Budapest now a transit stop

[eieiaye]

So trying to decipher the correct info.  We leave 8/15 to arrive Budapest 8/16 for our Uniworld cruise 8/18.  From what our TA says if we leave Budapest within 24 hours, no need to quarrantine or having a Covid test as we are both vaccinated,, and no need for testing as we are transiting thru Hungary.  Because of our flight on a Sunday most testing sites are not open and if we did it on Saturday it will fall outside of the 48 hour window.  We plan on getting tested at the Budapest airport as Uniworld now requires it.  

Anyone have any differing info? 

First river cruise, and our main concern was to visit Budapest-oh well!!

[PRNole47]

There are changes galore coming out of Hungary. Reading the 8/8/2021 update by the Hungarian Police Border Control Section, it now appears that, yes, non-Hungarian citizens are allowed to 'transit' thru Hungary if they "get on that stage and leave town" within 24 hours. But, there's a stated requirement, somewhat vague, that says: << "A non-Hungarian citizen arriving from abroad may enter the territory of Hungary for the purpose of transit, if he/she is subjected to a medical examination at the time of entry and the medical examination does not establish the suspicion of infection." >> Leaving the "medical examination" undefined may be sufficient so that a temperature check and filling out a health declaration from on arrival at Liszt may be all one needs to satisfy that requirement. Since I'm on a 2-day pre-cruise in Budapest, we've been re-routed to arrive in Vienna, instead of flying direct to BUD, and then transferring to BUD on a bus, a 2 and 1/2 hour ride.  When entering Hungary by land, there are no border checks, nor any Covid restrictions, or any prohibitions to entering the country for any nationality. 

[Daisi]

@eieiaye, another poster who hopefully is on her way to Budapest for her Uniworld cruise has posted that Uniworld will be meeting them at the airport and taking them directly to the ship, where they have to remain until it sails.  Hopefully she will be able to report back in before you leave to let us know what happened.  IIRC, she leaves today, so keep your eyes open for updates from @PhD-iva.

 

 

[eieiaye]

We are arriving 2 days early as we wanted to explore Budapest!

[dkf11]

When we went through the Budapest airport on Tuesday, all we had to do was show our passport and our Covid Vaccination certificate.  There were no other checks.  We walked right through and met the Uniworld agent and were transported to ship.  It appeared to us that we could have gone early to Budapest, but we had changed our plans because of transit rule.  We were told the rules had changed again on Sat.!

 

[DrD]

What about the other direction?  We have a 2-day extension in Budapest next month, will that be an issue?  Arriving on Viking Danube.

 

[Daisi]

@DrD, right now, from what I can see, coming in to Hungary by land, rail or river you don't even need the test.  They are now allowing several countries to fly in with just negative tests, so hopefully things are changing.

 

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/nationals-of-several-non-eu-countries-now-allowed-to-enter-hungary-with-only-a-pcr-test/

[J80crew]

We received from Crystal a copy of an official Hungarian document saying that air passengers from the US arriving at BUD may transit to the ship within 24 hours without testing or quarantine. We need only show our vaccination card and cruise ticket. Crystal will meet us at the airport for transit to the ship. We had planned to spend three days in Budapest before the cruise, but changed that because of the restrictions. We’ll now spend that time in Switzerland (Zurich was our connection) and fly in on debarkation day, September 5.