If you’re planning on driving to the Hungarian Grand Prix and are wondering where to park, there are a number of different options. Some options are free, some cost a few Euros.
Most will involve sitting in traffic after the Formula 1 has finished, but there are some options will allow you to make a quicker exit. Read on below.
Official Premium Parking
The Hungaroring offers a paid premium parking option which gets you as close to the track as possible.
This is the blue area on the map below, directly behind the main Hungaroring grandstand and one of the big F1 fan zones. This area is closest to entrance gates 6 and 7 and is also good if you’re at any of the grandstands near the final corner, such as Grid 1, Grid 2, Grid 3, Grand Prix 1, Grand Prix 2, Club grandstand, Apex 1 and Apex 2.
Parking tickets cost 40 Euros for Friday or Saturday and 50 Euros for a Sunday. Compare to parking at most other F1 circuits, this is cheap, especially considering how close it is to the track! These can be purchases from the official Hungaroring website.
If you buy a premium parking ticket you’ll be sent a voucher. This voucher then has to be exchanged for a physical sticker that goes on your windscreen for you to gain access to the premium car park at the Hungarian GP. You can then access this car park via entrance gate 7 in the car.
One premium parking ticket gets you access for one vehicle, but that vehicle can have up to 9 people in it.
Even those this parking area gets you close to the track it definitely doesn’t guarantee you a quick exit afterwards. Once you leave this car park you’ll will, in theory, be able to use the ‘VIP Route’ to get back to the motorway, but that is at the police’s discretion. They may open that route to all traffic if the gridlock is bad enough. Even with the VIP route, 1 hour is a realistic time it takes to get back to the main roads.
Hungaroring Free Parking
Unlike almost all other F1 races, the Hungaroring offers free parking if you don’t go for the premium parking option.
The circuit is surrounded by grassy fields (not great for lowered cars). During the race weekend these are turned in to car parks. The local police will guide traffic in to various car parks near the track that are free, normally P1, P2 and P3 car parks.
These fill up on a first-come first served basis, and you just need to show your F1 access ticket to get in to them. The later you arrive the further from the track you’ll be.
Have an idea of which gate you want to enter the circuit by before you arrive (ideally one closest to your grandstand) and try and follow the roads towards that gate to find parking closer by.
Aim to arrive before the time the day’s first track activity begins to stand a better chance of getting in to one of these free parking areas.
You cannot leave you car in these car parks overnight.
Leaving these free parking areas at the end of the day can take hours. People report delays of 1 to 2 hours just to get out of their car park.
The local roads around the circuit are mostly small, single-track and dusty. They were not built to handle the volume of traffic seen at the Hungaroring on F1 weekend. So leaving these can take forever. The closer to the track you park the longer it is likely to take to leave.
Plus, when leaving, there are some way-way roads put in place by the local police, so you might not be able to leave in the direction you want to go. The map below shows the route of these from last year.
Unofficial private parking areas
If the free car parks are full or you can’t get one near your gate, you’re likely to find a number of other unofficial parking lots near the circuit. These will usually charge a small fee for parking for the day.
It’s best to bring cash to pay for these. 4000 Hungarian Forint costs 10 Euros / £9 / 12 USD, so is still very cheap. Some may charge up to 20 Euros / day which is still pretty good!
If you find the Hungaroring on Google maps and search for Parking you’ll see a number of parking areas near the edge of the track. These are these paid private car parks.
None of these car parks are bookable in advance. Bring cash on the day and just turn up and pay. Again the earlier you arrive the better chance you’ll have of getting a space.
Some of them, like Lacus Park & Presszo, even set up a bar in the car park so you can have some refreshments and get out of the hot Hungarian sun. Others are also campsites near the track.
But just because you’re paying for parking doesn’t mean your exit will be any quicker. As the Google Maps image shows, these car parks are still close to the track and you’ll be stuck in traffic again at the end of the day. You will also be able to find some further away from the track which might just be the best option. Read the next section.
How to avoid the traffic
If you don’t want to sit in hours of traffic when leaving the venue at the end of the day then I don’t blame you. There a couple of different strategies you can use to help with that, but they both include being ready for some walking.
The first is to park further away from the track. It’s likely that if you’re coming by car you’ll be using the M3 motorway. You’ll leave at Junction 19 for the Hungaroring and you’ll come to the roundabout with the big weird sculpture on it.
Off the roundabout there’s two different roads to the circuit. One is the ‘VIP Route’ for premium parking ticket holders and the other is the main route all traffic will take.
I know that in the past, people have paid for private parking in the field between these two roads, highlighted in pink below.
This is around a 25 minute walk from Gate 3 (good for the first corner grandstands), a 35 minute walk from Gate 6 (good for final corner grandstands) and a 45 minute walk to Gate 3 (good for General Admission).
If you do decide to walk it, it will be hot. So bring sun cream, a hat and plenty of water. But the benefit is that one the race is finished and you walked for 30 – 45 minutes back to your car you’ll be much closer to the motorway so traffic will be much better.
I’ve also heard that people sometimes park for free in the residential streets to the east of the circuit. These are good if you want Gate 3 or Gate 6 as there’s a walking route (white lines in the image that go to those).
If you try this option, don’t try and get there from Junction 19 of the M3. Instead go ‘around the back’ and try and access the residential area from the east. Check out my full guide on travelling to the Hungarian GP for precise details of the best routes to take when driving to the track.
The other option is to park further away near a train or bus station and take local transport closer to the track, then walk the final part. My Hungary travel guide has info on that method.
