Hungary by campervan: costs and prices

Practical costs in Hungary: currency, cards, cash, fuel, groceries and budgeting for a campervan trip. What to know before you go.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 19 September 2026

Currency
Hungarian forint
HUF, not the euro. 363.47 Ft to €1 on 18 September 2026
Language
Hungarian
Related to nothing on its borders. English in Budapest and at the Balaton
Driving
Right
Motorway 130 km/h, 80 km/h over 3.5 tonnes or with a trailer
Power
230V, type F
The round earthed socket used across most of Europe
Tap water
Safe to drink
Ask for csapvíz
Emergency
112
Reaches the police, the ambulance service and disaster management

Money

Hungary uses the forint and has not adopted the euro, and the exchange rate is worth fixing in your head before you arrive because the numbers are large. On 18 September 2026 the Hungarian National Bank's official rate was 363.47 forint to the euro, 316.53 to the dollar and 423.23 to the pound. A 1,000 forint note is about 2.75 euros, and a five figure number on a receipt is an ordinary weekly shop.

A customer holding a bank card to a handheld terminal at a shop counter — Forint, not euro. A card is the easy way past the exchange desks

Practical prices for camper travel

Diesel, 1 litre: 677 Ft
Campsite or camper area, 1 night: €27.72
Inexpensive restaurant meal: 4,000 Ft
White bread, 500 g: 496.59 Ft
Bottled water, 1.5 litres: 218 Ft

Paying for things

Cards are accepted almost everywhere, down to a coffee and a bus ticket. Contactless is the default.
Carry cash for village shops, markets, thermal bath lockers and older parking machines.

Prices that move, and how to read them

Date every price you are quoted, including the ones on this page. Hungarian figures from two years ago are not a useful guide to today.
The e-vignette is re-priced every 1 January by law. A ministerial decree indexes the price base to the change in the consumer price index and rounds to ten forint.

Exchange booths in central Budapest have a long reputation and the fix is boring: use a bank's own cash machine, take forint, and decline the conversion the machine offers you. If a booth shows you one rate on the street sign and another at the counter, walk away before you hand anything over rather than after.