If you are visiting Budapest and want to save money eating out on expansive restaurants, you would be looking for supermarkets.
Similarly, for expats looking to settle in Budapest, it would be a great piece of information to know what are the options available for day to day grocery. What are the cheapest supermarkets in Budapest? Which are the biggest supermarkets in Budapest? What are the Hungarian Supermarkets? and what are the best supermarkets in Hungary? We cover the topic based upon the research data and experience from last 10 years.
Budapest is a great place for shopping in Malls,Vaci Street and Andrassy Street.
The Hungarian word for Shop is Bolt and Uzlet, while the supermarkets in Hungarian are called élelmiszerbolt (Ay-lel-mi-ser-bolt).
For further information, you can check our articles
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- Furniture stores in Budapest
- Cosmetics Stores in Budapest
- Shoe stores in Budapest
- Perfume Stores in Budapest
- Jewelry store in Budapest
- Sports Shops in Hungary
- Toy stores in Hungary
Supermarkets in Budapest
Like any other major European city, every supermarket in Budapest comes with different specialties. In Budapest, you will found Tesco which is a British supermarket. There are Germany supermarkets like Penny,LIDL and ALDI with stores all around Budapest.SPAR supermarket which has its origin from Netherlands, supermarkets can be frequently found in Budapest with bigger and smaller stores.
Auchan which is a french retailer, is another supermarket based on the outskirts of Budapest with huge stores. CBA and Coop,which fall under the Hungarian supermarkets can be seen on every corner of Budapest.
Indian and Pakistani supermarkets are not so frequent is Budapest, but they are a limited which can be located in central Budapest. Similarly, Turkish and Iranian supermarkets are a few in Budapest but still fulfill the needs of the customers. On the other hand, Japanese,Chinese and Korean Supermarkets are also limited in number around the city center.
Here is the list of Supermarkets in Hungary
- ALDI
- LIDL
- SPAR
- TESCO
- AUCHAN
- PENNYMARKET
- COOP
- RoniABC
- CBA
Cheapest supermarket in Budapest
With the increasing inflation, the prices of grocery have become almost 2.5 times that what was in June 2022. Therefore, it is ever important to identify which is the cheap supermarket in Budapest. Based upon our survey and experience from over 10 years, it seems some supermarkets in Budapest keep their prices high,while try to trick the customers with their loyalty card to get discounts.Contrarily, the same item can be bought at a lower price during normal days at another store.
Collectively talking, the cheapest supermarkets in Budapest with the right balance of quality and price are LIDL and ALDI. They are cheaper in a way as they produce their own products, which are almost half the price of a typical local Hungarian brand.
Considering the prices of Ketchup,Milk,Yogurt,breads,Soaps,Shampoos, toothpastes,washing powders and biscuits, LIDL and ALDI have their home grown products which are cheaper compared to other supermarkets in Hungary.Therefore, if you are not brand conscious, but looking for Budapest cheap supermarket, Lidl and Aldi should be your first choice.
For buying chicken,meat,beef,fish and a wide variety of bakery items, Auchan supermarket may be cheaper. The only challenge with Auchan is its stores are located on the outskirts of the city,hence, if you do not have a car, you will hardly visit it.
Online Supermarkets in Budapest
Online supermarkets business has been prospering in Budapest for last 10 years or so. Every day a new online store opens up that is delivering a certain type of items to the customers. However, despite arrival of many foreigners in Budapest, there are very limited online supermarkets which offer English websites.
Aldi,Spar,Lidl,Penny,Auchan and Tesco, all offer online grocery shopping experiences, but neither of them have English friendly websites.You always have to use google translator to make sure you are ordering the right thing.
Its only TESCO online supermarket where after a few click you will find an English menu.
In majority of these online supermarket stores in Budapest, you have to pay separately for groceries to be delivered to your home and there is no special discount.
Biggest supermarket in Budapest
The advantage that comes with big supermarkets is that you can visit once,find all the necessary items, and do all the grocery for a week or two. However, the challenge is that if you are using public transport, bringing so many things will be challenging.
The biggest supermarkets in Budapest are from Auchan,Tesco,Penny and Spar located in the outskirts,where going by car is a better option.
The biggest supermarkets around Budapest city center which are easily accessible with public transport are Tesco and SPAR. Visiting a huge supermarket in Budapest does not mean you will find all brands of your choice,as there are many grocery items which are available in one supermarket while other does not sell them.
Hungarian supermarkets in Budapest
The biggest chain of Hungarian supermarkets in Budapest is from CBA also named as Prima. CBA Prima stores are available in big and small sizes and located in every next corner. Prices of vegetables and fruits in CBA Prima are pretty high compared to other supermarkets. Similarly,all other normal grocery items prices are on a higher level.
