Plan your trip to Budapest and find out what’s open and closed over Christmas and New Year’s Eve. We have collected the most important opening times around this Christmas holiday season for you.

Free walking tours around Christmas and the New Year:

• 24th of December no afternoon and evening tours, last tour is the 10:30 am general Budapest tour
• 25th no tours at all
• 26-27-28-29-30th all free tours run
• 31st morning tours, 2:30 pm Budapest tour run, last tour is the 3:30 pm Jewish quarter and the Communism free tours, evening tours do not run
• 1st of January 2020 no tours at all
• 2-3-4-5th of January all tours run

From the 6th of January until the 29th of March 2020 we DO NOT have:

• the 10 am Avenue and Heroes’ square tour
• the 3:30 pm Jewish quarter and the Communism free tours
• the 6:30 pm Evening walking tour 
• and the 8:30 pm ruin pub tour

We restart these tours on the 30th or March 2020. We run all our other free tours that are on our website and Facebook page.

Holiday Schedules of Budapest attractions and Walking Tours by date

December 24th Tuesday

SHOPS:
Shops are closing around noon. Christmas Market on Vörösmarty square 10 am – 2pm (handicraft shops),
10 am – 3 pm (food stalls)
Some seven-eleven shops will be open all night long. 

MUSEUMS: CLOSED

PARLIAMENT: CLOSED

BATHS: Szechenyi, Gellert, Lukacs, Rudas baths are open 6am-2pm.  Kiraly bath is open from 9am-2pm.

FREE TOURS

10.00am Jewish Quarter Walk
10.00am Communism Walking Tour
10.00am Avenue and Heroes’ Square
10.00am Urban Street Art
10.30am General Sightseeing Walk
10.30am Tours Gratis en Espanol
No afternoon tours are running.

Zoo: 9am-12pm ( noon)

Erkel Theatre: 11am Nutcracker

Opera House: CLOSED

CHURCHES: Churches are open all day long. Main service is at midnight.

Dohany street Grand Synagogue: CLOSED

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Metro, buses, trams will operate as it was Sunday, till 4pm, then night buses will run.  No Christmas tram for today.

CHRISTMAS HABITS: Dec.24th is a private, family holiday in Hungary, we don’t go to parties. Kids are kept busy outside home, while parents or grandparents are decorating Christmas trees on the holy night. Christmas tree is bought by angels, gifts are bought by baby Jesus. Children enter the room only when tiny bells ring and they sing Christmas songs, then open their gifts.

CHRISTMAS MENU: The menu for lunch is something really light. One of the most typical is poppy seed bread pudding. We usually eat fish with mashed potatoes and beigli at Christmas night (This is a rolled up crust with lots of poppy seed or walnut filling.

GOOD TO KNOW: Streets are getting very quiet from early afternoon on.

December 25th, Wednesday

SHOPS: Shops are closed.  Christmas Market on Vörösmarty square 12 pm – 6 pm (handicraft shops), 10 am – 6 pm (food stalls). Shopping Malls are open for movies only. Shops in the malls are closed. Some seven-eleven shops will be open all day long. 

MUSEUMS: CLOSED

PARLIAMENT: CLOSED

FREE TOURS: No tours today.

BATHS:

• Szechenyi Thermal Bath: 10:00am-10:00pm
• Gellert: 10:00-8:00pm
• Lukacs: 10:00am-10:00pm
• Kiraly: 10:00am-9.00pm
• Rudas: 10:00am-6:00pm

Zoo: 9am-3pm 

Erkel Theater: 11am- Nutcracker. 7pm- Messsiah

Opera: Closed

CHURCHES: Churches are open all day long. Main service is at 10am or 11am.

Dohany street Grand Synagoue: CLOSED

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Metro,buses and trams will operate according to their Sunday schedule.

CHRISTMAS HABITS: Family members often travelling to another city or village to visit each other or spending this day at home with playing games, watching TV.

CHRISTMAS MENU: Fish soup (carp or catfish) with noodles and stuffed cabbage (sour cabbage) with minced pork. Beigli for dessert is essential 

GOOD TO KNOW: Streets are still quiet. Bars operate from afternoon. Fast food restaurants are closed. Jegbüfé café at Ferenciek tere with delicious strudels is OPEN 

December 26th Thursday

SHOPS: Shops are closed. Christmas Market on Vörösmarty square 12 pm – 6 pm (handicraft shops), 10 am – 6 pm (food stalls). Shopping Malls are open for movies. Shops in the malls are closed. Some seven-eleven shops are open. 

