Beyond the major music festivals, we would like to recommend a few festivals that are out of the ordinary in terms of their theme, in addition to one-day events such as the happening parties on the closed Liberty Bridge or one of CityMatiné's beach parties. One thing is for certain, you won’t be bored at any of these – you just have to find the one that suits you best.
This is Europe’s largest off-road event, with 1,200 cars and over 20,000 participants providing company for shared indulgence each year. Tossing mud with impunity, there is nothing more liberating. And by the way, the village off-road track is open all year round.
The largest colour party in the country, bringing the atmosphere of the Indian Holi celebration to Budapest. At this all-day open-air festival covering the entire area of Kincsem Park, you’ll be able to immerse yourself in a colourful dust cloud with Hungarian performers in the company of thousands of young people.
This festival, to be held for the first time this year, will be a celebration of bio-dynamic farming, oenology, nature and music on the Austrian-Hungarian border of the Pannonian Basin, near Lake Fertő. The aim of the festival is to create a space for inspiring ideas and bestow more than a love of farming and music: in fact, it is a blend of these, a combination of passions.
Colorado is one of the newest alternative music festivals and takes place in Sztrilich Pál Scout Park in Adyliget, in the Buda hills, right next to Nagykovácsi. You’ll find concerts to suit your tastes mostly as fans of indie music at the romantic venue, but you’ll appreciate the night-time events if you’re into house, techno, electro, acid or chill. In addition to the musical events, you can also find amazing art installations, contemporary theatre, yoga and various sports opportunities.
This festival, with an atmosphere reminiscent of Woodstock, awaits you in the nature reserve of the Akhal Stud, which promises unadulterated rural tranquillity, right next to Ópusztaszer. In the park, you can stay in an ancient yurt (the ancient tent used extensively from eastern Mongolia to the southern Russian steppe), but of course you can also camp nearby.
The new centre of the country's most popular arts festival is now located on the main square of Kapolcs in the renovated Art Valley Manor. You can of course, expect the usual colourful bustle and countless cultural activities in the other villages that have become involved in the festival over the decades. As in previous years, the festival's repertoire will consist of concerts, music shows, folk music, folk dance, contemporary dance, author readings and film screenings, as well as literary, theatrical and nouveau cirque performances, exhibitions, craft and green activities, talks, children's activities and tours. It would be a shame to miss such a milestone anniversary.
The Babel Sound Interactive World Music Festival, which lines up lesser-seen representatives of the international music scene, is held every summer in Balatonboglár, famous for its wine cellars and Sphere Lookout. Workshops, master classes, cheerful jam sessions, festival concerts, live performances, informal conversations and great dishes of world gastronomy await in seven locations for an entire week.
The festival is an annual large-scale meeting of people who have restarted their lives in the countryside, choosing an environmentally conscious rural lifestyle and values that fit into the landscape. Knowledge sharing and a chance to exchange experiences in a festival environment and a liberated atmosphere. All the kinds of practical knowledge gained through experience that you may need to go beyond your comfort zone are available on site. These include rural development based on knowledge sharing, nature and landscape care, ecological architecture, backyard production, community organisation and management, and community enterprises. You’ll spend your time here well but also usefully.
A truly unique milieu awaits visitors to the country’s most special spiritual festival, in addition to psychedelic, goa trance, ambient, psy and chill music, with nature and respect and love for each other as its chief motifs. A great playground where you learn to open up and take care, establish connections and express yourselves, create and heal, foster a community and make the world more beautiful in and around yourselves. This is a must-visit place for anyone seeking a boundless community experience.
The Bor, Mámor, Bénye Festival can be found in Erdőbénye, in the north-eastern corner of the country, in the embrace of the beautiful mountain peaks of the Zemplén. This year's Festival activities promise to be a real treat for lovers of high-quality live music and Tokaj wines, couples seeking recreation, or groups of friends and families. In the village, which also used to be the meeting place of the Hungarian gastro-blog scene, rather than the activities, it’s more the wandering around the streets, the unadulterated rural atmosphere and the conversations extending into the night that will make this event unforgettable.