What To Do On New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day?
If you plan to celebrate New Year in Budapest you sure will have a terrific time.
Budapest, with its enchanting blend of traditions and modern celebrations, offers a unique New Year’s experience.
Hungarians are very good at partying. We’re people who look for every occasion to eat and drink well.
One of these special occasions is the last day of the year, Szilveszter in our language.
You can pick from plenty of programs from upscale balls to club parties.
From street parties and dazzling fireworks over the Danube to the warmth of thermal baths, the city invites you to create lasting memories.
Let’s not forget the spectacular fireworks at midnight!
NYE Programs in Budapest (31/12/2024)
🚢 Boat Parties & On the Danube – New Year’s Eve in Budapest for Free – Pre-NYE Rock & Roll Street Party – Partying in a Hotel – Home Parties – 🎉 NYE Parties In Clubs – 🥂 Dinner Parties in Restaurants – ⛸ Ice Skating – 💃 Ice Swing Holiday
New Year’s Day Programs (01/01/2025)
New Year’s Day Danube Cruise with Dinner – 🎵 Festive Concerts on 1st Jan 2025 – Ice Skating
New Year’s Day Cruise with Buffet Dinner, Unlimited drinks
01. Januar – 2025
Cruise Starts: 19.00
Duration: 2 Hours. – Price: €159
More TIPs:
Public Transport on NYE – Hungarian New Year Traditions – Opening Hours During the Holiday – Frequently Asked Questions
Best NYE Party Cruises – Welcome 2025 On The Danube!
Cruise parties on the Danube are one of the most popular and romantic New Year’s Eve programs in Budapest.
You can choose one that suits your mood and budget the best:
- Cruise with gourmet dinner, or
- If you don’t want to eat you have options with cocktails/drinks only
Either way you will have a wonderful time saying farewell to the old year.
What’s more, a boat on the Danube is also a perfect vantage point to admire the spectacular fireworks illuminating the sky at midnight.
Note: Book in time to secure your place since programs usually sell out quickly as the holiday approaches.
👉 Book A New Year’s Eve Party:
NYE Sightseeing Cruise with Unlimited Prosecco
December 31
LIKELY TO SELL OUT!
Cruise Starts: 15.45 / 19:00
Duration: 75min – Price €24.8
New Year’s Eve Pub Crawl with 1-Hour Open Bar
December 31
LIKELY TO SELL OUT!
Program Starts: 19.30
Duration: 3 Hours – Price: €75
Partying in Restaurants, Bars, Cafés
Many people in Budapest head for a restaurant, bar, café or pub to carouse on 31st December. You have to book well in advance, especially in popular places.
If you have no reservation, go early and you might get in with some luck. There’s usually a substantial dinner that includes special dishes.
A glass of champagne is usually included in the price to clink glasses at midnight.
The New Year starts with more eating:
- Frankfurter sausages with horseradish and mustard,
- Lentil soup,
- Roasted suckling pig and
- Other traditional Hungarian New Year dishes are served after 24.00.
You can dance away all the calorie intake.
Prices are around 100 – 300 EUR, depending on how popular and upscale the place is.
TIP: See our hand-picked list of 5 great New Year’s Eve Dinner Parties in Budapest 2024/25!
🎉 5+1 Awesome Parties In Budapest On NYE 2024/25
+1 – Ice Swing Holiday – Dance Into 2025! – December 28-31
Celebrate New Year’s Eve in style at Ice Swing Holiday – the biggest dance festival in Europe.
Enjoy world-class Lindy Hop and Solo Jazz lessons with acclaimed instructors: Jill De Muelenaere, Alexandre McCormack, Genia Tsvietkova, Alberto Meucci, Špela Premelč, and Francesc Bujosa Ribas. Dance to live music from Gentlemens & Gangsters and Papp Brothers’ Swing Gang feat. Éva Bolba.
Plus, savor beer tasting on December 30 and a festive brunch on December 31. Don’t miss this epic celebration!
Venue:
- Muzikum Klub & Bistro, Múzeum u. 7, Bp 1088 (See on Map)
Date:
- December 28 2024 – Jnauary 01, 2025
Tickets:
- Sunday Party, Dec 29 (party tickets & special dance track): 45 EUR
- Monday Party, Dec 30 party tickets & special dance track): 45 EUR
- New Year’s Eve Party ticket, Dec 31 party tickets & special dance track): 55 EUR
- Beer Tasting, Dec 30: 35 EUR
- Brunch, Dec 31: 25 EUR
New Year’s Eve in Budapest for Free – Celebrations in the Streets
Budapest offers some really exciting Outdoor Festivities, Street Carnivals On New Year’s Eve each year.
You’ll find many people in the streets, especially around midnight.
Even those who have been carousing in a restaurant or bar, pour out onto the streets and celebrate the New Year with singing, dancing and blowing paper horns.
