Hungary: Some Interesting Facts

Public Holidays

Date 2005
 Occasion
 
January 1 New Year's Day
March 15 National Day
March 28 Easter Monday
May 1 Labour Day
May 16 Whit Monday
August 15 Assumption
August 20 Constitution Day
October 23 Republic Day
November 1 All Saints Day 
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 Boxing Day

Weekend: Saturday, Sunday

Electricity

220/230 volts AC, 50 cycles. You can use standard continental adaptors on the connections. For any appliances that consume 100/120 volts of electricity, you will have to use a transformer.

Post & Communications

International dialing code for Hungary is 36. And the international code to dial out of the country is 00. You can dial 09 for assistance from an international operator. The red coloured phones are the ones for IDD calls. You can buy phone cards at subway stations, post offices and kiosks. They don’t work on all public phones. To call within the country you’d need 10 to 50 worth of Forints (HUF) in coins. The minimum you’d need for international calls is about 50 Forints.

In case you need to mail out of the country remember to put an airmail sticker on your letter. You can drop your missive in a mailbox or at the post office – both are reliable.

There is  foreign-language information available in Budapest on workdays at +36­1­172­200 (International Information Service). Major hotels as well as the main post office at Budapest have telex facilities (Petöfi Sándor utca, open from 07:00 till 21:00).

Weights and measures

The Metric system is the norm here.

Tipping

Tipping is the order of the day in Hungary. A 10% service charge is commonly expected in restaurants. Never hand the tip directly to your waiter or waitress, tell him or her what you are adding as tip to the bill. Taxi drivers, hairdressers and even medical assistants are tipped, the first two expect the gratuity for a job well done and for the latter it is more as a supplement to a lean income.

English Language Media

You won’t miss your news here. Hungary has a number of English language newspapers and magazines. Daily News is the most popular publication. If you have a preferred broadsheet you can’t do without, kiosks and international hotels will satisfy you with their stock of foreign newspapers.