There could be certain brands at CBA Prima supermarket which you may not find in other supermarkets and it can be your primary grocery store.
Indian Stores in Budapest
If you are looking for Indian grocery stores in Budapest, there have been many opened in the recent times. Many of these grocery stores sell Indian spices which are common for Pakistani food as well. The prices of Indian grocery items in Budapest are comparable to what you find in western countries. The prices of Indian grocery items in Budapest are pretty high due to the fact that all the Indian spices and vegetables are imported to Germany and then transported to Hungary.
Kohinoor bazar is one of the biggest Indian/Pakistani store in Budapest,which is also present in city center. Their prices are higher but its pretty clean and has better customer service. You can also visit Namaste India which provide a wider variety of Indian grocery item. Another store where you can buy Indian and Pakistani food items is Kashmir Bazar. At Kashmir Bazar you can find good variety of food at good prices but the customer service and cleanliness is questionable.
Here is the list of some of the Indian stores in Budapest
- Kohinoor Bazar
- Kashmir Bazar
- Namaste India
- Szep Kis India
- Desi Market
- Kabul Bazar
- Flavours by India
24 hour Supermarket Budapest
Typical timings of big as well as small supermarkets chains in Budapest are between 07:00 to 22:00. The grocery stores timings of Budapest grocery stores may be shorter on weekends. LIDL,ALDI and majority of SPAR do not operate 24 hour.
The only supermarket which operates 24 hours are RoniABC. RoniABC falls under the supermarkets in Budapest which are smaller in size but their stores operate 24 hours. However, their prices are slightly higher than the normal supermarkets prices.
Turkish Supermarket in Budapest
As there has been a good population of Turkish people in Budapest, you will find that along with the Turkish restaurants, Turkish supermarkets can be also frequently found in Budapest. Turkish stores are normally clean and import majority of items from Turkiye.
The most famous Turkish Supermarket is Turkish supermarket Budapest is Troya Turkish Food Store located in Nepsinhaz utca.
You can find Turkish biscuits,Jan,pickles,olives,oil,frozen items and halal meat from Troya Turkish supermarket.
Halal Supermarkets in Budapest
There is hardly any international supermarket which sells halal meat in Budapest. Aldi,CBA,LIDL,SPAR,TESCO, despite selling all sort of fish and meat variety but neither of them sell any sort of Halal meat,either its chicken,beef, or lamb.
If you are looking for halal meat in Budapest, there are many options. Some Indian,Pakistani,Afghani,Arab and Syrian grocery stores do sell Halal meat in Budapest,in addition to selling Indian spices and vegetables.
Some of the stores selling Halal meat in Budapest are
- Kohinoor Bazar
- Kashmir Bazar
- Troya Turkish Store
- Kabul Bazar
- Cairo Market
- Turul Turkish Meat Store
Majority of these halal stores sell chicken fillets,chicken thighs, whole chicken,Lamb meat,goat meat and beef.
Goat meat in Budapest is only available in Kohinoor Bazar and Kashmir Bazar. On the other hand, Turkish stores are selling normally lamb meat. Beef and chicken are readily available on all the halal meat stores.
The halal meat prices in all mentioned stores are different. It depends upon the cleanliness and the expertise of the butcher in the specific store.
Oriental Supermarkets in Budapest
In recent times, the amount of oriental food restaurants has multiplied in Budapest. In parallel, the amount of Oriental supermarkets is also increasing. Oriental food ingredients can be found in many Chinese supermarkets which can be found in every next street of Budapest, named as Vegyes Elelmiszer.
In stores like TESCO,LIDL,ALDI,SPAR and Auchan, you will find dedicated sections where you can find food items and ingredients from oriental origin.
In these Chinese supermarkets you can find noodles,sauces and oriental spices, however, the variety is quite limited. The biggest Asian supermarket in Budapest is the Aszia Bolt,located next to Big Market Hall in Budapest, which servers Indian,Korean,Chinese,Thai and other oriental food items and ingredients.
One Korean supermarket is operating near Corvin Mall, called Tao Oriental Market.
Best supermarket Budapest
Having discussed the wide variety of supermarkets in Budapest, it is hard to decide which supermarket is the best. The reason is that every supermarket brings its own brands and products,while some are good but pricey while some are cheaper but not what people like.
Considering the accessibility,quality and pricing factors, the best supermarkets in Budapest are LIDL and ALDI. These are great for doing day to day grocery in Budapest.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a broader variety of grocery items,but have a car too, Auchan and Tesco are considered the best.
