Emergencies, pharmacies and health

Emergency number

112 reaches police, ambulance and fire from any phone, including a locked one, and operators handle English. It is the only number you need.

Healthcare as a visitor

Hungary has a public healthcare system. EU/EEA citizens with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) are entitled to state-provided care on the same terms as residents. That is worth understanding precisely:

• It covers state facilities, not private clinics.
• It does not cover repatriation home.
• It is not a substitute for travel insurance; it is a complement to it.

Non-EU visitors should assume they are paying, and should not travel without insurance.

Pharmacies

A pharmacy is a *gyógyszertár* or *patika*. Normal opening hours are shop hours. Each district has at least one 24-hour pharmacy, and every closed pharmacy is required to display the address of the nearest one that is open — the notice is on the door.

Tap water

Safe and good. Bottled water is a preference here, not a precaution.

Air quality

Budapest sits in a basin, and winter inversions can trap pollution for days at a time. If that matters to you — asthma, small children — the live figure is on our Budapest right now page.