Cat Museum Budapest is open every day of the week, 11:00 to 18:30, with no seasons and no published closing days. That is the easy part.
What shapes a visit is the slot. You do not wander in when you like: every visit is booked for one of five 90-minute slots, and the museum sets its hours around ten cats who sleep for much of the day.
Opening hours
Cat Museum Budapest
| Monday | 11:00-18:30 |
| Tuesday | 11:00-18:30 |
| Wednesday | 11:00-18:30 |
| Thursday | 11:00-18:30 |
| Friday | 11:00-18:30 |
| Saturday | 11:00-18:30 |
| Sunday | 11:00-18:30 |
Visits are booked in 90-minute slots. The last slot starts at 17:00.
Cat Museum Budapest time slots
The day is cut into five slots of 90 minutes, and they run back to back from opening to closing.
| Slot starts | Slot ends |
|---|---|
| 11:00 | 12:30 |
| 12:30 | 14:00 |
| 14:00 | 15:30 |
| 15:30 | 17:00 |
| 17:00 | 18:30 |
The slot you book is when you go in, not a window to arrive in. The museum will not let you in before your booked time while the group before is still inside, and there is nowhere to wait indoors, because the cats move freely around both floors. So plan to be at Vadász utca 26 at your start time.
Running late is covered on our tickets page, with the other door rules.
Best times to visit
Time of day
The cats decide this, not the clock. The museum says they sleep about 16 hours a day and that it cannot predict who will be awake. Our advice is to come after 15:00, when more of them tend to be up and about.
That makes the 15:30 and 17:00 slots the ones to book. The 17:00 slot is the last of the day and ends at closing, so it suits an afternoon that finishes here.
Midday slots are the gamble. You still get the drink, the paintings and the quiz, but expect more cats curled up than walking about.
Day of the week
Weekdays are calmer than weekends, and in two small floors that matters more than it would in a big museum. If a weekend is your only chance, book it early, since each slot has room for only a small group.
Mondays are a good day for it. The museum keeps its full hours, while the House of Terror and the Hungarian National Museum are both closed.
Season
Nothing changes with the season. The hours are the same in January as in July, and the whole visit is indoors.
That makes it a useful card to hold for a wet or freezing afternoon in Pest, when an hour with a hot drink and a room full of cats beats another outdoor sight.
How long to spend
Your slot is 90 minutes, and most people need 30 to 60 of them. Book the slot for when you want to arrive, and let the length of the visit take care of itself.
About 30 minutes
A look round both floors, the porcelain upstairs, and time with whichever cats are awake.
About an hour
Add the drink in the Relax Nook, the tablet quiz and the photo walls.
The full 90 minutes
For cat lovers who came for the company rather than the collection, with a second round of whichever cats have woken up.
A painting workshop
Two and a half hours with a brush and the cats in the room, sold as its own ticket on our tickets page.