Music
Liszt Fest
Liszt Ünnep
A two-week international festival of classical music, dance and contemporary work, centred on Müpa Budapest and spilling into venues across the city.
- When
- 8–22 October 2026
- Where
- Müpa Budapest and venues across the city, Budapest
- Type
- Music
- Official site
- mupa.hu
Why it's worth going
It is the one fortnight in the year when the concert programme in Budapest is worth planning a trip around rather than fitting in. Tickets for the bigger nights go early.
What to expect
Orchestral and chamber concerts, dance, and cross-genre work, mostly in the evening. Müpa is the centre of it, out on the Pest riverside past the National Theatre — about fifteen minutes from the centre by tram 2, which is itself one of the better rides in the city. Dress is smart but not formal. Most performances have English surtitles or need none.
Müpa is worth the trip on its own: the Bartók National Concert Hall is acoustically among the best in Europe, with a movable canopy and an organ that fills the room. The festival takes the venue's autumn season and opens it outward into churches, the Academy of Music and smaller halls in the centre, so you do not have to go out to the riverside to take part. If you are here in October and have one free evening, this is the thing to spend it on.
Build a day around this
Tell us you are coming for Liszt Fest and we will build the rest of the day around it — where to be and when, somewhere good to eat nearby, and the parts of Budapest most visitors walk straight past.
Plan my Budapest day →Or start from a tour that already fits
Every tour we run is private and priced for the group. Any of them can be moved around this event.
