Things to do in Budapest in December
December 2026
The best Christmas markets, concerts, exhibitions and all-round great things to do in Budapest in December 2026.
December weather
Cold all day, hat and gloves weather
Below freezing overnight
Days with 1 mm of rain or more
Averages for 1991 to 2020 from HungaroMet, the Hungarian Meteorological Service.
Always good in December
What’s on in December 2026
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Photo: Hungarian State Opera The Nutcracker at the Opera House
20 November to 10 January, 19:00 on 20, 25 and 27 November, 1, 3, 8, 10, 14 and 15 December and 7 January; 18:00 on 21 November, 17 and 28 December and 10 January; 11:00 on 22 November, 19, 24, 25 and 27 December and 3 January; 11:00 and 18:00 on 28 November, 5, 6, 12, 21, 22, 26 and 29 December and 2 and 9 January; 13:00 and 21:00 on 31 December; 14:00 on 1 January
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
Tchaikovsky's Christmas ballet has 43 performances at the Opera House between 20 November and 10 January, in the staging Wayne Eagling and Tamás Solymosi made for the Hungarian National Ballet. It is danced, not spoken, so there is nothing to translate.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Hungarian National Dance Ensemble: Requiem for Mohács
2 to 3 December, 19:00 to 21:00 on both nights
Festival Theatre, Müpa Budapest, District IX
A new dance piece on the battle of Mohács, premiered by the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble as the defeat approaches its five hundredth anniversary. Two performances in Müpa's Festival Theatre.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera The Magic Flute at the Opera House
29 November to 13 December, 18:00 on 29 November and 2, 4, 7 and 9 December, and 11:00 on 13 December
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
Miklós Szinetár's staging of Mozart's singspiel, built around the symbols in the piece and ending with the sun coming up. It is given in German and Hungarian, with surtitles in English.
Photo: Budapest Ex-Pat & English Language Meetup Beer tasting and English language meetup
11 November to 16 December, Wednesdays 19:00 to 23:00
Beer People, District VI
A weekly evening of beer and conversation for Budapest's English speakers, whether they landed last week or twenty years ago. There is no charge to join in, and you buy your own at the bar.
Photo: Turbina Budapest Tonic Walter at Turbina
Thursday 3 December, 19:00
Turbina Cultural Centre, District VIII
The German pair Maximilian Nestmann and Marcel Vckov play live electronics built from analogue synthesisers, organic percussion and instruments, on the tour for their second album, II.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Recirquel: Kristály at Millenáris
4 to 16 December, 17:00 and 19:00 on 4 and 11 December, 11:00 and 13:00 on 5 December, then 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00 on 6, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16 December
Millenáris Glass Hall, District II
Recirquel's winter circus fairy tale is back in the Millenáris Glass Hall in a reworked version, with the mistress of the Crystal World freezing everything behind walls of ice. Müpa stages it off-site, and it is meant for children of six and over and the adults with them.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera Hungarian Christmas at the Opera House
4 to 28 December, 4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
Jenő Ádám's Christmas one-act was the first work to put plain Hungarian folk song on the Opera House stage alongside the classical repertoire, and it premiered there at Christmas 1931 with the composer conducting. Sung in Hungarian, with surtitles in both Hungarian and English, and no interval.
Photo: Liszt Academy Ábrahám Consort Advent concert at the Liszt Academy
Saturday 5 December, from 19:30
Grand Hall, Liszt Academy, District VI
The Ábrahám Consort and its concertmaster, the violinist Márta Ábrahám, play music for Advent and Christmas from the first half of the eighteenth century, and the alto Atala Schöck sings two arias from Bach's Christmas Oratorio.
Photo: A38 Hajó Baby Lasagna on the A38
Saturday 5 December, 19:00, gate opens at 18:00
A38 concert hall, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
The Croatian musician Marko Purišić, who records as Baby Lasagna, brings the End The Party tour to the ship's concert hall. Eurovision made his name in 2024, and he has spent the time since moving the music somewhere heavier.
