Things to do in Budapest this week
Monday 9 to Sunday 15 November
The best events in Budapest between now and Sunday: festivals, film, music and free things to do.
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Photo: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts Josef Nadj: Dialogues in the Dream
10 to 11 November, 19:00, 60 minutes
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Main Hall, District IX
Forty years into his career, the choreographer returns to Trafó with a duet in white masks and black hats, danced to John Cage's pieces for prepared piano. An hour in the Main Hall, marked English friendly.
Photo: Fonó Budai Zeneház Free folk sessions at the Fonó
10 to 17 November, Tuesdays, strings from 17:00 to 21:00, with Gyimes music at 18:00 and zither at 19:30 on the second Tuesday
Fonó Budai Zeneház, District XI
Two Tuesdays of open playing at the Fonó, free to walk into. The strings start at 17:00, and on the second night a Gyimes session and a zither session run alongside them.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera Tosca in concert at the Opera House
10 to 18 November, 19:00 on both nights
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
Puccini's thriller in the Opera's IC format: the iron curtain stays down, a video installation plays across it, and the singers come through the door in it to sing from the front of the stage. In Italian, with surtitles in English.
Photo: Papp László Budapest Sportaréna Jodok Cello at the Budapest Arena
Wednesday 11 November, 20:00
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, District XIV
The Swiss cellist Jodok Vuille rewrites Bruno Mars, Coldplay, David Guetta, Hans Zimmer and Ludovico Einaudi for solo cello, and plays them inside a full light show.
Photo: Fonó Budai Zeneház Fonó Wednesday: dances from Magyarpéterlaka
Wednesday 11 November, 19:00 to midnight
Fonó Budai Zeneház, District XI
The midweek dance house has moved on to Magyarpéterlaka, a Transylvanian village whose fiddlers played for two neighbouring regions and blended their tunes. Dance teaching comes first, split between newcomers and the more practised, and the dancing runs on from there.
Photo: Vígszínház Vígszínház performances with English surtitles
3 October to 29 November, 19:00, except The Seagull on 17 October at 18:00, The Great Gatsby on 25 October at 14:30 and Pinocchio on 15 November at 17:00
Vígszínház and the Víg Szalon, District XIII
Fourteen performances across thirteen dates carry English surtitles, which is the easy way into a Hungarian repertory company. Pride and Prejudice, Chaplin's The Great Dictator, The Great Gatsby, Chekhov's The Seagull, the family musical Pinocchio and the song cycle Sommerreise are all marked for them.
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: Müpa Budapest Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves celebrate John Coltrane
Thursday 12 November, 20:00 to 21:30
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
Coltrane made one album with a singer, with Johnny Hartman in 1963. Marsalis's quartet and Dianne Reeves have recorded their own answer to it, and this is the world tour behind it.
Photo: A38 Hajó Clan of Xymox and Selofan on the A38
Thursday 12 November, 20:00, gate opens at 19:00
A38 concert hall, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
Four decades of darkwave from the Dutch band led by Ronny Moorings, with the Greek duo Selofan alongside them. Fekete Zaj hosts the night in the ship's concert hall.
Photo: Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház Celluloid Nights: Lost in Translation at the Uránia
Thursday 12 November, 19:00 to 21:30
Uránia National Film Theatre, District VIII
Sofia Coppola's Tokyo film, shown from a 35 mm print, in which a fading film star and a young woman adrift in the same hotel become unlikely company.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera The Fountain of Bakhchisarai at the Opera House
3 to 15 November, 18:30 on 3, 5, 12 and 13 November, 11:00 on 7 and 15 November, and both 11:00 and 18:30 on 8 November
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
A cornerstone of Russian ballet drama, after Pushkin's poem, first danced in this house in 1952. It is told in movement, so there is nothing to read or translate.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Birds on a Wire
Friday 13 November, 20:00 to 21:30
Festival Theatre, Müpa Budapest, District IX
A singer and a cellist who put Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and John Lennon next to Baroque music and Brazilian songs. Their first concert in Hungary.
