How to Enjoy the BUDAPEST CHRISTMAS MARKETs on a Budget? | Hungary Travel Guide by a Local

How to Enjoy the BUDAPEST CHRISTMAS MARKETs on a Budget? | Hungary Travel Guide by a Local

One of the most popular times to visit Budapest 
is at the end of the year during the festive season because the Christmas markets bring 
the holiday joy to the streets and the squares here in the city. And while it could be a 
lot of fun to visit some of these markets, they are not perfect by any means. If you visit 
them without the proper guidance and information, your visit may lead to a letdown. So, in this 
video, we will share with you all the information, all the tips and tricks you need to visit one 
of these Christmas markets and have a lovely festive time here. So, let’s dive into one 
of the most popular markets here at the St. Stephen’s Basilica. Let’s go. So, let’s start 
with some essential information. For example, what is it that you need to bring to one of these 
Christmas markets? Well, cash will definitely not be on that list because all of the stalls here 
will accept bank cards. We did see a few stalls that said that they do accept cash, but you 
don’t need to worry about things like what kind of currency to bring. Just bring your bank card 
or your card on your phones. Use that to pay for anything when you visit some of these stalls here. 
Now, it’s also important to set your expectation when it comes to prices because there’s a lot of 
different kinds of food here, starting from some traditional items like the stuffed cabbage 
and sausages all the way to schnitles and even salmons. But their prices will be very very 
high almost at restaurant levels. But of course, these are not kitchens running like a restaurant. 
they won’t be at the quality level of restaurant venues. However, so far whenever we came here 
and believe me, we came here almost every year when we were making this channel and every time 
we had something like a stuffed cabbage and we were never really disappointed. Prices were always 
high for those, but we always enjoyed eating some of that traditional Hungarian stuffed cabbage. 
However, there is sort of a budget hack that was kind of like a secret in the past few years. But 
this year, we are really happy to see that it is advertised now. There is the so-called daily 
discount menu, which changes daily usually and changes from stall to stall, but for 1,600 
foreign, you get to eat a budget dish. And now we will try one of those. So, let’s go and 
see what the daily discount menu here is today. Hi. Uh, do you have a daily discount 
menu? Do you have a daily discount menu? Okay, I would like to have that. Thank you. This is the Székely cabbage. Székely means 
Transylvanian person. But the thing is that this has nothing to do with Transylvania. In fact, 
the name comes from a person called József Székely who together with the famous 19th century poet 
Sándor Petőfi visited a restaurant late when it was running out of food and based on József 
Székely’s request the cook mixed some leftover food which resulted in this delicious dish that 
was then coined as Székely Cabbage by the famous poet. So that’s where it’s coming from not from 
Transylvania but it’s like stuffed cabbage light. It’s like you don’t stuff anything, but you 
still have the sour cabbage and you also have some pork in here. Usually at home, we eat this 
with bread cuz this is very saucy and we can just dip the bread into here. And we also eat it with 
lots of sour cream. None of that is on this. So, this is definitely a budget version of of 
the food that we can get here. Let’s see. But even without bread and sour cream for 1,600 
for this is actually a really nice deal. And for that you actually get something local, 
something let’s say traditional Hungarian. So it’s not bad. I really enjoy this. Uh you 
only serve drinks or can I ask for food here as well? It depends what food you would like. Um 
I heard you guys have this uh daily discount menu. What is it? It’s basically a sausage that is 
cut a bit and we could offer you mustard or any kind of sauce like ketchup with a slice 
of bread. That sounds good. Then I would like one of this sausages then the discount. 
What kind of sauce you would like with it? Mustard is best. No. Yes. Yeah. Then I’ll 
take that. Thank you. Lovely. Oh god. Wow. I sure hope so. Now, believe it or not, 
this is also a daily discount menu. And I cannot believe my eyes. This looks like 
a full priced sausage. I don’t know if I got like scammed in a positive way by 
getting the real deal, the real sausage, or they changed up things cuz I remember last year 
this was smaller. But let’s see how the taste is. It’s a perfectly fine and good Hungarian sausage. 
It could be a little bit warmer, but they tried to microwave it a little bit, but still nice 
paprika flavors. Just excellent. For 1,600 HUF, this is a bargain. And think about it this way. 
You could get the Székely cabbage over there. You can get this as well. It’s like a full meal for 
the price of 3… 3,200 HUF. There goes my math. And I still haven’t drank a Pálinka shot tonight. 
This is good. Dairy discount menus. Excellent. Now, usually these times in Budapest 
are some of the coldest at the end of November and December and January. So, our 
hands are already freezing from taking all of this nice footage for you guys. So, 
we’re going to try and warm it up with some mulled wine. Let’s go and grab some 
nice hot cups of those festive drinks. Now, also another word of advice, before you 
pay for anything, always check the amount on the terminals because we heard about some bad 
experiences where the wrong prices were displayed on the terminals or maybe there was some sort of 
a miscommunication, a misunderstanding. like right now. I was actually surprised about the price 
of your wine because I thought it’s going to be cheaper, but then I looked up and I realized ah 
I was looking at the wrong price table. So that happens and that’s also why you should always 
look at what is displayed on the terminals. And you can also see that right next to the terminals 
there are these tablets where you can pay some tip. You can add additional tips on top of the 
price. If you enjoy the service you can add some. We normally don’t do that. We always keep it 
at 0%. But also make sure that when you use it, you put the exact percentage on there because 
I heard stories of people, you know, slipping their fingers a little bit. Maybe they were tipsy, 
but adding a significant amount, which also caused some dissatisfaction with how much they had to 
pay in the end. How’s your mulled wine, honey? Nice. It’s not too alcoholic. Now, of course, 
after having a few drinks and food, maybe you need to use the loo. Right next to the basilica, 
there are some toilets. However, please note that they cost at least €1. You can pay with card just 
like anywhere else. I would really love if these things would be free for the visitors of these 
kinds of markets, but hey, at least so I heard, they are nice, well equipped. But now, let’s 
go and explore the Christmas market even more. Now, besides some full meals, you can also try 
