What's open in Budapest over Christmas and New Year

Budapest does not shut down for Christmas. It shuts down on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. By law shops may open only until 2pm on 24 December, Széchenyi bath closes at 1pm, and last year the buses and trams had stopped by about 4pm. By evening the streets are empty and the city is at home.

The 25th and 26th are public holidays, and the museums close, but the city does not. Both big Christmas markets open, Széchenyi opens from 10am to 8pm, and the zoo, the Budapest Eye, the river boats and Lumina Park all open. Two things to sort out before you fly: book Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner, and get your food shopping done before the 24th, when the supermarkets close at noon.

What’s open in Budapest at Christmas: the five days at a glance

In 2026 Christmas Eve falls on a Thursday and is a day off for most workers, so locals have four days off in a row, from the 24th to Sunday the 27th. Then come three ordinary working days, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Most venues post their Christmas hours in mid-December. Where the 2026 hours are not out yet, this page gives last year’s and says so; in the table above, Parliament, the Basilica, Matthias Church, Rudas, Lukács, the ice rink and the transport follow last year’s pattern.

Christmas Eve in Budapest, Thursday 24 December

Christmas Eve is the main day of Christmas in Hungary, when the tree goes up and the family eats together, and the city stops in the early afternoon so that people can get home. The morning is busy and normal. By late afternoon the centre is quiet.

• Shops close by 2pm at the latest, the supermarkets usually at noon, and a law going through parliament may close them all day, so do your food shopping by the 23rd. Last year Lidl did not open at all on the 24th.
• Christmas markets: Advent Bazilika is open from 11am to 3pm and Vörösmarty tér from 10am to 2pm.
• Thermal baths: Széchenyi opens from 7am to 1pm. Last year Rudas and Lukács also closed at 1pm, and the other baths did not open.
• St Stephen’s Basilica stays open. Last year the church was free for sightseers from 9am to 8pm, with the dome terrace and the Treasury open until 2pm.
• Fisherman’s Bastion: the upper terrace is free from 24 to 31 December.
• Closed: every major museum, Parliament, the Dohány Synagogue, the Hospital in the Rock and Lumina Park. Last year Matthias Church and the City Park Ice Rink were closed too.
• Open in the morning: the zoo from 9am to 1pm, with last entry at noon, the Tropicarium from 10am to 2pm, the Budapest Eye, and The Nutcracker at the Opera at 11am.
• On the river: Legenda’s daytime cruises sail at 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm, with no evening sailings. The Mahart hop-on hop-off boat does not sail on the 24th. In the evening the two Christmas dinner cruises set off.
• Transport: last year daytime buses and trams made their last runs between 3pm and 4pm on Christmas Eve, the metro ran until 6pm, and night buses took over. The 100E airport bus, the 200E and tram 6 ran day and night as usual.
• Pharmacies, post and banks: pharmacies that open usually close at noon, post offices open until noon at most, and bank branches are closed.

A law to make 24 December a full public holiday is going through the Hungarian parliament. All parties supported it in the debate on 13 October 2026, and an amendment would drop the 2pm rule, so shops would stay shut all day as on the 25th. It had not had its final vote by 19 October. Plan as if the shops will be closed on the 24th, and anything open that morning is a bonus.

Christmas Day in Budapest, Friday 25 December

Christmas Day is a quiet family day for Budapest, and a public holiday. The shops, the market halls and almost every museum are closed. Plenty else is open, and it is a good day for the river and the baths.

• Christmas markets: Advent Bazilika from 11am to 8pm, Vörösmarty tér from noon to 6pm. Both have hot food stalls.
• Thermal baths: Széchenyi from 10am to 8pm. Last year Rudas opened from 10am to 8pm and Lukács from 10am to 7pm, and every other bath stayed shut.
• St Stephen’s Basilica: last year the church was free for sightseers from 1pm to 5.45pm, and the dome terrace and Treasury were open from 9am to 6.45pm, with Mass in English at 4pm.
• Closed: Parliament, Matthias Church (open for Mass only), the Dohány Synagogue, the Hospital in the Rock and every major museum.
• Open: the zoo from 9am to 4pm, the Tropicarium from noon to 7pm, the Budapest Eye, Lumina Park from 4.30pm to 10pm, and The Nutcracker at 11am. Last year the City Park Ice Rink opened from 10am to 2pm and from 4pm to 9pm. At 3pm the Uránia cinema screens the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker.
• On the river: Legenda sails its normal winter timetable, with daytime cruises and evening cruises about every 20 minutes from 3.40pm. The Mahart hop-on hop-off boat sails at 1.15pm, 2.30pm and 3.45pm from Vigadó tér.
• Transport: holiday timetables, with fewer buses and trams. Last year the airport bus ran less often than usual.
• Pharmacies: only 24-hour and duty pharmacies open, which is the same on the 26th and on 1 January.

