We purchased our tickets the night before on an iPad. It was called an eticket and had a bar code, but the directions said to print out a copy. We didn’t have access to a printer so I took a snapshot picture of the eticket confirmation as a backup incase I could not access email or found a place to print. Budapest is so easy to travel on public transport, and frequency is every 3-5 minutes, if you are staying there plan on that. They have the hop on hop off busses, but it leaves you standing alongside a street waiting for a bus a lot, also they only go in certain directions on a specific route, so no spontaneity. The Danube River runs right in front of the Parliament building and River boats dock about 8 minutes away, just past the “shoes on the river”, so a visit there could work out if you have extra time on the way or to come back later. The trolley also parallels the river and curves around the back of the Parliament and there is a stop just steps from the entrance, just need to cross the street. The entrance is a wide staircase down about 20 steps to the side of the parliament building. When we arrived I stopped and asked at the visitor’s desk on the right side about the electronic ticket and they did in fact print us paper tickets based on the reservation. They initially asked my last name, so I believe they could have looked it up that way, but I presented my iPad with the ticket confirmation number and they printed it. Directly across was the entry to the tour, at the top of the hour a guide made an announcement to pass through the turnstyle ticket scanner and continue right through security with xray machines and wands like the airports. After passing through we were all in a large room where our guide issued us headphones. Our tour group had about 20 people and she began with stating there were some stairs, 37 I think. The stair entrance was beautiful with gold inlay and she encouraged us to use them, but there was an elevator to use. She took 2 or 3 folks up the elevator while we enjoyed the architecture and decorative painted ceilings going up the stairs. She met us up top. I read other comments about disorganization, but our tour was excellent, very informative, and included much history about the building and Hungary. The tour guide spent ample time in each room explaining the significance of particular items or decorations. She was insightful enough to split the group and have them enter from two separate doorways so everyone could see the things she was describing while viewing it rather than taking turns quickly filing through in a line. Nice stories about the history behind items they were able to preserve during WWll, the windows and the crown in particular. We concluded with a return trip down the staff stairs, which if she didn’t point out I would have just thought they were nice enough stairs, but no embellishments, gold or high ceilings. They did allow pictures in all places except the dome room where the crown was located and the guide was good about telling in advance where you could and couldn’t snap shots. Lots of information in an hour. There was a coffee shop right at the entrance that had WiFi. There were restrooms available, a fee was charged, but you could present your receipt at the coffee shop for equal reduction in purchase of anything.
If you only had one day in Budapest and are interested about the culture and some history I would encourage you to do the Parliament 1 hour tour, walk over to the “shoes on the river”, go tour the “Hospital in a Rock, which is also a 1 hour tour, take time to have lunch along the sidewalk up by St. Stephen’s, and then visit the “Terror” museum (plan at least 3 hours & get the audio guide). We visited the Hero’s circle also because it was close, just one stop up on the metro. There is a Budapest card and a Budapest travel card. The Budapest card covers travel and has SOME museum discounts. The Budapest travelcard covers travel only. The travel portion covers busses, trolleys, metro and some rail.