MUSEUMS:

• National Museum: CLOSED
• House of Terror: CLOSED 
• Museum of Fine Arts: OPEN
• National Gallery: 10am-6pm
• Rock Hospital Museum: 10am-6pm

PARLIAMENT: CLOSED

FREE TOURS: All tours go as normal.

BATHS:

• Szechenyi Thermal Bath: 10:00am-10:00pm
• Gellert: 6:00-8:00pm
• Lukacs: 6:00am-10:00pm
• Kiraly: 9:00am-9.00pm
• Rudas: 6:00am-10:00pm

Zoo: 9am-3pm

Erkel Theater: 11am; 6pm- Nutcracker

CHURCHES: Churches are open all day long.

Dohany street Grand Synagogue: 10am-6pm

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Metro, buses and trams will operate as it was Sunday 

CHRISTMAS HABITS: Family members often travelling to another city or village to visit each other or spending this day at home with playing games, watching TV.

CHRISTMAS MENU: Fish soup (carp or catfish) with noodles and stuffed cabbage (sour cabbage) with minced pork. Beigli for dessert is essential 

GOOD TO KNOW: Streets are busier than during the previous two days.

Dec.27th-30th

Most shops, bars, restaurants, theatres, sightseeing tours and tourist attractions operate as normal. House of Terror is OPEN. National Museum is closed on Dec.30th. Museum of Fine Arts  is open on Dec.26th-30th   

Dohany street Grand Synagogue: Dec.27th 10am-2.00pm , Dec.28th Closed, Dec.29th10.00-6.00pm, Dec.30th 10.00-8.00pm, 

All baths are open.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Metro, buses and trams will operate as it was school holidays (intervals of 10-20 min)

December 31st  Tuesday

SHOPS: Shops are open. Shopping Malls are open 10am-2pm. Shops in the malls are partly closed. Some seven-eleven shops will be open all day and all night long. 

MUSEUMS: 

• National Museum: CLOSED
• House of Terror: 10.00-3.00pm OPEN
• Museum of Fine Arts: OPEN 10am-4pm ( Cashier is closing at 3.00pm)
• National Gallery: OPEN 10am-4pm.
• Rock Hospital Museum: CLOSED

PARLIAMENT: 8am-2pm

FREE TOURS: All free tours run are running as scheduled, except: Evening Walk and Pub tour

BATHS: Szechenyi, Gellert, Rudas Lukacs baths are open 6am-6:00pm.  Kiraly bath is open from 9am-6pm

Zoo: 9am-12pm (noon)

Erkel Theater : 4.00pm The Bat ( JStrauss),   8.30pm- The Bat (J.Strauss) 

CHURCHES: Churches are open all day long. Main service varies from church to church.

Dohany street Grand Synagogue: OPEN: 10am-8pm

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: All night buses are operating. Cogwheel railway is operating too! No Christmas tram today!

NEW YEAR’S EVE HABITS: Streets are full with people before midnight. Street stalls on the streets of Budapest sell champagne, masks and noisy paper trumpets. Seniors are mainly watching TV or going to parties. We say “BUEK” (it means happy new year) at midnight and most of us sings the national anthem and greet each other.

NEW YEAR’S EVE MENU: Having lentil or bean dishes on New Year’s Eve makes you wealthy. Pork is considered a symbol of progress and prosperity so Hungarians eat mainly roast pork Avoid fish as it will swim away with your fortune. 

GOOD TO KNOW: Streets are busy all day long. Peak time is 8pm-midnight. Concerts and theatres have early evening performances and shows. Restaurants, bars, clubs have extended opening hours and many have live bands playing. There are lots of parties for New Year’s Eve, so you definitely won’t be bored! There are plenty of programs to entertain you from free street parties to upscale balls and crazy clubs with local DJ’s. Tickets varies from 2000-4900 HUF. The biggest public event of the year is “Ügetőszilveszter” (don’t even try to pronounce) at Kincsem Park. A place to go for both trotting and flat racing. Avastly popular extraordinary trotting meeting that attracts all ages on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. 

