events

To help you plan your trip to Budapest we listed the major events held here in summer: from music festivals to gay pride to Formula 1 race.

Museum Night:

discounted or free admission to museums of Budapest till late at night with special bus routes.
June 20, 2009
Official Site

Danube Carnival:

ten-day long international multicultural festival with events at main sites of Budapest.
June, 2009
Official Site

Summer on the Chain Bridge:

various weekend programs for kids and adults held on the Chain Bridge: music, arts, dance, fairs, exhibitions, concerts, performances
June–August, 2009
Official Site

See photos from April 2009 Critical Mass bike ride in Budapest.

Budapest Spring Festival held in the end of March every year is the largest and most prestigious art event in Budapest.

Annually, it features over 200 programs attracting art, dance, theater and music lovers and performers from all over the Europe, and this year is no exception.

The festival opens on 20th of March with 12 different events in different venues throughout the city from children’s play to exhibitions to orchestral concerts.

On International Women's Day WAMP, the Hungarian Design Market, offers ladies a great opportunity to treat themselves to a new fragrance or makeup, hairstyle or jewelry.

The program of this spring fair includes bilingual perfume show by Hungarian perfume designer Zsolt Zólyomi, hairstyle, make-up and styling consultations by Krea Contemporary Arts Institute, book fair with books on fashion and design, and music by DJ Mira. There is also an all day cocktail bar with beverages and alcohol cocktails.

Mangalica is an indigenous to Hungary pig breed distinguished by its rich and curly coat. Its breeding has been revived in recent years, and today its meat is becoming increasingly available and popular in Hungary.

This year the second Mangalica Festival will be held from 6th to 8th February in Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest’s City Park (Városliget).

The festival will feature more than 30 breeders of Mangalica and distributors of products made of Mangalica meat that is delicious and healthy due to low cholesterol content.

Christmas Fair on Vörösmarty Square is one of the most attractive Christmas destinations in Budapest. This is a place for you to choose some special gifts among many handcrafted items – from teddy bears to brooms, to warm up with the hot wine, to enjoy the air of festivity.

This year’s Critical Mass
event to be held on the 20th of April in celebration of the Earth Day is expected to be enormous with the route on both sides of the Danube.

The Critical Mass held in Budapest twice a year since 2004 attracts now more and more cyclists and supporters thus showing to the public and the authorities that biking is healthy, clean and cheap. On the last year’s Earth Day Budapest had the largest Critical Mass event in history with around 50,000 cyclists participating.

This year the legendary Sziget Festival is held from August 8 to 15 in the same venue - Óbudai Island.

With the 9 stages the program is extensive and has such stars as Pink, The Chemical Brothers, Madness, Nine Inch Nails, Faithless, Tool, Sinéad O’Connor.

20 August is the national holiday in Hungary, the day of the state-founder and first king of the country Stephan the Saint (Szent István). He was sainted on 20 August 1083, hence the tradition to have this celebration.

On September 22, 2005 Budapest experienced its greatest Critical Mass bike ride ever: between 24,000 and 30,000 bikers participated in the event.

This year the ride aimed at making cyclists' life on Budapest streets easier and city air cleaner, will take place on April 22, and will start at 15:00 from the corner of Újpesti rakpart and Dráva utca in XIII-th district.

The route of 12 km will run through Pesti alsó rakpart - Petőfi híd - Budai alsó rakpart - Attila út - Alagút - Lánchíd - József A. u. - Andrássy út - Felvonulási tér.

The estimated time of the ride is 90-120 minutes.