Budapest dinner cruises

Legenda’s dinner boat leaves its own pier at the Elisabeth Bridge end of the Vigadó tér quay, and at two and a half hours it is, with the River Diva, the longest dinner on this page. You choose each of the four courses at the table from a few options, children get three courses, and the welcome drink is champagne, wine, beer, a soft drink or water. Hungarian musicians play live through the evening.

You can’t pick your table. Seats go in the order the bookings came in, a table can’t be reserved ahead, and a window is not guaranteed. There is no vegan menu, children under 3 can’t come, and this boat is not wheelchair accessible.

The River Diva is the only dinner cruise here with the drinks in the ticket: cocktails, spirits, prosecco, wine, beer and soft drinks, brought to your table for two and a half hours. Dinner is a seasonal buffet with vegetarian dishes, a band plays live, and in good weather you can go up to the rooftop deck.

It sails mainly from Thursday to Sunday, from Akadémia 3, a short way north of the Chain Bridge on the Pest bank, at 19:30. Neither a window seat nor a particular table is promised, and tips are not included.

Budapest Sightseeing’s dinner is the folk evening. The Ökrös Band plays Hungarian folk music live, there’s a folklore performance on board, and dinner is four courses served at the table, from four menus: two traditional Hungarian, one vegetarian and one with poultry, plus menus for children.

It boards at Vigadó 6, between Mahart’s pontoon and Legenda’s, and leaves at 19:30. Only the welcome drink is included and you can’t bring your own on board, so read the drinks menu on the table before you order.

This is the shorter folk evening, an hour and a half on the Gróf Széchenyi or the Stadt Wien from Akadémia 2, by the Pest end of the Chain Bridge. There’s live cimbalom music and a Hungarian folk dance show, and dinner is a plated four courses from three menus.

On a February evening the musicians came round to play at the tables, and between courses we went out on deck for photos of the Parliament. Being the shortest of the dinners, it gives you the least time on the water, and every drink after the welcome one is extra.

Silverline’s plain dinner cruise is four courses and a welcome drink over two hours, with live background music rather than a show, and there’s a vegetarian menu. It leaves Dock 11, right next to Elisabeth Bridge, at 18:30 in late autumn, so it is, with the operetta dinner, the earliest sailing on this page.

Children aged 3 and under don’t get the dinner, though there’s an à la carte menu on board for them. Pets are not allowed except service animals, and Silverline’s boats are not wheelchair accessible.

The same company’s operetta dinner adds a folklore and operetta show to the four courses, on a two-hour sailing from Dock 11. The show is in the larger room on board, where the view from the tables in the middle is not as good as from the window, so take the option with a window seat.

This is the only ticket on the page you can’t cancel or move, so book it once your dates are fixed. Drinks after the welcome drink are extra.

The wine cruise is a tasting, not a dinner: five Hungarian wines and five small food courses, with a talk about the wines, while the Rajkó Orchestra plays. It sails on the Gróf Széchenyi from Akadémia at 19:00, for two hours with an hour and a half of sightseeing.

Only the five wines are included, so any other drink goes on a bill. You can cancel free until 23:59 the day before.