Photo: A38 Hajó Modestep on the A38
Friday 13 November, from 23:30
A38 concert hall, by Petőfi Bridge, District XI
Bass music played by a full live band, late on a Friday night in the ship's concert hall. Next Level bring the British group in on their biggest international tour so far.
Photo: Barba Negra Hatebreed, Life of Agony and more at Barba Negra
Friday 13 November, doors 17:00
Barba Negra Red and Blue Stage, District XXI
Hatebreed top a bill that spreads over both of Barba Negra's rooms, with Life of Agony, Suffocation and Carnifex among the rest. Tickets are sold online only.
Photo: Papp László Budapest Sportaréna Placebo at the Budapest Arena
Friday 13 November, 19:30
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, District XIV
Placebo mark thirty years since their debut album with a set drawn from their first two records, Placebo and Without You I'm Nothing. It is their first Budapest concert in a decade.
Photo: House of Music Hungary Freak Fusion Cabaret: Confusion
Friday 13 November, 18:30 to 19:40
House of Music Hungary, City Park, District XIV
Budapest's underground circus crowd pack their strongest acts of the past thirteen years into one show: juggling, acrobatics, aerial work and burlesque, with a thick streak of dark humour. No Hungarian needed.
Photo: Fonó Budai Zeneház Espéria: rembetika and laïka at the Fonó
Friday 13 November, 19:00 to 20:30
Fonó Budai Zeneház, District XI
Greek café and taverna songs from the opening decades of the last century, played straight by a Budapest four-piece on bouzouki, guitar, accordion and voice.
Photo: Fonó Budai Zeneház Balkan night at the Fonó
Friday 13 November, Balkan dance groups from 19:00, Berka's Moldavian dance house from 20:30, Martenica's Bulgarian dance house from 22:00, all running to midnight
Fonó Budai Zeneház, District XI
Six dance groups from Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece in one night, then two dance houses that run on to midnight. You are meant to get up and join in rather than watch.
Photo: Turbina Budapest Evanora: Unlimited at Turbina
Friday 13 November, from 19:00
Turbina Cultural Centre, District VIII
The Oakland artist Orion Ohana calls the project a based on true events erotic sci-fi religious horror epic. It lands in Turbina's main hall with Angus Scratch Green opening.
Photo: Müpa Budapest Iván Fischer and Lisa Batiashvili
13 to 16 November, 19:45 on 13 November, 15:30 on 14 November, then 19:45 on 16 November
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, District IX
Iván Fischer builds a concert around birdsong and the case for looking after the planet, and seats his orchestra beneath a large tree to make the point. Three performances, one of them a Saturday matinee.
Photo: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts I need help immediately
13 to 18 November, 19:00 on both nights
Trafó, Liliom utca, District IX
Adél Juhász performs her solo within arm's reach of the audience, and it will not settle into being dance or theatre. An hour long, in English, for ages 16 and over.
Photo: Musica Mundi Agency Friday organ concerts with trumpet and soprano at St Stephen's Basilica
6 to 27 November, 20:00 on each Friday, one hour
St Stephen's Basilica, District V
Four Fridays running, an hour each, with two organists at the basilica's two instruments and a soprano and a trumpeter beside them.
Photo: House of Music Hungary DOME_021 Platon Karataev: Napkötöző
13 to 29 November, Fridays 18:00, Saturdays 19:00 and Sundays 15:00
Sound Dome, House of Music Hungary, City Park, District XIV
Twenty-two minutes under the dome's hemispherical screen, with songs from Platon Karataev's fourth album set to one continuous three-dimensional film. The sun comes up across the whole ceiling.
Photo: MVM Dome Thomas Anders at the MVM Dome
Saturday 14 November, 20:00
MVM Dome, Üllői út, District IX
The voice of Modern Talking plays his first full-length arena show in Hungary, running through the duo's hits and his own solo songs.