Photo: Barba Negra Avatar at Barba Negra
Saturday 5 December, from 19:15
Barba Negra Red Stage, District XXI
Avatar bring Don't Go In The Forest to the Red Stage, Barba Negra's festival-sized room, with Neckbreakker as special guest. Music starts at quarter past seven.
Photo: A38 Hajó Twin Noir and ROYE in the A38's Bow studio
Saturday 5 December, 20:00, gate opens at 19:30
A38 Bow studio, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
A Berlin duo who build dark wave and EBM around an analogue tape machine, sharing the ship's Bow studio with a Prague songwriter working in shoegaze and dream pop.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Samson et Dalila, live from the Met
5 to 6 December, 18:00 to 22:00 on both days
Festival Theatre and Auditorium, Müpa Budapest, District IX
Saint-Saëns's grand opera relayed live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with Aigul Akhmetshina as Dalila and Clay Hilley as Samson. Sung in the original French and subtitled in English as well as Hungarian, and screened again the next evening for anyone who misses the live night.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Macskafogó 40, the film with live music
5 to 6 December, 16:00 and 20:00 on both days
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
The Hungarian animated caper Macskafogó, or Cat City, turns forty, and Müpa screens it with the score played live. Shown in the original Hungarian without subtitles, so it suits anyone who already knows the film or is happy to follow the pictures.
Photo: Liszt Academy Advent with Bach at the Liszt Academy
Sunday 6 December, from 19:30
Grand Hall, Liszt Academy, District VI
Five Bach cantatas in one evening, sung by the Purcell Choir and played by the Orfeo Orchestra on period instruments, with György Vashegyi conducting.
Photo: Budapest Sportiroda (BSI) Penny Santa Run in central Budapest
Sunday 6 December, family race from 12:00, 2.3 km from 12:30, 5 km from 13:30 and 14:15
Start on Sóház utca, District IX
Thousands of runners in red suits and white beards take over the streets of central Budapest for an afternoon. The suit and the beard come with your entry, and there are three distances to pick from.
Photo: Secret market Secret Market Advent fair, second Sunday
Sunday 6 December, 10:00 to 18:00
Akvárium Bistro, Erzsébet tér, District V
The second of the Secret Market's four Advent Sundays in the Akvárium's bistro. Buy the Christmas presents off the people who made them, bring the dog, and walk in without paying.
Photo: Barba Negra Accept at Barba Negra
Sunday 6 December, doors 18:00
Barba Negra Red Stage, District XXI
Accept's fiftieth anniversary tour reaches the big room, with Dynazty and Enforcer as special guests. Doors at six are early for Barba Negra, which tells you how long the bill is.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Anna Netrebko sings Judith in Bluebeard's Castle
Monday 7 December, 19:30 to 22:00
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
The Russian soprano takes on Judith for the first time, in a concert performance of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle. Liszt fills the first half, with Misi Boros at the piano.
Photo: Akvárium Klub Chelsea Wolfe at the Akvárium Klub
Monday 7 December, doors 19:00
Akvárium Klub Main Hall, Erzsébet tér, District V
THE DARK World Tour brings Chelsea Wolfe back to Budapest, in the Akvárium's biggest room, with A.A. Williams supporting. Her last concert in the city sold out.
Photo: A38 Hajó Master Boot Record, Fulci and arottenbit on the A38
Tuesday 8 December, 19:30, gate opens at 18:30
A38 concert hall, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
Three Italian acts on one bill, pulling computer metal, death metal and Game Boy chiptune into a horror-themed night in the ship's concert hall. It runs as part of the Fekete Zaj series.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Concerto Budapest: Brahms, Walton and Strauss
Wednesday 9 December, 19:30 to 22:00
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Walton's Violin Concerto with Concerto Budapest under the Norwegian conductor Arvid Engegård, set between Brahms's Academic Festival Overture and Also sprach Zarathustra.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Mahler's Sixth for János Kovács at 75
Thursday 10 December, 19:30 to 22:00
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra marks the seventy-fifth birthday year of the conductor János Kovács by handing him Mahler's Sixth Symphony, among the heaviest things he wrote.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Recirquel: Paradisum
10 to 31 December, 19:00 on 10, 11, 12, 28, 29, 30 and 31 December, and 17:00 on 13 and 27 December
Festival Theatre, Müpa Budapest, District IX
Bence Vági's company works in cirque danse, contemporary dance crossed with aerial and ground circus. Paradisum is told entirely in movement and runs an hour straight through, and it plays over New Year's Eve.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Danubia Orchestra: Vive la France
Friday 11 December, 19:30 to 22:00
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
Máté Hámori takes the Danubia Orchestra through French music in single movements and short pieces, from Rameau to Ravel and Bizet, and ends with the singer Myrtill Micheller.
