Buda Castle is one of the most visited attractions in Budapest. The question is if you can visit Buda Castle at Christmas, during the Christmas holidays, how are the opening hours in December, especially around Dec 24 – 26, when several attractions are closed during the Christmas public holidays.
Buda Castle in winter – Neil Howard Photography
The good news is that the open air courtyards of the Buda Castle are always open, just like the Fisherman’s Bastion terraces.
What else is open? See this guide about Buda Castle Guide at Christmas if your winter visit is coinciding with the Christmas holidays.
Funicular – Buda Castle: Open at Christmas (limited on Dec 24 – 25 – 26)
Matthias Church: Open at Christmas (limited to prayers at certain hours on Dec 24 – 25 – 26)
Fisherman’s Bastion: Open at Christmas
Hospital in the Rock Cave Museum: Open at Christmas
Castle courtyards: Open at Christmas
Castle Garden Bazaar: Open at Christmas
Castle buildings: open on limited days between Christmas and New Year!
Regardless of what season, what time of the hour, or what holidays we are in, the Buda Castle courtyards are not closed off with a fence, so you can take a stroll along the building, visit its courtyards, take a photo of the beautiful statues and enjoy the fascinating panorama from the Castle Hill to the Pest side.
Don’t miss the Matthias Fountain, a fantastic statue composition and fountain, or the lions on the Lions’ Courtyard.
See the beautiful horse of the statue of Eugene Savoya sitting victoriously on a steed after chasing out the Turkish pasha on the Savoya Terrace. See the Hunyadi Courtyard with its characteristic Hungarian wrangler statue, etc.
It is a nice romantic walk on the cobblestones of the courts, and on a sunny winter day, you can get beautiful sharp photos, while on cloudy, snowy days, your photos will seem more dramatic. Moreover, you can wander around the Castle District and the Buda Castle courts free of charge, as only the entrance into the buildings is fee paying.
The building complex of the vast Buda Castle is the home of several museums: the spectacular St Stephen’s Hall, the Budapest History Museum, the Hungarian National Gallery, and the National Szechenyi Library.
These institutions have their own independent opening hours, and are largely closed on the Christmas days. However, there are attractions that keep their gates open to visitors, like one of the cave systems under the Buda Castle Hill, the nuclear shelter and historical WW2 exhibition of the Hospital in the Rock cave museum (exhibits show wax works and original hospital bunkbeds, equipment etc.)
You can find the Xmas opening times of the Buda Castle institutes here:
St Stephen’s Hall (Szent Istvan Terem) the fully restored Habsburg palace hall
National Gallery Budapest at Xmas (Magyar Nemzeti Galeria) with its art exhibitions
Budapest History Museum (Budapesti Torteneti Muzeum) – with medieval ruins of the Castle
Szechenyi National Library at Xmas (Orszagos Szechenyi Konyvtar) – displaying old chronicles, medieval regal books of the Hungarian kingdom, besides being a functional research library of the nation
To get an idea of how the inner courts and buildings are arranged in the Buda Castle take a look at this simplified map of the Buda Royal Palace (green lawns, rectangular buildings and sand colored courts):
can we go to see the castle on Christmas? will it be open and can you take a tour inside on dec 26 or dec 27 in 2024?