Events: What's on in Budapest

The award-winning images showcased as part of the global World Press Photo exhibition tell stories of war, social conflict, the climate crisis and human struggle. The selection on display in the foyer of the Biodome at Budapest Zoo offers an opportunity rarely found when scrolling through news feeds on your phone, the chance to linger over individual stories and—with the help of captions—look beyond the visual surface.

The Budapest stop of the tour is complemented by two Hungarian exhibitions: Fel is út, le is út ('Up is Road, Down is Road') shows photos taken by 24.hu photojournalists during the 2026 election, while Sortűz 1956 ('Volley of Fire 1956') revisits the 1956 Uprising through the photographs of Sándor Bojár.

Between October 2-4, the Budapest Contemporary (BCT) exhibition and art fair will be held for the fourth time at Bálna Budapest, the glass-covered building by the banks of the Danube. Contemporary visual art remains at the heart of the event, while this year’s edition also includes design, fashion and jewellery. The aim is to showcase a broader spectrum of contemporary visual culture and engage new audiences alongside those already interested in the arts. This year, BCT welcomes visitors with thousands of artworks, some 40 galleries, emerging artists and an exciting programme of accompanying events. Ticket details here.

For two weeks or more, the signature ingredients of autumn take centre stage at Time Out Market Budapest as part of its Seasons on a Plate harvest edition. Kitchens at the Market kitchens will be crafting seasonal dishes focused on grapes, pears, walnuts, plums and pumpkin.

The concept is based on the idea that while the Market’s kitchens start from the same seasonal foundation, each chef interprets the flavours of autumn in their own unique style.

The full menu:

Pingrumba

Lebanese Harvest – goats' cheese, walnuts, grapes and rocket – Ft 4,950/€13.50

LIRA by Essência

Creamy polenta with forest mushrooms – Ft 4,950/€13.50

Casa Christa

Sea bass with verjus, grapes and almonds – Ft 4,750/€13

Tuning Burger

Brie Harmony Burger – Ft 5,150/€14

Canteen by Costes Group

Confit beef cheek – Ft 5,990/€16.35

Szaletly

Lamb-stuffed peppers with carrot purée, pumpkin-apple salad and verjus-butter sauce – Ft 5,250/€14.35

Pumpkin pie with pumpkin mousse, orange-glazed pumpkin, pecans and yuzu gel – Ft 2,850/€7.80

101 Bistro

Cardamom cheesecake with five-spice plum sauce – Ft 2,450/€6.70

Anyukám Mondta

Pere & Noci – white base, fior di latte, speck ham, pear, walnuts and chili honey – Ft 5,550/€15.15

And since it is harvest season, wine won't be left out either – autumn celebrations at the Market will also feature wine tastings and other wine-related events.

Now in its third edition, BIFF – the Budapest International Film Festival – offers nine days of outstanding cinema, mainly at the Corvin on the Nagykörút. The schedule includes Lili Horvát’s first English-language feature, My Notes on Mars, the latest by Hungarian Oscar winner László Nemes, Moulin, focusing on the French Résistance, and Radu Jude’s The Diary of a Chambermaid, bringing social satire to the opening gala. Look out, too, for the screening of Terrence Mallick's epic Days of Heaven in 4K restoration on October 29, and La bola negra by Cannes-winning directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. Tickets go on sale from October 6, with early-bird discounts.

Budapest's major international contemporary art fair returns for its 16th edition from October 15 to 18, with organisers promising nearly a hundred exhibitors from around 30 countries and thousands of artworks. The fair places special emphasis on emerging artists and Eastern European art, offering plenty to discover alongside familiar names. Photography is given a dedicated space at Art Photo Budapest within the main exhibition site, while the ART+ programme schedules live performances. The event takes place at the MTK Sportpark (Kerepesi út 17, 1087 Budapest) and opening times are 11am-7pm.

If you're into neo-psychedelia and doom metal from across the Atlantic, then a double-bill at the A38 should float your boat. Since relocated to Oakland, Mondo Drag headline a special night on October 6, presenting their most recent album Through the Hourglass, and other trippy tunes from a back catalogue that stretches to 2010. Providing support on this major European tour, Early Moods should set the tone perfectly.

It's been 30 years since Placebo released their self-titled debut album, giving the London band the excuse to repackage this breakthrough work as RE:CREATED and take off on an anniversary tour. With a set list focusing on songs from their first two LPs, Brian Molko and his band return to Budapest after ten years, treading the boards of the Papp László Budapest Sportaréna on November 13.

