Hungary Vacation & Tour Packages

Entry visas are not required for EU citizens, and travelers from the USA and Canada if you stay less than 3 months. Citizens of other countries can get a visa at the Hungarian Embassy or Consulate in their country: please allow ample time as in some cases the administrative procedure of obtaining a visa to Hungary might take 4-6 weeks. A valid passport is required. For more information about visas, please check the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hungary has accepted the Shengen Visa since November 2007.

Hungary time zones:

• Winter: GMT+1 (GMT plus one)
• Summer: GMT+2 (GMT plus two)

So if you fly to Hungary from London or New York, you will lose time (1 hour time difference from UK/usually 6 hours time difference from NY, depending on whether the US has switched to Daylight Savings Time) when you come here, and gain time when you go back to the UK or USA.

Hungarian Public Holidays (apart from Easter and Whit) are on fixed days, so if they fall on a weekend the day off is not moved to the next working day. On public holidays most shops and all banks will be shut so if there's something you need, make sur to plan ahead.

Here's the complete list of the Hungarian public holidays:
- 1st January (New Year)
- 15th March (commemorating the 1848/49 revolution and war of independence against the Austrian rule)
- Easter Sunday and Monday
- 1st May (Labour Day)
- Whit Sunday and Monday
- 20th August (threefold celebration: the celebration of Bread, the name day of Saint Stephen, the first king of Hungary, and the foundation of the Hungarian state)
- 23rd October (anniversary of the 1956 revolution and war of independence)
- 1st November (All Saints' Day): most people go to the cemetery, and there's a handful of Halloween parties (Halloween is relatively freshly imported - similarly to Valentine's day).
- 25-26th December (Christmas) Watch out for Dec 24! not an official public holiday yet but most of the shops, restaurants, bars, theatres etc. close on this day. Families celebrate together in the evening.

66% of the Hungarian population is officially Catholic, 28% is Protestant, the remaining 6% is miscellaneous, e.g. there is a strong Jewish community in Budapest (approx. 100,000 Jews in Hungary). By officially we mean that these figures are how people filled in census forms, it does not mean that this much of the population attends a religious service regularly, most Hungarians only practice their religion on big annual events, like having a Christmas tree, doing the Christmas shopping and giving gifts, but not necessarily going to church.

The average wages of waiters and waitresses is quite low, so they mainly live from tips. Nevertheless, the average tip is only 10%, if you go over that, it means you really appreciate the service you received. Giving tips in Hungary is customary in the following situations: to waiters and waitresses in cafes and restaurants (can be only 5% or none in fast food dining places though), restrooms, hotel staff (from receptionist through concierge to bellboys), petrol station attendants, taxi drivers, Gypsy musicians 'playing in your ear' in restaurants. Now, you may be very surprised, but due to old communist ways, it is still customary to tip doctors, dentists and hospital staff. There are initiatives to tackle this deep-rooted tradition, but tipping health care people in Hungary is still prevalent.