FREE STREET PARTIES:

“VÖRÖSMARTY TER” – live bands from different countries will perform.
“NYUGATI TER” (M3 metro line, tram 6, 4)- Hungarian pop-rock bands will entertain you there.
“OKTOGON TER” (M1 metro line, tram 6.4) all night disco with Hungarian DJ-s.

Hint: Bring warm clothes! Buy champagne in the shops before arrival. (3€)

January 1st Wednesday

SHOPS: Shops are closed. Shopping Malls are closed. Some seven-eleven shops will be open all day and all night long. 

MUSEUMS:

• National Museum: CLOSED
• House of Terror: CLOSED
• Museum of Fine Arts: OPEN 12pm-6pm
• National Gallery:12pm-6pm
• Rock Hospital Museum: CLOSED

PARLIAMENT: CLOSED

FREE TOURS: No tours are running today.

BATHS: All baths are open from 10am until their regular opening hours.

Zoo: 9am-3pm

Erkel Theater: New Year Concert

CHURCHES: Churches are open all day long. Main service varies from church to church.

Dohany street Grand Synagogue: OPEN: 10am-8.00pm

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Metro,buses and trams will operate according to their Sunday schedule.

HABITS FOR TODAY: Not much is happening usually today! We mainly sleep or go to the baths.

MENU FOR TODAY: Cabbage soup or hangover soup in the New Year morning. Roasted pig and cabbage is meant to bring good luck.

GOOD TO KNOW: Streets are quiet.  Restaurants, bars, clubs have varied opening hours. 

2nd of January 

Most of the things and places are back to normal schedule, but the National Gallery and the Museum of fine arts are closed.

Weather

Since Budapest has a continental climate, the only advice we can give is expect low temperatures, dress for the weather! It starts to get dark at about 4.15pm.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone! In Hungarian: Boldog Karácsonyt és Új Évet! 

When you are wandering around downtown Pest during your Budapest sightseeing, you can bump into a beautiful building that has been renovated recently and stands proudly on the Ferenciek square. Let us tell you more about this gem in our next article.

The Párisi udvar (Paris Courtyard) is one of the most beautiful and special constructions in the city center, reopened as a luxury hotel in 2019 after five years of renovation. It was formerly full of shops and then got abandoned, it became a favourite spot for city explorers – the most frequently asked question during the renovation was what would open here… After the hotel was ready, a restaurant and bar/café opened under the glass domes next to the reception and lobby, so if it gets chilly outside it is definitely worth to have a warm drink and cake inside.

The original building was constructed in 1817 according to the plans of Mihály Pollack (who was an Austrian-born Hungarian architect, key figure of neoclassical architecture. His main work is the Hungarian National Museum (1837–46)). The Paris Courtyard had one of the first modern shopping passages in Hungary. They believed that Pollack designed the passage of the building to be like the Passage des Panoramas in Paris (built around 1810), this is why they started calling it the Paris Courtyard. The light of the original building diminished over time, during the great urban settlements of the late 19th century. It was almost completely demolished at the turn of the 20th century, and the site was purchased by the Downtown Savings Bank in 1906 to build its new center there. The historicizing eclectic office and apartment house blending Moorish and Gothic styles was not seriously damaged during the Second World War, but in 1949 the emerging socialist system nationalized and remodelled its interiors. Then it got almost empty and run-down by 2014 when the renovation started. 

After the 5-year long renovation the building and the passage is now shining again, the two huge domes have been cleaned and rebuilt by the restorers. The electric glass ceiling overlooking Ferenciek Square is certainly unique in Hungary, but probably unique in the world as well. On the outside it is decorated with hundreds of thousands of ceramic tiles and ornaments. 

If you would like to find this beauty or other gems in Budapest, do not hesitate to ask your guide on our daily free tours! See you soon!

Please note that the 23rd of October is a national holiday in Hungary. However, we RUN ALL OUR FREE TOURS as usual on this day as well!