The Mahart boat is the easy hour on the Danube on Christmas Day, with a stop at Batthyány tér on the Buda side if you want to get off. The 3.45pm sailing leaves just before sunset and is out on the river as it gets dark.

Boxing Day in Budapest, Saturday 26 December

Boxing Day is still a public holiday in Hungary, so shops, market halls and banks stay closed. It is also when the first museums reopen.

• Museums: the National Gallery in Buda Castle opens from 10am to 6pm, and the Museum of Fine Arts on Heroes’ Square opens too. The Castle Museum, the National Museum, the House of Terror, the Ethnography Museum and Aquincum stay closed.
• Christmas markets: Advent Bazilika from 11am to 8pm, Vörösmarty tér from noon to 6pm, with its children’s train from 2pm.
• Thermal baths: Széchenyi from 10am to 8pm. Last year Rudas opened from 10am to 8pm, Lukács and Dandár from 10am to 7pm, and Palatinus from 9am to 4pm.
• Matthias Church usually opens in the afternoon on the 26th, after the morning Masses.
• St Stephen’s Basilica: last year the same hours as Christmas Day, with Mass in English at 4pm.
• The Dohány Synagogue is closed, as it is every Saturday. The Hospital in the Rock reopens.
• Open: the zoo from 9am to 4pm, the Tropicarium from 10am to 8pm, the Budapest Eye, Lumina Park from 4.30pm, and The Nutcracker at 11am and 6pm. The Budapest Festival Orchestra plays its Surprise Concert at 7.45pm, with a programme nobody is told in advance.
• On the river and the roads: the same boats as Christmas Day, and holiday timetables on public transport.

Between Christmas and New Year, 27 to 30 December

From Sunday the 27th Budapest is back to normal. Shops and the market halls open on their usual hours, and so do most museums, with two catches.

Monday 28 December is an ordinary Monday, so the museums that close on Mondays are shut. The National Museum and Aquincum close that day, while the House of Terror and the National Gallery open. On the same day the Sikló funicular up to Buda Castle closes for maintenance.

The Vörösmarty tér market changes after the 28th, when its craft stalls and the children’s train finish, though the rest of the market carries on to New Year’s Eve. The Vörösmarty tér market guide has its hours in full. The Dohány Synagogue has announced longer opening hours from 27 December 2026 to 6 January 2027, with the times still to come.

The mulled wine cruise, which does not sail from 24 to 26 December, runs again from the 27th, and is a warm hour on the river on one of these evenings.

If you have a car, last year street parking was free from 24 to 28 December but charged again from 29 to 31 December.

New Year’s Eve in Budapest, Thursday 31 December

New Year’s Eve is an ordinary working day in Hungary with no legal early close, but everything closes early by custom. Treat it as a morning for errands and an evening out.

• Shops close in the mid-afternoon. Last year Penny and Spar closed at 2pm, Aldi and Auchan at 4pm and Tesco at 6pm. Buy what you need for New Year’s Day by lunchtime, since it is a holiday.
• Museums close early: the National Gallery, the Castle Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts at 4pm, the House of Terror at 3pm, and the National Museum at 2pm. The Ethnography Museum and Aquincum are closed all day.
• Parliament: last year the last tours went in at 2pm.
• St Stephen’s Basilica: last year the church and the dome terrace were open from 9am to 5.45pm.
• The Dohány Synagogue opened from 10am to 8pm last year. The Hospital in the Rock is closed.
• Christmas markets: both Advent Bazilika and Vörösmarty tér stay open from 11am until 3am.
• Thermal baths: Széchenyi from 8am to 6pm. Last year Rudas closed at 6pm and reopened from 9pm to 3am for a ticketed New Year’s Eve party.
• Open: the zoo from 9am to 1pm, the Tropicarium from 10am to 6pm, Lumina Park from 4.30pm to 10pm, and The Nutcracker at 1pm and 9pm.
• Transport: last year all four metro lines and every HÉV line ran all night, with the main tram lines 4, 6 and 47 and the airport bus.
• Services: last year pharmacies typically closed at 2pm and post offices at noon.

For fireworks, parties and the best places to see in the new year, see the New Year’s Eve section of our Christmas in Budapest guide.

