Bus 26 is the answer from Pest. It starts at Nyugati pályaudvar, crosses onto the island and calls eight times along it, which beats walking 2.5 kilometres from one end to the other. Trams 4 and 6 are the answer if you want to arrive on foot, because their stop is on Margaret Bridge itself, at the ramp down to the southern end, next to the Musical Fountain.
What you cannot do is drive across. The island is a permit-only zone with one paid car park at its northern tip, and the road through it carries buses and little else. This page has every stop in order, the walks in from both bridges and the landmarks nearby, the driving and parking rules from the city’s own road operator, the boat question, and the step-free route.
Location and address
By public transport
Budapest’s BKK network gets you onto the island from both ends, and the ride along it is part of how the place works.
By bus
Bus 26 runs from Nyugati pályaudvar, on metro M3, over Margaret Bridge, the whole length of the island and on to Göncz Árpád városközpont. Bus 226 follows the same road along the island. They are the only two routes that do.
The stops on the island, south to north:
- Margitsziget / Margit híd, the first stop on, by the Musical Fountain and the Centenary Monument
- Hajós Alfréd uszoda, for the sports pool and the southern hire base
- Parkmozi köz
- Palatinus fürdő, outside the Palatinus lido
- Szabadtéri Színpad, for the open-air theatre and the Water Tower
- Szállodák, for the hotels, the Japanese garden and the Bringóvár hire base
- Zenélőkút, named after the Bodor Well and nowhere near the Musical Fountain
- Margitsziget / Árpád híd, the last stop before the bridge
Buses 34 and 106 are Óbuda routes that do not run along the island; they drop you at the Árpád Bridge end, where you change onto the 26 or walk on. On performance days at the open-air theatre bus 26 runs more often, and extra buses leave the Szabadtéri Színpad stop for Árpád híd and Nyugati pályaudvar once the show is over.
By tram
Trams 4 and 6 run the Grand Boulevard and stop at Margitsziget / Margit híd, which is on the bridge itself, at the top of the ramp down onto the island. It is not a stop on the Pest bank with a walk across the bridge to follow, which is what people expect. You get off over the water and walk down.
From the stop it is about 450 metres to the Musical Fountain and the hire base at the southern end, five to six minutes on the flat.
No tram runs along the island itself.
By metro
There is no metro station on Margaret Island, and none at either bridgehead.
The nearest useful one is Nyugati pályaudvar on M3, where bus 26 starts, so the metro and the bus together are the fastest way in from most of Pest. From Buda, Széll Kálmán tér on M2 is where trams 4 and 6 begin, and they run to the stop on Margaret Bridge.
On foot
You can walk onto the island from either bridge, and the walks from the places nearby are short. The figures below are the ones we publish on the pages for each of those places.
From Margaret Bridge, the southern end
The bridge has a ramp down onto the island at its middle, reached from the tram stop or from either pavement. You arrive beside the Musical Fountain and the Centenary Monument, about 450 metres from the tram stop, which is the end of the island most people start at.
From Árpád Bridge, the northern end
The northern ramp comes down by the car park, the hotels and the Bringóvár hire base, which makes it the better end to start from if you are hiring something to pedal. Bus 26 stops at both ends, so you can walk on at one bridge and ride back to the other.
From Lukács Thermal Bath (about 13 minutes)
Straight over the Buda side of Margaret Bridge and down the ramp. Lukács is the closest attraction to the island with a hub of its own, and trams 4 and 6 stop at the Buda end of the bridge, about five minutes from the bath, one stop before the stop on the bridge. Bus 26 stops there too, but only on its way back from the island towards Nyugati.
From the Hungarian Parliament (about 15 minutes)
North along the Pest embankment and over Margaret Bridge. The Parliament is the landmark most people walk from, and tram 2 covers the embankment stretch if you would rather ride it as far as Jászai Mari tér.
By car and taxi
The one way in by car that a visitor can use is the slip road from Árpád Bridge at the northern end, which leads to a barrier-controlled paid car park. It holds 306 cars and 5 coaches, it charges around the clock, and there is no charge if you are back out within 10 minutes.
The hotels at the northern end have their own parking, and the open-air theatre tells its own audiences not to drive in because the hotel car park has very little free space.
A taxi can take you onto the island if its car is electric or a plug-in hybrid, which is a narrower fleet than the firms’ full ranks, so book rather than flagging one down.
By boat
The island has three old docks, and only some boats call at them.
- BKK’s scheduled boat service does not call at Margaret Island. Its one timetabled route runs well south of here, between Csepel and Soroksár
- BKV runs a seasonal sightseeing circuit that takes in a dock at the island’s Centenary Monument. Its own notice says the boat is not calling there while the Danube is low, so check before you count on it
- The theatre boat is a real service and a closed one. MAHART PassNave runs it to the open-air theatre’s own dock from Vigadó tér, Batthyány tér and Szent István park, for people holding a ticket for that evening’s performance, returning 20 minutes after the curtain
- Sightseeing cruises are the other way on. The Duna Bella cruise, one of the four covered by the Budapest Card, stops at the island and lets you catch a later boat back
By hop-on hop-off bus
Accessibility
- The island is flat from end to end, and the main road and paths are paved and step-free
- At Margitsziget / Margit híd, both tram stop positions and the southbound bus platform are mapped as step-free, and the northbound bus platform as partly so. The stop has a shelter
- At the Árpád Bridge end, neither bus platform is mapped as step-free, so the southern end is the easier way on
- Buses 26 and 226 are the way to cover the distance. Eight stops along 2.5 kilometres means nothing on the island is a long push from a bus
- The Japanese garden and the small zoo are both mapped as step-free. The convent ruins are gravel and broken walls, mapped as partly accessible
- The Water Tower lookout is 153 steps with no lift, so that one is not step-free