I have visited the Transport Museum of Budapest for the first time in 2007. It was Alex’s suggestion and I loved it. Fast forward 5 years and I really wanted to go back. We figured things would change and they did…one of the exhibits which were paid for (aside from the entrance ticket) was now free…

How to get to

Adress: 1146, Budapest, Városligeti krt 11. (At Városliget)

We were in the city center before coming to the museum, so we took metro line 1 (millennium line, yellow) all the way to the Szechenyi furdo stop and the crossed the City Park by foot. There’s a bus line going all the way to the museum but our day tickets expired and didn’t want to get one-way tickets for a 10-15 min walk anyway.

Tickets and opening hours

As of 2017, an adult ticket was 800 huf / US$2.84 and there are discounts for kids. Entrance is free for all the visitors on the National Holidays of Hungary (March 15, August 20, and October 23); also there’s free entrance on every last Saturday of the month for people under 26, and for the companions of people under 18 (up to two close relatives).

The opening hours are: the main museum is closed for renewal until 2020.

Close by, there’s also a wing of the transport museum dedicated only to airplanes.

The Transport Museum is currently undergoing a renewal and the main building of the museum is closed until 2020. The member museums are taking over some of the exhibits, as follows:

• The Ábrahám Ganz Foundry Collection in Víziváros, in Budapest
• The Technical Study Stores with its special exhibition spaces in Budapest
• The Museum of Electrical Engineering in Budapest
• The Museum of Chemistry in Várpalota
• The Museum of Aluminum Industry in Székesfehérvár
• The Metallurgical Collection in Miskolc

The exhibits as we saw them in 2013

I noticed two special exhibits and both could be visited with the entrance ticket (no additional fees). One was celebrating MAV (Hungarian railway) and the other was dedicated to the kids.

Otherwise, the exhibit dedicated to the ships (which was paid for in 2007) could also be visited as part of the main ticket.

To the left of the entry there’s an enormous hall which is filled with real locomotives, a ton of information (in Hungarian but there are quite a lot of good translations, too), a real-life railway station (see the photo of yours truly waiting for the train) and plenty other things related to the railway.

Tucked away in the corner between the locomotives exhibit and the gift shop (a big one!) there’s a place where you can fly a plane in virtual reality (for money, of course, 800 ft / 5 min). Don’t crash and you’d get a diploma.

There was also a nice section dedicated to Budapest at the time of the Millennium exhibition. And by the way: the building which houses the museum was built for that particular exhibition, along with plenty other important buildings in the city, including the Parliament.

I wanted to show you this photo of Keleti pu. (Keleti railway station – top right) as it was before they started working on the metro line 4 (which is due to open for the public in the spring of 2013). I was lucky to see that old square myself in 2007, too.

The museum also houses interesting motorcycles and cars – from very old ones to a new Audi (ok, not that new but dating after 2005). They are quite crammed together due to the rather small space they are housed in, but it’s interesting to read the info on the walls, as well.

Since Arad (where we live) has been part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, I saw many maps of Old Hungary in which Arad was an important center; plus there were bus and train schedules for lines operating from Arad all the way to Vienna (Austria).

Conclusion

I recommend the museum to any person who is fascinated by trains (especially old locomotives) , vessels and cars. Needless to say, guys and kids will have a blast! But I admit I was pretty entertained myself.

Also, there’s a cafe in the hallway which is not only really cheap but also really cozy; and an amazing way to finish up two or three hours of walking in the museum. And by the way: everywhere in the museum there are benches so you can stop and rest for a while.

Our rating:

Note: the review was written in January 2013 and the prices and information have been updated as of January 2019.