It depends. Big Bus costs €39 for 24 hours, about five times the 2,750 Ft (€7.45)
The numbers behind the verdict
BKK 24-hour travelcard.
Buses come every 10 to 25 minutes and the loop takes 1h50, but service stops at 17:00 and central Budapest is only 4 km across with a metro line under its main avenue.
You want Gellért Hill without the climb. Stop 14 is at the Citadella, where no metro or tram goes.
You will stay two or three days: 48h is €44 and 72h is €49, so each extra day costs €5.
You want commentary. It runs in 16 languages, and a guided walk is included.
Someone in your group cannot manage metro stairs or the walk between Pest and the Castle.
Skip it if
You have one day and a tight budget. A 24-hour travelcard is 2,750 Ft, about €7.45.
You sightsee late. The last bus leaves stop 1 at 17:00 and the last full loop is at 16:00.
Parliament and Fisherman's Bastion are your priorities. Both are a 9 minute walk from the nearest stop.
You are travelling with children aged 6 to 18. They pay €35.10 each, only 10% less than an adult.
Budapest sightseeing bus: the fact sheet
Routes and timetable
Route
Stops
Frequency
Full loop
First / last bus
Red Route
21
10–25 min
110 min
10:00 / 17:00
Red Route
One loop of 21 stops covering both banks: the Basilica, Andrássy út and Heroes' Square in Pest, then Gellért Hill, the Castle and Batthyány tér in Buda, and back past Parliament.
First bus from stop 1 at 10:00, last at 17:00, with the last full loop at 16:00.
The operator runs a revised service on 15 March, 20 August and 23 October.
Audio guide in 16 languages. Wheelchair access: yes, according to the operator.
Ticket prices
Ticket
Adult
Child
24 hoursDiscover Ticket
€39
€35.10
48 hoursEssential Ticket
€44
€39.60
72 hoursExplore Ticket
€49
€44.10
Big Bus sells three tickets on the same Red Route: Discover (24h, €39), Essential (48h, €44) and Explore (72h, €49).
All three include a guided walking tour, which Civitatis lists as daily at 11:00 from the Basilica stop, and 30% off a Danube cruise bought at Dock 6 on Jane Haining rakpart.
The cruise itself is not included.
Child tickets for ages 6 to 18 are 10% cheaper (€35.10, €39.60, €44.10), under 6s ride free, and a family ticket for 2 adults and 2 children is €134 for 24h.
Tickets are charged in euros and are fully flexible, so the date can be changed for free.
Groups of 20 or more get a discount on request.
Child fare: ages 6 to 18.
The same day by public transport
BKK (Budapesti Közlekedési Központ)
Adult
Single ride
€1.35
One day, unlimited rides
€7.45
BKK charges in forints.
The 24-hour Budapest travelcard is 2,750 Ft and a single ticket is 500 Ft (700 Ft bought from the driver).
To compare with the bus, which is sold in euros, both are converted at the ECB reference rate of 369.18 Ft per euro from 2 October 2026: €7.45 and €1.35.
The travelcard covers metro, trams, buses and trolleybuses inside the city limits.
Children under 6 travel free.
BKK has no child version of the single ticket or the 24-hour travelcard, so visiting children of 6 and over pay the adult price.
Do the sum for your trip
Change the numbers to match your group. Fares are adult fares from the tables above.
Sightseeing bus–
Public transport–
Public transport is charged per ride up to the daily maximum. Multi-day passes can be cheaper still.
24, 48 or 72 hours
24 hours€39 Discover Ticket · €39 per day · 5.2 times public transport for the same days
48 hours€44 Essential Ticket · €22 per day · 3 times public transport for the same days
72 hoursLowest cost per day€49 Explore Ticket · €16.33 per day · 2.2 times public transport for the same days
The three tickets are €39, €44 and €49, so the price barely moves with the length. For a single day the 24h Discover ticket is expensive for seven hours of service, from 10:00 to 17:00.
The 48h Essential ticket is the sensible one: €5 more buys a second day, enough to do Pest and Heroes' Square on one and the Buda side on the other. The 72h Explore ticket at €49 only pays off if you plan to use the bus as your transport for three days, and in that case compare it with BKK's 72-hour travelcard at 5,750 Ft, about €15.60.
A 24-hour BKK travelcard is 2,750 Ft, about €7.45. Tram 2 runs along the Pest embankment from Jászai Mari tér past Parliament (Kossuth Lajos tér), the Chain Bridge and Vigadó tér to Fővám tér, by the Great Market Hall, with the Castle in view the whole way.
