From trams and scooters to food and hidden places, these are the apps that helped us understand Budapest and start living the city.
When you arrive in Budapest for the first time, the city can look more complicated than it really is. There are four metro lines, dozens of trams and buses, trolleybuses, night buses, bikes and electric scooters everywhere.
During our first days here, we quickly understood that having the right apps on our phones makes a huge difference.
We are staying in Budapest for a month, so one of the first things we did was get a monthly public transport pass. After that, the problem was no longer paying for every trip. The real question became: what is the fastest or easiest way to get there?
That is where the apps started helping us.
Citymapper: finding the best way to move around
Citymapper is probably the app we use the most.
You just choose where you want to go and the app shows different routes using metro, tram, bus and walking.
This is very useful in Budapest because the fastest route is not always the most obvious one. Sometimes taking a tram is easier than using the metro, and sometimes walking a few minutes to another stop can save a lot of time.
During the first days, we checked Citymapper almost every time we left the house.
After one week, we already started recognising some tram lines and metro stations without looking at the app.
That is when you start feeling a little less like a tourist.
BudapestGO: the official transport app
BudapestGO is the official public transport app of Budapest.
It is useful for checking buses, trams and metros, seeing live information and finding out if there are delays or changes to a route.
You can also buy tickets and passes directly from the app.
Since we already have a monthly pass, we mostly use BudapestGO to check the transport situation before leaving.
For us, the two apps work very well together: Citymapper helps us decide the best route, while BudapestGO gives us official information about public transport.
If you are staying in Budapest for more than a few days, having both is very convenient.
Lime: when walking feels too far
The third app we started using is Lime.
Electric scooters are everywhere in Budapest and they can be very useful for short distances.
Sometimes you get off the metro or tram and your destination is still fifteen or twenty minutes away on foot. In that situation, taking a Lime scooter can make the final part of the journey much faster.
But we also discovered that scooters can be a fun way to explore the city.
Instead of going underground, you can move through the streets, follow the Danube and see parts of Budapest that you could easily miss from a metro.
You just need to remember that scooters cannot be left everywhere. Before finishing the ride, always check the parking areas shown in the app.
The combination that worked for us
After our first week, our way of moving around Budapest became very simple.
Citymapper tells us how to get somewhere.
BudapestGO helps us check the public transport network.
Lime is perfect when we want something faster and more flexible for short distances.
Together with our monthly public transport pass, these three apps have made exploring Budapest much easier.
At the beginning, Budapest feels like a very big city.
After a few days with the right apps on your phone, it starts feeling much smaller.
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