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Why New Year's Eve Budapest is one of the best holidays?

New Year’s Eve is the time of the year of celebrating the past 365 days and of welcoming the next 365 what is still ahead. NYE celebrations are all about enjoying each others company, without worrying about buying presents or baking a cake for anyone, because this party does not associate to any kind of religion, that is why we don't have to spend it according to rules or expectations but we can spend it with the beloved one, watching a New Year’s Eve movie or partying with the closest friends or even with absolute random strangers. NYE does not let anyone stay neutral. This is the time of the year to wear glitzy outfits, crazy accessories or fancy dresses without being judged, everyone around us is in a good mood and most of the time is full of hope, feeling optimistic about the new year, about the future. Beginning of an upcoming year means something has ended. This could be the perfect time for a nostalgic contemplation about what took place of our lives in the last 12 months and of course, this is a great chance at the same time to start something new, after resetting and starting with a white sheet in our personal notebook. This is the time, when most of the people start to think about NY resolutions, what is really useful because without resolution there is nothing to fail to observe.

10 interesting facts about New Year’s Eve

1. New Year’s Eve is the most common holiday all over the world since it does not belong to any religion, but still, each country has a special tradition to celebrate it.
2. Without popping the corks nowadays the new year welcoming would not be complete. However a fizzy glass of champagne was so expensive in the 16th century, only royal parties could afford it.
3. New Year’s Eve has not always been celebrated on 1st of January, only since adopting the Gregorian calendar at 1582. Before the new year started in autumn or in spring.
4. Back to calendars, Orthodox Christian Calendars and Gregorian Calendars are different and have a gap of 13 days, which means countries just like Russia, for example, celebrate New Year’s Eve on January 14th, or even both 1st and 14th of January as well, when Father Frost delivers presents, just like Santa at Christmas.
5. Most of the new year’s traditions are about to ensure good luck, health, wealth for the future and get rid of all the sad memories. It worth to experience other traditions from other countries, they might work better.
6. It is the only time of the year people really think about forgetting the past and make a new, clean start. It comes from it, there is a good reason to write some new years resolution again -just like last year. They will be poorly formed goals again -just like the last year, that is hard to keep, and will be forgotten and failed the 80% of them by February.
7. Nowadays new year's celebration is only 1 day (night) long, however in the ancient Hawaiian culture new year was a 4 months long period and this time they were just celebrating, dancing and having a really good time.
8. The International Date Line has located exactly the opposite side (180 degrees) of the prime meridian. Countries those are west from the line welcome NYE first and those who lay east from the line start the new year last. If we fly from Samoa to American Samoa, we can be the first and the last one who celebrate the NYE as well.
9. New Year’s Eve has basically 24 midnight, which means 24 glass of champagne if you really want to be international and celebrate with the whole world.
10. To mention another religion as well, Buddism temples ring their bells at midnight 108 times to get rid of the 108 human sins of Buddhist belief.
+1. The traditional New Year’s Eve kiss as the clock hits midnight has a long history since it comes from the Romans and brings you luck and happiness, but rather not to try with someone obviously don’t want to be kissed.

Celebrate New Year’s Eve abroad?

End of the holiday season, end of another stressful year. It is about saying goodbye for one year and welcoming another one, this is about a new beginning we can wait for. Why not use the holidays to travel and experience other countries' traditional Christmas or New Year's Eve Budapest celebration?

Do NYE celebration properly this time and learn some new technique which can bring you luck for the next year, because when it comes to NYE celebration it turns out, people want to be sure to ensure the good luck for the future and have some really interesting traditions, that would be strange to see during the year, but somehow at New Year's Eve it is absolutely normal.

It is not just all about the celebration and about midnight, but it is really interesting to be part of the whole day preparation and to try all the special food they eat in that day in the country you visit. For example, Hungarian people spend the whole day with celebrating, sometimes they start even a few days before the 31st of January. Why not celebrate New Year's Eve in Budapest and learn all their superstitious traditions about welcoming the future? Who knows, maybe their technique will work better for you and the next year is going to be more lucky, than the previous one.

