Budapest to Esztergom by Train: Easy Day Trip from a Local

Here is a Budapest recommendation that tells you to leave Budapest. Every 30 minutes, a good, clean and comfortable train runs to Esztergom, a beautiful town on the Danube Bend, about an hour away.

Getting there: trains leave from Budapest-Nyugati (Western Railway Station, on the M3 metro) to Esztergom about every 30 minutes during the day, and the ride takes around an hour. Coming back is just as easy: trains run back from Esztergom to Nyugati at the same rhythm until late evening. A one-way ticket is roughly 1,100 to 1,300 forints (about 3 euros). Timetables and fares change, so check the exact times and today's price, or buy your ticket, on the MÁV ticket and timetable site or in the MÁV app. You can also buy at the machines and ticket windows at Nyugati.

🚆 Timetable: Nyugati → Esztergom 🚆 Timetable: Esztergom → Nyugati 🎫 MÁV tickets

Early for your train? Don't just wait on the platform: go and see the McDonald's at Nyugati, often called the most beautiful McDonald's in the world. It sits in the station's original 19th-century wing, with marble, chandeliers and high painted ceilings. Fast food has never looked this fancy.

Show 4 photos of Nyugati

Inside the McDonald's at Nyugati: high ceilings, chandeliers and ornate old details — Inside the Nyugati McDonald's. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on the file page).

The McDonald's in the old station building at Nyugati, seen from the street — The McDonald's from the street, in the station's old wing. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on the file page).

The front of Budapest Nyugati railway station, built by the Eiffel company — Nyugati station, built by the Eiffel company in 1877. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on the file page).

Inside the iron and glass train hall of Budapest Nyugati station — The iron-and-glass train hall where your Esztergom train leaves. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on the file page).

Go for a morning that turns into an afternoon. You can rent bicycles and electric bikes very cheaply. Visit the Basilica and the old town center, then hop on a bike.

And the best part: you can bike over to Slovakia and have a beer or lunch over there, looking back at the Basilica. Two countries before lunch, and the only thing that crossed a border was you.

In Štúrovo (Párkány in Hungarian), sit down at Komp Café and order a hot sandwich, a cappuccino and a Kofola: the Czechoslovak answer to Coca-Cola, invented in the 1960s, less sweet and a bit herbal, and still beloved in Slovakia and Czechia, often on tap. The whole combo cost me less than 10 dollars.

Show 8 photos

Inside the train to Esztergom: blue seats, sunshine and plenty of room — The train: clean, comfy and almost empty.

The cream-coloured Esztergom railway station building with green window frames — Arriving at Esztergom station.

Esztergom bus station with long roofed platforms and a city bus pulling in — The bus station, right next to the train station.

A Mária Valéria Bike rental terminal, dock number 10, in a park — Grab a bike from a Mária Valéria Bike dock.

A yellow Volánbusz city bus waiting at a stop — Or take the local bus.

The green steel Mária Valéria Bridge over the Danube, seen from a bus window — Crossing the Mária Valéria Bridge into Slovakia.

A hot open sandwich with melted cheese, ketchup and mustard, and a Kofola, at Komp Café in Štúrovo — Lunch at Komp Café in Štúrovo, Slovakia: a hot sandwich with a Kofola.

A cappuccino with a latte-art heart next to a mug of Kofola, at Komp Café in Štúrovo — Cappuccino, Kofola and the hot sandwich: the whole combo for under 10 dollars.

A Budapest tip: leave Budapest

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