Budapest Christmas markets 2026/27: dates, hours, the two big squares and Christmas Eve

💡 The Short Version: Both big markets open on Friday 13 November 2026: the market at St Stephen’s Basilica runs to 1 January 2027, and the market on Vörösmarty Square runs to New Year’s Eve, with its craft stalls leaving on 28 December. Entry is free. Daily hours are 11:00 to 21:00 or 22:00 on Vörösmarty Square and 11:00 to 22:00 or 23:00 at the Basilica, with short days on 24 December (to 14:00 and 15:00). Both open 11:00 to 03:00 on 31 December. The Basilica’s light painting on the façade starts at 17:30 every afternoon. Or book a tour: a Christmas market walkad with chimney cake, mulled wine and a coffee-house stop is from £76.49 (GetYourGuide).

⚠️ Dates to check. Some listings give 27 or 28 November as the start of the Budapest markets. The organisers’ own pages give 13 November 2026 for both (vorosmartyclassicxmas.hu, adventbazilika.hu).

The two markets

Both squares are in Pest’s Fifth District. Vörösmarty tér has its own station on the M1 metro line, and Deák Ferenc tér, where the three lines meet, is a short walk from both squares; Budapest public transport has the fares.

Hours from Christmas Eve to 1 January

Vörösmarty Square’s organiser says the craft stalls and the railway leave on 28 December to make way for the preparations for a New Year’s Eve party on the square. Both organisers print these hours for 2026. Both markets close in the early afternoon on 24 December, so book the evening elsewhere; where to eat in Budapest says which places take reservations.

Vörösmarty Square

The organiser, Vörösmarty Classic Xmas, describes a market of craft and food stalls under a large Christmas tree, with Váci utca, the pedestrian street running south from the square, dressed in lights. The children’s railway on the square is free: it runs Monday to Friday 14:00 to 20:00 and Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 20:00, and on 24 December from 10:00 to 14:00. On 26 December it starts at 14:00.

The organiser’s exhibitors page, in Hungarian, lists the craft stalls. For a sit-down meal after the stalls, where to eat in Budapest lists the restaurants and coffee houses nearby.

Christmas market stalls on Vörösmarty tér. Photo: Top Budapest, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

St Stephen’s Basilica

The market on Szent István tér has a giant tree, a net of lights above it, a nativity scene and an Advent wreath in front of the Basilica, and an Advent candle-lighting ceremony. Every afternoon at 17:30 a light painting is projected on the façade, and on some days a concert starts at 17:00. The organiser lists nearly a hundred Hungarian craft exhibitors and its programme promises Hungaricums, the officially listed Hungarian specialities, among the food. The sun sets at 16:10 on 13 November and 15:53 on 15 December, so the projection starts in the dark.

The exhibitors page names three food stalls worth looking for. Vitéz Kürtős sells chimney cakes, kürtőskalács, yeast dough baked on a spit and rolled in sugar, and says it bakes gluten-, milk- and egg-free ones on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Szamos sells bejgli, the rolled Christmas pastry with a poppy-seed or walnut filling, and Csokicsók sells a chocolate-coated sweet in flavours including caramel, champagne, raspberry and mulled wine.

Kürtőskalács, chimney cakes, baking over embers. Photo: Christo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Card and cash both work. At food and drink stalls cash goes through a HelloPay card, which is free and refundable and handed out at several points on the market. The rules ban cycling, Segways, motor scooters and fireworks. The organiser says the market has been voted Europe’s most beautiful Christmas market four times; its pages do not say who voted. The St Stephen’s Basilica tickets guide covers the dome and the treasury.

Tours and cruises

Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult. Budapest’s Christmas tours are small and thinly reviewed; the year-round evenings have far more reviews.

Christmas market walk with tastings

From £76.49 · 4.9 stars from 8 reviews · 2½ hours

Budapest: Christmas Market Guided Walking Tour with Tastingsad, by Budapest Urban Walks, meets in front of the Hungarian State Opera House and teaches Hungary’s Christmas customs, which it says revolve around food. The price includes a chimney cake, mulled wine, marzipan and a coffee at a historic coffee house. It is in English, with pickup available and a private group possible.

Private Christmas markets tour

From £41.52 · 4.3 stars from 9 reviews · 2½ hours

Budapest: Christmas Markets Tour with Chimney Cake tastingad, by Living Local Hungary, is a private walk to three markets with a mulled wine, a chimney cake and roasted chestnuts. It meets in front of the Tisza shop.

Mulled wine cruise

From £16.06 · 4.6 stars from 240 reviews · 1 hour

Budapest: Unlimited Mulled Wine Cruisead, by Silverline Cruises, is a one-hour sightseeing cruise with unlimited mulled wine, alcoholic or not, departing from the Pest side. Silverline’s own site lists it from €21. Boats sail when the Danube is high enough, so check the sailing before you plan round it; Danube river cruises says what is running.

Evenings that run all winter

The Sir Lancelot medieval dinnerad (4.2 stars from 1,602 reviews, from £39.09, 3 hours) is a set dinner in a tavern with swordsmen, jugglers and belly dancers, with a welcome shot of pálinka, a fruit brandy, and a half-litre of beer in the price. It meets at Podmaniczky utca 14 and is listed as likely to sell out. Silverline’s own site sells a Christmas dinner cruise on 24 and 25 December, departing at 19:30, from €155, when the boats are running.

Where to stay

Both markets are in Pest, so a hotel in the Inner City or beside the Basilica puts the stalls within a walk. Where to stay in Budapest compares the areas. For the weather, the short days and the other dates in the season, see best time to visit Budapest; the sun sets at 15:55 on 21 December. For a plan once you have the dates, see 3 days in Budapest; for the way in, airport to city; and for the sights that need tickets, what to book before you go to Budapest. The Opera House, where the walking tour starts, has its own guide, Hungarian State Opera tours. For eating out of the markets, see Budapest food tours compared. For a warm-up between visits, Budapest’s thermal baths compared has the hours and prices of the baths.