Celebrate New Year’s Eve in Budapest

Celebrating New Year’s Eve abroad has a lot of advantages, just as you can learn about the visited country's new year traditions or tricks and try them if they work in your life.
What are the Hungarian superstitions about NYE, what traditions do they have there and what do they eat? These are the most common questions when thinking about to spend the New Year’s Eve in Hungary. Is this country interesting, special enough, worth to spend the holiday there?
Each country as it is in Hungary has its own traditions for welcoming the new year, what is a little bit the same just like everywhere else across the world. It is all about good luck, health, wealth and of course happiness for the future, but of course, at the same time it has a little touch of the Hungarian mentality, that separate it from other traditions and makes it unique. And by the way, NYE is called "Szilveszter" in Hungary since 31st Sylvester’s name day in the calendar and Hungarians still celebrate name days.

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Superstitions, traditions, and magic meal that scares away the evil and brings the fortune.

The Hungarian folklore has plenty of superstitions all around the year, but here are some especially for this occasion to celebrate the new beginning. For example, making noise at midnight scares away the bed demons and spirits. If you do not want to be unlucky, do not borrow or lend anything on these days. In case you borrowed something previously, definitely give it back before midnight, otherwise, you will owe people with a lot of stuff during the whole year. And make sure, you do something you love on the first day of the year because it will affect the next 365 days.
Hungarian people are super superstitious, especially in the countryside, where they depend for example of the weather, that is why farmer prepare calendars to predict the weather for the next year. They use garlic and salt for this calendar and the effect of the salt on the garlic supposed to predict the rainy or dry months. Another interesting preaching from early times is predicting the name of the future husband for single ladies with paper messages in the dumplings while cooking. The first dumpling coming to the surface had the message for the future.
If it is about food, that brings luck, in Hungary it is forbidden to eat poultry at NYE, since hens scratch backward and it brings bad luck for the new yew beginning. In contrast, pork will definitely bring fortune since they root up the luck. Lentil soup or stew will bring wealth, namely as much as lentils you can eat as wealthy you are gonna become.
During our New Year’s Eve dinner cruise, we will make sure you will have a healthy, wealthy, lucky upcoming 12 months and we will prepare for you some of the traditional Hungarian New Year’s Eve food /meal, just like the traditional stuffed cabbage and the lentil soup we serve at midnight.
And the most important question: What to say at midnight in Budapest at New Year’s Eve?
Say ’BUÉK’! (aka Boldog Új Évet Kívánok!!)

Adult Ticket

239 €/person

4-course dinner

Dinner and Drink

290 €/person

4-course dinner and drink package

Full Dinner Package

346€/person

4-course menu, unlimited drink, seat by the window

New Years Eve menu

During the 3 hour tour our guests have the opportunity to admire the unforgettable panoramic view of Budapest’s famous venues. We start the tour with a welcome champagne or a soft drink as a non-alcoholic beverage and than you can choose from the dishes of our 4-course menü. The menü includes a starter, a soup, a main course, and last but not least a dessert. We created our menu so you will definitely find something from it even you are vegetarian or have lactose or gluten intolerance.

Here is a summary of our menu you will find below, extended with pictures. The vegetarian salad can be the perfect starter, however, the small pastry baskets (Burcheé) could be very interesting for someone, who is open for traditional gastronomy since the filling reflects the typical Hungarian taste such as the paprika- and liver cream.

We have two type of soups, again, a vegetarian and non-vegetarian type to fulfill all the needs. For the main course you have the possibility to choose from the six potential dishes just like the Grilled Halloumi Cheese or the Tofu with fresh garden salad if you prefer vegetarian and for meat lovers we offer once the traditional Hungarian veal stew with noodle dumplings, Duck leg also loved by Hungarian folks, Chicken breast or Roasted trout.

If you have a sweet-tooth, than our Flan cake with forest fruit sauce is for you, in case you are not a big fan of sweets, we have a fresh fruit salad for you.

Chose our unlimited drink package for your dinner with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and drink a toast for your special Budapest’s visit while enjoying the live piano music we offer for the 6 hours.

