The Budavári Borfesztivál is one of the largest wine festivals in the world. It annually attracts thousands of tourists, who have an opportunity to taste more than 5,000 kinds of wine from all over Hungary. The festival gathers all Hungarian wineries, that are known for producing certified wine. Foreign wineries are also present at the festival, but they are minority.
The festival is held in the historical and cultural center of Budapest, i.e. at Buda Castle. This castle is standing on the western shore of the Danube, overlooking magnificent scenery of the city. If you want to have a look at Budapest from this castle, you need to reserve the table at a special terrace in advance.
All five days of the festival are dedicated to wine only. During the festival you can participate in different events and try the wines from over 20 regions of Hungary, vote for the best wine of the festival and participate in a special wine contest. But the wine festival is really nothing without wine tasting.
Wine tasting is not free, and it’s not included into the entrance ticket. The price for one dl of wine starts from around 500 HUF, and it depends on the wine itself and its quality. Some wines are as expensive as 2,000-3,000 HUF/dl.
The wine festival would look like a huge drinking party without the food. And we must admit, that there’s plenty of good food at the festival. There’s always affordable Hungarian street food, like grilled sausages in a cone shaped bread with different toppings, bagels, strudels, pita, smoked chicken. And if you’re a real gourmet, then you need to look for numerous culinary delicacies, like roast meat, stuffed cabbage, cooked pork knuckle, dishes with truffles and various desserts. And since cheese goes well with wine, there’s lots of artisan cheeses you can try with your wine.
