Events: What's on in Budapest

The biggest music festival in the region is still going strong after nearly 25 years. Taking over its own island (sziget), this sprawling, multi-cultural event is unique in that it comprises many stages and all kinds of attractions for all the family. Arriving by HÉV suburban train to Filatorigát or by special festival boat from Margaret Bridge, hundreds of thousands of visitors ('Szitizens') are immersed into a completely new world for the length of their stay.

Most come for the music alone, of course, but camp out here and you'll get the full Sziget experience. Consistently winning prizes for Best Festival Infrastructure, Sziget also scores high for food and drink, and children's entertainment.

For 2026, headliners include Twenty One Pilots, Florence + The Machine and Lewis Capaldi, along with UK favourites such as Underworld and the Lambrini Girls. On the electronica front either, Richie Hawtin, Sara Landry and Nia Archives provide a darker, clubby atmosphere, while the domestic field is bolstered by Beton.Hofi and Analog Balaton, among others.

All takes place between August 11-15, with Day 0 on August 10 and a -1 day in celebration of Hungarian music legend János Bródy on August 9.

There's no experience more Budapest than watching open-air cinema while bathing in thermal waters in opulent surroundings. This summer, Cinespa brings together the city's spa culture and the relaxed atmosphere of alfresco movies of a Friday night. Here, you can watch screen classics while bobbing in the waters of the Széchenyi Baths.

Screenings start at 8.45pm, films shown in English with Hungarian subtitles. The schedule includes Mamma Mia! on July 10 and 50 First Dates on July 17.

In case of rain or bad weather, screenings may be cancelled but that doesn't mean you have to go without an evening spent relaxing at Budapest's most popular spa.

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.

Few artists have influenced electronic music as much as Moby. His album Play from 1999 sold 12 million copies, his songs have become indispensable pieces in films, TV ads and clubs, and the producer has been a master of experimentation ever since. He returns to Budapest for the first time in 15 years and is preparing a new live show, in which he will perform his best-known hits and new compositions.

The evening will be characterised by ethereal vocals, psychedelic projections and heavy bass. The spacious space of Budapest Park is ideal for a concert where downtempo melancholy and danceable, rave beats go hand in hand. Moby’s music is a true emotional North Star for many. To immerse yourself in the soundscape of the new century for an evening, make your way to south Pest.

Releasing tunes on the One Little Independent label, renamed from One Little Indian and home of those groundbreaking Björk albums, Ásgeir rose to global fame with In the Silence, released in 2014. An exponent of a genre known as folktronica, the Icelandic Ásgeir is currently on a world tour, taking in New York, the Faroes and Budapest, backing his most recent release Julia. Here he performs with his own band as part of the MOL-New Europe Stage – Voices of Emerging Europe series.

125 years of Hungarian cinema is being celebrated at photo gallery, the Mai Manó House, some 400 photographs, video montages and bilingual documentation presenting the history of one of Europe’s earliest film cultures. Hungarian visitors will immediately recognise the stars and the revered features they appeared in, though will not have seen the backstage and previously hidden images from their film shoots. Displays on the upper floor are dedicated to the art of still and set photography, another field in which Hungary has excelled over the decades.

Free summer concerts are taking place on Kossuth tér outside Parliament every Thursday from 5pm, a series known as Tér-Zene ('Square Music'). For an hour each week, musicians playing classical, swing, jazz or acoustic pop will be entertaining passing crowds near the fountain on the relandscaped public space, with the iconic dome of Parliament as the backdrop.

Whether you’re on your way home from work or stopping for a moment while sightseeing, you can plot up on the steps or lie on the grass and enjoy an hour's free live sounds. Prime spots go quickly, so get here a little early if you can.

The 40th Hungarian Grand Prix sees the Formula 1 drivers set off for the first time between the new main building and grandstand, part of a major €200-million redevelopment. The investment has completely transformed the main stand, the pit lane and the paddock, opening a new chapter in the history of the Hungaroring.

Established by Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who originally wanted to bring Grand Prix to behind the Iron Curtain and then couldn't stage it through the streets of Moscow, the event has always been held at the Hungaroring near Mogyoród, an otherwise sleepy village north-east of Budapest. Always held in the sweltering heat of high summer, the Budapest fixture on the calendar is always popular one for the partying to be had around the city nearby.

To usher in this new era, a world-class racetrack awaits drivers from 24 to 26 July. The three-day programme brings race fans to the stands with free practice on the Friday, qualifying on the Saturday and the 70-lap race starting at 1pm on the Sunday. The tight corners of the 4.4-km long circuit continue to promise tough battles, but the new grandstand and paddock provide a more comfortable spectator experience.

In June, the open-air stage on Budapest's largest island comes alive again when one of Budapest’s most beautiful summer-only venues kicks off its annual agenda of classical music, opera, spectacular productions and Hungarian pop idols.

The season begins on June 4 with the opening concert of the National Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by the Queen Symphony & Concert Show on June 13, and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana on June 17, which will be performed in a concert-like, oratorio format, with a symphony orchestra and choir.

The Danube Carnival gala will be held on June 19, followed by two nights of Verdi on July 23 and 25, and the revered pre-war Hungarian cabaret swing of Budapest Bár on September 2. Although the programme is aimed towards a domestic audience, the verdant setting under the stars more than makes up for any linguistic hurdles. See here for the full schedule in English.

All the old favourites get dragged out and given another airing by three of the original members and sung by Frank Carter, Lydon having appeared in Budapest in recent weeks fronting Public Image. Rumours of new material have been greatly exaggerated – the set list is mainly taken from the band's only studio album plus a few well-known covers they played at the time, such as the Iggy's No Fun and the Monkees' Steppin' Stone – the Pistols always stole from the best.

Those interested in what these pioneering punk rockers actually sounded like should investigate the series of live albums currently being released from the seminal US tour of January 1978 in vinyl and CD form. Support is provided by The Damned, whose debut album and initial singles form part of the punk canon from 1976 and early 1977.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.