The best Christmas Markets in Budapest in 2025

Best for: Family fun, with free skating for kids and a light show for all ages.

What could be better than skating in the shadow of the Basilica amid twinkling festive lights? Actually, possibly a spectacular 3D light show projected across the façade of the church… 3D glasses are provided for the display (daily 4.30pm-10pm), skates are available to rent and skating is free for kids. Stalls selling sausages, burgers and lángos now stretch down Zrínyi utca and adjoining streets, making this central Budapest’s most eclectic Christmas Market.

Address: Szent István tér, 1051 Budapest

Opening hours: From Nov 15

Best for: Tradition, particularly where food, drink, gifts and trinkets are concerned.

A Christmas market has long been held on Budapest’s main square, close to the Danube, where some 100 stalls are ranged for six weeks up to New Year’s Day. The creation of the ornaments, toys and trinkets on display is strictly controlled and items carry a certificate proving their local origin and quality of production.

Food options run the whole gamut, from goulash to strudels with everything hearty or sweet in between. Vörösmarty tér is also known for its mulled wine, served in a ceramic mug that you can take home as a souvenir. Prices here are a constant bugbear for locals, but on the plus side there’s a daily schedule of free live music – folk, blues, jazz – from late afternoon onwards. And if the crowds get too much, the other markets on Szent István tér, Erzsébet tér, Deák Ferenc utca and Városháza park are barely five minutes away.

Address: Vörösmarty tér, 1051 Budapest

Opening hours: From Nov 15

Best for: Atmosphere, with Budapest's most iconic church in the background and the sense of historic Buda all around.

At the foot of Matthias Church – re-imagined in its medieval form when reconstructed in the 1800s – the Advent fair in Budapest’s Castle District is imbued with a time-honoured ambience. The surrounding cobbled streets also help, as well as views over the Danube from Fishermen’s Bastion alongside. Warming seasonal fare, wrapped and hand-held or in a mug, keep the cold at bay as you peruse the market stalls for local gifts and souvenirs. It’s daytime only, leaving the evening free for carousing over the river in Pest.

Address: Szentháromság tér, 1014 Budapest

Opening hours: From Nov 29

Best for: Skating and a festive atmosphere, thanks to the decorated trees dotting this welcome piece of downtown greenery.

At the gateway to the city centre, this urban park-cum-square attached to Budapest City Hall or Városház is used for all kinds of civic and seasonal events, from public loungers in summer to this festive market in winter. This one feels more Christmassy, with its trees, fairylights and ice rink, plus occasional live music thrown in. It also keeps going during the first week of January, when Budapest is still awash with seasonal visitors but all the other markets have closed.

Address: Városháza park, 1052 Budapest

Opening date: TBC

Best for: Children, who'll love the old-school rides and dressing-up games.

For three weeks in December and New Year’s Day, Városliget (City Park) becomes Varázsliget (‘Magic Park’) thanks to the illuminated funfair rides that spin and whirl set against the Disneyesque Vajdahunyad Castle. Almost everything here is geared to those who still believe in Santa – the carousel, the magic wheel, the miniature railway and the fairy queen who makes wishes come true with wings and wands – while the grown-ups can browse the craft stalls and indulge in one mulled wine too many. And if someone in the group is a bit too old for Santa and fairies, the city’s main ice rink is just across the park.

Address: Vajdahunyad sétány, 1146 Budapest

Opening date: TBC

Best for: High rides, the Big Wheel on this side of the square ideal for a romantic visit to Budapest in the run-up to Christmas. 

The stalls lining Erzsébet tér, a large square almost entirely given over to recreation, are towered over by the Big Wheel of Budapest (Mon-Thur & Sun 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-midnight), the city’s own equivalent of the London Eye. From here, you can look down at the lights of the half-a-dozen Christmas markets around the city centre, and the twinkling cityscape of Budapest beyond. Back down on Earth, stalls line the nearest side of the square to the Michael Jackson Tree, packed with sweet delights – chimney cake, pancakes and Hungary’s traditional Christmas cake, beigli – as well as meaty treats and mulled wine.

Address: Erzsébet tér, 1051 Budapest

Opening date: TBC

Best for: Authenticity and local flavour, as few tourists venture to this part of north Buda, unless they're staying at the nearby Verdi Aquincum spa hotel.

While the fairs in the central squares of downtown Pest throng with foreign visitors, it’s mainly locals who use the free skating rink here, ride the vintage merry-go-round and tuck into the warming winter dishes of long Hungarian tradition. As such, it feels less commercial, the stuffed cabbage and fish soup as authentic as those served on many Hungarian dining tables on December 24.

The location is really two squares in one as the market extends to adjoining Szentlélek tér, stalls set up on the cobblestones, the Danube close by along with the HÉV suburban train stop directly linked to Batthyány tér eight minutes away. Note that the skating rink stays in place through January and February.

Address: Fő tér, 1033 Budapest

Opening date: TBC

Best for: Random presents thanks to the range of items on offer, stuff that you just won't find in the city's main markets elsewhere.

This bar- and restaurant-lined passageway linking Király utca to Dob utca deep in District VII doubles up as a bric-à-brac market for half the week during the day – and a Christmas one for most of December. Vendors display more unusual items of jewellery and decoration, with the accent on the unique and artisanal. Stalls of more antiquey items remain from the regular fair, also known as the Budapest Cultural Flea Market.

Address: Király utca 13, 1075 Budapest

Opening date: TBC

Best for: Shopping, in this hub of luxury retail in Budapest.

Stalls line Deák Ferenc utca, the self-styled, pedestrianised Fashion Street of big-name brands that acts as a funnel into the main square, and Christmas market, of Vörösmarty tér. All is centrepieced by a soaring, illuminated Christmas tree planted outside the Kempinski Hotel. whose ÉS Bisztró terrace faces the row of shop windows (BOSS, Lacoste, Calvin Klein) also done up for the season. There’s usually a luxury car parked in the middle of the street, too, to set the tone. All around, stalls proffer the usual goodies, chimney cake, strudel, folksy embroidery and local ceramics.

Address: Deák Ferenc utca, 1051 Budapest

Opening times: From Nov 15

📍 How to do a weekend in Budapest
🍲 The best restaurants in Budapest
🏘️ The best Airbnbs in Budapest
🏨 The best hotels in Budapest
🍽️ Our all-new Time Out Market Budapest
🇭🇺 Ultimate guide to what to do in Budapest