some of the quintessential Hungarian street foods here. For instance, lángos, chimney cake, 
or also a strudel. Now, whenever we came here, we never had any of these cuz these are really, 
really expensive. In fact, if you want a lángos, few streets from here, there’s a retro lángos. 
You can get really good lángos there for cheaper. Or if you want to Rétes, close by you have the 
First Strudel House of Budapest. Alternatively, you can try chimney cake a street from here 
as well at Kató Néni Chimney Cake. But now we’re going to change things up cuz we’re 
going to go and try a langos here. Let’s go. Hello. Surprisingly, it’s good. It’s fluffy 
on the inside, crunchy on the outside, just as we always say it should be like in all 
of our videos where we feature lángos. The only trouble we have is we don’t have garlic oil on 
it. That’s what’s missing, unfortunately. Plus, the price is ridiculously high. 3,200. 
Apparently everywhere the basic langos which features sour cream and cheese will 
always be 3,200 at all the major Christmas markets which is on the really higher side. 
But if you don’t want to spend this much then you can walk a few blocks from here. But 
if you do want a picture with your langos having the Christmas tree in the background 
you can get it and it’s going to be nice. Now, one of the reasons why I really enjoyed 
the Christmas market here at the Basilica is because of the light show right on the walls 
of the Basilica building itself. This is what separates it from any other Christmas market, not 
just here in Hungary, but all around the world. Now, right now we are visiting the 
Christmas market during a weekday, but on the weekends there are usually some gastro 
themes specific to each and every single weekend leading up to Christmas and during those days 
there will be one dish that is highlighted and you can get that dish for about 2,500 HUF, so 
on the weekends there’s sort of another kind of a daily discount menu but that will change 
week to week only on weekends. If you come here during any of these weekends and you get one 
of these gestro specific budget items, then maybe leave a comment below and let us know what 
kind of gastro themed dishes they were serving on some of these weekends. And probably, as you can 
see on these footages that we’re showing to you, this is a really popular market. There will be 
lots of crowds even from the early afternoon. expect a lot of people and especially during the 
night when this place is illuminated and it is gorgeous and because there are so many people. 
First of all, you will be shoulder bumping it to each other. Don’t mind that. It will happen. But 
on the other end, make sure to always be aware of your valuables cuz Hungary in general is a safe 
place. But that doesn’t mean that even this market is pickpocket free. There may be a few of them 
out there trying to get some things from you. Just make sure that you are always keeping 
your valuables safe, your pockets sealed, and just be generally aware of your surroundings. 
Now, of course, besides the stalls that sell food, there are also many other stalls which sell 
souvenirs, any kind of handcrafted goods. You can find things like cups, mugs, or even decorations 
for your Christmas tree at home. Or if you want to bring home a flavor of Hungary, then you can 
get some things like honey or even sausages. Before you buy any sausage and you want to take 
it home, make sure to check if you can actually take it home cuz there are laws that don’t allow 
some sausages to be flown overseas. Nevertheless, if you can’t fly them, then just bring 
them back to your hotel and eat them there. So far we have covered the Christmas market at 
the basilica but traditionally there are two Christmas markets that open really early here at 
the middle of November and the other one is right at Vörösmarty Square which is just a 5-minute walk 
away from the Basilica. So let’s go and check that out as well. Now, the Christmas market here at 
Vörösmarty Square may be less spectacular than the one we just saw in front of the Basilica, but make 
no mistake, this is also a very popular Christmas market, especially near the food stalls. But 
everything you have learned so far from this video is also applicable here. There are daily discount 
menus at each of the stalls. They are also visibly displayed so you will know what you may be 
getting. And also every stall accepts cards, mostly cards. You do not need any cash if you come 
here. Then there are the souvenir shops which sell sometimes even the exact same things that you can 
find in front of the basilica. So if you want a different kind of a Christmas market experience 
or you want to do Christmas market hopping, then getting from the basilica to here is 
just a few minutes by walking. And by the way, if you walk amongst these stalls, you will not 
hear many people speak Hungarian. And that is because there is kind of a strange relationship 
between the Christmas markets and us locals. And in order to understand that, we kind of need to 
go back a little bit in time cuz Christmas markets are traditionally a Germanic thing. And even 
during the AustroHungarian times, the same type of Christmas markets also started to become popular 
here in Hungary. However, during the communist era, this place where the Váci shopping street is, 
this is where that kind of a Christmas market was, but it changed from the old Germanic type of 
Christmas markets into something completely different. It was the place for us to come buy 
the Christmas trees and buy toys and gifts. But it wasn’t really a social gathering place. It 
wasn’t a place where we came out to eat and drink. Although there were chimney cakes and there 
were sausages, but we didn’t really come here for the food. We go home and spend the Christmas times 
with our families. That’s why December 24th, 25th, and 26th are some of the calmest and most peaceful 
times here in Budapest and Hungary. Cuz for us, Christmas is mostly to spend time with our 
families and not to come to these Christmas markets. However, after the communist era fell 
and Budapest became more and more popular, then because more and more visitors came to the city, 
there was a change once again. This place, the market started to change to resemble more of what 
you can find in Western Europe, in Germany today, for example, which is why we may call this place 
as a touristy thing. Maybe it’s a tourist trap. But today, hopefully in this video, you learned 
that if you come here, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a good time because 
we certainly had a good time here. However, there are some other neighborhood markets outside 
of the city center that are more for locals that are more for local people to come together, 
socialize, grab a few drinks, have some snacks. They are much smaller in scale. And if you want 
to know what they are like, then maybe check out some of the videos that we made in previous years 
about those type of Christmas markets. We will link them over here. And hopefully you enjoyed 
this video and when you come to Budapest, you will have an excellent time. Thank you so much for 
watching. See you guys in our future videos. Bye.

