Hungary is a country of unique beauty in the heart of Europe. With its size of 93 thousand square kilometres and its location at the border of Eastern and Western Europe, the country is an optimal choice for doing business by small and multinational companies.

While the Hungarian language may not be similar to any other European language, the country has extensive and historically established relations with all three main European ethnic and linguistic families: the Indo-European, the Slavic, and the Neo-Latin languages. For this reason, Hungary is especially capable of acting as a bridge between various cultures – a feature highly appreciated by investors and businesses with a focus on comprehensive approaches.

Located at the juncture of the 4 main European transport corridors, Hungary offers around 1,300 km motorway, an extensive railway network, and five airports.Hungary has excellent conditions to offer for knowledge-based industries. Hungary is among the world leaders in terms of Nobel Prize winners per capita, with well trained labour force, graduates fluent in various languages, and a spectacular track record in terms of IT and software development (from John Neumann to Charles Simonyi or from LogMeIn to Prezi).

Hungary can capitalize on a few natural resources (bauxite, coal, and natural gas), as well as fertile soil, and natural thermal water reserves. Hungarian wines are enjoyed throughout Europe. The country‘s main manufactured exports include electric and electronic equipment, machinery, processed food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

Good to know

• Power supply: Residential voltage: 230 V, Frequency: 50 Hz, Plug types: C and F
• Hungary uses the metric system for units of measurements.
• Hungarian date notation: year/month/day.
• Separation of numbers: Hungarian uses the comma as the decimal separator and the full stop as the thousand separator.
• Hungarian names: family name comes first

Time Zone

Hungary is in the Central European Time Zone (CET), which is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The country uses the practice of daylight saving time, advancing clocks by one hour during the period from the last weekend in March to the last weekend of October.

Normal business hours:

• Private and public offices: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed on Saturdays and Sundays
• Retail: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays
• Shopping centres, hypermarkets: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, closed on Sundays
• Restaurants: 12 noon to 10 p.m.

Business hours may differ significantly in specific cases.

Holidays in 2015:

• 1 January: New Year
• 15 March: National holiday (commemorating the 1848 revolution)
• 6 April: Easter Monday
• 1 May: Labour Day
• 24 May: Pentecost
• 20 August: National holiday (commemorating the foundation of the Hungarian state)
• 23 October: National holiday (commemorating the 1956 revolution and fight for freedom)
• 1 November: All Saints’ Day
• 25-26 December: Christmas

Distance between Budapest and some major European cities by car:

• Frankfurt am Main, Germany: 963 km
• Berlin, Germany: 874 km
• Munich, Germany: 655 km
• Amsterdam, the Netherlands: 1,397 km
• Rome, Italy: 1,217 km
• Paris, France: 1,485 km
• Vienna, Austria: 243 km
• Prague, Czech Republic: 525 km
• Bratislava, Slovakia: 200 km
• Warsaw, Poland: 722 km
• Ljubljana, Slovenia: 463 km
• Zagreb, Croatia: 343 km
• Bucharest, Romania: 825 km
• Belgrade, Serbia: 378 km
• Kiev, Ukraine: 1,116 km

Visa:

The visa requirements of Hungary are in line with the provisions and recommendations of the EU and of the Schengen Convention. Visas and residence permits issued in other Schengen countries – just like visas issued by Hungarian diplomatic delegations – are valid in Hungary, and residence permits issued by Hungarian authorities are also valid for the entire Schengen area.