New Year’s Day in Budapest, Friday 1 January

New Year’s Day is a public holiday, so shops, market halls, post offices and banks are closed. It is a slow morning, and the museums that open wait until noon.

• Christmas markets: it is Advent Bazilika’s last day, from 11am to 6pm. Vörösmarty tér has closed.
• Thermal baths: Széchenyi from 10am to 8pm. Last year Rudas opened from 10am to 8pm, Lukács from 8am to 8pm, Dandár from 10am to 7pm and Palatinus from 10am to 4pm.
• Museums: the National Gallery, the Castle Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts open from noon to 6pm. The National Museum, the House of Terror, the Ethnography Museum, Aquincum, Parliament and the Hospital in the Rock are closed.
• Churches: last year St Stephen’s Basilica was free for sightseers from 1pm to 5.45pm, with Mass in English at 4pm, and Matthias Church opened from 1.15pm to 5pm.
• The Dohány Synagogue opened from 10am to 8pm last year, and Fisherman’s Bastion’s upper terrace was free.
• Open: the zoo from 9am to 4pm, the Tropicarium from 10am to 8pm, the Budapest Eye, Lumina Park from 4.30pm and The Nutcracker at 2pm. Last year the City Park Ice Rink opened only in the evening, from 4pm to 9pm.
• On the river: the Mahart hop-on hop-off boat sails at 1.15pm, 2.30pm and 3.45pm.
• Transport: holiday timetables.

Budapest sights and museums at Christmas, day by day

The 2026 hours are written plainly; cells marked “last year” are 2025’s and will be updated as each venue publishes.

The Budapest Eye says it opens every day of the year but does not publish shorter hours for the holidays, so go in daylight on the 24th and 31st. The Fine Arts museum’s hours on the 26th were 10am to 6pm last year.

Thermal baths in Budapest over Christmas

Last year only the three big baths opened on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Széchenyi, Rudas and Lukács, and Széchenyi has published the same for 2026. The smaller city baths shut on both days and reopened on the 26th. Gellért has been closed since October 2025 and is expected to reopen in 2028, and Király is closed indefinitely, so neither is an option.

A hot outdoor pool on a freezing Christmas morning is one of the best things to do in Budapest in winter, and on the 25th the big baths are open while almost every museum is shut. Over the holidays last year Rudas also opened all its zones to men and women on every day from 19 December to 6 January, with the all-zone ticket only, instead of its usual single-sex weekdays.

Our guide to the best thermal baths in Budapest compares them all.

Getting around Budapest at Christmas: transport and the airport

Public transport runs every day over Christmas, on reduced timetables. Christmas Eve is the day to watch. BKK publishes its 2026 arrangements in mid-December, and in 2024 and 2025 they were almost the same:

• 24 December: last year Saturday timetables ran by day. The last daytime buses and trams left between 3pm and 4pm, the last metros between about 5.50pm and 6.15pm depending on the line, and night buses started from about 4pm, running their full routes from 6pm. The H7 HÉV line stopped around 4pm, and the other HÉV lines ran to their normal closing time.
• 25 and 26 December, 1 January: holiday timetables, so expect longer waits.
• 31 December: last year all four metro lines and every HÉV line ran all night, with trams 4, 6, 14, 47, 50, 56A and 17, trolleybuses 75 and 80, and buses 5, 8E, 16 and 223E.

From the airport, the 100E bus and the 200E ran day and night as usual on Christmas Eve last year, and tram 6 kept running too, so landing late on the 24th is no problem for getting into town. Főtaxi, the airport’s official taxi partner, works around the clock. The problem is food. If you land in the evening on the 24th with a flat booked, ask your host to buy some basics for you, because the shops will be shut until the 27th.

Trains and coaches: last year trains ran a Saturday timetable on the 24th and holiday timetables from the 25th, and most long-distance buses usually stop running after 4pm on 24 and 31 December, so leave a day trip for another day.

Up the hills, the Children’s Railway in the Buda Hills ran a morning service on Christmas Eve last year, and ran on 25, 26 and 31 December and 1 January.

The Christmas light trams run in the evenings through the season on ordinary lines, but in 2024 they stayed in the depot on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

Hop-on hop-off buses: Big Bus says it runs every day of the year, though its Christmas Eve hours are not published. Our hop-on hop-off guide covers the companies and routes.

Shops, supermarkets and pharmacies in Budapest at Christmas

Hungarian law lets shops open only until 2pm on 24 December. Restaurants, hotels, florists and sweet shops are exempt, and so are shops at fuel stations, railway and bus stations and the airport. On 25 and 26 December and 1 January the supermarket chains and the malls close. The chains publish their 2026 hours in November, so this is last year’s pattern.

