right on the start. Of course these services are not for free so you can find the hourly fees here. Check it out.
This article was written in Daily LifeMargit Bridge to be closed beginning of 2009
I have heart already about the closing of Margit bridge but didn’t know when it should happen. According to Caboodle and Népszabaság Margit bridge will be closed early next year as the press department of the mayor of Budapest announced. The problem will be that Szabadság bridge will still be closed at that time which means that only 5 out of 7 bridges in Budapest will work. Szabadság bridge will be opened for tram traffic on December 20th and for cars in end of May.
Margit bridge in Budapest is one of the most frequesnted of all Budapest bridges and this traffic has to go somewhere. Mainly the neighbouring bridges Árpád and Chain bridge will have to carry this traffic thus people going to work across these bridges have to expect even heavier traffic in this time.
Only good thing about these news is that the tram traffic will not suffer from the construction, just cars and busses cannot cross the bridge anymore. Anyways, all this will happen in winter time when everybody is going by car to work. According to Caboodle the timing cannot be postponed as it is a EU project with strict deadlines but at least it also defines that the constructions have to be finished latest in 2010.
This article was written in Daily LifeBudapest Metro
The Metro in Budapest is the fastest way to travel through the city. There are three different Metro lines going through Budapest.
M1 (yellow line) is going from Mexikói ut in the north east of Budapest to Vörösmarty tér in the center of the City.
M2 (red line) is going from Déli pu (west train station) on the Buda side to Örs vezér tér in the eastern part of Budapest.
M3 (blue line) is going from Újpest központ in northern Budapest to Köbánya Kispest in the south of Budapest.
All Metros are running between 4.30 and 23.30 o’clock
This article was written in Daily Life, GeneralJobs in Budapest
If you are searching for a job in in Budapest or Hungary where did you start to search? It is not easy to find jobs for not Hungarian speakers in Budapest. Many companies require Hungarian at least fluent or the ones who do not need Hungarian fluent offering jobs all over the world except from Hungarian job sites. There are some job online sites which offer an English system with jobs in Budapest or Hungary and also English description of the job. Therefore I checked some sites and will link them here for a better overview. So if you are looking for a job in Hungary checkk one of these sites.
- Jobpilot.hu
Jobpilot.hu has good and interesting jobs online which sometimes have an English description. The problem is that the engine itself is not available in English but I will guide you the way. Click here to start your serch. Check in the box “Az álláshirdetések nyelve” your prefered language so “angol” for English, “németh” for German and so on. Now check the category, look up the meanings at sztaki for translations. Next step is to define your sector and place of the job. Here again search on Sztaki as the sector is a quiet long list. Anyways after that you should receive the list with jobs. - Profession.hu
Profession.hu used to be a good database for tech jobs or it still is but after the relaunch of the site it is only available in Hungarian. For the people who want to try it go check it out. Sad that it’s not available in English or German anymore. - Jobs.com
Well one of the international players is Jobs.com by monster with a lot of jobs in Budapest or Hungary but mainly crap. Some tech jobs at SAP or Oracle, stolen Google Jobs and small companies advertise their jobs here. Nevertheless check it out. I linked it directly to their Hungary site. - CVonline.hu
New for me but really interesting is CVonline.hu which is in English (also Hungarian), clear structured and good job offers. With more than 5200 jobs the database is not massiv but large enough.
BEST CHOICE: BudapestJobs.net
BudapestJobs.net is a new job site dedicated for jobs in Budapest. You can find here jobs in all types of jobs, for foreigners as well as for locals, student jobs, full time jobs and much more. With the English interface and the fantastic system behind it is very easy to find the right job for you. Additionally BudapestJobs.net gives you good information about companies in Budapest, how to write your CV and how to apply for a job in Budapest. Have a look.
I think these are the top 5 job sites for jobs in Budapest respectivly Hungary. So if you are searching for a job in Hungary check out these 5 sites. Of course there are many other job sites online especially if you are looking for specialized jobs such as engeneering, teaching or consulting jobs. These sites also help if you are looking for a student job in Budapest.
