6 Festivals you shouldn’t miss 2009

The year has just started and already plans are going on about all kinds of festivals in Budapest. Even though some festivals and their offers tend to be quite similar each and every event is a nice opportunity to see something really Hungarian and get a feeling for Hungarian food, drinks and mentality. Therefore I collected some festivals in 2009 which you shouldn’t miss in Budapest no matter if you are an expat living here or a tourist visiting for a week. If you have the chance to visit one of the festivals I highly recommend to do so.

1. Mangalica Festival

Most of you might ask yourselves what Mangalica is. Mangalica is a typical Hungarian type of pig which somehow reminds me of a sheep as well. The festival is all about this type of pigs, no matter if it is in shape of a sausage, living or in arts. Honestly this type of meat tastes absolutly amazing and has its price in the shops but it is worth to try it.

The festival offers a “pörkölt cooking competition”, pigs to see, information about the pigs and why they are Mangalicas as well as a lot to eat and drink as usual in Hungary. For further information on the Mangalica pig check out Wikipedia and for more information on the festival (unfortunaltey just in Hungarian) and its programme click here.

The festival takes place at Városligeti Vajdahunyad Vára between February 6th and 8th.

2. Budapest Spring Festival

The Budapest spring festival is taking place since years and years by now and is one of the most visited festivals in Budapest. It is mainly about concerts ranging from folk over opera to cross over concerts for 2 weeks. I assume that during these 2 weeks you are able to see more than 100 performances of all types of music. Also available are performances for children and some special which is this year Japanese performances.

It would be useless to start to tell you about the performers so I refer to the official website wich is the programme in the same time. For more information click here.

3. Summer on Chain Bridge

You might have seen it that during the entire summer the chain bridge in Budapest is closed for cars and busses because on saturdays and sundays the chain bridge is full of little shops selling arts, gifts, food and drinks as usual in Hungary. What you will find here is a nice walk across the chain bridge without disturbing traffic watching hand made arts and gifts while having a beer and a sausage or something similar traditional Hungarian.

The summer on chain bridge is not a spectecualar festival as it is not concentrated on one weekend per year but on the entire summer but for a nice sunday walk it is absolutly recommendable. I didn’t know but on research I found out that the festival has a website. Check it out here. It takes place from June 21st till August 17th.

4. Budapest Pálinka Festival

Probably the festival most people would like to go to because they can have a taste of Hungarys favourite shot, the Pálinka. Pálinka is like a fruit spirit in all kinds of flavours with honey (mézes) or without including fruits (ágyas) or not and so on. It is a really nice festival near Déak Ferenc Tér with Pálinka manufacturers from all over Hungary.

What I don’t really like at the Pálinka festival is the control which the exhibitors have from the organisators. Every visitor has to pay entrance which is justified with a useless Pálinka glas and you need value tickets for everything you want to buy if it is Pálinka, a juice or sausage. Also the Pálinka producers are bound to the prices the organizers give so that every exhibitor has to give a Pálinka away for a minimum of 200 HUF no matter if it is a really bad one or a high quality Pálinka.

Nevertheless it is a nice opportunity to try some different Pálinkas and maybe take a bottle home. Unfortunately there is no website for the year 2009 yet and no exact date but check out the website for more information.

5. Wine Festival Budapest

Another popular festival in Budapest which is quite much alike with the Pálinka festival as it has the same organizers I guess. What you find here is a large variety of wines from all over Hungary, from Villany to Tokaj you will get every wine and nearly every large winemaker of Hungary is present there. Of course you will get all types of other things as well like beer and food as usual in Hungary but it is all about the wine.

Same issue as with the Pálinka festival I don’t like the fact of control over the producers by dictating the price and asking money from the visitors but this is what we have to live with. Still there is no exact date for the wine festival in Budapest but it will be in the castle disctrict as every year.

6. Sziget Festival

Of course the Sziget Festival in Budapest has to be on this list as THE biggest festival among the listed and even in Europe according to the number of visitors. One week music on several stages on the “Óbudai-Sziget” which is the island in the north of Budapest. Still there is no lineup for this years Sziget but it will be a blast like every year. People from all over Europe coming for bands like Iron Maiden, Alanis Morisette, Jamiroquai, Sex Pistols, R.E.M. (all 2008), Manu Chao, Chemical Brothers, Pink, Sinéad O’Connor, Faithless (all 2007), Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Radiohead, The Rasmus, Placebo or Prodigy (all in 2006). You see I could go on and the names on the list don’t get worse but what I can guarantee you is that this festival is just blowing your mind. I mean you get anything from good music to sex, from food to drinks as usual in Hungary on Sziget festival. There is no way around not going there if you are from Budapest or here in this time.

The Sziget will take place between August 12th and 17th on Óbudai Sziget in Budapest and the ticket prices for the entire festival range from 100 to 150€ while the daily ticket will be again around 10.000 to 12.000 HUF (40-50€). Get more information, ticket information, videos and pictures here.