Need Advice on what time to leave for Budapest airport

[cruiserdru]

We (US citizens) will be staying at the Budapest Marriott Hotel after our river cruise and have a 1045 am Monday morning flight from Budapest to Frankfurt to Dulles.

 

Can anyone provide some advice on what time we should be leaving our hotel for the airport (thinking taxi vice concierge arranged private transportation to save some $$)?

 

I realize we will only be facing security (vice Customs & passport control) at the Budapest airport but still think we need to be at the airport 2-1/2 to 3 hours prior to the flight. I have no feel for how busy the Budapest airport is, what traffic is like on the route, any other issues that might impact the entire venture so am totally open to advice on the whole process.

 

Thanks,

CruiserDru

[gnome12]

I don't know Budapest airport but frequently for inter-Schengen flights they don't even open check-in positions until 2 hours before your flight. I would check what the airline and the Budapest airport website say about recommended check-in times.

[purduemom1]

We arrived around 4:30 for a 6:30 AM flight. No traffic on the way as we left the the hotel at 4 AM. You will need to allow for morning rush hour traffic since your flight leaves later than ours.

[gnome12]

Since you are leaving from a hotel just ask the concierge what time you should leave. They will know about traffic and will suggest a reasonable departure time, and will get the cab for you at the proper time.

[mmsoko]

Our flight was scheduled for 6:45 and we left the ship at 4am on Sunday.

 

The luggage check in line at Lufthansa was quite long but all in all, things went smoothly. Keep your passport handy at all times....seems like we needed it more than usual than ID in US.

[garycarla]

Since you are leaving from a hotel just ask the concierge what time you should leave. They will know about traffic and will suggest a reasonable departure time, and will get the cab for you at the proper time.

 

good idea... though I would ask different people at different times to see if you get the same answer.

 

Not sure if it would help in Budapest, but we try to take the train to the airport where it makes sense. No traffic to deal with... and sort of cool to travel with the locals. That all depends on what you luggage situation is.

[jpalbny]

Not sure if it would help in Budapest, but we try to take the train to the airport where it makes sense. No traffic to deal with... and sort of cool to travel with the locals. That all depends on what you luggage situation is.

 

Public transport to/from Budapest to the airport is not bad, but does involve a change from the Metro to a bus. IIRC it takes about 45 minutes, maybe a touch longer than that. We took public transport from the airport to our hotel after arriving on a red-eye flight, and we found our way without difficulty.

 

In the direction that OP wants, you'd take the M3 line to the Kőbánya-Kispest train station, and change there to the 200E bus which goes to the airport. The 200E bus only goes back and forth between the train station and the airport, and the M3 ends at the train station, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

 

We do use public transport to the airport whenever we can. It's generally much cheaper, and not much less convenient. Judging from the number of suitcases we see on these trains and buses, we are not the only ones.

[dan4182]

We went from the cruise ship to the Budapest airport around 9:00 AM in 2015 and it took about 45 minutes via a bus. Check in at Lufthansa took about 5-6 minutes and security was a breeze, hardly any line at all and our gate was only a short walk away.

 

I'd be more concerned about the change in Frankfurt. Allow yourself at least 90 minutes for that. The Frankfurt airport is huge and somewhat complicated.

 

 

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[cruiserdru]

Have spent my share of time in the Frankfurt airport (our son and DIL live in Germany) and made a point of picking a flight with 4-1/2 hours connect time both to accommodate the airport's madness and DH's bad knees.

 

Thanks for the warning though and the warm fuzzy of your experience with Budapest.

[dabear]

It took about 40 minutes from the ship to the airport. It was not a big airport & Lufthansa check in etc took less than 10 minutes. I would suggest getting to the airport from 1hour 45 minutes to t 2 hours before the flight. We did change planes in Munich, which also is a large airport, so it's best to have 1 1/2 hours between flights.