Before starting your trip, be sure that the meter has been turned on. When taking a taxi from the airport, agree on the fare in advance. It is customary to tip the driver 10 percent or Ft10 for short distances. Inland train travel between major destinations within Hungary is extensive and convenient. Thirty international trains link Budapest with the major cities of Europe.
Express trains connect Budapest with Munich, Frankfurt, and Vienna in three to four hours.
Standards are higher than average for Eastern Europe. The fabled Orient Express, although only a ghost of its former splendor, leaves Paris nightly and travels through Strasbourg, Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna en route to Budapest and Bucharest, arriving in Budapest about 2020 the next day. It carries second-class couchettes every day and sleeping cars only on certain days. The Wiener Walzer leaves Basel, Switzerland in the evening and arrives in Budapest, via Zurich, Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Vienna, the next day. Sleeping cars are available from Basel to Vienna.