About Hungary

Hungary has 1100 years of history. During these years this country was ruled turkish, austrian and russian armies. Finally in 1989 it got it's freedom. Since then, the economy developed a lot and slowly everything started to pick up. The economic growth and political stability of Hungary have attracted the attention of the international community. The big step in our history is to become a part of the E.U. In may, 2004 it happenned. The form of our state is republican.

The current money in Hungary is forint ( Ft )

1 € =240-250 Ft

1 GBP = 340-350 Ft

Hungarians are very friendly people. Whenever and wherever you need any help they are really happy to help you. English language is popular in our country, so you will find lot of people who speak English.

We love our culture and we are very proud of it. Some parts in the country some people still wear the old traditional costumes every day.

Hungaricums are the traditional hungarian products: the ground red pepper, (which is the most important ingredient of a hungarian dish) the sausages, (which are usually spicy or smoked) and we must mention the wines of : Tokaj, Eger, Villány, Badacsony, Sopron, Szekszárd.

The wine culture of these cities have an old history. There are many very nice fruity, tasty dry and sweet wines, but you will be able to find some semi-sweet or semi-dry ones as well. Lot of places have winecellars which give you the opportunity to have a taste of the different kind of wines.

Weather

The weather is very kind in Hungary. From march everything starts to bloom, the temperature get higher to 15-20 degrees. We get mostly sunny days and beautiful flowercovered mountains and great fresh spring smell. The summer is hot and dry with 30-35 degrees. The fall colours every leaves yellow, red and brown, but the weather still stays nice. We get few rainy days, but mostly the sun is out and the temperature is still over 15 degrees. At wintertime it gets really cold. Sometimes the temperature goes under 0 degrees. Usually we have snow, especially in the montains.

Restaurants, Bars

Hungarians love to eat! Our gulash is the most popular soup, but beyond that, there are many kind of meat dishes, fish and vegetables in the menus. The food is usually a bit spicy . Hungarians main meal is lunch, when they have soup, main course (usually meat), and dessert. Of course you can enjoy our food for dinner as well. In the restaurants a meal for one person ( including drinks, coffees ) costs about €10-15 . Most of the restaurants have english speaking staff, so there is no problem to order. . .

Hungarian bars are different from english ones. There are plenty of them, so you have a lot of choice to find youself a perfect one. Prices of drinks are reasonable, the draught and the bottled beer costs about 1-3 euros.

There is a very popular hungarian drink, looks like water... and tastes like burning fire! It called Palinka. It is made of different kind of fruits: plum, peach, mixed, etc. It is usually a home made alcohol. ( It is enough to have a shot to keep you warm for a while.)

Airline, airports

The main airport is in Budapest, called Ferihegy ( all the flights depart and arrive here). There are lot of cheapflights to and from England. Malev is the hungarian airline company www.malev.hu , but you will find cheap flights on www.wizzair.com as well.

Transportation, trains ,buses

The public transportation is very good in Hungary. In Budapest you can use buses, trams, trolleybuses and metro. There are one-way tickets, which cost about €0.70 , but you can buy pass for a week, a month or a year.

Taxi service also available all over the country.

From Budapest you can get everywhere by train or bus. The train tickets cost € 5 / 100km, but there are also many fast trains which cost a bit more. Bus tickets are about the same price .

You are able to rent cars from € 20 – 25 / day.

Animals in hungary

Hungarians are animal lovers. So there is no problem to bring your loved ones here. All you need is papers from the vet and of course a passport. You are able to bring your dog or cat anywhere you go. Most of the houses in Hungary have gardens so they can enjoy their freedom as well.

International Schools for children

In all the schools the children must learn at least one foreing language, they can choose between english, german, french, italian. Of course there are few schools where only english language is spoken.

If you need informations please visit: www.english-schools.org/hungary

How to buy a property in Hungary

Foreing citizens ( from E.U.) have to apply for a permit from the Administrative Office. It could take about a month to receive this permit. There is no obstacle to get it. It is only a formal paperwork.

There is an other alternative: establish a company and buy through this legal entity.

To purchase a property takes 1-2 weeks. After you have chosen the perfect one, you come to an agreement with the seller, the Land Registry must be consulted, the solicitor need to draft the contract, and you need to deposit 10% downpayment, and sign the contract. It is common to sign the documents and deposit a downpayment and contract with solicitor until certain conditions are fulfilled.

You need to calculate with a nearly 6% stamp duty as well as 1-2% legal fees.

Why in Hungary

The Hungarian is a very welcoming nation.

Since the last 16 years (1989) this country goes through spectacular developments.

More and more forigners buy a property in Hungary. They would like to live here, or either spend a their vacation here or they just invest money.

On the property market capital gain can be expected, since the country has joined the E.U.

Shopping

Many of the properties are located in small villages or towns or within easy reach of them. The villages are typical and have basic provision like bread, meat and vegetables, towns have larger shops. You can find Tesco in every larger town and Ikea in Budapest. The biggest electrical store is MediaMarkt. There are lot of shopping malls all over the country. You can find everything for a reasonable price here, for example cigarettes cost 400-600 Ft / package (about € 1.5-2.5). There is a growing presence of „outlet villages” too.

Mortgages, loans

E.U. citizens are allowed to get a loan. Banks have different expectations, the process takes at least two months, if you already have the required documents. Some banks ask for a visa which you can get in the Hungarian Immigration Office. The law changes often since we have been the part of the E.U., so you can get updated information, right before you need any kind of mortgage or loan. The interest now is around 15-30%.

Insurances, health

You are able to buy basic medicines ( like aspirin, paracetamol...)in the Farmacies without prescription. If you are here temporary or for a holiday you will be able to carry the E111 which will cover you for emergency treatment as well as carrying travel insurance.

There is a lot of private practices in Hungary for all sorts of conditions including dental care. The charges in these practices are small comparing to the West. It is attested by the thousands of Austrians who travel to Hungary for their medical and dental needs. If you go to a private doctor or dentist they don't ask for E111.

If you decided to live here, and you want a life insurance there are a lot of possibilities to get one. There are many insurance companies who offer you health- and life insurances!