Hungarian Forints

Most certainly so. All Hungarian hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, supermarkets and most local shops accept payment by international debit and credit card.

In smaller restaurants and local shops there may be a minimum spend requirement for card payments, usually around 3000 HUF. This is because vendors want to recover the card fee. Under EU rules, vendors are not allowed to charge a fee to customers for card payments.

Contactless card payments are widespread in Hungary for payments up to 5000 HUF. For higher amounts, payment terminals work with the chip and pin system, similar to that in the UK.

Some British banks may charge for international card payments. In addition your bank's HUF to GBP exchange rate may not be so good. This is how banks make money. Before using your bank card for payments in Hungary, it's certainly a good idea to contact your bank. This will avoid your card becoming blocked due to international transactions that your bank may find suspicious.

Although card payments are accepted nearly everywhere in Hungary, it is recommended that you take some HUF cash with you on your trip to Hungary.

Some vendors will only accept cash payments. This is the case for taxi drivers, street vendors, local markets and festivals. The larger festivals, including Sziget festival are going cashless. On smaller festivals cash remains king. Cash is a great fallback option, and useful for tipping.

Prices in Budapest will be higher than elsewhere in Hungary. A coffe will usually cost around 350-500 HUF. For a three-course meal in a mid-range restaurant expect to pay around 4000-800 HUF.

On average, the cost of living in Hungary is around 35% cheaper than the cost of living in the UK.

Tipping is common practice in Hungary, especially in more tourist-heavy areas. Before you tip, check the bill to see if a service charge was included already.

A 5-10% tip is the norm in Hungary and often the bill is rounded up to the next 200 (the largest coin) or 500 (the smallest banknote).