Events: What's on in Budapest

Champions League final weekend in Budapest means a big football celebration from Thursday, May 28 onwards, when the main fan zone sets up at Heroes' Square, star guest Milan veteran Cafu. More legends can be spotted throughout the weekend, with live music at 9pm on Thursday and Friday, and family-friendly entertainment throughout. Each set of fans has their own fan zone, Arsenal's in City Park, PSG's at the MTK Sportpark, both near the stadium and both operating from the morning of Saturday's match until long after the final whistle. The match at the Puskás Aréna kicks off at 6pm, allowing football followers the rest of Saturday night to party in Budapest. The main fan zone runs until late afternoon on the Sunday, May 31.

At first glance, rum and beer may seem to be two separate entities, the former fresh, hoppy and communal, the latter speaking of deep, spicy, sun-drenched landscapes. But at the end of June, they come together at the two-day Rum and Beer Festival at Time Out Market Budapest, where more than 100 varieties of rum and 50-plus types of beer await those keen on discovering new flavours.

The beer side is represented by the Pannonhalma Abbey Brewery, FIRST Craft Beer, Horizont Brewing, Fehér Nyúl Brewery and Dreher, while rums include brands such as Angostura Caribbean, Dictador, Bumbu, Havana Club, La Hechicera, Botran, Black Tot and Compagnie des Indes.

Sampling will, of course, be accompanied by live music. On the Friday, Wolfie, and on Saturday Dreher Drops and TADAM, will be taking care of the sounds. Meanwhile, the full food and drink range of Time Out Market Budapest will be on hand, meaning that you can also enjoy a great meal served by Budapest's most exciting kitchens separate to your event coupons.

The entrance ticket is valid for both days and includes five tasting coupons. You can purchase additional coupon packages on-site, plus buy or hire tasting glasses.

Metallica return to Budapest after eight years as part of their M72 world tour, pitching up at the Puskás Aréna for a two-night stint. Following the band's No Repeat Weekend concept, the four-piece will play completely different sets on June 11 and 13, encouraging fans to see both shows.

There's certainly enough material to choose from, with a back catalogue dating back to 1983, encompassing the award-winning Master of Puppets from 1986 and their most recent work, 72 Seasons. Budapest comes halfway through a series of big stadium dates in Europe, shifting to a long residency in Las Vegas this autumn.

On the first night in Budapest, Pantera and Avatar provide support while on the second, Gojira and Knocked Loose are the guests, so those going to both nights can catch different bands as well as a different numbers by Metallica. 

Kicking off with the lilting reggae rhythms of Irie Maffia on April 23, prime open-air live venue Budapest Park stages five months of regular shows in the shadow of Közvágóhíd, set back from the Müpa arts complex in south Pest. Among the top international acts are Moby on August 1, Rita Ora on July 29, Idles on July 8 and the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter on July 20. Big Hungarian names include Halott Pénz, Ivan & the Parazol and Blahalouisiana. The season closes with Parov Stelar on September 26.

From May onwards, the Musical Fountain on Margaret Island will perform its popular choreography to the sound of classic waltzes and modern pop hits. Visitors can look forward to children's songs in the morning, classical tunes at noon, pop in the afternoon, and a light and music show in the evening, magical after sunset. Grab an ice cream, sit on the grass and let yourself be enchanted by the dancing water jets.

Starting her international career by winning the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels and garnering several other awards, Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya is currently touring Europe until New Year's Eve, performing in Dresden, Prague, Hamburg and here in the Grand Hall of the Franz Liszt Music Academy. Beginning with two pieces by Bach, Vinnitskaya will move on to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.1 and Brahms' Symphony No.1. The conductor will be András Keller, music director of Concerto Budapest.

Timed to coincide with the pioneering exploits of Artemis II in April 2026, Destination: Galaxy! looks at the earliest days of space exploration, when Moscow-aligned Hungary followed the progress of Vostok, Yuri Gagarin and the Soviet cosmonauts years before the Americans left Earth's orbit. Hungary has its own cosmonaut, Bertalan Farkas, who held the nation in thrall when he became the first Magyar in space in 1980. Photographs, original artefacts and interviews recall the thrill of the moment, with mainly English-friendly documentation.

Running for most of the summer at the Museum of Fine Arts on Heroes' Square, this large-scale retrospective marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Victor Vasarely, considered the father of Op art. Born in Pécs, southern Hungary, Vasarely first hooked up with the Bauhaus movement in Budapest but then followed many Hungarian emigrés to Paris in the 1930s. There, as well as earning a decent living designing advertising posters, he set in motion one of the most far-reaching revolutions in 20th-century visual thinking. His work played a defining role in the emergence of geometrical abstraction and Op art after World War II, and continues to inform attitudes to visual culture to this day. 

On the Hungarian throne for 40 years, from 1342 to 1382, King Louis I the Great, oversaw the excavation of precious metals, mainly gold, to allow his medieval realm to flourish. Born exactly 700 years ago in Visegrád, where a number of anniversary events will also take place, this ruler of the Angevin dynasty pursued a successful foreign policy and quelled internal rebellion, acquiring the Polish crown, founding Hungary's first university, and encouraging the development of arts and craftsmanship. The few remaining examples of coins and jewellery from this golden period are on display at the National Museum will be on display until the end of the year. Documentation is in English and Hungarian.

Hosted at his namesake exhibition centre, Hungarian Report, 1948, displays some 50 photographs taken by the legendary photographer Robert Capa, who had returned home from his acclaimed photo shoots around war-torn Europe. What he discovered was ruined streets and the gradual rebuilding of the city of his youth, as it faced a post-war future with hope and uncertainty.

This year, RAKPART, the traffic-free celebration of the Pest embankment, opens for its summer season on May 1 at the start of the bank-holiday weekend. Entertainment will be laid on for pedestrians, cyclists, badminton players, barbecuers, joggers, rollerbladers, dog walkers and anyone keen on relaxing and taking in the cityscape by the river. Until mid-September, the waterfront will be free of motorists every weekend and, for 2026, the lower embankment will also be closed to four wheels on weekday evenings.

Hungary’s first contemporary ballet company explore the depth of human relationships in this two-part adaptation of the star-crossed story of Romeo and Juliet. Playing for two consecutive nights on March 19-20, then again in May at Müpa’s prestigious Festival Theatre, the production showcases Vincze Balázs’s stunning choreography, the stage designs of Balázs Cziegler and costumes by Julcsi Kiss. As Shakespeare once more takes the global spotlight, this is a timely reminder of his everlasting appeal, no matter the art form.