Vienna and Bratislava might be the best Budapest final hack
Accommodation prices in Budapest for the final are getting ridiculous, but there’s actually quite a few ways around it if you’re flexible and don’t mind staying outside the city.
Vienna and Bratislava are probably the best alternatives overall. Both still have far better hotel availability and prices than Budapest, and you can get direct trains or buses into the city fairly easily for the match. Bratislava is especially useful because of how close it is, while Vienna gives you loads more accommodation options and generally easier logistics.
You could also realistically do an all nighter in Budapest after the final and just get an early morning train or FlixBus back to Vienna or Bratislava the next day rather than paying Budapest hotel prices at all. I imagine quite a lot of Arsenal fans will end up doing that.
Another option is staying in other Hungarian cities like Kecskemét, Gyor or Szekesfehervar and either getting the first train back the next morning after staying out late, or splitting an Uber back with other Arsenal fans.
For people still figuring out travel, there’s also quite a few nearby cities you can fly into cheaply and then get a FlixBus or train onwards from including but not limited to Prague, Krakow, Wroclaw, Zagreb, Belgrade, Poznan and Katowice.
The route I’m personally doing is Katowice on the night of the 28th, airport hotel, then Budapest on the morning of the 29th