Beer Festival in Budapest City Center 2024

Taste Great Beers by Large Beer Makers, and Smaller Artisan Breweries!

Date: September 03 – 08, 2024

Location: Szabadság tér/Liberty Square, Budapest 1054, Downtown

The Beer Festival in Szabadság Square and the other, smaller festivals (Belgian Beer Festival, Czech Beer Festival) offer opportunity for beer lovers to taste the best beers made in Hungary.

Besides wine celebrated on the numerous wine festivals organized in Budapest throughout the year, beer, especially specialty beer made by small, craft breweries, has become more and more popular in recent years.

This year the downtown beer fest will be 6 days long, between September 03 – 08.

3 people at the wooden booth of IPA Beer House beer maker, under the canopy of platan trees on the Beer  Festival in Budapest
IPA Beer House’s Booth At The Beer Festival in Budapest

Beer Festival On Szabadság Square/City Center – Details:

Location:

  • Szabadság tér/Liberty Square,Budapest 1054 district V. (View on Map)

A nice downtown square and park that you can get to conveniently from every part of the city.

Getting There:

  • Tram 2: Kossuth tér, M2 metro (red line) Kossuth tér station
  • M3 metro (blue line): Arany János utca station
  • Trolley bus No. 78: Kossuth Lajos tér stop
  • Buses No. 15, 115: Hold utca/Széchenyi utca stop

Tickets:

  • Entry to the festival and concerts is free.
  • To drink beer you have to buy the festival glass though.
  • Premium tasting glass: 2 799 HUF, Exclusive glass: 3 999 HUF
red, sour cherry beer in a tasting glass with the festival logo in white and black on its side

Opening Hours:

  • Every day: 11.30 – 00.00

Why Should You Go?

Szabadság tér/Liberty Square a, lovely, spacious park in downtown Budapest, hosts the beer festival.

The venue is centrally located in close vicinity to countless attractions, like the Parliament, St. Stephen’s Basilica or the riverbank.

Just take a stroll taking in all the the downtown offers and then have a rest at the beer festival. Chill with a nice cold, local craft brew and street food under the canopy of stately sycamore trees.

The weather at this time of the year is still sunny and warm, ideal for an outdoor festival such as this.

lots of people having good time at the festival at dusk, string of fairy lights above them
  • 250 beer specialties: local, import and craft brews
  • 2 dl tasting option
  • New beers that can be first tasted on the festival
  • Food trucks and street food including typical Hungarian fare like lángos, the round deep-fried savoury pastry.
  • Concerts in the evenings
  • Laid-back, picnic atmosphere awaits you over the first week of September 2023.
a woman drawing beer in a festival mug

TIP: No worries if you don’t like beer, a good choice of quality wines will also be available not to mention other drinks like spritzers, soda drinks, coffee/iced coffee if it’s still hot.

Not to mention the tasty food offer: BBQ, burgers, Mexican fast food, pizza, Fish & Chips.

Programs At The Downtown Beer Festival:

No doubt beer is in the limelight of the festival, but a series of great programs offer a wonderful time for all ages.

40 musical bands give concerts during the six day event.

The tasting expert of the Dreher Beer Factory lets you in the secrets of beer tasting and professional tapping.

You can also try your hand at tapping at the Soproni Brewery’s stand.

The HB beer group recreates Bavarian beer drinking atmosphere.

The Heineken and Soproni Breweries will introduce the process of beer making.

a row of lángos (round, deep fried pastry) placed on a wire rack
Lángos, the must-have local street food

Tasting, Prices:

You can taste beers from a glass that you buy at the festival venue. Two types of glasses are available:

  • Premium glass (0.3 L): 3 499 HUF,
  • Exclusive glass (0.3 L): 4 999 HUF.

A mug of beer will cost around 1 000 – 1 500 HUF depending on beer type.

There will be 0.2 L glasses available for those who want to have a couple of beers without getting drunk.

Beers You Can Taste On The Festival:

Close to 250 beers can be sampled during the 6-day festival on Szabadság Square near the Parliament.

The beer specialties of the largest breweries in Hungary: Dreher, Heineken, and the Pécsi Sörfőzde will be available, but many small, craft breweries will also be represented (twice as many as in 2011).

Some of the specialties that offer a unique beer experience are:

  • Elixir 18, Cherry and Dark Chocolate Beers by the Gyertyános Brewery in Miskolc
  • Elder flower and Ginger Beer by the Brandecker Beer House
  • Cingulus Porter, Millet, and Sour Cherry Cognac Beer by the Rizmajer Brewery
  • Bitter Honey (Keserű Méz) unfiltered brew by the Fóti Craft Brewery
  • a range of Czech beers
  • a wide variety of Belgian beers (Floris Fraise – strawberry wheat beer, Floris Kriek sour cherry wheat beer, Corsendonk Agnus, Corsendonk Pater, Cuvée des Trolls, La Trappe Dubbel etc.)
  • Stari Irish Red, Stari Sour Cherry and Stari Unfiltered Brew
  • Kissler Holló dark beer, Kissler Ősforrás, Kissler beer distillate

If you don’t like beer you can quench your thirst with cider offered in a special place called Ciderliget, dedicated exclusively to this drink. Visit the event’s site for mor einformation.

3 types of draught beer (cherry, IPA, dark) in the festival glass placed on a counter
Craft beers at the festival

Food On The Festival:

After a a couple of beers eveyone needs something to eat….No worries a couple of street food truck will be present at Szabadság Square:

  • Burger Market – delicious gouremt burgers
  • Kővári Grill – all sorts of gilled meats and sausages
  • Vitéz Kürtös – the iconic pastry of Hungary, Chimney cake/kürtös kalács
  • Attaboy Street Food Bistro – burgers, pizzas, tortillas
  • Pizza 54
  • Pancake Factory – pancakes with Nutella and other delights
  • Levendula Ice Cream – gelato in a nice variety of flavours

More info about the Beer Festival at Liberty Sqr.: official website

Find out about other September events in Budapest!

Other Beer Festivals in Budapest:

There are a couple of other festivals dedicated to beer in the Hungarian capital:

Craft Beer Festival In Óbuda, August 23-25, 2024

Venue:

  • Main Square in Óbuda, District III./Óbuda, Fő tér (See on Map)

A 3-day event late August focusing on the best

  • Local craft brews,
  • Street food and
  • Concerts in the evenings

Czech Beer Festival,  Usually In June Every Year

Date: 07 – 11. June, 2023

Opening hours: ever day from 12.00

Location:

Entry: free (payment for beer/food is in cash)

Czech beers, gastronomy and concerts are in the focus of the Czech Beer Festival for 5 days in mid-June at a lovely rooftop park in the city centre.

OktoberFest At Erzsébet Tér, Downtown, 29. Sept – 01. Oct, 2023

Location:

  • Fröccsterasz at Erzsébet tér 11-13, Budapest 1051 (On Map)

Date: usually a weekend around the end of September – start of October

After Munchen, Paris, Dublin and Washington Budapest will have its own Octoberfest at a nice riverside venue in Buda.

The cream of the crop of Hungarian, Bavarian and other international craft breweries will be present within a Farmers’ and Gastro fair on the 4-day event.

Cultural and fun activities for kids make the festival a great weekend program for the whole family. Daily ticket is 1 990 HUF (incl. a Paulaner beer mug).

Find out more about the Oktoberfest in Budapest 2024  View our Facebook photoalbum about the festival

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