Winter Events in Budapest 2024/25: Christmas Markets, New Year’s Celebrations, Exhibitions and Art Bazaars
Bundle up for winter in Budapest to brighten the cold season ahead of us, with the twinkling Christmas lights of the festive markets, aromatic mulled wine and Hungarian street food. You can also warm up along with the locals flocking to ornate thermal baths that testify to the Budapest’s Ottoman legacy. With concerts and exhibitions to check out too, there’s no shortage of Christmas, New Year’s and Winter events to attend in the former imperial capital. Our latest blog covers our top tips for winter 2024/25 things to do in Budapest.
What to do in Budapest Winter 2024/25 – Christmas markets, of course!
Budapest is a European capital blessed with a wealth of Christmas markets: there are six different markets in the city center alone. All of them fragrance the air with paprika and Christmas spices, and you’re sure to find vendors spooning goulash from giant vats into bread bowls, or sprinkling cheese on some lángos (think deep-fried dough with a wondrous array of high-calorie toppings!). Of course, you’ll also find typical Christmas market staples of sausages, mulled wine, and chestnuts. If you have a sweet tooth, try the chimney cakes kept warm twirling on a skewers or local variants on the classic strudel.
Below we review the central markets for travelers as well as our own personal favorites.
St. Stephen’s Basilica Christmas Market – November 15, 2024 to January 1, 2025
This Christmas market features an ice rink as the centerpiece, with digital projections of kaleidoscopic light shows illuminating the beauty of the historic church. The Christmas market is open every evening with a program of events including an Advent candle lighting ceremony every Sunday before Christmas.
Vorosmarty Square Christmas Market – November 15, 2024 to January 1, 2025
Ranked as one of the top five most beautiful Christmas markets in Europe, you’ll not regret a visit to the Christmas market in Vorosmarty Square. In addition to the usual Christmas trinkets and treats on display, you can partake in some local Hungarian specialties and purchase handicrafts made by local craftsmen, all to the backdrop of an extensive Christmas program includes 160 events, including concerts, dance performances, and children’s entertainment.
Christmas Market at Obuda – December 1-23, 2024
Although Budapest focuses its Chistmas voltage on the two big Advent markets at Vorosmarty Square and around St. Stephen’s Basilica in the heart of Pest, we love a visit to the less-frequented stalls at Obuda in Old Buda, the city’s third district. Local, authentic and affordable with the best lángos in town, it is definitely worth the trek to avoid the throngs in the city center. Handicrafts from the numerous artisanal stores at the market also make the perfect Christmas gifts and souvenirs.
Christmas Tram Ride – Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays in December 2024
Thomas the Tank Engine meets Santa Claus on Budapest’s transport network in this unique Christmas tradition, as Tram Number 2 is decked in festive livery. The line runs along the Danube between Közvágóhíd and Jászai Mari tér, and when the National Geographic calls it “Europe’s most scenic tram journey,” it’s all the more enticing to take part. Great for all ages, it can get impossibly packed, so try and pick an hour to ride when most others won’t – early morning and late evening are good bets, plus you get the bonus of seeing Budapest lit up in all its Christmas glory.
Christmas in Budapest
If you’re spending Christmas in Budapest, partaking in the traditional Christmas feast will hope you appreciate how the locals celebrate the holidays. Start the meal with halászlé, also known as Fisherman’s soup, made with carp, pike or perch and of course, paprika. Next is töltött káposzta (stuffed cabbage), usually stuffed with rice and mincemeat. The most popular Christmas desserts are poppyseed-based, including mákos retes (poppy seed strudel) and bejgli (poppyseed roll). You might also get to try szaloncukor, small chocolate Christmas sweets in colorful wrappers often used to decorate Christmas trees.
If you’re looking for a place to have a nice Christmas dinner in Budapest, the city’s finest hotels and restaurants remain open to serve a special menu on the evenings of December 24 and 25. You can also try some of Budapest’s most beautiful cafes, like New York Cafe, which will be open serving a special Christmas and New Year’s Eve feast. Make sure to reserve!
Take a tour with Insight Cities
If you’re visiting Budapest for the first time this winter, let us introduce you! Our Downtown Pest Tour takes you to some of Budapest’s most breathtaking sights full of as much history as they have beauty: the Hungarian Parliament building, Liberty Square, and the monumental buildings along Andrassy street. Our expert guides deliver Budapest’s dramatic stories over the centuries, bringing history in life with a local’s perspective. Contact us at info@insightcities.com and book your tour in Budapest today.