Photo: Barba Negra Kamelot at Barba Negra
Saturday 14 November, doors 18:00
Barba Negra Red Stage, District XXI
Exit Eden and Temperance come with them, on a Saturday night H-Music, Rock1 and RTN Touring have booked together. The early bird tickets are gone and the VIP ones are limited.
Photo: Akvárium Klub Skeler's Nightfall World Tour at the Akvárium Klub
Saturday 14 November, doors 23:30
Akvárium Klub Small Hall, Erzsébet tér, District V
The Nightfall World Tour reaches the Akvárium's smaller room for a late set. LXST CXNTURY, MRJay and ÆSTRAL play direct support.
Photo: Barba Negra Future Palace at Barba Negra
Saturday 14 November, doors 19:00
Barba Negra Blue Stage, District XXI
The Deep Blue Tour stops in the smaller of Barba Negra's two rooms, where the stage is close enough that the back wall is no great distance from it.
Photo: Papp László Budapest Sportaréna AWS 20 x Madách at the Budapest Arena
Saturday 14 November, doors 18:30, from 20:00
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, District XIV
The Hungarian metal band AWS turn twenty with a one-off arena show that puts every era of the band on stage, the reworked Madách songs included.
Photo: Klauzál Ház Hommage à Cziffra in Nagytétény
Saturday 14 November, 18:00
Cziffra György community space, District XXII
Brahms and Poulenc for clarinet and piano before the interval, then a bar pianist takes the room for old Hungarian songs. Free, but you have to register by email.
Photo: Fonó Budai Zeneház Folk on 45 at the Fonó
Saturday 14 November, 19:00 to 20:00
Fonó Budai Zeneház, District XI
Lili Träger sings, Lajos Szőllősi plays guitar, and a looper pedal turns the two of them into something that sounds like a full band. Hungarian folk melodies come out the other side as new songs.
Photo: Fonó Budai Zeneház Teenagers' dance house with the Szapora Banda
Saturday 14 November, 21:00 to midnight
Fonó Budai Zeneház, District XI
A late dance house aimed at teenagers, played by a band young enough to still be studying. The tunes come from across the Carpathian Basin and are kept in their own regional styles.
Photo: Marczibányi Téri Művelődési Központ Winter Lantern story festival
Saturday 14 November, 9:30 to 18:00
Marczibányi Téri Művelődési Központ, District II
The Marczi hands a whole Saturday to storytelling, with a discounted book fair running alongside and the theatre hall changing programme almost every hour.
Photo: Marczibányi Téri Művelődési Központ Martinmas lantern making and procession
Saturday 14 November, crafts from 15:00 to 17:00, gathering at 17:00, procession from 17:15
Marczibányi Téri Művelődési Központ, District II
Make a lantern first, then carry it out behind a live band. The Marczi puts the recommended age at nought to ninety nine, which is its way of saying everyone.
Photo: Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, Skanzen St Martin's new wine and goose weekend
14 to 15 November, village houses 9:00 to 16:00, the Skanzen Vigadó and the restaurant 9:00 to 18:00, the museum train 9:00 to 17:00
Skanzen open air museum, Szentendre
Twelve wineries pour the year's new wine in the Skanzen's Vigadó, with goose dishes and roast chestnuts to eat. The open air museum opens its village districts for the two days.
Photo: Puskin Mozi Puskin 100 film festival
25 September to 28 November, one screening most weeks, usually at 19:00, with family matinees at 10:00
Puskin Mozi, District V
The Puskin opened in November 1926 and marks its first hundred years with one unusual screening a week: rarely shown classics, silent films with live music, talks and newsreels.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera Carmen at the Opera House
14 to 29 November, 18:00 on 14, 17, 19, 22, 24 and 26 November, and 11:00 on 21 and 29 November
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
Calixto Bieito moves Bizet's opera from nineteenth-century Seville to Spain just after Franco, with none of the flamenco prettiness. His staging has been seen around the world and reached Budapest in 2021. Sung in French, with surtitles in English.
