Buying a SIM Card or eSIM for Travel in Hungary

Hungary has grown more popular with tourists in recent years, attractive to both backpackers and those with a few more forint in their wallets. While tourism is picking up across the country, Budapest is still where most travelers spend their time.

A city of 1.7 million, the capital is both lively and beautiful, as famous for its “ruin pub” nightlife as its sophisticated wine and cocktail scene.

When the sun comes up, Budapest has plenty to keep you busy, from hikes in the Buda hills to spa baths across the city and a range of museums and historical sites. Besides the wealth of things to do, Hungary is popular for its prices, far lower than in Western European cities.

Staying connected with a local SIM card is fairly affordable, but can be very time-consuming to get set up. SIM registration requirements in Hungary are onerous, to say the least, requiring official ID, a lot of paperwork, and plenty of patience.

As a result, I now recommend most people just use a travel eSIM instead. You can get set up in a couple of minutes before leaving home, prices are comparable with local SIMs, and you’re good to go as soon as you arrive in the country.

Here’s what you need to know.

There are three cell networks in Hungary: Magyar Telekom, Yettel, and One.

While there are several resellers as well, they require registration by phone in Hungarian and a follow-up letter to a Hungarian address. As a result, the providers listed above are the only viable options for travelers.

Magyar Telekom has the largest market share in Hungary. It has the best LTE coverage, servicing almost the entire population. Within the capital and other large cities, Yettel and Telenor both have good service.

One has the fewest customers of the three main carriers, and while I’ve used it on past visits to Budapest, I now go for Yettel due to better coverage and value. One also has a reputation for being difficult for non-resident foreigners to deal with, although that’s increasingly a problem with all providers.

I chose Yettel over Magyar Telekom because of its better customer service reputation and slightly lower pricing when I bought it.

Given the challenges around registering SIM cards in Hungary, I now suggest visitors just use a travel eSIM instead. It’s what I tend to do in most of the world these days anyway, and especially anywhere that makes it hard to buy physical SIMs.

Prices are usually quite similar, typically within a couple of dollars either way. Because you can get set up at home and just switch it on when you arrive, it saves so much time and effort that I’d rather spend doing, well, anything else.

eSIMPal tend to have the best prices, with a wide range of data bundles available. The only thing it doesn’t offer is unlimited data packs: if that’s what you want, companies like Holafly let you choose an exact duration to match the length of your trip.

The table below has the latest details for all of the companies I regularly use. It’s updated each week, most recently on 5 Oct 2026.

As with the vast majority of travel eSIMs, this is a data-only service: there’s no phone number included. Apps like WhatsApp, Facetime, and Messenger work fine for voice and video calling, but if you need to call other numbers, you’ll need to use sister company Yadaphone or one of the alternatives instead.

One thing worth noting: if you’re planning to travel to several European countries within a few weeks, it might be worth looking at some of the regional eSIM packages on offer.

There are too many to list each one separately (and they change all the time), but as a starting point, these are the Europe eSIM options from companies I’d actually consider using:

New to eSIMs? They offer big benefits to travelers in terms of how quickly, easily, and (often) cheaply you can get connected when you arrive in a new country. Most recent phones support them, and you can read all about them here.

If you’re visiting other countries as well, make sure you check out our worldwide eSIM finder before you go. It has real-world recommendations for every trip, only takes a few seconds, and could save you a lot of money!

There are no official provider stores selling SIMs at Budapest airport, just a single convenience store that’s also selling hilariously-overpriced tourist SIMs. I’d really recommend using a travel eSIM (below) instead, at least to tide you over until you get into the city, and more likely for your entire trip.

If you don’t want to do wither, though getting from the airport to the city without data service is easy enough if you use the miniBud shuttle, which you can arrange on arrival in the arrivals hall. Public transport is also fairly straightforward, but requires a transfer.

The transportation desk at Budapest airport can sell you tickets and offer instructions for getting to the city via public transport.

If you’re arriving in Budapest by train, the Arena Plaza shopping mall is about a 10-minute walk from Keleti pályaudvar train station. It has Yettel, Magyar Telekom, and One shops.

