Festivals in Budapest

Budapest Festivals

Budapest is for sure the festival city, there is a festival for everything. No matter if it is music, food or drink festivals you can be sure that there is a time in every year where local and international producers or artists come together in Budapest to present themselves, their products and their music. To give an overview about festivals in Budapest and also elsewhere in Hungary here will be a list and a short description about many festivals. I for sure do not know all festivals happening in Budapest and when exactly they will be as there are simply too many. Very popular are festivals about Hungarian food and drinks such as Sausage, Wine or Pálinka but also there are tons of music festivals out of which the Sziget Festival in Budapest is probably the best known.

Even though many festivals tend to be very similar in terms of what is offered there it is very nice to go out and have a few specialities of Hungary from local producers and try different, new things. There are for example several wine festivals, a Pálinka and Wine festival and a Pálinka festival so you will find here many times the same producers with the same offers. But anyways you will not be able to try all wines or all Pálinkas at once. The critics of similarity is rather about what is offered around like the food for example. You have the same sausages on every festival, christmas market and so on which is a bit annoying but on the other hand what else should they offer.

So here come some festivals which you should not miss each year and there are plenty more. So if you know a cool festival, even outside of Budapest let me know in the comments.

Mangalica Festival

Mangalica Festival Budapest

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

More information about the Wine Festival Budapest.

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 always takes place mid to end of August 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 HUF to 12.000 HUF (40-50€).

More information about the Sziget Festival Budapest.

Balaton Sound

Balaton sound is, as the name is telling already, not taking place in Budapest but many people from Budapest and all over the country come and enjoy a long weekend down in Zamardi on Lake Balaton for the biggest House Music festival in Hungary. The Balaton Sound is a relatively young festival but has build up to a top destination for international, well known DJs such as David Guetta, Sven Väth or Paul Kalkbrenner. The special thing about Balaton Sound is the location which is right at the beach of Lake Balaton where people hang out in the water, have drinks and listen to music all day long. The festival is also well visited by international people such as Dutch, English or Germans. Balaton Sound is a festival from the same organizer as the Sziget Festival so these guys have best contacts to artists and have a lot of experience on how to make a successful festival. Ticket prices are around the same as for Sziget Fesztival. IF you plan to go there you should already check for accommodation down there since Zamardi is a fairly small place and hotels or holiday houses are really rare. You can also camp near the festival but there are many people who do not like camping so check to get a hotel as early as possible.

Budai Gourmet Festival

During the Budai Gourmet Festival it is all about food and drinks. Exhibitors from all over Hungary present their products and restaurants. Mainly you find here high class restaurants as well as foreign food such as Parma ham or Asian stuff. But a big chunk is presenting the locally made food for small cities, regions and areas in Hungary. If you are searching for exceptional bakeries, cheese shops or wine traders this festival is your place to go.

I have written a full article about the Budai Gourmet Festival here.

Sweet Days Festival

The Sweet Days Festival (Édes Napok csokoládé- és édességfesztivál) is a festival all about sweets, chocolate, ice cream and candy made by local producers. The festival takes place in the Buda Castle in the middle of December and takes 3 days. Except from sweets you will not see much except a beautiful view over the city of Budapest.

See the dedicated article about the Sweet Days Festival in Budapest.

Thats about it for the festivals for now, I know there are many more so if you have one which you really can recommend than let me know in the comments or drop me a line in an email and I will add it. You can also check BudapestFestivals.com for more information about Festivals in Budapest. Do you like going to festivals at all? Which ones do you usually attend?