Photo: Hungarian State Opera Andreas Schager's recital at the Opera House
Sunday 15 November, from 19:00
Hungarian State Opera, District VI
The Austrian Heldentenor sings Schumann's Dichterliebe, songs by Strauss and then Wagner, in the Opera's Stars' Recitals with Piano series. Donka Angatscheva is at the piano and the violinist Lidia Baich joins them.
Photo: Akvárium Klub Ana Moura at the Akvárium Klub
Sunday 15 November, doors 19:00
Akvárium Klub Main Hall, Erzsébet tér, District V
The Portuguese fado singer plays a club concert with three musicians and two dancers. Fado taken a long way past the form she started in.
Photo: Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház Met encore: Bizet's Carmen at the Uránia
Sunday 15 November, 18:00 to 21:15
Uránia National Film Theatre, District VIII
Richard Eyre's Metropolitan Opera staging of 2010 comes back to cinema screens as an encore, with Elīna Garanča in the title role and Roberto Alagna as Don José.
Photo: Budapest Music Center The Day of Listening at the Budapest Music Center
Sunday 15 November, concerts at 11:00, 13:30, 15:00, 16:30, 18:00 and 20:00
Budapest Music Center, District IX
Six concerts across one Sunday, moving between the concert hall and the Opus Jazz Club. Kurtág, Bach, Martinů, Hindemith and Strauss, played by musicians who step out as soloists in one hour and sit in the orchestra the next.
Exhibitions and longer runs
On for a week or more, so there is time: the ones closing soonest come first.
Photo: Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum Múzeumi Oktatási és Módszertani Központ Múzeumok Őszi Fesztiválja, the autumn museum festival
28 September to 15 November, times vary by museum
Museums across Hungary, Budapest included
Close to 150 museums across Hungary open up for seven weeks of tours, workshops and talks. The Budapest and central Hungary listing is the longest of any region, but this is a national festival, so check where a programme actually is before you set off.
Photo: Angyalföldi József Attila Művelődési Központ Alkotás Öröme, a handicraft exhibition
7 October to 15 November, opens at 15:00 on 7 October, then weekdays 08:00 to 20:00 and at weekends when the centre has something on
Angyalföldi József Attila Művelődési Központ, District XIII
Members of the District XIII club of the Budapest association for people with motor disabilities show what they have been making, under a title that means the joy of making. Tablecloths, sewing boxes, jewellery, dolls and pieces for the home, and nothing to pay.
Photo: Műcsarnok László György Sáros: From Details, Space Itself
18 September to 15 November, 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. The exhibitions close at 17:00 on 20 and 29 October
Műcsarnok, District XIV
The buildings and the photographs of one of the leading figures in Hungarian organic architecture, shown together in the Műcsarnok's Box space.
Photo: Budapest Gallery My heart is crying inside: grief works
4 September to 22 November, 10:00 to 18:00 every day except Monday
Budapest Gallery, Lajos utca, District III
A group show about mourning, and about how completely late capitalist society has pushed death out of ordinary life. Flóra Gadó has gathered a dozen artists on private loss, on care for the dying, and on the rituals communities have lost or rebuilt.
Photo: Műcsarnok József Árendás's posters and drawings at the Műcsarnok
25 September to 22 November, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, Thursday 12:00 to 20:00, closed Mondays, last entry half an hour before closing
Műcsarnok, District XIV
A condensed retrospective of one of the big names in Hungarian cultural poster design, mounted for his eightieth birthday. Film posters from the 1970s, the theatre posters he began in the eighties, and the ones he has since made purely as art.
Photo: Óbudai Kulturális Központ Streets, squares, people: Fortepan photographs
5 to 23 November, weekdays 8:00 to 20:00, and at weekends an hour before whatever is on
Békásmegyeri Közösségi Ház, District III
The 1960s in public: squares, pavements and the people crossing them, picked out of the Fortepan archive and hung in the foyer of a Békásmegyer community house. Nothing to pay.
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.