Budapest Private Day Trip from Vienna: Explore the 'Paris of the East' Just Two Hours Away

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Budapest

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Don’t pass up the opportunity to visit Budapest while you’re in Vienna. Known as the ‘Paris of the East,’ it’s just a two-hour journey from Vienna!

Duration: 12 hours

Cancellation: 1 day learn more

Highlights

Hotel Pick-up

07:30am Tour start - Travel across Lower Austria, past Györ

09:00am Stop for coffee and cake (at own expense) - ca. 30 minutes

10:30am City Tour with local expert guide - ca. 3 hours

01:30pm Free time in Pest - ca. 3 hours

04:30pm Departure for Vienna (short stop on the way back)

ca. 7:00pm Arrival in Vienna

Hotel Drop-off

Budapest, the Hungarian capital stands for Gipsy music, the typical Gulyas stew, and amazing architecture from the turn of the centuries. While Buda was the seat of the Hungarian kings for ages, Pest’s heyday was the fin-de-siècle, when Hungary celebrated its first millennium.

With a friendly driver depart from your hotel in Vienna in a private limousine or van. Heading east cross the Hungarian border and drive through the Hungarian lowlands to Budapest.

Upon arrival in Budapest meet your local expert guide for a comprehensive private city tour in English covering the city’s most beautiful sights. By car you reach the top of the Gellert hill: towering over the Danube it offers unparalleled postcard views! Then you visit Buda’s medieval castle district. Here you see Trinity Square with the gothic Matyas church and the famous Fisherman’s Bastion as well as the massive Buda Castle. The actual castle is a replication from the time of communism but it’s predecessors date as far back as the 13th century!

Crossing the famous chain bridge, Budapest’s emblem, you reach Pest where you first pay a visit to the sumptuous St. Stephen’s Basilica. Named after the patron saint of Hungary it accommodates the country’s most important Christian reliquary: King Stephen’s right hand! In Pest you also see the beautiful parliament, the Heroe’s Square, the elegant Andrassy Avenue with the opera house and the lively Vaci Street street in the city center.

After the city tour treat yourself to a delicious Hungarian meal (not included) in one of the city’s many great restaurants. Your guide will gladly suggest lunch options in Budapest and handle your table reservations.

Spend the afternoon at leisure in Pest’s lively center for shopping or to further explore the city. Or bring your bathing suit and soak away the afternoon in Budapest’s famous Gellert Bath (admission not included). In the late afternoon meet your driver for the return trip to Vienna.

ITINERARY

Hotel Pick-up

07:30am Tour start - Travel across Lower Austria, past Györ

09:00am Stop for coffee and cake (at own expense) - ca. 30 minutes

10:30am City Tour with local expert guide - ca. 3 hours

01:30pm Free time in Pest - ca. 3 hours

04:30pm Departure for Vienna (short stop on the way back)

ca. 7:00pm Arrival in Vienna

Hotel Drop-off

Points of Interest

Fisherman’s Bastion
Buda Castle
Hungarian State Opera House (Magyar Allami Operahaz)
Hungarian Parliament Building
Szechenyi Lanchid
St. Stephen’s Basilica (Szent Istvan Bazilika)
Vaci Street
Heroes’ Square
Gellert Hill
St. Gellert Thermal Bath and Swimming Pool
Andrassy Avenue
Danube River
Vienna A La Carte
Trinity Square

What's Included

Private tour
Friendly, professional driver
Private vehicle transportation
Hotel pick-up and drop-off
Expert-guided Highlight City Tour of Budapest

What's Not Included

Food and drinks
Gratuities

Location

Fisherman's Bastion

Szentharomsag Ter,

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

4.8

(6 Ratings)

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1 star

Laura_s

Oct 17, 2022

Our day in Budapest - Our trip was wonderful and so easy. Josef was a fantastic driver and Nora was a great guide. It was a picture perfect day.

