Category: News

The annual Christmas market arranged in front of the St. Stephens Basilica in Budapest will soon open. This is a beautiful market working very well together with the Christmas market at the Vörösmarty Square. Beneath you can find the official press release for the Christmas market with information about the event and more.

Please note that this year there will not only be a Christmas market, but also a street food festival connected to the Christmas market, making the walk from the St. Stephens Basilica all the way down to the Chain Bridge a mixture of Christmas and delicious food!

The most important information about the market is that it will open on November 27th and stay open until January 1st.

Christmas market press release!

During the Advent fair on Saint Stephen’s Square, the area of the Basilica is turning into a magical festive quarter. From the last weekend of November visitors may enter this joyful world decorated with Christmas lights. Here the festive ambience of the 5-week long Christmas preparation is ensured by almost 200 programmes, the handicrafts of 80 vendors and the international food and drink selection of the street food section in Zrínyi Street. Every night visitors might admire the 3D light paintings on the monumental façade of the Basilica, while children can enjoy the huge ice rink around the 9-meter tall Christmas tree or they can bake honey-cake hearts, and everybody can dance together at the folk dance evenings. Following the traditions, on 1st of January Lentil Day is going to be held, when the fortune-making New Year’s dish – prepared by different recipes – will be available at the gastronomic exhibitors and street food vendors.

The square in front of Saint Stephen’s Basilica – which is one of Hungary’s most important churches and tourist attractions – is going to be the most spectacular and eventful meeting point in Budapest from 27 November to 2 January. Last year Saint Stephen’s Basilica got into the CNN’s Top 10 list of the most photographed places in the world, and hopefully the visitors’ stunning photos will flood again the social media.

This year the Advent Feast at the Basilica is welcoming its visitors with the largest and the most spectacular visual attraction of the country. Colourful short movies will come to life in 3D on the 1000  m2 façade of the Basilica, while the festive lights of the square and the Inner City will provide a magical setting for a winter walk. During the 35 days of the Advent fair families and groups of friends will find a great variety of programmes, exclusive events and charity functions.
The 200 m2 ice rink around the magically decorated Christmas tree will remain the centre of the fair for the greatest joy of the children who can use it free of charge or even participate in the skating courses at the weekends. In the “Hunger for Love” bakery, set up by the Hungarian Inter-Church Aid, volunteers and visitors will prepare honey-cake hearts together with special surprise guests supporting the charity to thank its donors for their generosity.

At the fabulous wooden houses in front of the Basilica the fair’s visitors may choose between countless carefully pre-selected, great quality handcrafted gifts and the design items of talented young artists. This year the craftsmenʼs stalls will occupy a larger area including the way connecting Bajcsy-Zsilinszky and Hercegprímás Streets next to the Basilica, to offer even more products than in the previous years. Amazed by the abundance of gifts visitors may taste the holiday season’s most popular dishes along with this year’s novelties. While having fun outdoors in the cold winter weather, they can pair the steaming hot dishes with selected hot cocktails.

The Advent Feast at the Basilica is getting an exciting new addition this year. Street food, which was a successful debut last year, will take over the whole Zrinyi Street this year, and fill it with exotic food, Advent delicacies and the flavours of international cuisine. From Sas Street to Széchenyi Street the coolest Hungarian food trucks and street food vendors will be present such as Zing Burger, KolBice, BudDog, Paneer, MexKitchen, Balkán Grill, Befaló Bill, DiVino and Korhely. More than 30 exhibitors will provide food meant to be eaten on the street such as pancake, grilled sandwich, soup, “new wave” flat bread, lángos, pljeskavica, Italian sweets and salty titbits – to seduce the workers of the surrounding office buildings from the boring daily menus and to treat those who will come here to check out the greatest street food extravaganza of the holiday season. Following the New Year’s traditions Lentil Day will close the series of the fair’s gastronomic events on 1st of January.

For more information about the different Christmas markets in Budapest click the link. If you are in the Christmas mood and want to watch Christmas films on Netflix, then you can see a video presenting different Christmas movies on Netflix on Youtube by clicking the link.

Merry Christmas and have fun in Budapest!