If you’re arriving by air and decide to buy your SIM in the city, I recommend going to WestEnd City Centre in Budapest.

This large shopping mall is attached to Nyugati pályaudvar train station, and connected to public transport via metro and the 4/6 trams. It has stores for all three phone companies mentioned earlier.

At all of these shops, there will likely be a staff member who speaks English and is able to help you. You’ll be able to pay with cash, a PIN-enabled card, and (often) contactless debit or credit cards.

Purchasing a SIM card will take about 30 minutes due to the paperwork required. While it’s not difficult, anti-terrorism legislation means it takes much longer than it used to.

You will need to provide photo identification, such as a passport or ID card, and sign a bit of paperwork. This can only be done in an official store, nowhere else. You may also be required to provide a Hungarian address, so be sure to note down your hotel/apartment details beforehand.

That’s the theory, at least. In practice, even some official stores can’t or won’t register a SIM card to you without a Hungarian-issued ID card or passport, and the process seems to be getting harder for foreigners as the years go by.

Unless you’re really set on having a Hungarian phone number and are prepared to spend a lot of time getting set up with one, you’ll be much better off with a travel eSIM as above, or roaming with a SIM card from another EU country.

Yettel

As I say, I went with Yettel. A SIM card valid for 5 days with 3GB of data and 3,000 Ft of calling credit costs 1,500 Ft, while the 10GB version costs 3,000 Ft with 6,000 Ft of call credit.

You’ll use 30 Ft of your credit per minute or text. Current plans and prices are on the English version of Yettel’s website.

Note that expiry period: five days isn’t long. If you’ll be in Hungary longer than that, you’ll need to top up your account with credit and purchase another package when the original one expires. More details on that below.

Magyar Telekom

Telekom lists its prepaid SIM options on the English version of its website. You can buy 2GB of data and 40 minutes of calls, with a 366 day expiry, for 1,990 Ft. A 1GB version with 20 minutes of calls, valid for 120 days, costs 990 Ft.

You can then add extra data as needed, with packs ranging from 1GB to unlimited for up to a week, or just a certain amount of data with no set expiry.

One

With Vodafone, you get a SIM with nothing except 100MB of free data on it, and then add whatever call, text, and data packs you want. 6GB of data is 2,590 Ft, for instance, valid for a month. You can find all the current options here.

Topping Up

Topping up is very easy, certainly far more so than buying and registering in the first place.

There are several ways to do it, including simply returning to the telecom shop where you purchased the SIM card, giving them your phone number, and letting them know how much you want to top-up.

Alternatively, all three major providers also offer online top-up options. It may not work with all international credit cards, but I’ve never had a problem paying bills or completing top-ups online when using one.

Yettel has online top-up here, Telekom’s version is here, and One’s is here (via the app).

You can also purchase top-up cards at news kiosks (such as Relay), gas/petrol stations, and post offices. It’s often harder to find English-speaking staff in these shops, however.

eSIMPal

Topping up with eSIMPal is simply a matter of heading back to the web page and either topping up or buying another package. Either way you don’t need to do any configuration: it uses your existing eSIM and starts working immediately.

Coverage is excellent in Budapest and every city we’ve visited outside of the capital. Data speeds are generally extremely fast.

Within Budapest, I get LTE speeds of 147Mbps download and 39Mbps upload. I’ve had similar coverage in Pest, in the south, and have been told speeds are much the same in other cities.

I’ve experienced reduced coverage on train trips, including temporary black spots that haven’t lasted more than 15 minutes. The problem you’re more likely to have is poor signal in some old buildings, which often have thick stone walls.

eSIMPal can use both the Yettel and One networks, so you can expect better coverage than a local SIM card from either company by itself.

Hungary is part of the European Union, so EU roaming regulations apply. These “roam like at home” rules ended roaming charges across much of Europe in 2017, letting you use a SIM card from any EU country across all the others at no extra charge.

There are some exceptions and limits, however, especially with large data packages. Double-check the exact details at time of purchase, or just use one of the regional eSIM packs mentioned earlier.

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Check out our guides to SIM cards and eSIMs in 65+ other countries here.