Metro line M1 runs under Andrássy út from Vörösmarty tér to the Opera, Hősök tere and Széchenyi fürdő. Bus 16 goes from Deák Ferenc tér over the Chain Bridge up to Dísz tér in the Castle District, and trams 19 and 41 follow the Buda bank.
Those four lines reach, or come within a few minutes' walk of, all 10 sights on our list. The one place where the tourist bus is clearly easier is the Citadella.
Does it suit your trip?
With children
Under 6s ride free on Big Bus and on BKK. From 6 to 18 the bus child ticket is €35.10 for 24h, and the family ticket for 2 adults and 2 children is €134, which saves €14.20 against buying four tickets.
On public transport the same family pays four 24-hour travelcards, 11,000 Ft or about €29.80. Pushchairs have to be folded and stored on the lower deck, and anyone under 15 must be with an adult.
The top deck holds a child's attention for the Buda half of the loop, where the views are. The Pest half through Keleti and Blaha Lujza tér is traffic.
The top deck is open. Civitatis notes that in bad weather the operator may swap the open-top bus for one with a roof, so a wet day does not have to mean a soaked seat, but you lose the reason to sit upstairs.
From November the cold matters more than the rain, and with service ending at 17:00 the last loops in winter run in the dark. On a cold or wet day M1 and tram 2 keep you under cover for a fraction of the price.
July and August afternoons often pass 30°C and the top deck has no shade on the embankments or on Andrássy út. Do the 1h50 loop at 10:00 from the Basilica, before the heat.
Stop 9 is the one for the Széchenyi Baths, 7 minutes through the park, and the baths are busiest in the middle of the day.
If you cannot walk far
Big Bus says most of its Budapest buses are wheelchair accessible and asks passengers to contact it for details before travelling, so confirm for your date. For people who cannot walk far the bus solves the two awkward climbs: stop 14 is on top of Gellért Hill, and stop 16 at Várkert Bazár has escalators and a lift up to the palace terraces.
On the BKK side, metro line M4 and the low-floor trams on lines 4 and 6 are step-free, but M1 under Andrássy út has stairs at most stations.
Buy the 24-hour travelcard for 2,750 Ft and ride tram 2 end to end, about 20 minutes, then M1 out to Hősök tere and bus 16 up to the Castle. If you will be in town for three days the 72-hour travelcard is 5,750 Ft.
Tip-based walking tours of Pest and of the Castle District leave daily from the Deák Ferenc tér and Vörösmarty tér area. For the view from the water, a Danube cruise from Dock 6 passes Parliament, the Chain Bridge and the Castle.
Start at stop 1 behind the Basilica at 10:00. The guided walk included in the ticket also leaves from there at 11:00 and ends at the Chain Bridge.
Do not leave the Buda side for late afternoon. The Castle stops come in the second half of the 1h50 loop, and the last bus that does the full loop leaves stop 1 at 16:00.
For the Royal Palace get off at stop 16, Castle Garden, and use the escalators. Stop 17 leaves you at the funicular, which is a separate paid ride.
Buy the 48h ticket if you have any doubt. It is €5 more than the 24h.
The 30% cruise discount is given at Dock 6, Jane Haining rakpart, when you show the bus ticket.
On 23 October, a national holiday, the operator runs a revised service. Check the service page that morning.
Budapest hop-on hop-off bus: quick answers
How much is the hop-on hop-off bus in Budapest?
Big Bus charges €39 for 24 hours, €44 for 48 hours and €49 for 72 hours. Children aged 6 to 18 pay 10% less and under 6s are free. Prices checked on 4 October 2026.
How often do Big Bus buses run in Budapest?
Every 10 to 25 minutes on the Red Route. The first bus leaves the Basilica stop at 10:00, the last at 17:00, and the full loop takes about 1 hour 50 minutes.
Is the Danube river cruise included?
No. The ticket gives 30% off a cruise when you buy it at Dock 6 on Jane Haining rakpart and show your bus ticket. A guided walking tour is included.
Does the bus go up to Buda Castle?
It stops below the hill, not on it. Stop 16 (Castle Garden) is about 6 minutes from the palace by escalator, and stop 17 is at the funicular. Fisherman's Bastion is a 9 minute climb from stop 18.
Is public transport cheaper than the hop-on hop-off bus?
Yes, by a wide margin. A BKK 24-hour travelcard is 2,750 Ft, about €7.45, against €39 for the bus. Tram 2, metro M1 and bus 16 reach the same sights.
Is Big Bus the same as the bus sold on Civitatis?
Yes. Civitatis sells the Big Bus Red Route with 1, 2 and 3 day tickets. The buses are run locally by Program Centrum Kft, with Big Bus as the ticket agent.
Big Bus Tours · BudapestOn Civitatis · rated 7.5/10 by 686 travellers