As part of her series Women's Rooms, award-winning photographer Anna Tihanyi explores female identity in a site-specific exhibition at the Einspach & Czapolai gallery at Hold utca 12 in downtown Budapest. Inside a Woman's Chambers – Liora comprises 12 parts, telling the story of her main character by using three main colours – red, green and blue – in a nod to the development of early technology in colour film. There are other symbolic links to key works of literature, cinema and photography. The gallery operates Tue-Fri, 2pm-6pm, and the exhibition runs until October 15. 

One of the stand-out events on the calendar at Müpa this autumn is a performance by Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano, who leads a five-piece of star musicians – pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, drummer Jeff 'Tain' Watts, fellow saxophonist Melissa Aldana and double-bass player Linda May Han Oh – in a special centenary celebration of the life and work of jazz legend John Coltrane. All are award-winning performers in their own right have played with some of the biggest names in the business, including with Ravi Coltrane, son of the iconic jazzster and still gigging consistently.

On October 8, the concert hall at the House of Music Hungary will go dark as the British duo Autechre arrives for the Liszt Fest. Sean Booth and Rob Brown have been shaping the sound of experimental electronic music since 1987, their work defined by a succession of fragmented rhythms, constantly shifting timbres and unpredictable twists.

The darkness is an integral part of the experience: at the duo’s concert, the sounds command the audience's attention, allowing listeners to find their own points of reference within the interwoven musical layers. The event promises to be a curious evening for those intrigued by the more unconventional forms of electronic music.

Freshly tapped Munich festival beers, Bavarian sausages, pretzels and live music – Oktoberfest Budapest brings the Bavarian beer celebration to Erzsébet tér and Margaret Island for the last weekend of September and the first weekend of October. Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr festival beers will fill Steins, while traditional German bands provide the entertainment. Admission to both venues is free. You can join the festivities at Fröccsterasz in the heart of the city, while the Paulaner Beer Garden & Cinema on Margaret Island will feature a large Oktoberfest tent, ideal for shared communal toasts.

For the last three years, Kráter has filled a basalt quarry in Zalahaláp with monumental wooden structures, light projections and underground electronic music. This year, the organisers have sought not merely a new venue but another landscape: the Havas Villa (Halom utca 42, 1105 Budapest) in Kőbánya – a Neoclassical building that has long stood empty.

At this weekend-long festival, which fuses the architectural philosophy of urban creatives Hello Wood with the underground energy of the Katttarzis party series, the villa and its overgrown surroundings will become active elements of the installations, concerts and community events. Just as previous editions of Kráter featured workshops and collaborative creations by day, and lights, live music and electronic beats by night, the Budapest edition will continue to explore this intersection of disciplines.

To refresh your wardrobe this season, throughout September, October and November, the Secret Market will fill the terrace of the downtown Akvárium Klub with stalls featuring local designers and independent creators. You can browse a selection of clothing, bags, jewellery, ceramics and home décor items while meeting the makers themselves. Music, and food and drink offerings, turn the design market into a perfect way to spend an afternoon in the city centre. Admission is free. In the event of bad weather, the October edition will move indoors to the Akvárium bistro.

Staging off-the-wall music events of one kind or another since 2001, the team at UH Fest does not think in terms of genres. Instead, they seek out sounds that defy conventional categorisation. Over the course of a week – from September 28 to October 4 – more than 40 domestic and international artists will perform in Budapest, with a programme ranging from abstract pop and mutant dub to noise, improvisation and hybrid folk, all the way to outsider hardcore. Look out, too, for Belgian keyboard player Miaux.

The announced line-up includes the collaborative project by Heinali and Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko, the Mestizx initiative by the duo Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly, Voice Actor Leila Bordreuil, Radio Hito, Gosheven, Galangolong, Michaela Antalová and Stefan Szabó, as well as several unique improvisational ensembles. Events and concerts are scheduled to take place at venues such as Trafó, Gólya and Három Holló.

See here for details on tickets and passes.

A new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts not only displays fascinating objects from Ancient Egypt, but also shows how statues, stelae, reliefs and wall paintings were made. Viewers are allowed into the creative process – through unfinished works, contemporary depictions and details that preserve traces of the making, you can see how the Egyptian masters did it.

One of the most exciting parts of the exhibition is that it brings items thousands of years old to new life with the help of modern technology. You can see a 3D animation of the internal structure of a coffin, reconstructed colours that are no longer perceptible to the naked eye, and a hologram projector that shows how the works of art might have been in their original splendour.