According to a statistic research [PDF] conducted by Eurostat, the statistics center for Europe Hungary has the 4th lowest cost of living in the EU with only Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as the lowest being lower. From an EU average Hungary’s cost of living is only 64% followed by Poland and Romania with 60% and Bulgaria as the cheapest country in Europe with only 51%. Most expensive countries in this research are Denmark with 142%, Sweden with 128% and Finland with 125% which proofs the stereotypes of expensive Nordics. Especially cheap in Hungary are tobacco and alcohol products with 63% of the average European prices, this is the lowest you can find in Europe. Whereas in terms of food with 83% and clothes with 85% Hungary is not as cheap as in other categories. However this report shows that Hungary still is very cheap compared to other European countries, especially ...
Category Archives : Blog
Gyerek Sziget – Children Island
Jun 24, 2012
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The Gyerek Sziget (translated children Island) is a festival on Óbudai island dedicated to the younger ones. From the age of 3 years children can find a lot of activities on the Gyerek Sziget from bouncing castles to horse riding face paintings to cart driving. Organized by the makers of Sziget Festival, Volt Festival and Balaton Sound the festival is well organized and free of charge for the entrance. Some activities such as the roller coaster or the bouncing castle cost an additional 500 HUF per usage but most activities are for free. That mainly is connected to the sponsors the festival organizers manage to take part such as super famous Turo Rudi (the Hungarian chocolate bar with curd cheese) or multinational companies. The companies usually brand a certain activity and make it free for the kids to use. Apart from activities there are also many concerts and other performances ...
HÉV H5 out of order
Jun 22, 2012
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Update: HÉV Nr. 5 to Szentendre is up and running again. Ready for Sziget Festival 2012! At the moment the HÉV, a kind of suburban train in Budapest, to Szentendre is out of order. Since beginning of the week there are constructions on the rails going on so that between Batthyány tér and Szentélek tér (Óbuda) no train is going. There is a replacement bus starting taking exactly the same route with the same stops in the same frequency so not much changed in terms of connection. From Szentlélek tér the HÉV is going out to the suburb town Szentendre and back. Of course the price stays the same and every transportation can be used with the regular BKV public transport ticket. ...
5 Tips to Cool Down in Budapest
Jun 21, 2012
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These days it is really unbearably hot in Budapest with around 35 degrees Celsius on the thermometer which probably feel around 40 degrees in the sun. This heat makes it really hard to enjoy the day outside sitting in the sun or traveling around the city. But here are some tips how to cool you down even if it is just for a few minutes but it will help. 1. Get a good Ice Cream Ice Cream always works and is the summer sweet of them all and is just so delicious. But where to get the best ice cream in Budapest? Honestly there are many shops in the city who mainly sell prepared ice cream from big producers, the ones you get in supermarkets as well but you what you wan is really yummy, home made ice cream. My favorite ice cream in the city you get at Daubner ...
Budapest Airport to Raise Airline Fees
Jun 20, 2012
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The Budapest Airport Zrt., operator of the airport in Budapest will raise its fees towards airlines coming to and departing from the capital. The main reason for this move is that the property tax for the company has more than tripled from 675 million HUF to 2.25 billion HUF. Also the collapse of Malév, Hungarian national airline, not long ago forced the Budapest Airport to close Terminal 1 which has been renovated a few years ago and is not under operation anymore. The airport operator has reported a 8 bn HUF loss before taxes last year and according to CEO Jost Lammers “this won’t be smaller”. This raise of taxes for the airlines of course will be transferred to the passengers traveling to and from Budapest which means at the end of the day higher costs for the airline tickets. Still there are many discount airlines flying to Budapest, which ...
Hungary leading in Dental Tourism in Europe
Jun 20, 2012
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According to an article by the official Hungarian Tourism Office Hungary is the leading country when it comes to dental tourism in Europe. One out of 5 patients choose Hungary for their dental treatment. One might think it is all about the price, which is very cheap, but it is also about the quality you get from Hungarian dentists and the clinics. According to the article 70.000 foreign patients have visited Hungary for dental treatment in 2011, mainly coming from UK, Austria, Germany, Italy and France. A dental treatment all together, so including the flight and hotel, food and drinks, is approximately 50% cheaper in Hungary than in Western Europe but the standard is on a similar level, according to Gábor Szakonyi the Vice President of the Association of Leading Hungarian Dental Clinics. These 2 reasons, price and quality, make many people choose Hungary over other destinations for the dentist ...
City Road Charge for Budapest in 2013
Jun 18, 2012
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According to an article by PesterLloyd [in German] the major of Budapest, István Tarlós, said on Thursday that in 2013 there will be a fee to be paid to use the streets of Budapest. This road charge is independent from the highway fee that needs to be paid as the money is collected by the BKV, the public transportation company in Budapest. The major sees no other chance to save operations of the public transportation in Budapest. Tarlós is blaming the EU for this step because they made this step a requirement to get subsidies for the building of Metro 4. The standard usage of Budapest’s roads could cost 400-500 HUF for a regular car that enters the city which is significantly higher than the original idea to charge as much as a metro ticket which at the moment costs 320 HUF. Probably people living in the zone, if that ...
Wizzair with solid growth
Jun 5, 2012
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Wizzair, the number 1 airline in Hungary after the crash of Malév, reported end of March a solid 2 digit growth for the year 2011. In the past financial year Wizzair has transported more than 11 million passengers compared to 9.6 million the year before according to the Hungarian news agency MTI. The capacity utilization rose slightly from 84% in 2010 to 85% in 2011. From the hub in Budapest Wizzair operates 6 planes, lately a new Airbus A320 has been added to the fleet, offering 32 European destinations from Budapest. The airline has the biggest fleet in Hungary at the moment. Wizzair is the biggest discount airline in Central Europe with 15 basis in the region and 36 Airbus A320 connecting a total of 70 airports in 25 cities in Europe. ...
Coke Club in Siófok to close gates
Jun 5, 2012
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The very popular Coke Club in Siófok at Lake Balaton is about to close its gates forever due to the decision of the district court in Fonyód. According to this judgement the Coke Club is not allowed to play music after 9pm and has to close at 11pm latest. The operators do not see a chance to keep up the good parties under these circumstances and decided to close rather than host parties which have to be finished at 11pm. For almost 15 years the Coke Club was opened from June till end of August and has helped Siófok to become one of the main destinations at the Southern shore of Lake Balaton for party and young people. Coca Cola has opened the club mainly for branding images which worked great over the past years. In 2011 the club has attracted nearly 150.000 visitors in the 3 months. During the ...
Budapest taxi drivers demo for better working conditions
Jun 5, 2012
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Over 1000 taxi drivers from all taxi companies took part in a large demonstration in Budapest yesterday to fight for better working conditions and more rights. Their demands are to set fixed tariffs for all taxi companies, limiting the number of taxis to the currently 6.000 taxis in circulation as well as new technical requirements for incoming taxis only. The demonstrations slowed down the traffic in Hungary’s capital tremendously on their way from Heroes’ Square along Andrássy út across the Oktogon junction passing the city hall of Budapest, from here across Chain Bridge and going back to Heroes’ Square across Margaret bridge. Not only that the traffic was effected but obviously it was very hard to get a taxi to travel within Budapest which effected public transport as well. Last Monday already 200 taxi drivers demonstrated for the same rights so it is just a question how many drivers will ...