Budapest Taxi

Budapest Taxi Guide

Budapest Taxi Numbers? Call a reliable cab in Budapest Hungary. See our guide to Budapest Airport Transfers. If you have already made a little research into Budapest Hungary, you must have heard that it is a rip-off to hail down a taxi on the street off-handedly in Budapest. Instead, you are much better off and safer if you choose one of the official Hungarian cab companies as they will try to live up to their brand and ensure some quality (ISO 9001) at least.

Budapest FoTaxi Airport Transfer Prices Per Zones – Budapest Taxi Guide (May, 2012)

Lonely taxi driver wolves may not be fair with the taxi fares (e.g. may overcharge you at the end of the journey). Unfortunately, there are several sad stories of ‘naive’ Budapest travelers taken in by unscrupulous cab drivers who do not belong to a taxi clan. So first of all, here is a listing of the major taxi companies you may wish to call in Budapest Hungary. Check out the DOS and DONTS for Budapest taxis page.

Budapest Taxi Listing

The phone numbers of the taxi companies are shown with the international codes. If you call the taxi from a Hungarian telephone, use 06 instead of 00-36.

• BudaPest Taxi cab services 00-36-1-4-333-333
• City Taxi cab services 00-36-1-2-111-111
• Fotaxi cab services 00-36-1-2-222-222 (the official Budapest Airport Transfer taxi)
• Mobil Taxi cab services 00-36-1-333-1757
• Radio Taxi cab services 00-36-1-3-777-777
• Taxi 2000 cab services 00-36-1-2-000-000
• Taxi4 cab services 00-36-1-4-444-444
• Tele5 Taxi cab services 00-36-1-5-555-555
• Volan Taxi cab services 00-36-1-4-3333-22
• ZONA Taxi cab services 00-36-1-3-655-555
• 6×6 Taxi cab services 00-36-1-2-666-666

Budapest Cab Fares

Budapest Taxi fares start with a basic fee of about 300 HUF (1.2 euros or 1.8 USD or 0.9 GBP), then added is the normal taxi rate of about 220-250 HUF per km. Once you ordered the taxi, they usually arrive in 5 minutes, which may surprise you as many things may involve extra waiting times (e.g. in Budapest restaurants). The minute the taxi arrives, the taxi driver starts to charge the waiting fare almost instantly, which is about 60 HUF/ minute, one fifth of the basic price.

Here we have included two reliable taxi company fares, the upper picture in red and white shows the prices of the official Budapest Airport transfer taxi company, while the lower is a randomly picked other Hungarian taxi company, which has been in service for decades, and is in general a trusted taxi company. As you can see the fares are quite competitive, so it may be worth doing a bit of Budapest taxi price comparison if you are not satisfied with the rates.

Budapest Airport Transfers

The official Budapest Airport taxi company is no longer Zona Taxi, but FOTAXI (Főtaxi, say fur-tu-xy). See the official website of Fotaxi here. However, you can order your own taxi to pick you up, or you can take a look at further, cheaper options and ideas for Budapest Airport Transfers.

Budapest Airport Transfer Taxi Prices Per Zones (Volan Taxi)                 Budapest Taxi Guide (May, 2012)

How to reduce Budapest taxi fares?

In addition to checking which taxi company has the best prices in Budapest, you can save some money on the cab fares if you yourself arrange the taxi via phone (rather than via a hotel, a restaurant). For instance, in case of  Volan Taxi (see the picture of their airport fares),  the prices of the basic fees do not differ, but the per kilometre (per mile) charges do: if you have your taxi arranged with the hotel receptionist or the restaurant assistant, you will pay 240 km/ h, whereas if you personally arrange the taxi you will pay 165 km/h. There is a huge gap in the cab prices, isn’t there?

Moreover, the taxi charges for ‘waiting time’ are also more favourable for self-arranged cabs: HUF 60 per minute (via hotels, restaurants), versus HUF 41 per minute (self, friends, etc.). In short, you can save on the extra profit charged by the intermediaries.

Budapest taxi fares are usually based on which zone or sector in Budapest you are travelling to. These are not the districts, but 4-5 bigger zones consisting of several districts in Budapest. See the image to get an idea for the colour coded zones. Most Budapest hotels and Budapest attractions, or the best Budapest restaurants are in the central districts (5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 – or as traditionally numbered by Roman numbers on Budapest maps: District V, District VI, District VII, District VIII and several streets of District IX).

Budapest taxi fares for more than 4 people will be more expensive than groups of 4 or under 4 people. Surcharges apply for combi cars, minivans, and if you leave Budapest, and use the highway, for motorways. Mind you, airport transfers by taxi to or from Budapest do not involve motorway charges.

Tipping Taxi Drivers in Budapest, Hungary

Please note that it is customary in Hungary to tip taxi drivers, especially who were polite, waited for you in the lobby, helped you with the suitcase, kept you company, etc. The usual percentage of tips is 10%, or simply rounding up the taxi fare: e.g. if you are charged HUF 5,600, the total price including the optional tip would be HUF 6,000, but you can give more, or leave it as it is, with no tips (but it is considered a bit mean in the local Magyar culture).

Please note: the formerly called Ferihegy Airport has been renamed as Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport. Zona Taxi is not the official taxi company in Budapest from December 2010 due to business issues, instead it is Fotaxi (Főtaxi).

Last updated: July 16, 2012