New Year’s Eve in Budapest
A New Year’s Eve Boat Party on the Danube – December 31st, 2024
We can’t think of a better way to ring in the New Year than an exquisite multi-course meal, on the top deck of one of the many fin-de-siècle barges that cruise the Danube. Affording an incredible view of Buda Castle, the city’s numerous lit-up bridges and a fireworks display at midnight, this does involve drinking a fair amount of champagne and local Hungarian palinka, so be ready for a wild night. Ask your hotel concierge for recommendations.
New Year’s Concerts
Just like any staid European capital, Budapest plays host to a plethora of concert over the holidays, including New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Matthias Church hosts the Duna String Orchestra on December 30 and January 2, and St. Anne’s Church has a special New Year’s Eve concerts featuring pieces by Classical greats. St. Stephen’s Basilica hosts a special New Year’s Day concert with Baroque compositions played on the organ.
Exhibitions
The Lives and Works of Sándor Galimberti and Valéria Dénes at the Hungarian National Gallery – closes January 26, 2025
The works of two significant figures in Hungary’s early 20th century art scene is particularly special because most of the artist couple’s work has been lost to time and tragedy. Just over 40 of their bold and bright paintings have survived, and they are all collected in this exhibition for the first time. Dabbling in Fauvism, Secession, Cubism, and even a bit of futurism, the couple’s works encapsulate the art movements that swept through Europe in the early 20th century. The exhibition will also feature works by Galimberti’s first wife, Marie Galimberti-Provázková (Mária Lanov), and his father, Luigi Galimberti.
Munkácsy – Story of a worldwide sensation at the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest – November 27, 2024 – March 30, 2025
Commemorating Mihály Munkácsy’s 180th birthday, this exhibition is one of the largest on the Hungarian painter’s work and life ever put on, featuring more than 100 works of art, archival photographs, documents, and cult objects. his most famous works will be presented from a new perspective, as well as his lesser-known and never seen works which reveal the development of a rare artist who achieved fame in his lifetime and who enjoys a cult following to this day. Exhibited works include Christ Before Pilate and The Condemned Cell.
Kingdom of Gods and Demons: Mesopotamia 1000-500 BCE – until February 2, 2025
The first exhibition in Hungary dedicated to ancient Mesopotamia, from which modern civilization first sprung, Kingdom of Gods and Demons features more than 150 objects from various prominent European collections. Focusing on the first half of the first millennium BC, when the first empires emerged, the exhibition includes stone reliefs, glazed-brick depictions of ancient gods and goddesses, as well as smaller objects like amulets and small statues from ancient Assyria and Babylonia. Cuneiform tablets with translations will also be on display, including one from the Babylonian creation myth and historical texts about their kings. The enduring idea of the Tower of Babel will bring us into modern history, with depictions of the myth in twentieth-century European art exhibited.
Performances
Recirquel: Kristály at Millenáris – Various dates, December 2024 – January 2025
This contemporary circus take on the fairy classic fairy tales of Kristály will entertain children and adults alike, transporting them into a magical world sparkling with ice crystals and white costumes. The production tells the tale of a frozen world and how it got to be that way, a mistress disillusioned with human emotions and encases herself in walls of ice, and how the warmth of love and light returns to the land, with incredible circus stunts and stage magic.
Hungarian National Dance Ensemble: Castles, Warriors, Frontiers at MUPA Budapest Festival Theater – Various dates, December 2024
This adventure-filled dance drama inspired by István Fekete’s novel The Testament of Aga Koppanyi has Hungarian heroes battling against both Turkish and German foes in the time of the Ottoman occupation of Hungary. While the story and costumes take inspiration from the past, the production melds history and modernity as a play-within-a-play, intended to entertain young people from the age of 9 and up.
Art & Design
WAMP – Open Sundays in December 2024
WAMP is Budapest at its best. Part design fair and part ultra-chic fashionista and hipster hangout, WAMP is your go-to if you’re looking to understand the modern Hungarian design aesthetic. Having transitioned into its winter home at the Millenaris Hall, the fair will be open most Sundays in December. This is your opportunity to support some up-and-coming young designers and perhaps land a future masterpiece or two.
