This many people can’t be wrong!
They called it a saint or divine plant. They called it a plant that’s good for everything. It raises the pulse. It enhances memory and keeps you more alert. It indirectly improves blood supply to the brain, releases dopamine and endorphins. People already used it in 5000 BC.
Over one billion people use it to this day. No, this isn’t the description of a miracle plant. All this cool stuff happens in our body due to cigarettes.
We may believe that there is no need to look into it if we want to buy a few packs, but in Hungary, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
However, smoking has an aspect in the fine print, which really sucks: besides happiness, it also causes many different types of cancer, and other illnesses, which don’t only affect the victims and their families, but also the state’s care system and the economy.
For you, not against you
Since 2013, due to the nation’s concession agreements, they practice their tobacco monopoly through National Tobacco Shops (Nemzeti Dohánybolt).
The declared goal of this agreement is to make life harder for smokers and reduce their number before lung cancer gets to do it. Before 2013, you could buy cigarettes from approximately 40,000 places.
However, following the passage of the “trafik law”, the number maxed out at 7000. This change related to tobacco is no accident: in a country of over 2 million smokers in the 2000s, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives to smoking.
The law states that every 2000 inhabitants get one National Tobacco Shop, and in villages smaller than this, they can have one.
“Traffiks” have to be completely independent stores, which means we can’t buy cigarettes in supermarkets. There is no limit to their sizes or their locations, as long as two aren’t closer to each other than 200 meters.
What’s inside is what matters
Despite the fact that there can be no tobacco product at a tobacco store’s display windows, moreover, they can’t have a display window at all, so you don’t have to worry about simply walking past one.
They all have the large, pretty obvious ’Nemzeti Dohánybolt’ writing on a brown base, as well as number 18 in a red circle, reminding us of sex shops.
National Tobacco Shop 
There is no point to even attempt to shop there if you’re underage, as they aren’t even allowed to hang around near the store.
What’s great though, that it’s not only cigarettes we can buy at the tobacco store: we can get cigars, tobacco, water, energy drinks, and many different press products.
We can try our luck too, as you can make sports bets, play the lotto or buy scratch cards at many tobacco stores. Opening hours depend on the individual stores, the minimum is 5 days a week, 4 hours a day.
There are stores that are open during the weekend and there are 24-hour ones.
Something different
E-cigarette lovers are in a better position, as e-cigarettes, liquids or any other smoke imitating methods can be bought not just in tobacco stores but in stores that specialize in tobacco.
If we don’t want to waste time looking for tobacco stores, and would like to bring our kit from home, it’s good to remember that in EU countries the maximum tobacco you can bring in is 1 kg or four cartons of cigarettes. In E-cigarette liquid it’s 300 ml.
Where there is a will, there is a way, so you don’t have to give up smoking in Hungary either. If we are a bit sneaky, we can bring the search for a tobacco store together with sightseeing. 🙂
Or we can try something different. For someone, this meant immortality:
Where to buy cigarettes in Budapest?
For full list download this app:
List of National Tobacco shops by district:
Shops that are open 24 hours
Budapest district 1
1016 Budapest, Tárnok utca 26
Budapest district 2
1024 Budapest, Margit körút 95
1025 Budapest, Törökvész út 76
1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 12
Budapest district 3
1034 Budapest, Kolosy tér 5-6
1033 Budapest, Szentendrei út 95
Budapest district 4
1042 Budapest, Árpád út 90-92
1043 Budapest, Berda József utca 50-54
Budapest district 5
1051 Budapest, Hercegprímás utca 2
1054 Budapest, Bajcsy Zs. 48
Budapest district 6
1065 Budapest, Nagymező utca 21
1061 Budapest, Jókai tér 8
1064 Budapest, Király utca 98/A
1062 Budapest, Andrássy út 84
Budapest district 7
1074 Budapest, Király utca 67
1073 Budapest, Wesselényi utca 45
1073 Budapest, Erzsébet körút 56
1074 Budapest, Dob utca 52
Budapest district 8
1082 Budapest, Üllői út 54-56
1083 Budapest, Práter utca 30-32
1081 Budapest, Népszínház utca 42
Budapest district 9
1091 Budapest, Üllői út 137
1094 Budapest, Tűzoltó utca 78-80
1094 Budapest, Mester utca 4-6
Budapest district 10
1104 Budapest, Fehér út 1
Budapest district 11
1118 Budapest, Budaörsi út 35
1115 Budapest, Kosztolányi Dezső tér 5
1111 Budapest, Móricz Zsigmond körtér 2
1114 Budapest, Fadrusz utca 14
1111 Budapest, Karinthy Frigyes út 4/6
Budapest district 12
1123 Budapest, Alkotás utca 53
1126 Budapest, Királyhágó utca 2
Budapest district 13
1134 Budapest, Váci út 9-15
1133 Budapest, Gogol utca 23
1136 Budapest, Hegedűs Gyula utca 20/A
Budapest district 14
1144 Budapest, Örs Vezér tér 2
1143 Budapest, Pillangó utca 22
Budapest district 15
1154 Budapest, Bánkút utca 108
Budapest district 16
1165 Budapest, Veres Péter út 114
Budapest district 17
1173 Budapest, Pesti út 159
Budapest district 18
1184 Budapest, Üllői út 346
1181 Budapest, Margó Tivadar utca 9
Budapest district 19
1191 Budapest, József Attila utca 57-63
Budapest district 20
1205 Budapest, Határ út 95
1204 Budapest, Radnó utca 2
Budapest district 21
1212 Budapest, Szebeni utca 2
Budapest district 22
1223 Budapest, Nagytétényi út 136
Budapest district 23
1239 Budapest, Nagykőrösi út 353
How much does a box of cigarettes cost in Hungary in 2020?
Price comparison of cigarettes in Hungary against other EU countries
Data from the European research stated that tobacco products are most expensive in Norway, 11,21 Euro on average per box, 11,17 Euro in Iceland, 10,75 Euro in Ireland and 10,27 Euro in Great Britain.
In East-Europe, besides Ukraine, the price of cigarettes is around 1 Euro, on average 1,08 Euro.
In Hungary, the price of the most popular cigarette brands is 3,56 Euro. It’s a bit more expensive than this in Austria and Slovenia, and in the other neighboring countries (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia) it’s somewhat cheaper.
In Slovakia and Romania, it’s 3,50 Euro, in Croatia it’s 3,37 Euro and in Serbia, it’s 2,18 Euro on average.
Most commonly bought tobacco products in 2022
Cigarettes:
| Pall Mall Mint | 1450 HUF |
| Dunhill switch gold | 1720 HUF |
| Gauloises Red | 1670 HUF |
| Davidoff Classic | 1750 HUF |
| Lucky Strike Blue | 1680 HUF |
| Marlboro 100′ | 1820 HUF |
| Marlboro Gold Soft | 1800 HUF |
| EVE Sunflower | 1760 HUF |
| Philipp Morris Blue | 1730 HUF |
| Camel Blue | 1790 HUF |
| Multifilter Red 100′ | 1680 HUF |
Cigars:
| Montecristo No.2 | 8900 HUF |
| Jose L. Cremas | 1090 HUF |
| Candlelight, S. Brown | 360 HUF |
| Good Times White | 250 HUF |
| Te-Amo Robusto mx | 1600 HUF |
| Bolivar No.3 Tub | 4000 HUF |
How much forint does your currency worth? Check out real-time rates.