Luckily government has banned the use of firecrackers, so celebrating will be safer in the crowded streets, than it was in previous years.
Here are the most popular locations to head for if you want to greet 2025 in the streets:
- Nyugati Square (M3 metro line, trams No 4, 6) – always a popular meeting point and it’s no different on the last eve of the year.
- Oktogon (trams No 4, 6) – close to Nyugati tér, at the junction of the Grand Boulevard and Andrássy Av.
- Heroes’ Square next to City Park is also a favoured venue to welcome the New Year.
- The Party District is an excellent place to head for if you want to be in the thick of the craziness that takes over the city as midnight comes closer and closer. – Gozsdu Court and other parts of district VII. – the eclectic Jewish Qrtr., home to the ruin pubs: Kazinczy Street, Király Street, Dob Str.
Spectacular fireworks welcome the New Year on all three places.
TIP: Liszt Ferenc Square on Andrássy Avenue offers many trendy cafés and bars. Pick a place here and you’ll be close to the outdoor festivities on Nyugati tér and Oktogon.
Don’t forget to put on warm clothes, because last days of December tend to be chilly in Budapest.
Pre-New Year’s Eve Rock Rock & Rolly Street Party, Dec 30, 18.00-21.00, 2024
Join a special pre-New Year’s Eve Rock and Roll street party in the “C” courtyard of Gozsdu Udvar on December 30th, starting at 18.00, .
Professional dancers will be offering Boogie-Woogie dance lessons, which anyone can join—no prior dance experience required. In addition to the lessons, there will be Shim-Sham and Stroll demonstrations, as well as freestyle jam sessions by professional dancers to make the evening unforgettable. There will
Free champagne will also be served to help you get into the boogie mood.
Venue:
- Gozsdu Court, “C” Courtyard, Király utca 13, Bp 1075 (See on Google Maps)
Admission:
- FREE
Ice Skating – Pre-Party Fun In A Panoramic Ice Park
Address & Getting There
- II. Rákóczi Ferenc út 89-91, Budapest 1211 (View on Map)
- Take suburban train H7 from Boráros tér, get off at Szent Imre tér station (3rd stop), 1 min walk from there
Opening Hours:
- Every day: 08.00 – 21.00
- December 31: 08.00 – 18.00 and
- January 01, New Year’s Day: 12.00 – 21.00
Prices:
- 2 000 HUF (Free for babies under 3 yo)
Partying In a Hotel
Most hotels offer Special Packages for the New Year’s Eve period. Usually you have to stay for at least 2-3 nights.
A festive dinner and entertaining programs are included.
Choose a hotel in the city centre and you’ll find many places of entertainment within walking distance. You can join the happy crowd in the streets and enjoy the fireworks as well.
TIP: The Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace and other 5-Star Budapest Hotels have great New Year’s Eve programs each year with delicious, multiple-course dinners with spelndid wines and champagne.
Prices: approximately 80-250+ EUR.
View our selection of Luxury Hotels in Budapest and 4 Star Budapest Hotels.
Home Parties
If the above programs don’t appeal to you, stroll in Budapest on New Year’s Day afternoon and someone might invite you to a home party.
Hungarians are famous for their hospitality and we tend to be even more welcoming on New Year’s Eve.
- Drink local bubbly,
- beer or wine,
- have some homemade snacks and
- make new friends!
Public Transport on New Year’s Eve
During the day services run according to Sunday schedule.
Tram 4 and 6 (along Nagykörút/Grand Boluevard run all night long – at 3-4 min frequency till 02.00 am then at every 5 min till 05.00 am on 01. January 2025
The M2, M3 M4 metro lines operate till 01.00 am and the night bus services run more frequently.
First metro trains leaves terminus at around 4.30 on 1st January.
Public transport services operate according to holiday/Sunday schedule on 01. January.
Opening Hours on 31st December & 1st January, New Year’s Day
Shops are allowed to stay open until 16.00 on 31st December but many of them close earlier, at 14.00.
- Shops, food markets,
- most restaurants, cafes and
- other businesses,
- museums are closed on 01. January, New Year’s Day which is a public holiday.
Some Hungarian New Year Traditions
Most Hungarian New Year traditions are related to food.
Having lentil or bean dishes on New Year’s Day makes you wealthy. Pigs root out your fortune, while poultry scrapes it away.
Eat roast pork on New Year’s Eve and you’ll be lucky throughout the year.
For hangover we eat a special soup (korhely leves) made from pickled cabbage and sour cream.
Eating lentil, strudel and fish (the scales symbolize coins) will bring wealth.
Dos and Don’ts
Washing and hanging out the washing is forbidden, because someone will die. Other forbidden activities include:
- to borrow and lend anything (e. g. money, household objects)
- calling or visiting a doctor – you’ll be ill all year if you do so
According to common belief, the whole year will be like the way you behave on 1st January. You’d better be happy to drive away gloominess in the New Year!
