Budapest Night Buses: How to Get Home After the Metro Stops

Budapest does not go dark when the metro shuts: tram 6 runs around the clock on the Grand Boulevard, the 100E airport bus never stops, and dozens of night bus lines numbered in the 900s fill the hours until day service restarts. Your normal ticket works on all of them, but buy it before you board, because a bank card tap does not work on night buses and a ticket from the driver costs 700 HUF instead of 500.

The rest of this page is about the ride home: which line, from which stop, and what the driver wants to see.

📋 At a Glance

🚇 Last metro	M2, M3, M4 from the center about midnight Sun-Thu, about 1:00 Fri and Sat nights
🌙 Night buses	Numbered 9xx, roughly midnight to 4:30, most every 30 minutes
🚋 All-night tram	Tram 6, Grand Boulevard, Széll Kálmán tér to Móricz Zsigmond körtér
🎟️ Ticket	Regular fares: 500 HUF in advance, 700 HUF from the driver
💳 Card tap	Metro and 100E only, not on night buses
🚪 Boarding	Front door only on most lines outside the Grand Boulevard
✈️ Airport	100E all night, every 30-40 min on average, 2,500 HUF

When the night network takes over

From Sunday to Thursday the last M2, M3 and M4 trains leave the center around midnight; on Friday and Saturday nights they leave around 1:00. M1, the little yellow line under Andrássy út, stops earlier, shortly before midnight. The first metro trains run again from about 4:40.

The night buses fill the gap. They run roughly from midnight to 4:30, and BKK times many of the outer lines to meet the last metro trains at the end stations. While the metro is still running, several night lines that shadow a metro line do not run their full route; they start from the outer metro stations instead.

You can spot a night bus by its number: three digits starting with 9, sometimes with a letter (907, 908A, 914A). BKK publishes a schematic night network map worth saving to your phone.

Source: BKK night services and BKK’s night metro page, last-train times read on 1 November 2026; M1 and first-train times and the night bus window from BKK’s FUTÁR timetable data at futar.bkk.hu, checked 1 November 2026.

The lines that get visitors home

BKK has rebuilt the whole night network and many old numbers changed, so a line number from an older blog post may now go somewhere else. These are the ones that matter if you are staying in or near the center.

Line	Where you catch it in the center	Where it takes you	How often at night
Tram 6	Király utca, Wesselényi utca, Blaha Lujza tér, Oktogon	The Grand Boulevard, across Margaret Bridge to Széll Kálmán tér, and across Petőfi Bridge to Móricz Zsigmond körtér	Around the clock, several an hour
907	Astoria, Blaha Lujza tér, Keleti	Across Elisabeth Bridge to Gellért tér, Móricz Zsigmond körtér and Kelenföld; the other way to Zugló and Örs vezér tere	Every 30 minutes
905	Astoria, Ferenciek tere	Across Elisabeth Bridge, through the Castle Hill tunnel to Széll Kálmán tér, then Pasarét and Máriaremete	Every 30 to 60 minutes
909	Astoria, Deák Ferenc tér, Nyugati	Across Margaret Bridge to Óbuda, Flórián tér and Bogdáni út	Every 30 minutes
923	Astoria, Deák Ferenc tér, Nyugati	Across Margaret Bridge to Óbuda, Aquincum and Békásmegyer	Every 30 minutes
914 and 950	Deák Ferenc tér, Astoria, Kálvin tér	Along the M3 line, north to Újpest and south to Határ út and Kispest	Together several an hour
908 and 908A	Astoria, Blaha Lujza tér	Across Elisabeth Bridge into the Buda hills: Farkasrét, Gazdagrét, Kelenföld	Hourly each

The 909 and 923 leave Astoria on alternating half hours, so between them a bus heads for Margaret Bridge and Óbuda about every 15 minutes. The same trick works west over Elisabeth Bridge, where the 905, 907, 908 and 908A share the first stretch to the Buda end of the bridge.

Six hubs are planned so that the less frequent lines wait for each other: Astoria, Deák Ferenc tér, Blaha Lujza tér, Móricz Zsigmond körtér, Örs vezér tere and Széll Kálmán tér. If you need two buses, change at one of these.

Source: routes, stops and departure patterns from BKK’s FUTÁR timetable data at futar.bkk.hu for weekday and weekend nights, and the night network changes on BKK’s night services page, checked 1 November 2026.

Getting home from the party district

The ruin bars and clubs of District VII sit between two night corridors, which makes the walk to a stop short from almost anywhere. Head south or west to Astoria on the Small Boulevard for the buses into Buda and Óbuda, or east to the Grand Boulevard for tram 6 at Király utca or Wesselényi utca. Kazinczy utca to Astoria is a few minutes on foot. If you have not booked a bed yet, our guide to staying in the Jewish Quarter lays out which streets are loud until dawn.

Two patterns repeat every weekend. Tram 6 fills up along the stretch between Oktogon and Blaha Lujza tér after the bars empty, and the buses on Rákóczi út stay busy well into the night. If a tram arrives packed, the next one is rarely far behind; a full night bus is a longer wait.

