Boat only
The river day
Lowest fare
- Length4.5 to 7.5 hours
- TownSzentendre
- GuideOptional extra
Group price calculator
Danube Bend excursion prices, from coach tour to private car
Danube Bend day: Esztergom, Visegrád, Szentendre, lunch
★ 4.1 · 904 guest ratings
Compare 4 choices
Work out the Danube Bend bill
Enter your party size to total up the starting fares.
- Our full day9.5 hours, lunch · for each guest from €100
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View - Guided day trip9 hours · for each guest from €78
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View - Szentendre half day4 hours · for each guest from €64
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View - Boat to SzentendreBoat only · for each guest from €18
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View
Converted at the ECB reference rate, from-prices as listed by GetYourGuide. The precise amount is shown when you book.
A Danube Bend excursion can cost the price of a boat ticket or a chauffeured day. This page lists the starting fare of each kind of trip, what it covers and what you still pay on the spot.
Editorial team, danubebendtour.com · Updated November 8, 2026 · Allow 7 min
Summary view
- Our full dayFrom €112 for 9.5 hours, with a 3-course lunch in Visegrad.
- Cheapest guided dayA 9-hour Danube Bend day trip starts from €87.
- Boat onlyThe MAHART cruise to Szentendre starts from €20, with no guide or meal.
- Going privateA private day for Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom starts from €267.
- Paid on the dayWalking into the Basilica costs nothing, the dome climb HUF 3,300.1,2
Our full-day tour: the fare and what it buys
The tour we book leaves Budapest from €112 and lasts 9.5 hours. The fare pays for the coach, pickup if you want it, a live guide in your choice of English, Spanish, French, German or Italian, and lunch of 3 Hungarian courses in Visegrad. In short, it is a Budapest Danube Bend full-day tour with lunch, with the towns, the meal and the driving all handled for you.
The stops are fixed and timed. The timings are 15 minutes on the border bridge, then 80 in Esztergom, 105 in Visegrad with the meal and 80 in Szentendre. Weekend dates between 1 May and 27 September swap the coach home for a boat, a river trip that costs nothing extra. Every other day you ride back on the coach.
Some 904 reviewers give it 4.14 on average, and the breakdown is worth a look before you pay: the guide scores 4.4, transport 4.5 and value for money 4.0. That last figure is the honest one. The fare is not the cheapest in this guide, and it bundles lunch, the guided towns and a summer boat ride into one booking. You pay nothing at the time of reserving and can still cancel with your money back until 24 hours before departure.
Side by side
Danube Bend trips by starting fare, length and reviews
| Trip | From | Length | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our full day with lunch | €112 | 9.5 hours | 904 |
| Guided day trip | €87 | 9 hours | 598 |
| Full day, lunch, boat | €112 | 9 hours | 487 |
| Szentendre half day | €72 | 4 hours | 368 |
| Boat to Szentendre | €20 | 4.5 to 7.5 hours | 1,496 |
| Private day | €267 | 7 hours | 81 |
Starting fares only: the date, the option and the group size decide what you pay.
Other guided coach days, side by side
A cheaper full day exists. The Danube Bend day trip listed from €87 lasts 9 hours, has 598 reviews averaging 4.3, and also adds a boat return in summer, on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from May to September. Its record notes that high or low water, and the low season, put you back on the coach. Its guiding is in English and Spanish only, so check that before booking if you need another language.
A third option, the full-day Danube Bend tour with lunch from €112, lasts 9 hours with roughly 1.5 hours per town. Its closing hour on a boat out of Szentendre is a summer feature, available from 1 May to 27 September. With 487 reviews averaging 4.1, it sits close to our tour on price and on score, so choose by the day of the week and the boat days that fit your trip.
The listing from €87 does not mention lunch, while the other two full days name a lunch stop in Visegrad, so check what your date includes before comparing the fares. If you want lunch arranged, pick a tour that names it and save yourself the search on a day that already runs to a tight schedule.
Time for your money
Danube Bend tours by length in hours
- Szentendre half day4
- Private car tour5
- Private day7
- Boat to Szentendre7.5
- Guided day trip9
- Our full day9.5
- Visegrad cruise10.5
Longest duration as each listing states it; the boat to Szentendre runs 4.5 to 7.5 hours by option.
Half day, boat day or full day
Not everyone needs every town on the river. A Szentendre half-day tour by coach takes 4 hours and starts from €72, with about 1.5 hours in the town and a stop at a marzipan museum. It suits a traveler with a morning free and no great interest in castles or cathedrals, and it leaves the afternoon and evening for the city. You see a painted river town without giving up a whole day of a short break.