Love and weather divinations were also common in villages, nowadays these traditions are practised less and less..
New Year’s Day Programs – What To Do On January 01, 2025?
New Year’s Day Cruise & Dinner on the Danube, January 01, 2025
Celebrate the New Year on a sightseeing cruise on the Danube – Reward yourself and your family with a wonderful evening that includes:
- A splendid multi-course dinner served buffet style,
- Live music by the Hungarian Folk Ensemble & Orchestra, and the
- Enchanting sights of illuminated Budapest that you can see on a 2-hour trip.
The New Year’s Day boat excursion will be hosted on the spacious historic Gróf Széchenyi Ship.
Book Your Place:
New Year’s Day Cruise with Buffet Dinner, Unlimited drinks
01. Januar – 2025
Cruise Starts: 19.00
Duration: 2 Hours. – Price: €159
Price:
- Adult: 159 EUR
- Student: 139 EUR
- Children (ages 6 – 12): 79 EUR
Dinner Menu – New Year’s Day River Cruise
Soups:
- Traditional Hungarian goulash soup (beef, vegetables, noddles)
- Creamed vegetables soup
Main Dishes
- Roasted chicken breast fillet in ragout
- Beef stew with Villány red wine and dumplings
- Stuffed cabbage
- Vegetable casserole baked in oven
- Couscous with steamed vegetables
Side Dishes:
- Rice
- Egg dumplings
- Roast pottaoe seasoned with parsley
Desserts:
- Strudel with various fillings: sweet cottage cheese, apple and sour cherry
- Somlói galuska: layered shot glass dessert: sponge cake with raisins, vanilla sauce, ground walnuts and chocolate sauce with whipped cream on top
- Beigli: traditionalChristmas roll filled with walnut and poppy seed
TIP: See also our selection of Budapest restaurants that offer a New Year’s Eve Dinner/Party!
Festive Concerts in Budapest On New Year’s Day
Music-Wine Gala Concert of the 100-Member Gypsy Orchestra
Date:
- 30th December 2024., 18.30
Venue:
- Budapest Congress Center, Jagelló út 1-3., district XII.
Tickets:
- Concert + dinner + wine: 139 EUR / 169 EUR,
- Concert + wine tasting 50 EUR / 65 EUR
The end-of-year gala concert of the Hundred Member Gypsy Orchestra is organised each year.
This year the spectacular performance is combined with a four-course dinner with great Hungarian wines (the dinner is optional).
The festive concert is a wonderful pre-New Year’s Eve program in Budapest.
👉 Find out more about the 100-Member Gypsy Orchestra’s festive New Year Concert!
FAQ – New Year In Budapest
Q: Is Budapest safe for New Year’s celebrations?
Budapest is known for its safe and festive atmosphere during New Year’s celebrations. Stick to well-traveled areas in the centre, and exercise common-sense precautions to ensure a secure and enjoyable experience.
Q: What is the best time to visit Budapest for New Year’s celebrations?
The peak of festivities occurs on New Year’s Eve, but consider arriving a few days earlier to explore pre-celebration events and immerse yourself in the holiday spirit.
Q: Are there family-friendly New Year’s events in Budapest?
Absolutely! Budapest caters to families with various events, including early fireworks displays, family-friendly parties, and special activities at popular attractions. Consider locations like Városliget / City Park for a family-oriented celebration.
TIP: The Magic Grove/Varázsliget by Vajdahunyad Castle (City Park) offers plenty of activities for the little ones and their parents. See more on the event’s FB page!
Q: Can I witness the fireworks without attending a party?
Yes, several locations along the Danube and in the city centre (Basilica, Vörösmarty tér) offer fantastic views of the fireworks display without the need to attend a specific party. Find a cozy spot and enjoy the breathtaking show.
Why Celebrate New Year in Budapest?
You have many options where to say good bye to the old year in the Hungarian capital. From an exclusive ball to classy hotels, trendy restaurants and bars, or a boat on the Danube. Make sure you book early!
The best place to make friends and see how Hungarians welcome the New Year is at a home party. Hungarians are very friendly and hospitable.
An Affordable City for Partying
Alcoholic drinks (wine, sparkling wine, beer, liquors) are quite cheap here especially when you buy them in shops, supermarkets. But drinking in bars and clubs is also more affordable than in western European cities.
Food is reasonably priced too and you can easily find inexpensive, good-value accommodation at a great central location.
Last but not least, Budapest is a beautiful, historic city with a lot to do and see- a perfect location to welcome the New Year!
I hope you will come and have a good time!
Happy New Year, that is Boldog Új Évet in Hungarian!
Related:
More Events and Programs in December – Christmas Markets in Budapest – Festive Holiday Concerts in Budapest