On some weeknights BKK replaces the tram with a bus of the same number while it works on the track. The replacement bus stops next to the tram stops, and BudapestGO shows it as a normal departure.

Tickets at night, and why your bank card will not help

Night lines use regular fares, so every ticket and pass that is valid on a daytime bus is valid at night too. The difference is how you buy one.

Ticket	Price	Good to know
Single ticket, bought in advance	500 HUF (about $1.50)	One ride; valid up to 120 minutes on night services, no transfers
Single ticket from the driver	700 HUF (about $2.10)	Sold by night bus drivers and on-board security guards
90-minute ticket (digital)	850 HUF (about $2.60)	Unlimited transfers, so it beats two singles when you change buses
24-hour travelcard	2,750 HUF (about $8.40)	Covers night buses and tram 6
Airport shuttle single (100E only)	2,500 HUF (about $7.60)	Not valid on any other line
Penalty fare, paid on the spot	15,000 HUF (about $46)	Rises if you pay later

Prices are in HUF, which is what you pay at the machine, in the app or to the driver. Converted at 1 USD = 328 HUF, the ECB rate on 30 October 2026. Rates move, so treat the converted figures as indicative.

Bank card tapping does not work on night buses. BKK’s Pay&GO system sells and validates a ticket when you tap a card, but only at metro entrances and on the 100E airport bus. On a night bus, use one of three routes:

1. The BudapestGO app, the easiest. Buy a single or a travelcard before you leave the bar, then scan the validation code as you board. If you jump on at the last second, BKK is putting QR codes inside its buses, trams and trolleybuses so you can validate straight after boarding.
2. A ticket vending machine. They sell around the clock, and BKK’s sales point finder can filter for machines accessible at night.
3. The driver, at 700 HUF. Validate it at once in the machine next to the driver’s cabin.

Ticket checks run continuously on tram 6 at night and as spot checks on the night buses, so an unvalidated ticket is a gamble with poor odds.

Source: BKK fares, single ticket bought on the spot, Pay&GO, BudapestGO and BKK’s penalty fare notice, checked 1 November 2026; the 15,000 HUF on-the-spot penalty fare applies from 2 November 2026.

Front-door boarding

On most night lines outside the Grand Boulevard, you board only at the front door and show the driver your ticket or pass; inside the Grand Boulevard, all doors are usually open. The exact stretch differs by line: on the 907, for example, front-door boarding applies in Buda between Kelenföld and Kosztolányi Dezső tér and in Pest on the outer section. A sign on the bus display and on the stop timetable says “Front-door boarding only”.

Have your ticket open on your phone before the bus pulls in. A digital ticket is shown as an animated image after you scan the code, and a paper one goes into the validator by the driver’s cabin.

Source: BKK front-door boarding, read on 1 November 2026.

Staying comfortable on the late ride

BKK’s own advice is short and sensible. Sit close to the driver on a bus, and in the first car on tram 6. If something feels wrong, tell the driver or the security guard; guards ride many night lines, mainly the busy ones with front-door boarding. Keep your bag in front of you or with the strap across your body, because the crowded weekend vehicles are where pickpockets work. Eating, drinking and smoking are banned on board and at stops.

For the wider picture of the city after dark, our Budapest safety guide covers scams and the streets to keep your wits about you on, and the solo travel guide has advice for getting home alone.

The airport at night

The 100E Airport Express runs around the clock, seven days a week, between Liszt Ferenc Airport and Deák Ferenc tér, stopping at Kálvin tér and Astoria. BKK gives the night frequency as every 30 to 40 minutes on average, and the trip takes about 40 minutes. It needs its own 2,500 HUF airport shuttle ticket; regular singles and travelcards are not valid on it. Tap a bank card on the Pay&GO machine by the door to buy and validate in one go, up to five tickets at a time, or buy in BudapestGO and scan the code outside the bus before boarding.

The 200E also runs all night on regular tickets, but with luggage, the 100E is the easier ride.

Our airport to city center guide has the daytime options and the terminal layout.

Source: BKK Airport Express, checked 1 November 2026.

When a taxi is the better call

When the next bus is 50 minutes away, or there are three of you heading the same way, a taxi starts to make sense. Budapest taxi fares are set by the city and are the same at any hour and with any operator: a 1,300 HUF base fare, then 520 HUF per kilometer and 130 HUF per minute when the car is slow or waiting, and a 2,100 HUF base fare for trips to or from the airport. You can pay by cash or card.

Licensed taxis are yellow, with yellow number plates, “qualified Budapest taxi” on the left front door and the fare table on the dashboard and rear doors. BKK recommends ordering by app or phone, and lists Bolt, City Taxi, Elit Taxi, Főtaxi and Uber Taxi as licensed companies. Our Budapest taxi guide covers the ranks and the ways tourists get overcharged.

Source: BKK taxi services, fares checked 1 November 2026.

Before midnight, the Budapest metro guide covers the four lines and their transfer stations, and the transport and practical hub has every other way of getting around.