MAV Scraper - Hungarian Train Fares & Schedules

How to scrape MAV data

MAV Scraper extracts train schedules, ticket fares, and route details from MAV Hungarian Railways — Hungary's national railway operator and the largest rail network in Central Europe. MAV operates InterCity, EuroCity, and regional services connecting all major Hungarian cities and international destinations including Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Zagreb, and Bucharest.

This Actor uses a dual strategy for maximum reliability: it first queries the MAV ELVIRA API directly for structured data with pricing, then falls back to Playwright browser automation if the API is unavailable. No login or cookies required.

Why use MAV Scraper?

• Price monitoring — Track ticket fares across Hungarian routes and dates. Find the cheapest connections between Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, and other cities.
• Schedule research — Compare train types (IC, EC, regional), journey durations, and transfer options for any domestic or international route.
• Market intelligence — Collect structured pricing and schedule data for competitive analysis in the Central European travel market.
• Travel planning — Get departure times, arrival times, and journey durations for all trains on a given route and date.
• API access — Get MAV train data via Apify API, webhooks, or scheduled runs. Integrate with Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, or your own applications.

What data can you extract from MAV?

Field	Description
trainNumber	Train service number (e.g., IC 610, EC 150)
trainType	Service type (IC, EC, EN, railjet, regional)
departureStation	Departure station name
arrivalStation	Arrival station name
departureTime	Departure time (HH:mm)
arrivalTime	Arrival time (HH:mm)
duration	Total travel time (e.g., 2h 31min)
price	Ticket fare in HUF
currency	Currency code (HUF)
travelClass	Seat class (1st, 2nd)
transfers	Number of changes/transfers
url	Source URL
scrapedAt	Timestamp of extraction

How to use MAV Scraper

1. Go to the MAV Scraper input page.
2. Enter your origin city (e.g., Budapest) and destination city (e.g., Debrecen).
3. Optionally set a departure date in YYYY-MM-DD format. If left empty, defaults to 14 days from today.
4. Set the number of passengers (default: 1).
5. Configure max results to limit the number of train results returned.
6. Click Start and wait for the run to complete.
7. Download your data from the Dataset tab in JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML format.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
origin	string	Budapest	Departure city or station name
destination	string	Debrecen	Arrival city or station name
departureDate	string	14 days from today	Travel date (YYYY-MM-DD)
passengers	integer	1	Number of adult passengers (1-9)
maxResults	integer	50	Maximum results to return
proxyConfiguration	object	Residential HU	Proxy settings for Playwright fallback

Example input

{
    "origin": "Budapest",
    "destination": "Szeged",
    "departureDate": "2026-07-15",
    "passengers": 1,
    "maxResults": 30
}

Output example

{
    "trainNumber": "610",
    "trainType": "IC",
    "departureStation": "Budapest-Nyugati",
    "arrivalStation": "Debrecen",
    "departureTime": "07:05",
    "arrivalTime": "09:36",
    "duration": "2h 31min",
    "price": 4180,
    "currency": "HUF",
    "travelClass": "2nd",
    "transfers": 0,
    "url": "https://jegy.mav.hu",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-09T10:30:00.000Z"
}

How much does it cost to scrape MAV?

The Actor uses a dual strategy that keeps costs low:

• API mode (primary): Queries the MAV ELVIRA API directly without a browser. A typical run costs approximately $0.01-0.05 in platform credits since no Playwright compute is needed.
• Playwright mode (fallback): If the API is unavailable, the Actor launches a browser. This costs approximately $0.10-0.20 per run depending on proxy usage.

To keep costs down:

• Set maxResults to only what you need.
• Use a specific departure date rather than the default.
• The Actor automatically uses the cheaper API-first strategy.

Supported routes

MAV connects all major Hungarian cities and many international destinations:

• InterCity (IC) — Budapest-Debrecen, Budapest-Szeged, Budapest-Miskolc, Budapest-Pecs, Budapest-Gyor, Budapest-Szolnok, Budapest-Nyiregyhaza, and more.
• EuroCity (EC) — Budapest-Vienna, Budapest-Prague, Budapest-Bratislava, Budapest-Zagreb, Budapest-Bucharest, Budapest-Belgrade.
• EuroNight (EN) — Overnight services to international destinations.
• railjet — High-speed services on the Budapest-Vienna corridor.
• Regional — Local services connecting smaller towns and villages across the Hungarian rail network.

Tips for best results

• Use Hungarian city names — The station lookup works best with Hungarian names (Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged, Pecs, Gyor). Common international names (Vienna, Prague) are also supported via built-in aliases.
• Set realistic dates — MAV typically shows fares for dates up to 30-60 days in advance. Past dates or dates too far in the future may return schedule-only data without prices.
• API vs browser — The Actor tries the direct API first, which is faster and cheaper. If it fails, it falls back to browser automation. You can monitor which strategy was used in the run logs.
• International routes — For cross-border journeys (e.g., Budapest to Vienna), the station database covers European stations. Use the local name (Wien, Praha, Bratislava) for best results.

Integrations

Connect MAV Scraper to your workflow with:

• Apify API — Call programmatically from any language.
• Webhooks — Get notified when a run completes.
• Scheduled runs — Monitor fares daily or weekly.
• Zapier / Make — No-code integration with 5000+ apps.
• Google Sheets — Export results directly to a spreadsheet.

FAQ

Is it legal to scrape MAV?

This Actor extracts publicly available train schedule and pricing information that any visitor can see on jegy.mav.hu. No login, authentication, or account is required. Always ensure your use case complies with applicable laws and MAV's terms of service.

Why did my run return zero results?

First, verify that your origin and destination city names are valid Hungarian stations and your departure date is in the future. The MAV API may occasionally be temporarily unavailable, in which case the Actor falls back to browser scraping. If both strategies fail, try again after a few minutes.

Can I scrape multiple routes in one run?

Currently the Actor searches one route per run. To scrape multiple routes, trigger separate runs with different origin/destination combinations using the Apify API or scheduler.

What currency are prices in?

All MAV domestic prices are in Hungarian Forint (HUF). As of 2026, typical IC fares range from 2,000-8,000 HUF depending on distance. International fares may be higher.

How does the dual strategy work?

The Actor first queries the MAV ELVIRA REST API directly (no browser needed), which returns structured JSON with schedules and fares. If the API is down or returns no data, it launches Playwright to navigate jegy.mav.hu, fill the search form, and extract results from the page. This dual approach maximizes reliability.

Support and feedback

If you encounter issues or have feature requests, please open an issue in the Issues tab. For custom scraping solutions, reach out via the Actor's page on the Apify Store.