Last year was Silverstone, this year is Hungaroring...

I have allready booked my general admission f1 tickets and by the end of this week I will complete the ordering of airplane tickets as well as accomodation. After searching the web I believe that the best deal is to find a hotel near a metro station in Budapest and from then on the trains and busses will get you to the track.

Any recommendations or comments on that?

I could use any help from someone who has been to Budapest or Hungaroring the previous years...

I was in Budapest in 2004 and found that the easiest way to and from the circuit has to be by taxi. The operators of our apartment (Angels Apartments, dodgy name, good service) arranged a taxi from the airport to the apartment and this driver became our pet taxi driver for the rest of the weekend taking us to the track for the three days. It worked out at about EUR40 a journey but in my opinion it is worth it.

Looking at http://www.hungaroinfo.com/formel1/faqpop_en.htm gives some details of how to get to and from the circuit by public transport.

We never went by train but I am told the station is in the middle of nowhere and involves walking through fields. Looking at the maps it would be a walk of about a mile as the crow flies from the nearest train track and the circuit.

Take a look at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&h...7b08b91bc&msa=0 for an idea of the different locations. Some of the placemarks are guesses.

Thanks for the reply zeris,

I saw the two links and I have another question: What about the bus shuttle service? Is it reliable? Does it stop near the track or there is also a good amount of walking through fields involved? I understand that the taxi service would be the better choice but I want to check out all available options before deciding (the train is allready excluded ).

Thanks in advance,
Stratos

Never used the bus service either. The bus to the track terminates in the nearest village. It'll be paved roads and you'll probably get to walk up Bernie Avenue.

What IS Bernie Avenue? Never heard of it...

I searched the track on Google Earth and the bus stops at the nearby village so it's approximately 2-3 Kms of walking to the track. Great!

Won't there be a lot of traffic if I use a taxi service? How much time does it take to go to the track from the city?

My information relates from a long time ago, but I'd recommend you re-consider taking the train.

We went in 1993 - by car, and drove to the circiut/parked, and then again flying over in 1996 - admittedly 11 years ago now (1993 was Damon's first GP win - good memories).

We were going to take the bus out, but I had a circuit map from 1993 showing that the train station wasn't too far away from the circuit, so we took the train. We took it on Saturday as well, I can't remember on the Friday.

The Hungaroring station was only used for races, i.e not a full time station.

Yes, it was a 15 or 20 minute walk across fields - but it is normally baking hot so not muddy.

Also, the circuit is about 20 kms outside of the city centre, so the train can be much quicker than traffic on the roads, especially when exiting onto the local roads near the circuit.

In fact in 1996, we found out that there was so much traffic for the race it was backed up several miles from the circuit, so we were pleased we definitely made the right decision. Back then they still had very big crowds - I don't believe they are as large now.

I looked at the link provided by one of the other respondents, and see from that the train appears very cheap, although the shuttle bus is free.

If you do take train, there are several train stations in Budapest/lines, so need to get the correct station!

Obviously my expeience is very out of date, and it will depend how close you are staying to where the bus/train leaves from - but I'd recommend the train, even if it goes only every 30 mins.

If you've not been to Budapest before, you'll love it - it's one of my fave European cities. The view at night time along the Danube with the main bridge and buildings along the river lit up is superb.

Mind you, it changed a lot in just 3 years between 1993 and 1996, losing some of it's Eastern charm, and no doubt it is even more westernised now.

BTW - I went to all GP circuits (27ish) over 20 years - although not been to a GP since 2003 - so not been to the new ones - Bahrain, China, Turkey etc. - so if you have any other questions on how to get to any other circuits I'll be happy to help if I can.

Enjoy the race,

Chris