Budapest Design Week shines a spotlight on the city’s culture
Sitting on the red-carpeted central steps of the Hungarian State Opera House, we watched a prima donna perform just inches away, framed by gilded fin-de-siècle grandeur. This was one moment of many where cheap drinks and stag do crowds felt a world away in this sophisticated Central European city, writes Emma Cooke.
Creative souls will find Budapest speaks their language, with a thriving arts scene and an exciting run of new openings all putting the city on the cultural map. We travelled during Budapest Design week, held in mid-October each year, when hundreds of exhibitions, guided tours, talks and performances take place across the Hungarian capital, all set against a backdrop of fairytale architecture and thermal baths just two and a half hours from the UK.
Where to stay
Our base was the Kimpton Budapest, a newly opened five-star hotel that combines luxury with contemporary design. There are views over the Danube, huge rooms, a sleek spa in the basement with a bubbling thermal water pool, plus sauna and steam room, and friendly concierge-led service. The included breakfast had local pastries we drizzled in honey from slabs of real comb, and buttered pancakes with a spiced compote made from Hungarian blueberries. We also appreciated the glass of Champagne on arrival and sweets and liqueurs laid out every evening as a complimentary treat for guests.
Things to do
Budapest is split into two parts by the Danube: Buda, the peaceful castle district, and Pest, where most of the city’s social life unfolds. Linked by bridges, the former is serene and historic, the latter lively and modern.
In Buda it’s an easy twenty minute walk between the main sights, Matthias Church, Buda Castle and the Fisherman’s Bastion. Staying on foot also made it easier to appreciate the work of the National Hauszmann Program, a long-term effort to restore the historic Castle District back to its 19th-century grandeur and reintegrate the palace district into the cultural fabric of the wider city.
On the other side of the city in Pest, we visited the Hungarian State Opera House. Built in the late 1800s, a programme of ballet and opera performances still runs nightly, but to our delight, daytime tours also include a performance by an opera singer on the central staircase.
Other Pest cultural highlights include Falk Miksa Street, known as the city’s “art and antiques corridor”, where you can wander galleries, antique shops and contemporary design studios. City Park has also been transformed into a major cultural district with two new museums as part of Liget Budapest, Europe’s largest and most ambitious urban cultural development project.
In the first, the House of Music, which opened January 2022, we had a mind-bending experience in the sound dome, reclining on bean bags as we watched art float across the enveloping ceiling in time to music, before walking through the building’s immersive music exhibitions and glass-walled concert hall.
Four minutes’ walk away, the Museum of Ethnography, which opened in May 2022, showcases objects and stories from Hungarian culture inside a jaw-dropping building with a curving, grass-topped roof you can climb on top of for a view across the city.
In the evening, we caught a show at Budapest Dance Theatre, watching whirling figures perform in the former industrial monument that’s now dedicated to contemporary dance.
If you’re planning your trip during Design Week (October 8 to 19), jump on a bus to 360 Design Budapest, a free exhibition that celebrates contemporary design in Hungary by showcasing the work of hundreds of designers, both Hungarian and international, and Art Market, the largest international contemporary art fair in Central and Eastern Europe.
Where to eat
In between sightseeing, find time for lunch at the brand new Time Out Market Budapest, which opened last September inside the restored Corvin Palace. The airy, light-filled hall hosts a maze of different food stalls from some of the most exciting chefs in Hungary. We sampled Taiwanese food made with rich Hungarian ingredients, and everything from the modern – a tartare oyster emulsion and gorgonzola ice cream were standouts – to twists on traditional, like a crunchy layered potato and sausage dish topped with an egg and sour cream float. Dishes range from £6 to £19.
For fine dining, the tasting menu (£52) over at farm-to-table restaurant, TATI, is exceptional, crafting ingredients from small local producers into warming delicious mouthfuls, including a chicken paprikash that will make your eyes roll back into your head. The cocktails (£9) take similar inspiration, with quince-laced rum and thyme, truffle and Cognac combinations.
On the Michelin front, there’s Stand 25, a Bib Gourmand spot that reimagines Hungarian classics – their take on the traditional Hungarian street food, lángos (£13), topped with curls of Balaton cheese and aged ham is a must. Then Michelin-recommended Virtu, where elegant dishes are accompanied by the shimmering lights of the city, due to its position on the 28th floor of MOL Campus, the tallest building in Budapest.
Where to drink
We once again ascended upwards to Highnote Sky Bar, on the 9th floor of one of Budapest’s grandest hotels, the Aria, for music-themed cocktails overlooking St Stephen’s Basilica.
Down on the ground, we found the secret entrance to Párisi Udvar, a restored early 1900s passage that hides a cafe with excellent hot chocolate (£7.40) and Hungarian cakes (£7.75) within its ornate walls.
But for something uniquely Hungarian, our tour of the House of Unicum, where the country’s herbal liqueur is made, ended with cellar tastings direct from the oak barrels it's stored in, from the traditional recipe through to modern coffee and Sicilian blood orange iterations.
Travel facts
For more information on Budapest and Budapest Design Week, see budapestdesignweek.hu and visithungary.com
Rooms at the Kimpton Budapest start from around £210 per night, including breakfast and access to the spa. See kimptonbudapest.com
A House of Unicum tour and tasting costs from 3,950 HUF (£8) per person for the standard visit or 5,500 HUF (£12) for the premium experience. Book at unicumhaz.hu
The 60-minute English-language tour at Budapest Opera House, including a concert from opera singers on the landing of the grand staircase, starts every day at 1.30 pm, 3.00 pm, and 4.30 pm, and costs 10,500 HUF (£24). See opera.hu
Airport transfers into the city centre take around 30 minutes by taxi (from £22) or 35 to 45 minutes by bus or metro.