Photo: A38 Hajó Nefeli & Abel and Bon Jour in the A38's Bow studio
Friday 11 December, 19:30, gate opens at 19:00
A38 Bow studio, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
A Viennese rock couple play their first show in Hungary, on a bill with Bon Jour, an Austrian indie band who spent their early gigs hidden behind computer-generated heads.
Photo: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts MMXXV by Imre Vass
19 November to 11 December, 19:00, 65 minutes, doors from 18:30
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Main Hall, District IX
Imre Vass sets a dance piece to Enigma's MCMXC a.D., thirty-five years after the album came out. English subtitles, and a royal python on stage.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera La bohème at the Opera House
11 to 30 December, 18:00 on 11 December, 18:30 on 13, 16, 19, 25, 27 and 30 December, and 11:00 on 23 December
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
Puccini's garret opera, in the Kálmán Nádasdy production the Opera has kept in its repertoire since 1937. The singing is in Italian and the surtitles run in English.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Handel's Messiah by the RIAS Kammerchor
Saturday 12 December, 19:30 to 22:25
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
Müpa's Christmas concert is Handel's Messiah, sung in English by the RIAS Kammerchor with Berlin's Akademie für Alte Musik. A British conductor and four British soloists take it on.
Photo: A38 Hajó Lucy Dreams and Larsovitch in the A38's Bow studio
Saturday 12 December, 19:30, gate opens at 19:00
A38 Bow studio, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
An Austrian band whose creative partner is an artificial band member called Lucy, on a bill with a French project that makes dark, danceable music on old machines and no computers.
Photo: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts Uredda and Juli Deák at Trafó
Saturday 12 December, 20:00, 150 minutes
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Main Hall, District IX
Uredda play their debut album on Trafó's main stage, with Thighpaulsandra of Coil and Spiritualized and two members of Zu in the line-up. Juli Deák opens on solo flute.
Photo: Akvárium Klub Apollo Brown and Skyzoo: The Easy Luxury Tour
Sunday 13 December, doors at 19:00
Akvárium Klub Small Hall, Erzsébet tér, District V
The producer and the rapper reunite for Luxury Tax, and the tour name splices it with The Easy Truth, the album that first put them together.
Photo: Liszt Academy Hungarian Radio Children's Choir Christmas concert
Monday 14 December, from 19:00
Grand Hall, Liszt Academy, District VI
The Hungarian Radio Children's Choir sings German Romantic music for Christmas in the Liszt Academy's Grand Hall, and brings the hall's organ into it.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Iveta Apkalna and the State Choir LATVIJA
Tuesday 15 December, 19:30 to 22:00
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
The Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna plays Müpa's Christmas organ concert, and brings a sixty-strong choir over from home. Carols, Bach and Poulenc sit alongside newer Baltic choral writing.
Photo: MVM Dome Bryan Adams at the MVM Dome
Wednesday 16 December, 20:00
MVM Dome, Üllői út, District IX
The Canadian rocker is back in Budapest on the Roll With The Punches tour. New album songs, and the ones everyone in the room will know.
Photo: Müpa Budapest The Hungarian National Philharmonic's Christmas concert
Thursday 17 December, from 19:30
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
No single large work this year. György Vashegyi conducts the first two cantatas of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, then Schumann and a late Honegger cantata, three composers and three very different ideas of what Christmas music is for.
