The taxis in Budapest does not have the best rumor in the world, and that is easy to understand. Watch out for how much you pay and for the change you get back as you use the taxis in Budapest.
Last week we arranged a guided tour for a nice group of Scandinavians in Budapest. They were a pleasant group and we had a great time together as we discovered Budapest together. Along the way the guide told them a couple of good advises concerning taxi traveling in Budapest:
- Order your taxi from your hotel or your restaurant.
- Do not jump on taxis on the street.
- Watch out for the change they give you back, and especially pay attention to receive back money in the right currency.
- The fact that a taxi is yellow does not guarantee you anything.
Those were the advises we gave. 48 hours later we met the group again to go on a half-day trip to Szentendre with wine tasting and more cool stuff. They had some interesting stories to tell by then!
Some horrible Budapest taxi stories
First taxi rip-off in Budapest
First of all some of the ladies in the group had traveled alone. They jumped on a taxi on the street and by the time they reached their hotel he wanted them to pay 40,000 HUF (a normal fare in Budapest should cost between 1500-4000 HUF). They did not really know for sure how much that was by then, and the driver looked really scary, so they paid. It didn’t take much time before they knew they had been ripped off heavily.
Second taxi rip-off(s) in Budapest
Then it was interesting to hear that several other people in the group had experienced the same problem that we told them about during the guided tour. They paid for the taxi ride (which had a okay fare), but then it was time to receive the change. Instead of getting back 10,000 Hungarian Forint they receive Indonesian money (which has no value at all compared to the Hungarian Forint). Some others received change in another currency as well. Some of them discovered it and got really made at the driver (who according to the tourists almost peed in his pants), while someone only discovered that they had been tricked a few moments later.
Budapest taxi rip-offs
It is incredibly common with such rip-offs in Budapest. 95% of such things happen when you jump into a cab on the street. Avoiding such will save you from most trouble. But, stay alert and if you jump into a cab on the street, feel free to write down the number plate (before you enter) so that you have something to fight with in case there should be trouble in some kind of way. If you are afraid of a fight, do not jump on a taxi on the street instead.