This article was written in Daily Life, InternetMy daily Budapest sightseeing tour
Sometimes I think about how nice it is to live in a city where other people go on holiday. In the same moment I think about the people living next to the beach, they live where I make holidays. Anyways my daily way to work takes me along the Danube from north to south. No matter if by car or by bike I can see all sights among the Danube and there are some. So today I decided to take my camera with me which I planned all week but today finally I did and took pctures of the biggest sights in Budapest which I see every day. My private daily sightseeing tour in Budapest.
By bike to work in Budapest
Due to the school start in Budapest I decided to go by bike to work today. Everything went fine. As usual when I go by bike I am almost as fast as by car except that I don’t have the traffic. On my way back though I nearly got hit by a car. After I breaked heavily and he as well I was looking through the front window (it was so close that it was only 2m away from me) and the guy new exactly that he made a big mistake and almost hit me. His head was hanging down, his eyes almost closed and he was trying to find some mistake between the gas and the break pedal.
Unfortunately this is an everyday experience here in Budapest since the roads for bikers are too poor and there are just some in the entire city. But in the same time I love riding my bike and won’t let go.
This article was written in Daily Life, PrivateSchool begins in Budapest
Tomorrow the school in Budapest will begin and coming with that the traffic will increase. Many families came back from the holiday today or yesterday and send their kids to school tomorrow. In this time usually the traffic increases significantly and all main roads will be crowded. As I wrote before the traffic is already a desaster for me but I guess this week will be even harder. Pesti Rakpart has problems, Budai Rakpart is completly closed, Kalvin Tér is closed and on some other main squares the constructions for the Metro 4 in Budapest are still going on as well. I expect a way of 1 hour to work and another hour back.
This article was written in Daily LifeShopping center cannibalization in Budapest
I have just been to Duna Plaza shopping center in Budapest and I was really surprised how empty this shopping center is on a saturday. Unbelievable that the shops in there make any revenue. The problem is clear, Budapest has far too many shopping centers which pop out of the ground like mushrooms. Just recently the new and now the largest Shopping Center in Budapest Arena Plaza opened up. Bigger than West End and any other Shopping center.
So a new shopping center which seems to be more attractiv than the old ones basically takes all customers away and the old shopping centers are just burned out just like Duna Plaza. Now the problem for this is that there is still money from the EU coming over to Hungary for these kind of buildings. Not just shopping centers but also business parks are built one after the other. It might look nice to the outside to have so many and modern shopping centers but for Budapest this is not good. It kills a lot of shops and employments.
Anyways, Budapest is building city with all its constructions. Apartments, business parks, shopping centers. The investments in Budapest are higher then ever because investors love Budapest. You will find constructions everywhere and it seems to be unstopable.
This article was written in Daily LifeNow it became true
I wrote several times that the Szabadság híd is closed. This time it is true. Last week the bridge was closed and thus another frequently traffic part of the city (after a part of the Budai rakpart and Kalvin tér) is closed due to the construction of the Budapest Metro line 4.
All transportation now leads either across Petőfi híd or Erzsébet híd which makes the daily way to work for many people become a horror trip because of the traffic.
Nevertheless soon the Budai Rakpart is supposed to be opened again which might help a little bit.
Pesti rakpart closed
Since a week the Pesti Rakpart is partly closed. In front of the economical university the rakpart is closed due to some construction work of the fourth Metro line. Planned is that the Rakpart is closed for half a year but you’ll never know in Budapest.
Nevertheless you still can go from Árpád híd till Szabadság híd.
Merry Christmas
The Budapestagent wishes all his users and partners a merry christmas 2006. Visit Budapest also in 2007 and recommend Budapestagent.com to your friends and family.
This article was written in Daily Life, PrivateSnow in Budapest
Today morning at around 9 o’clock the first snow arrived in Budapest. It was just some flakes but enough to feel that winter is coming. After a warm fall with over 20 degrees on some days the winter seems to be in Budapest.
The last days the weather changed to cold and windy and today morning the snow. Of course it did not last long and the snow did not stay on the ground but now the feeling of winter time started.