Midnight menu

At midnight, after clinking the glasses with the bubbly sparkling wine and the new year was properly welcomed, the special Hungarian traditional new year's meal will be served. Just like the lentil soup, which is really important to finish, because of the Hungarian tradition that is saying, how much lentils you eat on the first day of the year that wealthy you gonna become, and the stuffed cabbage as the main course.

PRE- and POST NYE parties

Pre-New Year’s Eve parties

Sometimes spontaneous parties are much better, than the prepared one with lots of expectations. Sometimes it can be really strict to have a NYE party since it is a mandatory occasion to celebrate, and even scientists say, people they have too much expectation for NYE parties, are most of the time disappointed, while those who are ready to accept everything that happens are more satisfied. Why not to start celebrating NYE a day before and have a cozy, stressless, party without expectations for the food, dresses, music, other people, actually for a mandatory happy atmosphere? Prepare a surprise dinner for your friends, family or beloved one and have a nice dinner on a Budapest river cruise with Hungarian folklore music or piano battle show, while the well designed, unique catamaran brings you along the river and you can enjoy the fabulous panoramic view.

Post-New Year’s party

The best part of the new year is the quiet streets on the first day of the year. Party people are still resting usually at home and preparing for the next days, preparing for going back to work, which means the whole city is quiet, the atmosphere has this typical post-NYE silence. Perfect time to have a walk for example up to Gellért-hill, where you can have a look for the whole city center than bring your beloved one for a romantic dinner cruise on the Danube when you can visit the illuminated Buda and Pest at the same time while enjoying the live music and the 4-course dinner.

Spend the Christmas in Budapest

Hungary is gorgeous during the summertime, but even more fabulous during the winter, especially around Chrismas, when the most famous places of Budapest get a new enlightening and makes you feel you are in a fairy-tale.

In December Budapest is teeming in Christmas markets where you can buy authentic folk art and try a lot of traditional Hungarian food such as the Chimney cake, aka Kürtőskalács, which is a traditional pastry shaped like a chimney, made freshly in front of you and tastes like vanilla, or coconut, or walnut or cinnamon, how you like it. Definitely try one for example on the most famous Christmas market, the Budapest Christmas Fair and Winter Festival at Vörösmarty Square, especially on a frozen day, when the cake will warm up your frozen fingers. If it is already about frozen fingers, mulled wine can be another option to warm up them as well if you are not a sweet-tooth type. You will discover, that Budapest starts to smell like mulled wine and roast chestnut as soon as it gets a little bit cooler.

If you decide to spend some time in Budapest around Christmas, definitely try the Christmas light Tram, which by default has been chosen as one of the 10 most beautiful tram lines in the world. At Christmas, these streetcars get an extra, beautiful illumination, which makes you feel you are traveling on Santa’s sleigh.

In case you prefer warm temperature, choose one of Budapest’s Thermal baths since Budapest is the capital of thermal water and that is why it offers you a large selection of spas.

Orthodox Christmas, aka 7th of January

Millions of Orthodox Christian people all around the world celebrate Christmas in the church on December 25, but this is based on the Julian calendar so this day falls on January 7 in the Gregorian Calendar which is commonly used worldwide as well as in Hungary. It means, there is a 13days difference between the two Christmas tradition.

In Hungary, the Christmas festivities and the decorations last till 6 of January, which is the day of Epiphany based on the Catholic Christan wing.

This does not mean you cannot celebrate Orthodox Christmas in Hungary. Having a magical dinner with your family based on the Orthodox Christmas tradition is really important for us as well. So let us celebrate Orthodox Christmas together, choose one of our dinner shows and join us for an unforgettable dinner cruise on Orthodox Christmas Eve or Orthodox Christmas Day and we provide you with some holiday atmosphere. Just book a dinner program, and let us know how you would like to celebrate dinner with your family or beloved one.

CELEBRATE IN LUXURIOUS AREA

Choose the most popular dinner and cruise in Budapest. We organize more special cruise in the evening of New Year's Day! Tickets are limited!

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Monday - Friday 09.00 - 18.00

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