Budapest Zoo is on Állatkerti körút, the road that runs east from Heroes’ Square across the top of City Park. The closest stop is the trolleybus, which pulls up outside the Main Gate, and the fastest arrival from most of Pest is the M1 metro to Széchenyi fürdő, about 5 minutes away on foot.
The M1 is worth taking for its own sake, as the underground line of 1896 that runs under Andrássy út. This page covers every line and stop, the three gates, the walks from the landmarks around the park, parking and the step-free question.
Location and address
Budapest Zoo entrances
All three ways in are on the same road. The Zoo’s own wording is that every entrance, the main and the temporary gates included, is on Állatkerti körút, so you never have to go round the block to find another one.
- The Main Gate, the Art Nouveau gatehouse near the Heroes’ Square end, with the ticket offices, the Information Pavilion and the Gift Shop beside it. This is the gate to use if you still need a ticket
- The Elephant House gate, further east along the road, with the bicycle racks outside it on public ground
- The Holnemvolt Vár gate, at the Hermina út end next to the historic carousel and the Zoo car park. There is no ticket desk here, only a ticket machine, so arriving without a ticket means there is nobody to sell you one
By public transport
Budapest’s BKK network puts four separate ways in within ten minutes of the gate.
By metro, line M1 to Széchenyi fürdő or Hősök tere
The M1, the yellow line, runs under Andrássy út from Vörösmarty tér in the city centre out to Mexikói út, and two of its stations serve the Zoo.
- Széchenyi fürdő is the one the Zoo names first. From the street entrance it is about 5 minutes west to the Main Gate, or about 3 minutes to the gate at the eastern end of Állatkerti körút
- Hősök tere is about 7 minutes away, walking through Heroes’ Square and past the Museum of Fine Arts. It is the nicer arrival and the better one if you are combining the two
On a busy day take the metro rather than the trolleybus. That is the transport authority’s own advice, on the grounds that the M1 can carry many more passengers.
By trolleybus, lines 72 and 81 to Állatkert
The Állatkert stop is the closest thing the Zoo has to a door-to-door service, on Állatkerti körút about 2 minutes from the Main Gate. Trolleybuses 72 and 81 both call there, and night bus 912 uses the same stop.
Trolleybus 72 is the useful one from the city centre: it runs from Nyugati railway station to the Állatkert stop in six stops.
Trolleybus 81 also stops at Gundel Károly út, by Heroes’ Square, which is about 6 minutes from the Main Gate.
By bus to Hősök tere
Buses 20E, 30, 30A, 105, 178 and 230 all stop at Hősök tere, about 7 minutes’ walk from the Main Gate, and so do trolleybuses 75 and 79. None of them stops any closer to the gate.
From Keleti railway station, take bus 30, 30A or 230 for five or six stops to Hősök tere, or bus 20E for one stop, or trolleybus 79 for eight.
By tram, lines 1 and 1M, or 3 and 69
The trams stop at the far end of the park and leave you a walk.
- Kacsóh Pongrác út, on lines 1 and 1M, is about 8 minutes from the eastern gate. Take the underpass and turn right to reach Állatkerti körút
- Mexikói út, the terminus of trams 3 and 69, is about 12 minutes away through two underpasses
Tram 1 is useful for crossing the city without going through the centre, but if you are coming from Pest the metro is quicker.
From the main railway stations
- Nyugati: trolleybus 72, six stops to Állatkert. Do not walk it, because it is the better part of half an hour on foot
- Keleti: bus 30, 30A or 230 to Hősök tere, five or six stops, then about 7 minutes’ walk
- Déli: metro M2 four stops to Deák Ferenc tér, then the M1 eight stops to Széchenyi fürdő
On foot
From the Museum of Fine Arts, about 3 minutes
The shortest walk of all. Come out of the museum on to Állatkerti körút and turn east; the Main Gate is a couple of hundred metres along on the left.
From Széchenyi Thermal Bath, about 5 minutes
Széchenyi Thermal Bath is on the same road, with its entrance on the north side by the Capital Circus. Turn west along Állatkerti körút and you are at the Zoo in a few minutes, which makes the bath the easy afternoon after a morning here.
From Heroes' Square, about 6 minutes
From the Millennium Monument on Heroes’ Square, walk east along Állatkerti körút past the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Main Gate is on the left. Keep going along the same road and you reach the Capital Circus, next door to the Zoo and about 7 minutes from the Main Gate.
From Vajdahunyad Castle, about 11 minutes
Cross City Park north-west from the castle and the boating lake, and come out on Állatkerti körút. It is the pleasant way to arrive and the slowest.
By car and taxi
A taxi can drop you on Állatkerti körút itself, and the Main Gate is the place to ask for. Arriving by bicycle works too, but the bike does not come in: cycling inside the Zoo is banned for safety reasons, and the racks are on public ground outside the Elephant House gate.
By hop-on hop-off bus
Accessibility
The shortest and flattest approach is the trolleybus stop outside the Main Gate, which is level with the pavement and about 2 minutes from the entrance.
- The M1 at Széchenyi fürdő is the underground line of 1896, and we found nothing published about step-free access at that station, so do not count on a lift there
- Hősök tere, also on the M1, is no better documented, and it adds about 2 minutes to the walk
- At the gate a wheelchair can be asked for from the ticket attendants, though nobody is provided to push it, and what the Zoo lays on inside is listed on our main Budapest Zoo guide
- Inside the grounds nothing is published about which routes are step-free, and it is a nineteenth-century park on several levels, so anyone who needs certainty should email the Zoo before travelling