Experience the magic of Budapest’s Christmas Market at St. Stephen’s Basilica, one of Europe’s most beautiful festive destinations! In this video, we walk you through everything you need to know before you visit — from food prices, what to try, where to find the best deals, and our favorite budget hacks.

We also stop by the Vörösmarty Square Christmas Market, another iconic holiday spot, to show you how it compares and what’s worth checking out.

Whether you’re planning a winter trip to Hungary, looking for authentic local gifts, or just love Christmas markets, this guide will help you make the most of your Budapest holiday experience.

⭐ What’s inside:
Full walk-through of the Basilica Christmas Market
Prices you’ll encounter
Smart money-saving tips
General tips and information
Our honest impressions

If you’re new here—welcome to Stuffed Cabbage Adventures! We help travelers explore Hungary, Budapest, and Hungarian culture with practical guides and fun experiences.

👍 Like if this helped
💬 Comment your questions
🔔 Subscribe for more Budapest & Hungary travel videos

#BudapestChristmasMarket #Budapest #HungaryTravel #ChristmasMarket #BasilicaChristmasMarket #VörösmartySquare #BudapestTravelGuide #StuffedCabbageAdventures

**************************************************
If you wish to Support the work that we do then consider Joining our Membership! We share behind the scene information and updates to our Special Map of Budapest and the Country! Check it out here, we’re grateful for all the support!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKRnUTZxAU4N5oQiNZeNIeQ/join

If you find our Stuffed Cabbage Adventures T-Shirts and Pulovers we wear in the videos nice and also wish to support the channel, we got some great news! You can order our designs via the following Link!
https://stuffedcabbageadventures-shop.fourthwall.com/
We are grateful for your support!
**************************************************
If you wish to know how we would Spend 3 days in Budapest, here is a detailed Itinerary video:

***********************************************************************
I’m a local youtuber born and raised in Hungary, Budapest.
I love my country and I would like to share my experience and knowledge about Hungary and Budapest as a local for those who want to spend their time here, either as a tourist or as an expat.

You can follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/cabbageakos/
***********************************************************************

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Welcome to the Christmas Market!
00:41 Do you Need Cash or Card?
01:09 Expectations for Prices
02:27 Getting a Daily Discount Menu
04:09 Trying another Discount Dish
06:07 Mulled Wine and Paying with Card
07:50 What about Toilets?
08:23 Budget tips for Streetfood
09:18 Tryng Lángos at the Market
10:49 Gastro Themed Weekends
11:32 Hows the Crowd and Safety?
12:22 Souvenirs
13:04 Visiting Vörösmarty Square Market
14:19 Locals vs Christmas Markets