Things to do in Budapest this weekend
Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November
What’s on in Budapest from Friday to Sunday, from festivals to a garage sale across a whole garden suburb.
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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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.