• 10:00 Jewish quarter, Communism and Avenue & Heroes’ square free walking tour
• 10:30 & 14:30 General Budapest free tour
• 15:30 Jewish quarter, Communism and Street & Urban art free tour
• 18:30 Evening Pest walking tour

Shopping malls, bigger supermarkets will be closed on the 23rd of October, but smaller non-stop supermarkets, some restaurants, bathhouses will be open.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT WHAT WE REMEMBER ON THIS DAY:

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a nationwide revolution against the Hungarian People’s Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, it lasted from the 23rd of October until the 10th of November 1956. It was leaderless when it first began, but then it became the first major threat to Soviet control since the Red Army drove Nazi Germany from its territory at the End of World War II in Europe.You can learn much more about this revolution on our Communism free walking tour and even see some of the locations where the revolution started. Meet us on the Elisabeth square, close to the Budapest Eye Ferris wheel and get to know more about this national holiday!

Summer has officially ended with the arrival of September, but the weather is still nice to take an outdoor walking tour in Budapest or to sit outside in a garden bar or café. We have collected some of the nicest locations in Budapest for you, let’see the list!

KERTEM

Cool bar with green surroundings and concerts from time to time in the City Park (Városliget in Hungarian). If you take our daily Avenue and Heroes’ square free tour in the morning at 10:00 am, you get to the Heroes’ square and the City Park around 12:00. This garden bar opens at 11:00 every day, so you can ask you guide for directions (the address is Olof Palme sétány 1.) and have a filling grilled burger and beer or lemonade at Kertem (means My garden). Kertem closes on the 1st of October.

ÉPÍTÉSZPINCE 

You can find this place in the city centre, the address: Ötpacsirta street 2, 8th district. One of the most beautiful sights in this area is the Almássy Palace. The building is the headquarters of the Association of Hungarian Architects, and both the Hungarian Chamber of Architects and the Budapest Chamber of Architects operate their offices within the house. Építészpince (Architects’ Cellar in English) is also a restaurant, its garden with the ivy walls, the baroque sculpture and the flower-shaped stone cube invites passers-by from the cobbled Ötpacsirta Street. Larger events and weddings are also common here. Most of the items on the menu are Hungarian.

BUDAPEST GARDEN

Let’s take a look at the Buda side of the city! Not far away from the city center, located next to Margaret Island and the River Danube there’s a new gem which opened this year, named Budapest Garden. As its name says it is really a huge garden which used to be a skater park, but now functions as a leisure park for all ages. With a huge trampoline, air cinema and three bars, it soon became a favourite place for the locals around. You can choose from more than 25 craft beers, a big variety of cocktails and street foods. Where? At Árpád fejedelem útja 125., a 5 minute walk from the suburban railway station Tímár utca!

ÚJ BUDAI PARKSZÍNPAD

Finally, another place in Buda. ‘The Buda Park stage’ hosted musical stage productions from the 50s for 47 years, and then decimated for 10 years after closing. It reopened in 2015, and by that time Újbuda finally got a super, spacious meeting place next to Lake Feneketlen. It is located beside the lake, in the green of Buda, at the foot of the Gellért Hill, yet easily accessible: only 5 minutes walk from Móricz Zsigmond körtér, an importand traffic junction in Buda. The address is: Tas vezér street 7-11, 11th district. This garden bar is “sunk”, it is a bit under ground level so that guests can’t hear the noise of the neighboring roads. In the evenings, the decoration, the colorful little lightbulbs are especially pleasant. Their gastronomy is dominated by the Balkan line thanks to the Montenegro Gurman grill terrace.

Dear Guests!

On Friday, 2nd of August 2019 we do not run the 10:00 and 15:30 Jewish quarter free tour, since almost the whole Jewish quarter will be closed. The reason of the closure is the events and programs of the Maccabi games which will take place 29th July-7th August in Budapest.

The European Maccabi Games are held every four years and are always held two years after the Maccabiah Games are held in Israel. European delegations send their best Jewish sportsmen and women to compete. during these couple of days.

Budapest is going to be home to the 15th European Maccabi Games in 2019

The Jewish Cultural Feast which is the biggest Jewish festival in Europe takes place in Budapest every year. The festival will be organized during the European Maccabi Games in 2019 in order to provide several cultural and free time activities for the guests and athletes. These activities will help to get them involved in the vibrant Hungarian Jewish life.

They will also provide a unique Shabbat experience by celebrating Shabbat in the largest synagogue of Europe, the Dohány street synagogue located in the heart of the Jewish quarter and Budapest.

You can join our Jewish quarter free tour any other day at 10:00 and 15:30! See you soon! 🙂