The Budapest Spring Festival is one of Hungary’s largest cultural festivals, taking place over a two-week period at the end of March, beginning of April. There are approximately 200 events held in over 50 locations including classical and pop music concerts, theatre performances and film screenings.

Every June a selection of museums in Budapest are open to the public free of charge for one night, until 02:30. The event is an initiative of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The list of participating museums can be found on many websites, such as the Hungarian Tourist Programmes.

Main square and stage of the Castle of this lovely town north from Lake Balaton, Veszprém hosts this cultural and music festival. Classic music, jazz, opera – almost all genres will be represented.

One of Hungary’s most popular and Debrecen’s biggest festivals, the carnival is a spectacular event with beautiful flower cars and dance groups coming from Debrecen, her sister cities and other countries as well. A week long fiesta in the spirit of flowers, dance and music. The highlight of the festival is the carnival parade on 20th August.

August 20th commemorates the foundation of the Hungarian state, it’s like Hungary’s 4th of July. Also called as St. Stephen’s Day, remembering Stephen I, the first king of Hungary and founder of the Kingdom of Hungary, who was canonized on August 20th, 1083 by Pope Gregory VII. In Budapest the festivities start in the morning with the raising of the Hungarian flag in Kossuth Square, followed by an air show over the Danube, Holy Mass, and the Holy Right Hand procession around the Basilica. The event ends with a fireworks display over the Danube.

The Wine Festival in September offers a selection of excellent wines, food and music, and features over 250 wineries from 15 countries. The event takes place at Castle Hill.

From the end of November to the end of December, the downtown main square (Vörösmarty Square) is decorated for the annual Budapest Christmas Market. There are dozens of stands where visitors can buy Christmas-themed arts and crafts, hand-made gifts and a selection of toys and Hungarian specialities.
There is also a Christmas Fair on Szent István Square in front of the Basilica with an ice-rink in the middle, which is surrounded by a number of stands selling Christmas-themed arts and crafts.

Foodies will love this event, held every October on Castle Hill. Featuring at least 20 different varieties of the Hungarian brandy, palinka, their distillers are on-hand to explain their intricacies along with the makers of the famous Hungarian sausages and their produce. Street entertainment, music, dance performances and general merriment are all part of the gastronomic fun.

Awaiting visitors in every season of the year, Etyeki Piknik held at township of Etyek, 26 kms from Budapest offers both Hungarian and local specialities. Delicacies of gastronomy and wines can be tasted in a pleasant setting, in Szépvölgy and Újhegy area of the township, with typical cellars of this area opening their doors.

Take a big spoonful of happiness, a pinch of humour, and a huge amount of soul! If you already have these ingredients, you can start cooking: this is the secret of Baja fish soup. At the festival, every year around 2000 cauldrons fill downtown of Baja, with an endless variety of versions of delicious fish soup cooked in them.

Goulash is one of the typical dishes of the Great Hungarian Plain. The festival, held at the town of Szolnok, aims to showcase this so well-known Hungarian dish, and offers a great possibility to taste the absolutely authentic version. With cooking contest, other gastro delicacies e.g. handcrafted beer and local products, and other programmes.

Cooks duelling with cauldrons and wooden spoons will enter the competition, aiming to win the Fish Cooking Merit Award, founded by Venesz Prize winner Sándor Frank. While the more then 14,000 portions of fish soup are being cooked, we can try hot-air balloons, sightseeing flight, rafting or wait for Makó onions – one of the basic ingredients of real Szeged fish soup – delivered on Tisza.

Sziget Festival is one of the largest music festivals in Europe with an average of 400,000 visitors each year. Hungarian and international musicians perform at over 60 venues, in addition to circus and theatre shows, and exhibitions. Concerts feature many genres including metal, folk, jazz, blues, alternative and classical. There are around 200 events daily during the festival, which is held in August at Shipyard Island (Hajógyári sziget).

For more than 20 years now, the VOLT Festival is one of Hungary’s greatest annual good-time gatherings, drawing world-famous musicians of diverse genres along with prominent local acts to fill a forested campground in the hills above Sopron.

Cheerful revelers flood to the southern shore of Lake Balaton to let loose amid electronica beats, all happening on the sprawling lawns of a waterfront recreation area in Zamárdi. This five-day multi-stage beach party blasts pulsating music across the “Hungarian Sea”, while headliners spice up the sun-splashed scenes.

Festival of College & University Students, Hungary’s biggest student party. The waterside jamboree – happening at Lake Velence, just 50 kilometers southwest of Budapest – provides lively daytime activities and blasting concerts for an entire week.

Assorted local bands perform merry shows covering all genres of Hungarian music on multiple stages, including pop, rock, hip-hop, and more. This five-day alfresco extravaganza held amid pristine nature just a short drive away from the city of Pécs.

Located on a sprawling lakefront area in Zamárdi on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, B.my.Lake is continually crowded with swimsuit-clad party people from near and far, who congregate to let loose amid epic electronica tunes, while about 100 DJs play in front of sweeping views.