Early transport to Budapest Airport

Mr E is the forum’s resident expert on Budapest. He likes city taxi.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/conflicting-taxi-prices

I used their service several years ago for a morning flight. But not 6AM early. Taxi was a little early and ride went smoothly. For a very early morning pickup I would suggest calling the afternoon before.

I have also used City Taxi for those awful early morning flights. You can call or use the app the night before to schedule your pick up for the following morning. They usually arrive about 5 min early.

You may want to download and set up the app before you leave home.

At that hour my costs have run 11,000-11,500 ft (@ $30-$32). You can pay by card, tap to pay, or cash.

TexasTravelMom and tloehr56, Yes, CityTaxi is the only one I know well enough to trust.
I checked the fares to get into/from the city from LHR, CDG and VIE and you can count on 60 euro. WOW! FCO was only slightly cheaper. But I remember when it was still 8000 including tip from the airport.

For arrival, dont forget the express bus. It costs about $6. Getting from the end stop to your hotel might require some knowledge, but you can write here for that. But using it to go TO the airport that early in the morning is maybe not such a convenient idea.,

Airports Council International (ACI) has named Budapest Airport as the winner of the Best Airport of 15 to 25 Million Passengers in Europe Award. Skytrax gives it a 4 star rating and named it the best airport in Eastern Europe. And they have managed to become Carbon Neutral and won a few awards for that, So, no airport experience is "good" but this will be better than most.

If you are checking bags, then maybe arriving closer to two hours early makes sense. For a six am flight, schedule the pickup at 3:30am with luggage and 3:45 to 4:00 if you have a boarding pass and do not need to go to the ticket counter to check luggage luggage.

There are three terminals,. Terminal 1 is actually a different airport. As a tourist its worth the visit for the excellet 1960's airport architecture. As a traveler, you will never need it. They keep trying to repurpose the terminal. I hope they are eventually sucessful as its a pretty splendid place. https://www.welcomepickups.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Airport_Budapest_Terminal_1-e1546957110586.jpg

The other two terminals are 2A and 2B in one building,. https://www.aviontourism.com/images/1260-1260-Fix/6e64cf58-3326-4ce1-aa72-4cc2be9b2a58 Most Schengen flights go out of 2A and most non-schengen flights go out of 2B.

If your ticket counter is in 2A, then at that time in the monring the security line in 2A might not yet be open and there could be a lot of people milling around waiting for it to open. If that is the case, then look to the left of the security entrance and you will see a sign directig to you to Security Zone B. Its a walk down a long hall that runs parallel to the front of the terminal. At the other end is the 2B security line which for some reason always seems to be open earlier. Here is a photo at 2B looking towards the hall to 2A. Same view if you were in 2A but in reverse (hall is on other side of security). https://www.bud.hu/file/slides/1/16801/bar_2071.jpg

Once through security you will discover that everyone from 2A and 2B get dumped into the same departure hall. So it didnt matter which security you went through, you end up in the same place. Food is upstairs.

If you are departig from an A gate then you have all the time in the world, because no passport control. So go up to the large food court and take it easy for a while. I like O'Leary's because it is close to the stairs and has some table with a good view of the flight status board. At the opposite end there is also an outside roof top patio and a food / drink venor. But also smoking.

If you are departing from a B gate, might be a good idea to get through passport control and eat breakfastr or coffee in the B gate are; there are a half dozen places to choose from.

Rocket, thank you. You were correct on 3 out of 4. 1 FORUM, 2 RESIDENT, 3 BUDAPEST .... but not 4 EXPERT.

I always use City Taxi...they recognize my number and it's delightful when they answer at 3 am with "Jo reggelt, Christa"...last trip though I decided to book the night before, so I got a "Jo estet" instead. They are always punctual and polite. For a 6 am flight I would ask to be picked up at 3:30.