The Danube Regatta – Budapest’s biggest river-based sports contest between universities – is happening again for the fifth time on May 6th. Talented boat-based sports teams take to the water on Saturday while everyone can enjoy the competitions from the riverbanks, while other extreme-sport battles take place on the Danube Quay, all amid a festival atmosphere enhanced by live concerts by popular Hungarian bands – and best of all, it’s free to enjoy all of these riparian attractions.
The highlight of this splashy celebration will be the rowing and dragon-boat contests, in which a total of 800 people will participate from 18 Hungarian universities, along with one German and one Dutch school. The Andrássy Gyula German University, the Budapest University of Economics, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Semmelweis University, CEU, and the Budapest Corvinus University are all among the participating schools.
In addition to the spectacular tournaments, extreme sport shows from crossfit through freestyle football to cheerleader performances all await visitors. The aim of this free festival is to encourage students to do more sports, and to get the Danube more involved in Budapest’s everyday life. For the duration of the event, the Műegyetem Quay (outside the University of Technology and Economics) will be closed to cars, where nearly 30,000 people can cheer for their favorite teams.
During the festival, visitors can also try various sports, including new and extreme sports like beach volleyball, beer pong, ergometer racing, and teqball. Furthermore, slacklines, a climbing wall, and a trapbus will also be set up, along with a skatepark for BMX and skate shows.
To conclude the festival, everyone can party all night on the quay with popular Hungarian bands like Anna & the Barbies, Hősök, Ocho Macho, and Byealex és a Slepp. Furthermore, as we have already reported earlier, Valyo is working hard on a project that would enable them to once again host picnics on the Liberty Bridge during summer weekends like last year. To further promote this idea, this Saturday car traffic will be stopped on the Danube Quay on the Buda side between the Liberty Bridge and the Erzsébet Bridge, awaiting everyone with blankets and a few grills for picnics. The aim of this initiative is to show how nice it would be if a promenade connected the two bridges, involving the river in the everyday lives of Budapest’s residents even more.