The malls follow the same pattern. Last year the shops in WestEnd and Arena Mall opened from 10am to 2pm on the 24th and closed on the 25th and 26th, while their restaurants and cinemas could stay open. On New Year’s Eve WestEnd’s shops closed at 4pm and Arena Mall’s at 2pm.

When the supermarkets are shut, small non-stop shops in the centre stay open, and some fuel station shops opened on the 25th, 26th and 1 January last year. The delivery apps keep running over the holidays, with shorter hours on Christmas Eve and fewer restaurants to order from.

The market halls, the Great Market Hall included, close on public holidays. Last year they opened until noon on the 24th, closed on the 25th and 26th, and reopened on the working days between Christmas and New Year.

Pharmacies: on the 24th the pharmacies that open usually close at noon. On 25 and 26 December and 1 January only the 24-hour and duty pharmacies open. Every pharmacy door shows the nearest one on duty, and the official finder at ogyei.gov.hu/gyogyszertarkereso lists the rota about two weeks ahead. Déli Gyógyszertár, by Déli station at Alkotás utca 1/B, is open 24 hours. For a doctor out of hours call 1830, and 112 in an emergency.

Post offices and banks: post offices close at noon at the latest on the 24th and 31st and are shut on the holidays. Bank branches are closed from the 24th to the 26th and on 1 January, so use a cash machine.

Restaurants and Christmas dinner in Budapest

Many ordinary restaurants in Budapest close on the evening of Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. Hotel restaurants, the grand cafés and places with a set Christmas menu do open, and they are booked out, so book before you travel. From the 26th more places reopen.

The places that open are mostly in hotels, fine dining restaurants serving a set menu, the grand cafés, boat restaurants and some Italian places, plus the fast food in the malls. Last year almost every McDonald’s in Hungary closed on the 24th and 25th, so a burger is no fallback either. Hotel restaurants and grand cafés such as the New York Café have offered a set Christmas Eve dinner in past years. Restaurants post their Christmas menus in December, so look for “karácsonyi menü” (Christmas menu) or “szenteste” (Christmas Eve) on their sites.

Three ways to make it work:

• Ask your hotel first. Most hotel restaurants open over Christmas and take outside guests too.
• Eat your main meal at lunchtime on the 24th, while the restaurants are still open, and keep the evening simple. The one Christmas Day I left dinner to chance, I ended up with a pizza.
• Christmas lunch at a market. On the 25th both big markets open from late morning with hot food. It is not cheap, but it is open.

A Christmas dinner cruise is the other answer for the evenings of the 24th and 25th. The Silverline cruise sails for three hours from 7.30pm, from Dock 11 on the Pest bank by Elizabeth Bridge, past the lit Parliament and Buda Castle, with a four-course dinner, a welcome drink and live piano. Drinks after the welcome glass are paid for on board, and a table by the window is a separate option. Dress is smart casual, and there is no hotel pickup.

For a shorter evening there is also a two-hour Christmas dinner cruise with Hungarian folk music and dancing on the 24th and 25th, from Vigadó tér 6, with a four-course festive dinner and a glass of sparkling wine. Seating is first come, first served, so arrive the 30 minutes early it asks for.

Christmas Mass in English in Budapest

St Stephen’s Basilica is the place for Christmas services in English. Last Christmas it held Mass in English at 4pm on 25 and 26 December and on 1 January, its usual Sunday and holiday time. On Christmas Eve there was a nativity play at 4pm and Midnight Mass with Cardinal Péter Erdő, in Hungarian. On New Year’s Eve a thanksgiving Mass at 6pm was followed by an all-night vigil and Mass at midnight. No ticket is needed for Mass. The Midnight Mass is the cardinal’s service in the capital’s largest Catholic church, so go early for a seat. The 2026 times are posted in December, and our Advent Bazilika guide covers the market on the square outside.

Matthias Church holds Midnight Mass on 24 December 2026, and on 25 and 26 December Masses at 8.30am, 10am in Latin and noon with the organ. They are not in English, and the church is closed to sightseers on the 25th.

Other English services: the Inner City Parish Church by Március 15. tér holds Mass in English on Sunday evenings at 6pm, and 27 December is a Sunday. St Columba’s Church of Scotland on Vörösmarty utca has a Sunday service in English at 11am, and St Margaret’s Anglican Church meets in the Lutheran church on Szentkirályi utca on Sundays at 10.30am. Both announce their Christmas services in December.

Insider tips

For the Christmas markets themselves, compare them in our Christmas markets guide, and see what else is on by date in our December guide.