tuktuk tour in Budapest

I was in Budapest in Sept. 2024 to board a river cruise with three other people, one of whom could not do a lot of walking. So we did a tuktuk tour. I had to do a lot of searching before I could find one that had a tuktuk for four - tuktuks for two are much more common.

Our guide picked us up at our Air BnB and took us all over the city. I think we booked a two hour tour. He provided some personal historical insights and commentary about the city. We saw a lot more than we would if we had walked/taken the Metro to sightsee; the one in the group who couldn't do a lot of walking probably would have stayed behind, and we didn't want that. All of us enjoyed it. We used https://tuktuktaxi.hu/?lang=en . They have tuktuks for two, four and six people.

Thanks Kayla!

They arent licensed guides, but that can be okay if you get a great talkative driver. kayla.p. can you easily communicate while he is driving? I guess with 2 hours it was without any stops to explore? So if the OP wanted to go inside the Great (Dohany utca) Synagogue and inside the Central Market they would need to return without the TukTuk? Or the driver waited for you?

A wee bit sad to hear that tuk tuks have made it to Budapest. I read about them in Lisbon the other day. They're out of place and antisocial in European cities imho. I'm not sure what locals may think in Budapest, but they're widely disliked in most cities. Best avoided if you have some respect for the European city you're visiting, again, in my opinion.

GerryM, in one form or another they have been here for at least 10 years. At first, I thought you were overreacting, so I did a little search. What was interesting is that I found many articles and statements that “in Europe” Tuk-Tuks were frowned upon, disliked and a scourge on society.

But specific to kayla.p’s issue, and this is important, if there is a tourist with a mobility impairment then a lot of Europe is a real problem and in this case the Tuk-Tuk improved the quality of the day for the individual. That’s a big deal and worth overlooking some of the downside (if there is any).

To learn more, I drilled down on the subject, but the only cities I found called out by name in which there were specific complaints were Lisbon and Barcelona. Lisbon had a general dislike of noise and too many clogging streets and there is apparently a real outcry against them. In Barcelona it appeared that the Tuk-Tuk wasn’t the issue, the over tourism was the issue and the Tuk-Tuk was just a visual reminder of the bigger problem. While the headlines always read, “in Europe” I couldn’t find any other specific negative references attributed to any other city. There probably are but they aren’t rising to the top in Google searches or AI. I am almost of the mind that the bad references that say "in Europe" are just click-bait and there is nothing to it. But I could be wrong.

All that having been said, the Tuk-Tuk isn’t really a thing here. If I see one a week that’s a lot. Most are electric or pedal/electric, so the noise isn’t an issue. They take up less roadway than a taxi would so that’s maybe a plus. EDIT: Wait, i do see one Tuk-Tuk at least twice a week. Either inside or parked in front of the Tuk-Tuk bar (an excllent gin bar).

If you take 15 minutes to study the tram routes, they do the same thing as any vehicular tour and faster because they don’t have to mess with the traffic; and you can do it all day for free. When people ask about HOHO buses I suggest comparing the route to the tram routes (they are more or less the same routes), then look at the prices, then decide.

Otherwise, if you only have one or two days and you aren’t going to have the time to go inside anything; just time for drive-bys, then the Tuk-Tuk works I guess. There are not so many Tuk-Tuks or so many tourists in general that the locals even think about them one way or another. But Budapest isn’t all of Europe, just Budapest.

Now lets discuss the real scourges, electric scooters and bikes and the dreaded Wolt guy.

The mobility issue is a strawman in the argument around tuk tuks and similar tourist-oriented transport in cities. As another for instance, the last time I said that I thought the golf carts in Rome were similarly tacky tourist rubbish I got called out as if I hate disabled people. Any decently run city should have accessible public transport options. If they don't, that's the problem. This type of thing isn't run as service to improve mobility. They're strictly a commercial enterprises for tourists with no emphasis on "mobility for all" goals in the slightest.

I don't recall if I've read any of the clickbait articles with "in Europe" headlines you mention. I were to be more specific I might say "widely hated in any European cities where they've started operating" and that would be accurate enough for me.

We've had issues in central London for years with what they call "pedicabs". Those guys kick it up a notch in the antisocial stakes with their RGB LED lights flashing and music blasting though. They've had a bad name for underhandedly demanding ridiculous amounts at the end of their journeys and generally getting in the way. More stringent legislation against them is being implemented this year I think.

Comparing them to your tram network is a bit of a stretch. Trams are provided by the city through people's tax money, for the people. It's a tried and trusted form of high volume public transport that adds a lot to what people's options are for getting around, same as a bus or metro network. The amount of utility a tram or bus network has in the context of city mobility compared to a tuk tuk doesn't even compare.

Yeah, strictly a personal viewpoint on them from me. They have no roots in local or immigrant community cultures in any European cities. A visual sign of the worst kind of tourism. They're rubbish.

As far as e-bikes and scooters go, e-bike rentals from Lime have transformed London. The uptake of them has been a phenomenon. They're a standard part of the landscape now. Management of them in the city streets with parking etc. isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than it used to be. Scooters... no real rental schemes for them here, I'm pretty meh about privately owned ones and how they're used.

If Budapest can keep on top of managing non-antisocial use, including parking, of rental bikes and scooters, they might be more to your liking in the future. Lots of people here like them, as well as having some detractors.

Thank you all for the comments and information on using TukTuks. I know more now and have some new ideas.