Performing Arts Festivals

One of the most beautiful buildings and main cultural venues in all of romantic Budapest is the Hungarian State Opera House. Furthermore, the newest cultural complex, the Palace of Arts has opened its premises for symphony and concert music, opera and ballet performances. Come here to catch a Hungarian Rhapsody or two by musical giant Franz Liszt, or head for a tanchaz (dance house) for an evening of haunting folk music and dance.

Budapest: Spring Festival, is Hungary’s largest and most prestigious cultural festival, featuring more than 200 events staged in 60 venues around the city. Over the years it has grown a country-wide festival.

Gyor: Summer International Cultural Festival, offering a rich palette of classical and folk music, jazz, dance, theater handicraft and gourmet programs.
Locator: 90 mi. from Budapest

Budapest: Summer Opera and Ballet Festival, with opera and ballet on stage in the Hungarian State Opera House, the capital’s beaux-arts architectural centerpiece.

Fertod: Haydn Festival, a week of classical music performance at the Eszterhazy Castle.
Locator: 20 miles from Sopron

Budapest: Sziget Festival, a multicultural event: film, jazz, folklore and mostly youth concerts are held on Hajogyar Island. (lst week of August)

Budapest: Autumn Arts Festival highlighting new tends in contemporary art and music (mid-October)

Traditional Events

Visegrad: International Palace Games, a salute to Visegrad’s golden age, evoked with a tournament and royal procession, medieval markets, handicrafts, food and drink
Locator: 40 mi. north of Budapest

Eger: Festival in Baroque Eger concentrates on Hungarian contemporary dance, theater and fine arts. (Late July-Aug)
Locator: 60 mi. from Budapest

Pecs and the Villany-Siklos (wine-growing region): World Convival Wine Song Festival, featuring wine songs and tasting, as well as music from international choruses.
Locator: 100 mi. from Budapest

Budapest: International Wine Festival, an exhibition and market in Buda Castle where the best wine producers introduce themselves, and events include a wine auction and harvest procession. (September)

Budapest: Christmas Market takes place in beautiful Vorosmarty Square, the setting for both stalls of folk art sellers and festive entertainment.

Budapest: New Year’s Eve Gala Ball, held in the Opera House with artists from the Hungarian State Opera House and a banquet in the famous Gundel Restaurant. (December 31)

Capitals & Elsewhere

Budapest: The Danube River divides the city into two parts - the hilly Buda and the low-lying Pest, together presenting one of Europe’s leading centers for the arts. The Buda Castle District, with the superb Royal Palace, embraces wine houses, fine hotels, restaurants and museums, such as: the National Gallery of Hungarian art and the Budapest History Museum. On the busy Pest side, the city’s Museum of Fine Arts, with its collections of Dutch and Spanish masters, is must-see attraction, as are the Museum of Ethnography, highlighting Hungary’s folk arts, and the Museum of Applied and Decorative Arts. The St. Stephen Cathedral and the Matthias Church are appreciated for their wondrous architecture, and the healing spas of the city are themselves architectural masterpieces.
Locator: 137 mi. from Bratislava; 170 mi. from Vienna

Eger: This picturesque Baroque town, an archiepiscopal center, is known as the Town of Patriotism after its heroic defense against the Ottomans in 1552. It lies in the country’s best-known vineyard country, celebrated for Egri Bikaver wine. People also come to admire its beautifully preserved Baroque architecture and to climb up to its 13th century Eger Castle. Another attraction is the Istvan Dobo Museum, the historic library of the Lyceum and the Bishop’s Palace. The neighboring Szepasszony Valley welcomes wine lovers to its 1,000-year-old cellars.
Locator: 52 mi. northeast of Budapest

Pecs: The centerpiece of this vibrant, Mediterranean-like city is the four-spire Basilica, with a shimmering interior of frescoes and ornate statuary. Pecs also has some of the best museums and art collections in the country - including the Zsolnay Museum occupying the upper floor of the city’s oldest building and displaying the Zsolnay family’s exquisite porcelain collection. In modern contrast is the Vasarely Museum, dedicated to native son and Op-Art painter, Victor Vasarely. Remains of the ancient Roman town of Pannonia (Sophianae) and the 16th century Ottoman period speak to the town’s historic role.
Locator: 155 mi. south of Budapest

Szeged: The town’s appeal is architectural, from its imposing neo-Romanesque brick Votive Church (Fogadalmi Templom) to its new (1905) Art Nouveau New Synagogue. Szeged rates additional praise for its world-famous paprika and its Summer Cultural Festival.
Locator: 150 mi. southeast of Budapest