Photo: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts Fight or Flight by SUB.LAB.PRO
17 to 18 December, 19:00, 45 minutes
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Main Hall, District IX
A dance piece aimed at the audience's nervous system. Máté Mészáros and the SUB.LAB.PRO dancers use light and rhythm to lift your heart rate and shrink your pupils, in forty-five minutes marked English friendly.
Photo: Liszt Academy The Danubia Orchestra's complete Nutcracker at the Liszt Academy
Friday 18 December, from 19:30
Grand Hall, Liszt Academy, District VI
Tchaikovsky's whole Nutcracker score in concert, played by the Danubia Orchestra with the children's choir of the Zoltán Kodály Hungarian Choir School and conducted by Vanessa Benelli Mosell.
Photo: Mátyás-templom Bach and Charpentier at Matthias Church
Saturday 19 December, from 20:00
Matthias Church, Buda Castle, District I
Hungarian Radio's orchestra and choir perform Charpentier's Midnight Mass for Christmas, built on French carol tunes, in Matthias Church, with a Bach cantata to begin.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Wonderful Nativity by the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble
19 to 23 December, 19 December from 18:00, then 20 to 23 December from 11:00
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
The State Folk Ensemble's dancers count down to the night of the Nativity in a staged piece built from folk custom, with a snowman, a snow fairy and a táltos horse among the dancing. Müpa puts it at age four and up, and there are five performances.
Photo: A38 Hajó Budapest Bár's Christmas concert on the A38
Sunday 20 December, doors 19:00, music from 20:00
A38, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
The band that reworks the coffeehouse gypsy music of 1920s and 1930s Budapest, with singers drawn from the Hungarian rock scene, playing the boat three days before Christmas. They promise there will be no Last Christmas.
Photo: MVM Dome A Christmas concert with José Carreras and Katherine Jenkins
Sunday 20 December, 19:00
MVM Dome, Üllői út, District IX
One of the Three Tenors brings a Christmas programme to the Dome, with the Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins singing in Hungary for the first time.
Photo: Liszt Academy Christmas Concert in the Liszt Academy's Grand Hall
Sunday 20 December, from 19:30
Grand Hall, Liszt Academy, District VI
A fixture of the last days before Christmas since 1999, put on by the harpist Andrea Vigh. She plays alongside the violinist Barnabás Kelemen, the pianist Dénes Várjon and the singer Polina Pasztircsák.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera Magnificat and Messiah at the Opera House
20 to 23 December, 19:00 on both nights
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
The Opera's own orchestra and chorus pair Bach's Magnificat with Handel's Messiah in Mozart's arrangement. Benjamin Bayl conducts, and the second half is played with projections.
Photo: Liszt Academy The Danubia Orchestra's family Nutcracker at the Liszt Academy
Monday 21 December, 15:00 and 18:00
Grand Hall, Liszt Academy, District VI
An hour of the best-loved music from The Nutcracker for families, paired with a brand-new story by Dani Varró. The Liszt Academy recommends it for children aged five and over.
Photo: Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház The Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker at the Uránia
Friday 25 December, 15:00
Uránia National Film Theatre, District VIII
Peter Wright's Covent Garden production of The Nutcracker, recorded in December 2025 and screened in the Uránia's grand hall on Christmas Day. It is shown in English.
Photo: Budapest Festival Orchestra The Budapest Festival Orchestra's Surprise Concert
Saturday 26 December, from 19:45
Budapest Congress Center, District XII
Iván Fischer conducts a programme nobody in the hall has been told in advance. Boxing Day has been the orchestra's birthday since 1983, and the Surprise Concert is the present it hands the audience instead of the other way round.
Exhibitions and longer runs
On for a week or more, so there is time: the ones closing soonest come first.
Photo: Hungarian National Museum The Treasures of King Louis I (the Great) of Hungary
5 March to 31 December, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00
Hungarian National Museum, Medieval Lapidary, District VIII
A cabinet display of goldsmiths' work, gold coin and finds from the king's seat at Visegrád, from a reign that made medieval Hungary one of the richest kingdoms in Europe. It sits in the museum's Medieval Lapidary.
