Parking permit in Budapest - An easy way to park in Budapest

If you own an apartment in central Budapest, you can get an annual parking permit from the district government for about HUF 2,000. This is a very good price and is valid for the entire district. For example, I live near the Synagogue in the 7th district and I can park in this segment from Deak-ter all the way up to the City Park (Varosliget).

There are exceptions, of course. I cannot park on Karoly korut and Nagykorut, the two busiest streets in the district. Not that I could ever find a parking spot there, so it makes no big difference.

The 7th district is shaped like a slice of pizza and I drive up and down this pizza slice, parking my car the closest to the spot I need to go. I learned to go to restaurants and shops that are in the district so I don't have to pay for parking. It makes my existence in Budapest very two dimensional, limiting my activity to this pizza slice and its immediate vicinity that can be reached from a free parking spot.

Then there was the time when I took my car for a wash and the enthusiastic cleaners washed off my parking sticker from the inside of the windshield. I had to go to the district government office again to have a new one made. Paid the same annual fee for the last 3 months of the year.

A friend found another solution. He paid about HUF 60,000 for a disabled parking permit which lets him park anywhere in Budapest. Any district, any time of the day. There are moral considerations but this is often the case with many things in Budapest.