Sopron: The town serves as a gateway to Austria. With its preponderance of Gothic and early Baroque architecture is considered by many to be the most charming medieval town in Hungary. Fine buildings include the turreted Storno House, now a museum with a remarkable collection of decorative arts and furnishings; the Goat Church with a frescoed 14th century Chapter Hall beneath, and the Old and New Synagogues, among the finest Jewish Gothic monuments in Europe.
Locator: a 40-minute drive from Vienna

Special Museums

Budapest: The Ludwig Museum houses the collection of benefactors Peter and Irene Ludwig, whose works include modern Hungarian, Russian classicists and avant-garde artists, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns. The Museum recently moved to the new cultural complex, Palace of Art, in Pest.

Budapest & Pecs: Native Hungarian son and father of Op-Art, Victor Vasarely is a two-museum artist. The Vasarely Museum-Budapest occupies a two-story wing of an old aristocratic house (in Obuda), which now displays 400 of his colorful and geometric work. The Vasarely Museum-Pecs, also in an historic mansion, is full of the artist’s works and those of his disciples.

Opusztaszer: The Hungarian National Historical Memorial Park is built on the site of the first parliamentary congregation of nomadic Magyar tribes, held in AD 895. Fascinating exhibits scattered around the landscape include the Monastery of Szer, yurts that resemble tents-shaped houses, and an astounding 5,249-foot oil painting (the Feszty Cyclorama) depicting the arrival of the tribes in the 12th century. During holidays, equestrian shows and folkloric activities are held here.
Locator: 18 miles from Szeged

Szentendre: For many decades, this tiny town has been a sanctuary for Hungarian arts, whose work is displayed in galleries and souvenir shops, hidden among the narrow streets. Scattered about Hungary are skanzens, open-air museums that authentically reproduce village and farm life; one is the Szentendre Open Air Museum, which, with hand-built rural houses with crafts furnishing, barns, and public spaces, gives us a glimpse of how people lived and worked in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Locator: one-hour by commuter train north of Budapest, a two-hour boat ride along the Danube

Regal Sites

Visegrad: Sited at the most spectacular turn of the Danube Bend, the 15th century Visegrad Royal Palace once had 350 rooms, unrivaled in size or splendor. From its Court of Honor to its Gothic arcades, most of today’s palace is restored or reproduced. The original fountains stream wine on holidays, and sculptures are preserved in the Solomon Tower.
Locator: 20 mi. north of Budapest

Godollo: Rivaling Esterhazy Palace in size and splendor in the 18th century, the Royal Grassalkovich Mansion remains the largest Baroque manor house in the country. Once a summer retreat for Emperor Franz Joseph and his beloved Queen Erzsebet (Sissy), this is now a pleasant venue for the Palace Concerts and Chamber Music Festival held in late June-early July, October and December.
Locator: 18 miles northeast of Budapest

Koszeg: The 14th century Jurisics Castle, fortified with four towers, is located in one of Hungary’s most architecturally appealing towns. Visitors enter the city through the Hero’s Gate, built for the 400th anniversary of Ottoman siege, and the arms of the siege are on view in the Fortress Museum.
Locator: 28 miles south of Sopron, bordering Austria

UNESCO World Heritage Sites (8 sites nationwide)

Holloko: A restored 13th century castle and the architecture of the 60 or so folk houses and buildings set this two-street village apart in the Northern Uplands region. Little museums occupy five of its traditional houses. Easter is celebrated here with elaborate processions.
Locator: 30 mi. north of Hatvan in the Cserhat Mountains

Hortobagy National Park: This Unesco designated wildlife preserve, sheltering some 344 species of the continent’s estimated 400 birds, offers some of the best bird watching in Europe.
Locator: 5 miles west of Debrecen, Hungary’s second largest city

Aggtelek Karst & Slovak Karst Caves: Declared a dual-nation site by Unesco, the Baradla-Domica caves network is the largest stalactite system in Europe; there are some 15 miles of passageways in Hungary, connecting to a four-mile stretch in neighboring Slovakia. Tours of the Baradla Cave are offered on foot, by boat, April to September - also the season for spotting black storks.
Locator: a 3-hour drive north of Budapest

Pannonhalma Abbey (Western Transdanubia): Spruced up for its 1000th anniversary in 1996, the still-functioning Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma is one of Hungary’s most impressive historical complexes. Its St. Martin’s Basilica dates to the 12th century, its enormous Abbey Library to the 19th century.
Locator: 7 mi. from Gyor

More information

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