When looking for places to travel to, I always look for Budapest. I went there in 2018 – you can read that here – and have wanted to go back for a long time but have never seen a price that I wanted to pay.
For Christmas, my friends got me a Ryanair voucher. I was looking at flights as they had a sale on and I saw some decent prices for Budapest in February so I decided I would book it if I could make the timings work.
I checked and they would work for getting to Stansted and back and for getting from Budapest airport to the city and back. I booked it and booked the transfers and then just carried on with my day.
I decided about a week before departure that I would see where else in Hungary I could go. I was specifically looking for journeys by train. I decided that I would go to Debrecen. It was 2.5 hours on the train from Budapest.
When I was looking for tickets, it was cheap for first class so I decided I would do that. It cost HUF 8200 which was about £16. Not bad considering I can barely get a standard class short-distance ticket here.
The day came to leave and, thankfully, I didn’t have to be up super early since my train was early afternoon. The flight was around 19:00 which would get me to Budapest for 22:30. I had a transfer booked from the airport to the city centre. It was only a 10-minute walk from there to the hostel so it was pretty easy to get there.
We landed about 15 minutes late and I was worried I would miss the transfer. I don’t remember much of the airport from my last time here. I got to passport control and it was quite a big queue. The automatic gates for EU citizens decided to stop working so they gave them priority at the border (which is fair) so I was even more worried I would miss the transfer. I had to find the transfer desk and I wasn’t 100% sure where it was once I had crossed the border.
About 5 minutes after the eGates not working they started working again (here’s looking at you UK on how to fix an issue quick). I got across the border 10 minutes before the bus was due to leave. I found the transfer desk right by baggage claim – it turns out terminal 2B is really small. I got my ticket and then went to the arrivals hall to check for the bus. It turns out the 23:00 departure had issues and I had to wait 35 minutes for the next one. It said it would be an hour to get into the city centre and I was concerned because I had to be up early for the train to Debrecen.
As it turns out, the transfer at that time is only 30 minutes. I got to the city centre at about 00:10 and then got to the hostel and checked in at about 00:25. I was in a rush to get there so I could get to bed so I didn’t take a slow walk as I usually would.
I checked in and went to the room. I put all my stuff away and got stuff ready for the morning so I could get dressed and out quick enough to get the tram and then the train to Debrecen.
Debrecen
Budapest
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I got up and got ready and then walked to the tram. I thought I was running late so I was rushing around like a fool to get to the tram. It was only about 6 minutes on the tram but I wanted to be there with enough time to get some pictures of the station and then find some snacks for the train.
I managed to do that and get to the train on time. I did have to ask someone as I couldn’t see the train I needed. It turns out it goes from Nyugati to Debrecen to Keleti. Keleti is the destination on the board.
When I was booking the ticket I couldn’t see on there the direction of travel so I didn’t know if I had booked a forward-facing window seat or not. I got there and someone was in it so I had to ask them to move. I didn’t need to though as there were plenty of seats free and I could have sat facing the direction of travel. I enjoyed just watching out the window.
We got to Debrecen and I went to try and find a public transport ticket for the day. I had looked at places I wanted to go when I was here and I wanted to ride the trams. The tram system here consists of 2 lines and both go from the train station. I wanted to ride the entire route of both lines. I found where to get my ticket and the woman there told me it was only valid until midnight. I said that was fine. I had to put my passport number on it too.
I went to the main square and went to The Reformed Great Church of Debrecen. I went and got my souvenirs first and then went to the church. You have to pay to get in and they offer either just the church or the church and the panoramic views. I decided on the latter. It was HUF 2100 (about£4) for it. I enjoy panoramic views of the city I’m in. This was no exception. I enjoyed the views from up here. The city has quite a few churches and the spires were cool to see. I also liked it because I could watch the trams from up here.
I was here for about an hour and then I decided to head back down and go and get some food. I found a Tesco Express, got some food and then walked back towards the train station so I could get the tram. On my way back I saw one of the churches from the panoramic viewpoint and I went there. The church is called St Anne’s Cathedral.
Once I was done here I went and got the tram. I did both routes. I decided I would go the full length of line 1 to see if there was anything to come back and see. There was. I then did line 2 to see the same. There wasn’t.
I got back to the station and went and got something to eat and drink and then jumped back on line 1 and went to the little sculpture park I had seen by the zoo. By the time I was done here, I had to make my way back to the station as I had about 45 minutes before the train was due.
It ended up being 20 minutes late leaving Debrecen. I went to the platform and just walked up and down it until the train arrived. I went to look for the carriage I needed but it wasn’t there. I got on the last carriage and then found a compartment to sit in. Luckily it was me and one other in there. I just relaxed until we got to Budapest. I couldn’t decide whether or not to walk back. I went and got some chicken nuggets and then decided to get the tram back.
I was glad to be back in bed as my head was hurting and I wasn’t feeling super clever.
Total steps: 16,077
Total miles: 7.28
Total kilometers: 11.72Below are some pics from today
I left the hostel and went to the meeting point for the bus. I was getting annoyed as it wasn’t on time and I was worried it was going to be like the day I got here.
It turned up and it took an hour to get to the airport as there were a few other people to get.
I was glad to get to the airport and go through security. My bag got selected for manual screening but it turns out they didn’t need to. It alerted for no reason.
I went through passport control and just went to the gate to wait for boarding to start.
The flight back was a bit bumpy on the way down. We were rocking from side to side and I thought we were going to have to do a go-around. Thankfully we didn’t. I was glad to be off the plane and on the train home. I was super tired and wanted to get some sleep as I was working nights that night.
All in all, though, it was a great trip and I want to go back. I love trams and want to go there and ride all the lines.
Total steps: 30,958Total miles: 14
Total kilometers: 22.53
View all of my Debrecen media here
View all of my Budapest media here