Budapest and the Danube Bend
One comfortable drive down, then only short hops along the Danube: Budapest, Szentendre, the Visegrád citadel, Vác and the basilica in Esztergom. You can enjoy the Hungarian capital without driving at all — you set up base at the campsite near Szentendre and take the suburban railway into the city. The rest of the trip is a chain of small towns that sit so close together that you only ever hop between them, and the ferry from Visegrád to Nagymaros carries you from one bank to the other. The season holds from April to October; in July and August expect proper Hungarian heat, and a pitch at a campsite is better arranged in advance.
The longest drive comes right at the start — via Brno, Bratislava and Győr you can reach the Danube Bend in one go. Make Szentendre your base: the Pap-sziget campsite lies on an island right by the river and the station of the HÉV suburban railway is within walking distance. For the first evening it is more than enough to walk through the old town with its Serbian churches, galleries and cafés around the triangular Fő tér square.
Leave the motorhome standing at the campsite and ride into the city on the HÉV line H5, which reaches Batthyány tér from Szentendre in roughly half an hour. The castle hill you can manage on foot: Buda Castle, the Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion, whose upper galleries carry a charge during the day (1,700 Ft, card payment only) — from nine in the morning to nine in the evening in summer and to seven for the rest of the year; early in the morning and after closing time they are free to walk. In the afternoon cross to the Pest side to the Parliament and the embankment, and end the day at the Nagycsarnok market hall on Vámház körút — it opens on Sundays too, only for a shorter time, and stays closed on public holidays.
The morning belongs to the open-air museum on the edge of Szentendre: the Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum is the largest Hungarian museum of its kind and the main season runs here from the end of March to the end of October, Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays. In the afternoon take road 11 upstream to Visegrád and drive up to the citadel, which Béla IV had built after the Tatar invasion; inside you will find exhibitions on the history of the castle and a copy of the Crown of Saint Stephen. From the walls you can see the whole arc along which the Danube turns south. A place for the night is offered by Kék Duna Camping in Visegrád itself, on the road running along the river.
In the morning the Visegrád–Nagymaros ferry takes you across to the opposite bank; it runs daily roughly every hour. Vác welcomes you with its triangular main square Március 15. tér, a riverside promenade and the Stone Gate (Kőkapu) — a triumphal arch the town built in 1764 for the visit of Maria Theresa, who is said to have prudently refused to ride through it. Getting back to the right bank means a ferry again — from Nagymaros to Visegrád, or from Vác across to Szentendre Island and over the bridge at Tahitótfalu; the nearest road bridge over the Danube is all the way down at the edge of Budapest, so with a vehicle over 3.5 tonnes make sure the ferry will take you before you cross to the left bank at all. From there it is upstream to Esztergom, where the largest church in Hungary stands above the town: a basilica with a crypt, a treasury and a viewing gallery in the dome, reached by some four hundred steps. This is the busiest day of the trip — anyone who wants a calmer pace skips Vác and gives the whole afternoon to Esztergom.
The last day is the return journey and two routes lead out of Esztergom. Either you go back to the Hungarian M1 via Győr, or you cross the Mária Valéria bridge right in town into Štúrovo in Slovakia and drive home via Nitra and Bratislava — the bridge, however, has a limit of 3.5 tonnes, so heavier vehicles have only one choice. Set off right after breakfast so that you are home while it is still light.
Hungarian motorways run on an e-vignette; you buy it online at ematrica.nemzetiutdij.hu or at a petrol station, always before entering a tolled section. A motorhome up to 3.5 t registered as M1 with no more than seven seats belongs to category D1: 5,550 Ft for a day, 6,900 Ft for ten days, 11,170 Ft for a month. A vehicle over 3.5 t falls into category D2 (7,890 / 10,040 / 15,820 Ft) — since 1 January 2026 heavier motorhomes are covered by the e-vignette as well and no longer belong in the HU-GO system. Transit through Slovakia: up to 3.5 t an e-vignette is enough (10.80 € for ten days, 17.10 € for thirty days), over 3.5 t you pay the eMYTO electronic toll calculated from the route driven. The Visegrád–Nagymaros ferry has its own fare, in the order of thousands of forints for a vehicle; when the water level is low the operator has repeatedly announced that it does not carry vehicles over 3.5 t, so check the current situation in advance.
Pap-sziget Camping, Szentendre — on a Danube island by the town, the price of a pitch for a motorhome includes electricity as well as hot and cold water, season roughly from mid-April to mid-October · Kék Duna Camping, Visegrád — Duna-parti út by road 11 in the centre of the village, pitches for motorhomes, electricity for a surcharge · Gran Camping, Esztergom — Nagy-Duna sétány on the island of Prímás-sziget by the Danube, open from 1 May to 30 September · Arena Camping, Budapest-Kőbánya (Pilisi utca 7) — open all year round, 16 A hook-up, cash payment only · Haller Camping, Budapest-Ferencváros (Haller utca 27) — takes vehicles longer than eight metres too, close to the metro
The hills around the Danube Bend belong to the Duna–Ipoly National Park, so do not count on spending the night outside a campsite here. The network of campsites is dense, on the other hand, and the drives between them are short, so planning is easy. Outside the main summer months, though, check by phone that they are open — some of the campsites on the route have a season only from spring to autumn.
Servicing on this route is done at campsites only — there are no public dump stations along the roads by the Danube, so top up and empty the tanks at every move rather than waiting until you run out. You have the most time for it in Szentendre, where you stay two nights in a row. In Visegrád, reckon on electricity being charged on top of the pitch price, so for a single night with heating or air conditioning it is cheaper to arrive with the battery charged. Outside the main season the campsite in Esztergom is closed, which means the last certain place to take on water and empty the chemical toilet is back in Szentendre — allow for that when planning the last day.
Adria Compact
The Adria Compact is a semi-integrated motorhome under 3.5 tonnes and, at just under seven metres, one of the shorter semi-integrated models. On this route that pays off three times over: staying under 3.5 t means the cheaper Hungarian category D1 e-vignette and passage where heavier vehicles are turned back — the ferry to Nagymaros and the Mária Valéria bridge to Štúrovo. The shorter body is easier to handle on the narrow roads along the Danube and fits an ordinary space in the car parks below the historic centres of Szentendre, Visegrád and Esztergom. Inside, meanwhile, it keeps a full living space for a five-day stay with the family.
Get road trip ideas by email
Leave us your email and we will send motorhome inspiration and stock updates.