Student Manual

1. Academic calendar

The academic year is from 1 September till 31 May (in case of Non-Degree Courses) and till the end of June (in case of MA & BA Courses).

Vacations are as follows:

• Autumn Holiday: usually one week around 1 November
• Christmas Holiday: mid-December through the beginning of January
• Easter Holiday: usually one week around Easter.

2. National holidays in Hungary

* 24 December is bank holiday. Compensated by a Saturday earlier in December. Shops will be open, however many of them will close early.

3. How to get to Kecskemét

BY TRAIN to Kecskemét:   

In case your flight arrives at the Liszt Ferenc Repülőtér (old name: Ferihegy Airport):

You can take Bus 200E (from 4 am to 11 pm) from the Airport, Terminal 2. The bus will stop at Ferihegy Vasútállomás (formerly known as Ferihegy Terminal 1), you can get off here and take the train to Kecskemét. Do not worry if you forget to get off here, the final stop of the bus is Kőbánya-Kispest station (also blue line metro, M3) where you can get on the same train. It is a metro station and a railway station together with more than 2 platforms.

Tickets for public transportation (Bus 200E) are available during the daytime at the airport from the post office, the newsagents (Relay) and from ticket machines at the bus stop. It is also possible to purchase a ticket from the bus driver. The post office is located on the mezzanine level of Terminal 2A. 

At Ferihegy train station there is an inland ticket office for purchasing train tickets.

Opening hours: Mon-Sun: 04:00-09:15, 09:30-12:15, 12:30-15:15, 15:30-23:00

You can find the train schedule at the web site of MÁV-START, the Hungarian railway company.

When you click on the icons before the departing time, after you have done your search for trains, you will see the number of the train (and sometimes the name as well, if it is an Intercity train, e.g. Aranyhomok IC). If you click on the number of the train, you will see each stop of that train and the expected arrival time. If you take an Intercity train, there is a compulsory seat reservation fee (R).

The train in Kecskemét stops only once, at the main station.

Do not buy/book your train ticket online, because not all types of tickets can be printed out at home (just at certain stations in Hungary from the Internet E-ticket machines).

BY BUS to Kecskemét:    

Assuming that some of you might prefer the bus, here is some practical information:

Buses from Budapest to Kecskemét leave from Budapest Népliget Bus Station. It is also a metro station on the blue line (M3). Try to take an express bus (going on the M5 motorway) because it is just one hour and 10 or 20 minutes. The final destination of most of these express buses is not Kecskemét, but Szeged, Gyula or Makó, etc.

There is an English version of the search for buses of the Volán – Hungarian Bus Company website.

When you get the search results you will see data in columns.

The 1st column is the departure city/station, then the arrival city/station, the departure time, the arrival time, and the duration time.

If you click on the small triangle button you will see the details. Unfortunately, they forgot to translate some things, like the word NAPONTA which means ‘daily’; buses running daily, or SZABAD- ÉS MUNKASZÜNETI NAPOKON which means on Saturdays and Holidays/Sundays.

The bus from Budapest will stop 2 times in Kecskemét. The first one is not the city centre, do not get off there. Get off at the second one, the Kecskemét Autóbusz Állomás [Bus Station].

HOW TO GET TO THE INSTITUTE once you arrived in Kecskemét:

If you have too much luggage you can take a taxi.

You will find some outside the railway station or around the bus station.

The temporary address of the 'Kodály Intézet' – KÁLVIN TÉR 1. (not the Kodály Iskola [=school] outside the city centre).

The Institute’s phone number is

• –>+36-76-481-518 – from abroad or from a foreign mobile network,
• –> 06-76-481-518 – from a landline from other Hungarian towns or from a Hungarian mobile phone, and
• –> 481-518 if you call from a landline in Kecskemét.

It is not worth bothering with a public bus. The time you spend finding the bus and buying the ticket is enough to walk to the Institute.

It is just a 12-15 min. walk either from the railway station or the bus station.

The two stations are next to each other with a park in between.

The bus station [buszállomás in Hungarian] is right next to the Noszlopy Gáspár Park,

the railway station [vasútállomás in Hungarian] is next to the Katona József Park.

From the bus station take Nagykőrösi utca to the centre.

From the railway station you can either take Rákóczi út (as suggested on the map) or Nagykőrösi utca.

View Larger Map

4. Health insurance

There is no medical centre open to students at the Kodály Institute. However, a qualified English-speaking doctor is available to all students. Details are given separately, and you can ask the Registrar’s office to make an appointment for you. Please make sure that you have a valid health insurance for the entire length of your stay at the Institute in Hungary. 

5. Electrical Plug/Outlet and Voltage Information for Hungary

Please bring your plug adapter (and voltage converter), if necessary, for your laptop, camera charger, etc.

6. Public transport services in Hungary (links to their English websites):

Volán Bus

MÁV Trains

BKV (Public transport in Budapest)

Public transport in Kecskemét (No English website, map only)

7. Mobile phone/Cellphone services:

If you’d like to buy a cellphone in Hungary, there are 3 services:

T-Mobile

Telenor

Vodafone

All three services have shops in the centre of Kecskemét.