Events in Budapest
This November, Budapest trades autumn for Advent. The Advent Bazilika and Vörösmarty Classic Xmas both open on 13 November and run into the new year, and the City Park Ice Rink plans to start its skating season on 20 November. The Hungarian State Opera stages Carmen until 29 November and brings back The Nutcracker from 19 November. Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin fills the Museum of Fine Arts, Walk This Way takes over the Ludwig Museum and Living Folk Art opens at the Museum of Ethnography, while Genesis Budapest turns a parish church into a show of light and music.
Official events calendar for Budapest
The events below are taken from the official listings of the city's organisers for the season, and each card links straight to that listing with the dates and the venue. For the sights that stay open all year, start with things to do in Budapest.
Advent Bazilika
When: 13 November to 1 January 2027
Where: Szent István tér, in front of St Stephen's Basilica
The Christmas market voted Europe's most beautiful four times in a row returns to the square with Hungarian craft stalls and festive food.
Vörösmarty Classic Xmas
When: 13 November to 31 December
Where: Vörösmarty Square (Vörösmarty tér)
Budapest's classic Christmas fair returns with craft stalls, food and a small railway. The craft stalls close for good on 28 December.
Carmen
When: 14 to 29 November
Where: Hungarian State Opera
Calixto Bieito's production of Bizet's opera, sung in French with Hungarian and English surtitles.
The Nutcracker
When: 19 November to 10 January 2027
Where: Hungarian State Opera
Tchaikovsky's ballet in the 2015 staging by Wayne Eagling and Tamás Solymosi, a fixture of the Opera's run-up to Christmas.
City Park Ice Rink season opening
When: 20 November
Where: City Park Ice Rink, Városliget
The rink plans to open its 2026/27 season with ice shows and music for 100 years of artificial ice. Weather can move the date.
Budapest gigs and festivals
Candlelight, the best of Hans Zimmer
Candlelight, the best of Hans Zimmer, at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on 14 November at 18:00.
Candlelight, Ed Sheeran meets Coldplay
Candlelight, Ed Sheeran meets Coldplay, at the Corinthia Budapest on 27 November at 20:30.
Candlelight, Queen vs ABBA
Candlelight, Queen vs ABBA, at the Museum of Fine Arts on 12 December at 19:00.
Current exhibitions in Budapest
Genesis Budapest, a journey through art, light and music
Dates: selected evenings, with the last listed session on 23 December
Where: St Francis of Assisi Parish Church, Bakáts tér, Ferencváros
A light and projection show inspired by the story of creation, staged in the church with a live string quartet or recorded music.
The Treasures of King Louis I (the Great) of Hungary
Until: 31 December
Where: Hungarian National Museum, Medieval Lapidarium
A cabinet exhibition for the 700th anniversary of the birth of the Angevin king whose reign made Hungary one of Europe's richest kingdoms.
METAMORPHOSIS
Until: 17 January 2027
Where: Capa Center
A group photography show curated by Emese Mucsi on transformation and the shared life of living things, inspired by Emanuele Coccia.
Walk This Way. The Art of Walking
Until: 31 January 2027
Where: Ludwig Museum
An international group show on walking as an artistic act, from the Dada excursion of 1921 to Surrealist wandering and Fluxus.
Dedicated Ones, Hungarian Women Artists in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Until: 14 February 2027
Where: Hungarian National Gallery
More than 130 works by sixty women artists, from Valéria Dénes and Noémi Ferenczy to lesser-known names.
Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin
Until: 28 February 2027
Where: Museum of Fine Arts
Paul Gauguin's first major exhibition in Hungary gathers 150 works, 80 of them by Gauguin, alongside Courbet, Monet, Cézanne and Van Gogh.
Living Folk Art, 18th National Folk Art Exhibition
Until: 11 April 2027
Where: Museum of Ethnography
Held every five years, the national showcase of contemporary folk crafts, chosen from some 6,000 entries to a nationwide competition.
Budapest tickets and tours
Keep the city and national holiday calendar in mind
Public holidays change the rhythm of a visit more than most travellers expect. Offices and banks close, museums and shops switch to holiday timetables and public transport runs a reduced service, so a day built around a single museum or market can fall flat. The Hungarian Labour Code fixes 11 public holidays, and a decree rearranges the working days around them every year: in 2026 Friday 2 January, Friday 21 August and Thursday 24 December are rest days, paid for with working Saturdays on 10 January, 8 August and 12 December.
National holidays in Hungary 2026
- 1 January New Year's Day (Újév)
- 15 March 1848 Revolution Memorial Day (Nemzeti ünnep)
- 3 April Good Friday (Nagypéntek)
- 6 April Easter Monday (Húsvéthétfő)
- 1 May Labour Day (A munka ünnepe)
- 25 May Whit Monday (Pünkösdhétfő)
- 20 August State Foundation Day (Az államalapítás ünnepe)
- 23 October 1956 Revolution Memorial Day (Nemzeti ünnep)
- 1 November All Saints' Day (Mindenszentek)
- 25 December Christmas Day (Karácsony)
- 26 December Second day of Christmas (Karácsony másnapja)
Local holidays in Budapest 2026
Budapest adds no local public holiday to that calendar. The city does mark 17 November as Budapest Day, the anniversary of the 1873 union of Pest, Buda and Óbuda, which the Metropolitan Assembly declared the capital's day of celebration in 1991, but it is a day of commemorations and cultural programmes rather than a day off, and the national list above is the only one that applies here.
BKK publishes a separate notice on how public transport runs around the 20 August national holiday, the busiest date of the year in the city.
The 2026 holiday work schedule on the National Legislation Database >
More about Budapest
The Budapest guide
The Budapest guide on Tourist Office ranks the city's top attractions, from Fisherman's Bastion to the Széchenyi Thermal Bath, and adds free viewpoints, museums and hidden corners.
Budapest tourist information
Where the Budapest tourist information points are, the hours they keep and the 2026 public holidays in Hungary.