There are a lot of major events going on in May that you don’t want to miss: food festivals, jazz concerts, a street fair in the heart of Budapest’s nightlife zone, and more. In this event roundup, we collect all of the important happenings taking place in Hungary’s capital during the upcoming weeks, so that you can plan ahead to attend whatever events are the most interesting for you. Get out there and enjoy everything that Budapest has to offer!
1/10
Jazz Spring
Three internationally acclaimed jazz divas fill the Palace of Arts with fantastic jazz tunes between May 4-6. The up-and-coming young songbird, the velvet-voiced Kandace Springs, moves along the borderline of jazz classics, soul, and pop with natural ease; a British singer with Jamaican roots, Zara McFarlane, showcases her unique charisma and highly original songs at her Budapest concert; while the third performer, two-time Grammy Award winner Cassandra Wilson, has been consistently on top of her game for decades, and her concert promises to be an unforgettable experience for lovers of the genre. More details
2/10
Food Truck Show Budapest
The Food Truck Show is an alfresco festival that gathers most of the major representatives of victual-serving vehicles that offer high-quality food in Hungary at Kincsem Park during May 5-7. It is a perfect place to stuff your face, whether you like mouthwateringly juicy burgers by Zing Burger, the hearty and heavenly sausage cones of Kolbice, vegan bites by Las Vegan’s, cool ice creams by Levendula Kézműves Fagylaltozó, or tasty craft beers by Legenda Sörfőzde; here, surely everyone can find something to their liking. Furthermore, horse and greyhound races, live music performances, children’s programs, and street performers entertain everyone at this fascinating gastro festival. More details
3/10
Budapest Coffee Festival
A cool jamboree for java lovers, the Budapest Coffee Festival, is held for the first time in Hungary during May 6-7 at the Museum of Applied Arts. Several local and international exhibitors set up stalls here to offer palatable black potables for visitors, while lectures and coffee cupping done by true “Q Graders” also entertain crowds here. In addition to all of that, the finals of three Hungarian championships – the Barista Championship, the Brewers Cup, and the Cup Tasters – is also held here, as visitors can see for the first time the winners who will represent the country at the world championships in Budapest and in Seoul. More details
4/10
Day of Birds and Trees on Kazinczy Street
On May 6th, Budapest’s chaotic Kazinczy Street hosts a colorful car-free carnival, the Day of Birds and Trees, when almost all of the street’s restaurants, clubs, bars, and cafés join forces in order to celebrate nature in the middle of downtown. The not-so-secret aim of this family-friendly street festival is showing how lovely it would be if the street could be permanently transformed into a more liveable and greener promenade for pedestrians and bikers only. Breakfast meals, pop-up clothes stalls, belly-dancing performances, photo shoots, and kid’s programs will entertain crowds here all day, from 10am to 8pm. More details
5/10
Night of Art Cinemas
Budapest boasts several admirable art-house film theaters that, for one special night every spring, stay open until dawn to screen movies of various genres until the sun rises. This year, on May 12-13, night owls can visit five Budapest cinemas – Művész, Puskin, Kino Café, Tabán, and Toldi – with one single wristband. Among many major motion pictures, Charlie Chaplin’s comedic masterpiece, Modern Times, will be back on the screen, while visitors can also watch other significant film productions of recent years like Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, the 2017 Oscar Gala’s two favorites La La Land and Moonlight, the coming-of-age cannibal story Raw, Woody Allen’s Café Society, and the incredible-yet-untold true story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, Hidden Figures. All films screen with original English audio and Hungarian subtitles. More details
6/10
Rosalia
Between May 12-14, you can see the sprawling City Park in pink (or slightly blurred...) as the annual Rosalia Rosé and Champagne Festival takes place again here, awaiting bibulous Budapest dwellers with refreshing rosé wines, fizzy champagnes, and splendid sparkling libations amid an easygoing atmosphere. An impressive selection of traditional and new-wave handheld meals accompanies the intoxicating drinks, and the live performances of local musicians entertain crowds. In the afternoon, Rosalia is a family- and dog-friendly festival that welcomes little ones with various exciting programs, however, after bedtime dreams come true for city dwellers of legal age, and the park fills with heavy reds, light whites, various sparkling wines, and endless glasses of rosés. More details
7/10
Gourmet Festival
A prominent event of Hungarian gastro culture, the annual Gourmet Festival, is held this year during May 18-21 at the Buda side’s Millenáris Park. More than 25 of Hungary’s top restaurants – like Bock Bistro, Costes, Onyx, Nobu, and Rosenstein, just to mention a few – as well as excellent wineries, pálinka distilleries, and confectioneries set up stalls to proffer delicate dishes to epicures. Furthermore, a small marketplace presents the fresh goods of local producers, such as homemade cheeses, hams, sausages, jams, honeys, chocolates, and other delicacies. Furthermore, live musical performances on two separate stages lift visitors’ spirits high. More details
8/10
Belgian Beer Festival
Druing May 19-21, Budapest once again hosts the Belgian Beer Festival, a hop-scented gathering that brings 45 Belgian breweries together, presenting their more than 250 types of intoxicating suds, among which 65 will be available on tap. In addition to the alcoholic beverages, beer lovers can binge on fine bites like Hungarian sausages, homemade hams, Belgian fries, and other street-food varieties while admiring the picturesque panorama over Liberty Bridge and the Buda side. The entry ticket includes tokens that can be used for buying beer, as well as the official beer glass of the festival; please bear in mind that the succulent suds are only served in these glasses. More details
9/10
Mayday of Museums Festival
Filling the gardens of the Hungarian National Museum with diverse open-air displays, the annual Mayday of Museums Festival is happening on May 20th and 21st, allowing visitors to learn about many major Budapest museums while enjoying various family-friendly programs and listening to cool concerts. This year’s main theme is “museums in gardens – gardens and museums”, investigating the questions of protecting and cultivating nature and the city’s green areas, recycling, and an environmentally conscious lifestyle. More details are coming soon here
10/10
Bruno Mars concert
Grammy Award winner and world-renowned multi-platinum selling singer and songwriter, Peter Gene Hernandez, aka Bruno Mars, truly conquered hearts all around the world with songs like “Grenade”, “Just The Way You Are”, and “It Will Rain” over recent years, and united lovers as many ladies were proposed to while his famous hit “Marry You” played in the background. On May 30th, Bruno Mars brings his “24K Magic World Tour” to Budapest's Papp László Sportaréna, where even if you cry your heart out to “When I Was Your Man” and some of his other heart-wrenching songs, more upbeat tunes like “Uptown Funk” and “That's What I Like” not only stop your sobbing, but lure you into dancing all night. More details