Gozsdu Weekend Market – Open Sundays from 10 AM to 7 PM
Another design market, Gozsdu Weekend Market is WAMP’s alter ego. Lacking the pretense of modernity, Gozsdu is all about artisanal, handcrafted curios, paintings, jewelry, clothes, and even food. Set in the enchanting Gozsdu Courtyard, in the heart of Pest’s reinvigorated Jewish Quarter, the self-styled “Portobello of Budapest” runs a special festive market all December. Look for further dates in February and March on their website.
Bálna Budapest – Open daily from 10 AM to 8 PM
The controversial and colossal Bálna opened in 2013, on the banks of the Danube, near Szabadság Bridge. All glass and metal, in the shape of a whale, it is a modern architectural marvel, but as you will see, doesn’t quite fit in with its surroundings. Part cultural destination, part new age market and part not quite anything, it hosts the New Budapest Gallery (of modern Hungarian art) and the Budapest Anno (a fun vintage store and market) amongst others and is well worth a visit. For the winter it even has a free skating rink for kids and an outdoor Advent market.
The Ecseri Flea Market (Ecseri Bolhapiac) – Open daily from 9 AM
Arguably Europe’s largest collection of junk available 365 days of the year, the Ecseri flea market is a fair amount of work. It’s a hike to get there (about an hour on the bus from the city center), and you have to work hard to find your rewards – there’s a lot of junk to sift through. But you will be rewarded with unique and unusual treasures, whether it’s old communist propaganda, art, medical devices, clothes or whatever else you’re after.
Food and Drink
The Mangalica Festival – February 2025 (exact dates TBA, usually early February)
No other capital city in the world boasts a festival dedicated to a pig – certainly not the Mangalica pig. Part of Hungary’s cultural heritage, the woolly pig plays a key role in the country’s gastronomy and the festival gives visitors an opportunity to sample the pig in various shapes, sizes, forms and flavors. Cured, cooked, smoked, fried, baked and accompanied by copious amounts of Tokaj wine, pigs do fly here.
Szatyor Bár és Galéria – Open daily from 12 PM to 1 AM
Ruin bars have become so synonymous with Budapest that some enterprising restaurateurs were even buying functioning buildings and “ruining” them for that look and feel. Our pick for you is Szatyor, which unlike the scores of others in Pest, is on the Buda side of the river. A tad more upscale, with a crowd that is more refined than your average ruin visitor, Szatyor has a global menu and Hungarian craft beers on tap. Built in to the back of the legendary Hadik cafe, the combination is hard to beat.
If you’d like to explore more of Budapest’s ruin bars, take a tour of the most notable spots with Insight Cities. In our alternative Ruin Bars Tour, a local expert guide will take you on a journey through the revitalized spaces of Budapest’s 7th and 8th districts, including the site of Gozsdu Weekend market and the famous Szimpla, the ruin bar that started it all. Contact us to set up your tour today!
Family Fun
A Winter Visit to the Gellert Bath and Spa – Open 6 AM to 10 PM daily
Part of the famous Hotel Gellert complex in Buda, the cavernous Gellert bath complex is worth a visit for its stunning Art Nouveau architecture alone. But when some locals swear that the healing powers of its waters are enhanced in winter temperatures (the water in the outdoor pool stays around 35 * C) how can you not take a dip? Treat yourself to a massage at the spa and some excellent coffee and cake at the Hotel’s brasserie when you’re done healing.
Városligeti Műjégpálya (The City Park Ice Rink) – Open daily from 9 AM to 1 PM and 5 PM to 9 PM, November 30, 2024 – February 28, 2025
Europe’s largest outdoor ice rink is located in the City Park between Heroes’ Square and the Vajdahunyad Castle. It is hard to think of a more stunning backdrop to practice your toe loops, flips and the occasional Lutz. With skating lessons on offer, you have no excuse to not get on the ice and given its gargantuan size – you’ll never have to wait in line either. Fun for all ages!
If you’d like to take guided tours of Budapest when you’re in town, contact us at Insight Cities! Whether you’re interested in the history of the city, its architecture, or its Jewish cultural heritage, we’ve got a tour that suits your interest. Our local expert guides bring their knowledge and enthusiasm when sharing their expertise with travelers, and you will not only learn something but also have fun along the way. Get in touch and we’ll get started with your touring right away.