The budget route is the river itself. The MAHART cruise to Szentendre starts from €20 and fills 4.5 to 7.5 hours, with about 100 minutes upstream and 70 minutes back. The plain ticket has no guide and no meal. A guided option on Thursdays and Saturdays adds a walking tour and a 2-course lunch. For Visegrad, a full-day cruise from €25 gives you 5 hours ashore across a 10.5-hour day.
The trade-off is reach. A boat day shows you one town well and the river at walking pace, while the coach day squeezes in Esztergom and its Basilica, which no budget boat reaches and returns from in a single afternoon. If the Basilica is why you are going, the higher coach fare is what pays for that stop.
Pick by budget
Which Danube Bend trip fits your wallet
Tell us your priority and find the trip that keeps costs in check.
If I want the lowest fare with a river view
The boat to Szentendre
It starts from €20, with no guide or meal on the plain ticket.
If I want every town and lunch sorted
The tour on this site
It starts from €112 for 9.5 hours with a 3-course lunch.
If I want a guide and the lowest day fare
The guided day trip
From €87, 9 hours long, guided in English or Spanish; the listing names no lunch.
If I only have a morning
The Szentendre half day
It starts from €72 and takes 4 hours.
If We want no strangers in the car
A private tour
The private day for Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom starts from €267.
Budgets compared
A boat ticket, a coach seat or a private car
Lunch included
The full coach day
Our pick
- Length9.5 hours
- TownsEsztergom, Visegrad, Szentendre
- ReturnBoat on summer weekends
Private
The private day
Your group only
- Length7 hours
- TownsSzentendre, Visegrad, Esztergom
- GuideEnglish
Entry tickets you pay on the spot
Our tour lists its stops but no paid interiors, so set aside money for anything you want to enter. Esztergom’s great church lets you in free when you come without a guide.1 Its extras cost money: in 2026 a single ticket for everything was HUF 5,600, or separately HUF 3,300 for the dome, HUF 2,100 for the treasury and HUF 800 for the crypt.2
Families can buy a combined family ticket for HUF 13,700, which covers 1 or 2 adults with at least 1 child under 18.7 The dome is the one people talk about afterwards: the tourism agency counts 400 steps up to a lookout over the Maria Valeria Bridge and the Danube Bend.8 With 80 minutes in Esztergom on the tour, the climb is possible if you move straight there after the guided part.
In Visegrad, the Royal Palace museum charges HUF 2,200 for an adult aged 26 to 62.5 It is closed on Mondays and opens from 8 to 16 on other days.9 On a guided day the lunch stop leaves limited time, so treat the palace as a reason to return rather than a must-do. Pay these desks in forint, since euro tends to come with a bad exchange rate, the tourism agency notes.3
Where the money goes
From booking to the boat home
At booking
Reserve, pay later
Hold a seat from €112 without paying today.
Morning
Arrive early
Check in half an hour, 30 minutes, before the coach.
In Esztergom
Optional tickets
In Visegrad
Lunch is covered
A 3-course Hungarian lunch is part of the fare.
In Szentendre
Café money
Bring forint; euro often comes at poor rates.3
Going home
Boat in summer
Summer weekend departures finish with the boat ride, from 1 May until 27 September.
What the same day costs if you go alone
Doing it yourself is cheaper on paper and slower in practice. Szentendre is the easy part. Inside Budapest a single ticket bought ahead is HUF 500, or HUF 700 on the spot, and past the city boundary the suburban railway asks for a second ticket.10,11 They are priced by distance, between HUF 400 and HUF 600 for journeys of 10 to 30 km.12 Groups can share a HUF 6,200 H5 tour ticket for the Békásmegyer to Szentendre section, good for as many rides as they like and up to 10 travellers.13,14
Boats cost more but carry you further. Adults paid HUF 5,000 single or HUF 7,000 return for Szentendre in 2026.15 Visegrad by slow boat was HUF 7,500 or HUF 9,000.16 Esztergom by hydrofoil came to HUF 13,000 or HUF 17,000, sold strictly ahead of time.17,18 Children and students pay less on the lines listed here, so a family should price the whole party before ruling a boat day out.
Add those fares to a lunch, the Basilica dome and a ticket back, and a solo day across Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom lands near the guided price, with more planning and far fewer guaranteed connections. The real saving appears when you pick a single town. A HÉV day in Szentendre costs a fraction of any tour, and the guide on the coach is the main thing you give up.
Video
A day trip from Budapest to the Danube Bend
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Visits to the church for individual and liturgical purposes are free, you only have to pay to see the crypt, the cathedral treasury, the panorama hall and the dome lookout point.
