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Budapest Culinary & Wine Walk – Budapest’s Signature Food Tour

Our signature tour introduces local culinary and wine culture through classic flavors, unique wines, history, and stunning architecture. Includes two food markets and more than a dozen tasting stops. Budapest’s first food tour, est. 2008!

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Highlights

12 Tasting stops (some with multiple foods tasted)
The best way to get to know Budapest and Hungarian food and wine
Visits to two Food Markets
Wine tasting with a sommelier
Plenty of food and drinks!
Led by a food-specialized guide

Tasting Notes

3 fine Hungarian wines, including the legendary Tokaji dessert wine
Sweets: a classic cake, several types of pastries, strudel (and coffee)
Lángos (Hungary’s favorite street food)
Pogácsa (savoury little scones)
Túró Rudi (a chocolate confection made with a surprising ingredient)
Chocolate made by an iconic local brand
Pickled vegetables
Local charcuterie
Local farmhouse cheese
Shot of Unicum (a classic herbal liquor)
Market lunch: different types of fresh sausages with sides (and a homemade fruit syrup drink, a local beer, or a wine spritz, fröccs)
Soup: gulyás (goulash) or matzoh ball soup or other seasonal soup

Tour Details

Duration: 5 hours
Departs Daily at 9:30am
Sunday’s tour does not enter the Central market Hall, since it is closed
Most dietary restrictions can be accommodated
Starting point: Central Market Hall
Private tours also available
End point: Near Astoria metro station

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Budapest’s signature food tour

Our epic food, wine, and culture walk begins at The Central Market Hall—Budapest’s cathedral of food and one of Europe’s largest and most spectacular indoor markets —and continues through several of its most charming neighborhoods. We’ll explore the Ferencváros neighborhood (around the Central Market Hall), the Palace Quarter (a vibrant university area known for its splendid old palaces, where aristocrats built their palatial homes in the 19th and early 20th centuries), and the Újlipótváros area (a charming neighborhood, almost like a village within the city, with café-lined streets, art deco buildings, spacious parks, and cute shops).

Then we’ll visit a second market hall—which is off the beaten tourist track, with an excellent selection of vendors, and a local clientele. Many chefs shop there daily, sharing our opinion that this is the city’s best food market. With our expert guide, you’ll learn all about Hungarian gastronomy, Hungary’s fascinating food culture, and its exciting wine scene, as you fill your belly with tastings at a dozen different stops.

Note: The Sunday route does not include the inside of the Central Market Hall, it visits a different market!

At the two market halls we’ll introduce you to Hungarian cuisine through the great variety and abundance of ingredients on display. We’ll discuss the spectacular buildings, the market shopping habits of Budapesters, the culture of eating and drinking, the ingredients, the dishes commonly made from them … and just what it is that Hungarian cooks do with all of that pork and goose fat, paprika, and goose liver. As we walk the market aisles we’ll taste a selection of foods (and have an aperitif to fortify us). Taste Hungary’s tour guides (who are all experts in Hungarian gastronomy, as well as history) are enthusiastic storytellers, and are eager to share their passion and knowledge as you stroll through the city with them, filling your mind (and belly) with good things.

Of course, we’ll take you to all of our favorite local spots, which are away from the crowds of the city center. We’ll visit small specialty shops stocking local cheese, honey products, chocolate, paprika, and more; tiny buffets making fresh lángos, sausages, and more; family-run pastry shops where we will taste the famous local cakes such as Dobos torta and Pozsonyi kifli, which Hungarian bakers are renowned for; a tiny shop specializing in strudel, where we’ll taste how Hungarian strudel differs from its Austrian counterpart; an eatery at the market owned by a farm (serving all of their own sausages, meat, and products); and a restaurant where we’ll stop for a soup (perhaps a gulyás or a matzo ball soup).

We’ll also have some drinks along the way: a coffee to keep us going when we have cake, spritzer (fröccs), and an Unicum (Hungary’s quintessential bitter liquor). A highlight will be the sommelier led wine tasting (with cheese pairings) at The Tasting Table, where a wine expert will serve three wines while introducing us to the Hungarian wine regions, varietals, and styles, helping you put the Hungarian wine scene in context. We’ll end with a taste of the famous golden-tinted Tokaji sweet wine.

The day also includes another truly local experience that is part of daily life for Budapest locals, a tram ride along one of the city’s iconic tram routes, running parallel to the Danube bank, where you can take in the entire Buda Castle across the river, the parliament building, and some of the city’s most spectacular sights (part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site).

In all, we’ll have at least 12 tastings (and many adventures) over the course of the tour. Join us to discover Hungarian food and wine through Budapest’s market halls, off-the-beaten-path corners, and special neighborhoods!

Note: The Sunday route does not include the inside of the Central Market Hall, it visits a different market!