Review provided by Viator

Ss62019

Oct 29, 2019

Private tour to Budapest - We had a great time on our private tour to Budapest. This was a family trip (all adults), it was the first time our father travelled to Europe and this tour did not disappoint. Our driver Markus was on time picking us up from our hotel. He was very friendly. The van was very comfortable (it even had iPads on the back of the seats), we have wifi service, Markus offered us water for the ride and pointed out interesting facts during our ride from Vienna to Budapest. When we arrived to Budapest we met up with Anita our Budapest tour guide. Anita, was friendly, professional and knowledgeable. The way she explained details was not only easy to understand but enjoyable. Both Markus and Anita showed personal interest about us and made our day great!. The tour was at a comfortable pace, it did not feel rush and you are practically driven all over the most important parts in Budapest. There is also time to explore the cites walking. At the end of Anita's guided tour there was plenty of time to have lunch and some shopping. We had a great time with Anita! On our drive back to Vienna, again Markus was very pleasant and once we got to our hotel in Vienna, he even offered to drive us somewhere in the city if we need it to. However, we were already kind of tired by this time :-) but it was very much appreciated. I usually don't have high expectations on anything I book because I would rather be pleasantly surprised than being disappointed, but in this case we all were pleasantly surprised with the way we were treated in a friendly and professional manner and that the tour was so interesting and we learned so much that we want to go back! Perhaps a day tour to Salzburg! :-) Thank you A la Carte for organizing tours like this and thank you to Markus and Anita for a great time!.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Gewilliams

Jul 8, 2019

Trip to Budapest - We had a memorable trip to Budapest this summer 2019. Our van came on time. The driver and the guide were very courteous, informative, and very accommodating.When we got to Budapest the local guide took over. She was very informative too, just a bit hurried because the walking tour was under time constraint. It was a good thing we were wearing comfortable walking shoes and we had water because it was very hot that day. The best part of our tour was when Markus our guide took us as close to the Parliament Building as possible. Without doing this, we would not have seen the Parliament building up close and we would have missed the Danube promenade commemorating the shooting of the Jews by the Cross Nazis while they were made to leave their shoes by the bank of the Danube river before they fell into the water. You can see the steel replica of the shoes glued onto the pavement. It was a really great trip.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Teacher7-sue

Jun 25, 2018

Beautiful day in Budapest - While staying in Vienna, we took a private day trip to Budapest through Viator Tours that hooked us up with Vienna A La Carte. Ton, our driver, promptly picked us up at the hotel, and drove us around Budapest, while Anna, who is from Budapest, was our personal tour guide. We had a delightful time with no worries. Anna shares her knowledge of Budapest with passion and insight. We learned so much and at all times, their consideration for our needs and interests was evident. We ate authentic Hungarian goulash and it was delicious! I would encourage anyone who wants personal guides and transportation for a delightful day in Budapest to book this tour!

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Mark

Oct 1, 2015

Ben was a great driver and semi tour... - <p>Ben was a great driver and semi tour guide. Always helpful and informative. He made our trip very pleasant dropping us off at great locations and meeting us at a perfect location for pick up, allowing us to see several sites at once. Anna the guide in Budapest was a very well informed and pleasant young lady. It was very interesting to hear the perspectives of a educated Hungarian who takes a lot of pride in her Country and heritage. Drive is bit long but well worth it. Thanks Mark</p>

Review provided by Viator

Sonia

Dec 6, 2017

Vienna ala carte review - My husband and I booked private tours of Vienna, Salzburg, Prague and Budapest through Vienna ala carte. Clean vehicles, punctual, with great tour drivers and guides. I would specifically mention Tom who drove us to Salzburg, Prague and Budapest. Well maintained car, telling us small interesting stories during travel, organizing a detour to show us some jaw dropping scenery, Tom is a yardstick for any professionally driver ever. He knew more about the places than the guides, who, I must say were also very good, barring the lady in Salzburg, I would recommend Vienna ala carte, especially Tom to anyone planning a private tour of vienna, Prague and Budapest.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

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