Before you pay
Covered by the fare, and paid on the day
In the fare3
- Coach transport, with pickup available
- A live guide in English or another offered language
- A 3-course Hungarian lunch in Visegrad
On top3
Ways to save3
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
- The free church space instead of the paid extras1
- A summer weekend date for the boat return
Private days and when they pay off
For a couple or a family, private is the step up. A Viator private day across Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom costs from €267, runs 7 hours guided in English, and collects five stars in 80 of 81 ratings. Its GetYourGuide counterpart starts from €259, with pickup included and 2.5 hours in Szentendre.
At the shorter end, €92 buys 5 hours by private car to Visegrad and Szentendre with a driver who also guides. At the top, a private full-day tour with lunch starts from €723. Between them, a private full-board day that adds the Dobogoko lookout starts from €349. Read whether the price is for the car or per head before comparing it with a coach seat.
Private pays off when there are several of you, when you want to choose the order of the towns, or when someone in the group cannot manage a fixed schedule. A private day lets you stay longer at the citadel view and skip a shop stop. For a solo traveller, the shared coach day is still the better use of the money.
Tips, cash and booking terms
A tip for the guide or driver is up to you. The tourism agency puts the usual tip in Hungary at 10%, for restaurants and taxis, and says staff prefer it in cash when you pay by card.6 A few small forint notes cover that, the café stop in Szentendre and an ice cream on the riverside, so change some money before the day rather than hunting for a cash machine between stops.
Booking costs nothing up front. Our tour lets you hold a place with no payment, and dropping out a day or more ahead, 24 hours at the latest, returns every cent. The other coach days we compared carry the same 24-hour window, so a weather check the evening before is free. That flexibility matters on a day trip planned around a river and a hilltop view: if the forecast shows low cloud over the hills, you can move the date without losing a cent.
One practical cost hides in the fine print: check-in at the operator office is half an hour, 30 minutes, before the coach leaves. Plan your morning transport so you are not paying for a taxi to make it. On boat-return days the boat lands at the river, which may not be where the day began, so check where it docks before you plan dinner or the ride home.
FAQ
Straight answers to common questions.
How much is a Danube Bend tour from Budapest?
From €112 on our tour.
Our 9.5-hour coach day with lunch starts from €112; another guided day trip starts from €87.
Is lunch included in the tour price?
Yes, on the tour we book.
A 3-course Hungarian lunch is served in Visegrad as part of the day.
Are entry tickets included?
What is the cheapest way to visit the Danube Bend?
How much does a private Danube Bend tour cost?
From €267 for a full day.
The private tour of Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom runs 7 hours; a shorter private car tour starts from €92.
Can I cancel if the weather turns?
Yes, up to 24 hours before.
Pull out at least 24 hours before and the refund is complete; payment can also wait.
Should I tip the guide?
It is up to you.
Around 10% is normal in Hungary, ideally handed over in cash.6
Sources
- Esztergom Basilica (bazilika-esztergom.hu) · Entry Charges ↩
- Esztergom Basilica (bazilika-esztergom.hu) · Entry Charges ↩
- Hungarian Tourism Agency (visithungary.com) · Money ↩
- Hungarian Tourism Agency (visithungary.com) · Esztergom Basilica
- King Matthias Museum, Visegrad (visegradmuzeum.hu) · Royal Palace opening hours and ticket prices ↩
- Hungarian Tourism Agency (visithungary.com) · Money ↩
- Esztergom Basilica (bazilika-esztergom.hu) · Entry Charges ↩
- Hungarian Tourism Agency (visithungary.com) · Esztergom Basilica ↩
- King Matthias Museum, Visegrad (visegradmuzeum.hu) · Royal Palace opening hours and ticket prices ↩
- BKK Centre for Budapest Transport (bkk.hu) · Prices ↩
- BKK Centre for Budapest Transport (bkk.hu) · Suburban railway ticket (10 km) ↩
- BKK Centre for Budapest Transport (bkk.hu) · Prices ↩
- BKK Centre for Budapest Transport (bkk.hu) · Prices ↩
- BKK Centre for Budapest Transport (bkk.hu) · Suburban railway tour ticket (H5) (H8, H9) ↩
- MAHART PassNave (mahartpassnave.hu) · Budapest-Szentendre-Budapest boat trip ↩
- MAHART PassNave (mahartpassnave.hu) · Budapest-Szentendre-Leányfalu-Visegrád boat trip ↩
- MAHART PassNave (mahartpassnave.hu) · Hydrofoil line Budapest-Vác-Visegrád-Esztergom ↩
- MAHART PassNave (mahartpassnave.hu) · Hydrofoil line Budapest-Vác-Visegrád-Esztergom ↩