Photo: Deák17 Galéria LAK|HATÁS, housing seen by young artists
25 September to 8 January
Városháza Park, District V
An open-air show in the park behind City Hall, on what home means to people starting out. The Deák17 gallery picked the work from an open call and hung it outdoors, so you can take it in on the way past.
Photo: Műcsarnok Idézőjelek, the Károly Kelemen memorial exhibition
21 October to 10 January, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, Thursday 12:00 to 20:00, closed Monday; closed on 23 October and 1 November, and open from 13:00 on 7 November
Műcsarnok, Heroes' Square, District XIV
The Műcsarnok's memorial show for Károly Kelemen, who died in 2024, gathers about 150 works and sets out to cover the whole of a career rather than a slice of it.
Photo: Capa Központ Metamorphosis at the Capa Center
7 October to 17 January, Tuesday to Friday 13:00 to 18:00, weekends 10:00 to 18:00, closed Monday
Capa Center, Nagymező utca, District VI
Nine European photographers on the idea that nothing holds its shape for long, from cells and family ties to landscape and the cosmos. The travelling show has already been to Prague, Rouen and Turin, and Budapest is its last stop.
Photo: Műcsarnok Műcsarnok 130
7 November to 17 January, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, Thursday 12:00 to 20:00, closed Mondays, last entry at 17:30 and at 19:30 on Thursdays
Műcsarnok, District XIV
The Műcsarnok makes an exhibition out of its own 130 years, across three rooms: a timeline of its exhibitions since 1896, the architect's drawings for the building, and works pulled back in to stand for the shows they came from.
Photo: Műcsarnok Frissen 2026: painters paint themselves
13 November to 17 January, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, Thursday 12:00 to 20:00, closed Mondays, last entry at 17:30 and at 19:30 on Thursdays
Műcsarnok, District XIV
Six Hungarian painters get a room each, all opening on the same day and hung as one show. Walking from room to room, the method and the way of thinking change every time.
Photo: Ludwig Museum Walk This Way: the art of walking
9 October to 31 January, Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00, closed Monday; English guided tours at 17:00 on 13 and 27 December
Ludwig Museum, in the Müpa building, District IX
An international group show that takes walking seriously as an art form, tracing it from the Dada excursion of 1921 to land art, performance and activism. Two of the December guided tours are in English.
Photo: Hungarian National Gallery Dedicated Ones: Hungarian women artists
21 October to 14 February, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:00, closed Monday
Hungarian National Gallery, Buda Castle, District I
More than 130 works by sixty Hungarian women artists working in the first half of the twentieth century. No Hungarian museum has given them a show on this scale before.
Photo: Museum of Fine Arts Budapest Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin at the Museum of Fine Arts
30 October to 28 February, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, last admission 17:00, closed Monday; one Friday a month it opens 12:00 to 20:00 instead
Museum of Fine Arts, Heroes' Square, District XIV
Hungary's first large-scale Gauguin exhibition, assembled from loans by nearly forty public and private collections. It follows him from Paris and Brittany to Martinique, Tahiti and the Marquesas.
Photo: House of Music Hungary Freddie, the exhibition at the House of Music
1 May to 28 February, Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday 10:00 to 18:30, last admission 16:30; Friday and Saturday 10:00 to 20:30, last admission 18:30; closed on Mondays
House of Music Hungary, City Park, District XIV
Stage costumes, furniture, manuscripts and personal belongings tell Freddie Mercury's own story, in a show marking forty years since the Queen concert in Budapest.
Photo: Maksymilian Paczkowski / Csokonai15 Birdo, the year's best bird photographs
2 October to 22 March, in the open air, visiting hours not published
Polgármesteri Hivatal visitor car park, District XV
Winning pictures from Birdo's Az év madárfotósa award, hung along a fence in Rákospalota. Free, outdoors and up all winter.