Our Christmas Day Budapest river cruises are highly popular, and to celebrate Xmas in style, and also the meet the high demands of Christmas cruisers, we offer two festive Christmas river cruises with dinner, live music and a beautiful cruise along the river Danube and its unforgettable sights. Our Christmas river cruises will run throughout the Christmas holidays in Hungary, on Dec 24, Dec 25 and Dec 26 too.
Budapest Christmas Eve Cruise & Gypsy Music
Christmas Cruise in Budapest on Dec 25
What does the Christmas Day river cruise include?
Cruise + Dinner + 2 Drinks + Live Music!
- Cruise: From 7pm to 9pm, or from 10pm to half midnight, you can enjoy a Danube cruise along the UNESCO World Heritage site, and the beautiful historical sights lit up at night: sightseeing boat tour in style on Xmas Day!
- Dinner: Christmas Dinner on the boat (buffet style dinner with multiple options for soups, starters, main courses, desserts, catering for meat lovers and vegetarians alike)
- 2 Drinks: Wine & Water: 1 glass of Hungarian wine (you can replace it with a soft drink) + 1 bottled water
- Music: Live music on board of the nostalgia boat: salon music by the live band
- E-Ticket via email (no printing needed)
Price of the Christmas Day Dinner Cruise
- Price with Dinner – Full Price with pre-booking deal: €54 for adults
- Price with Dinner – Student Discount with pre-booking deal: €50 for students
Advent Market Budapest St Stephen Cathedral
Secure your seat on the river cruise now. Our Christmas night Budapest river cruises get quickly full – without exaggeration.
How can I book my Budapest night river cruise?
Booking is via our booking form connected to the secure payment system of PayPal, which accepts 3 sorts of payment methods: with bank card or credit card, or with PayPal account.
Note: booking in advance is the only way to make sure you will get a seat on our Christmas Day boats in Budapest. There are not many things to do on Dec 25, let alone Christmas cruises in Budapest (see Budapest Christmas for more info), so we are already filling our places on our festive Xmas Day river cruises (from as early as February), even though this year we are launching several big boats during the Christmas holidays. Merry Christmas!
December 25 Christmas Cruise in Budapest
The date of the cruise and the time of departure is the following:
25 December, 2018
- boarding at 6:30 pm, departure at 7pm – arrival at 9 pm OR
- boarding at 9:30 pm, departure at 10pm – arrival at 11:30pm
Sights & Lights from the Xmas River Boat
Buda Castle by Night photo by José Manuel García
Although the river Danube flows through many countries and even four capital cities, only in Budapest can you enjoy such spectacular attractions glowing in the night with festive lights.
While the Danube actually flows outside Vienna, and past by Bratislava, in Budapest the river is the focal point of the city, dividing the Hungarian capital into the Buda side with the Castle and hills and the Pest side with the Parliament, the St Stephen Cathedral, the Gresham Palace, etc.
This is the only city that has been awarded the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage title for its Danube panorama. A perfect Christmas gift on a Budapest winter holiday.
The boat is of course heated, but if you want to admire the Budapest winter panorama from the open upper deck of the ship, you can. However, for standing on the upper deck in the open air we recommend bringing a warm winter coat as winters in Budapest are quite cold, often going below the freezing point (0 degrees Celsius / 32 degrees Fahrenheit). Staying inside the warm ship, in a Christmas ship is special. And we will do what we can to give you the best possible Xmas Day evening cruise in Budapest.
As you can expect, during the Christmas holidays this is one of our most popular special Danube cruises in Budapest, which we launch on special days as follows:
Budapest River Cruise Parliament Winter Evening photo by Schuhmi2
Christmas cruise in Budapest on December 24
Our Christmas Eve Budapest boat tours are unique and will make your Holy night festive with one of the most beautiful panoramas in the world in the heart of Budapest, Hungary.
Christmas Day cruise in Budapest on December 25
On Christmas Day we run two evening Christmas river cruises due to the high demand. One of the boat cruises starts at 7 pm (2h cruise) while the late night Xmas boat tour starts at 10 pm (1.5h cruise).
Christmas cruise in Budapest on December 26
The Boxing Day Danube cruises will be available as the standard night cruises in Budapest at 7pm and then at 10pm for late night boat tours. No Christmas surcharge, or extra prices on Dec 26! You can also opt for a drink only river cruise to save some Forints on your boat trip, as the dinner is optional on our Budapest dinner Danube cruises.
New Year Cruises in Budapest
New Year’s Eve cruise in Budapest on December 31: this VIP party tour is a special all night river cruise and night party, and can only be booked in advance. No river cruise bookings on the spot in Budapest, sorry.
New Year’s Day cruise in Budapest on January 1: on New Years Day we run two Danube river cruises due to the high demand. One of the boat tours starts at 7 pm (2h cruise) while the late night river boat tour starts at 10 pm (1.5h cruise).
The salon music on the river cruise is performed by 3 members of the Zoltán Kodály Awarded Rajkó Folk Orchestra.
Christmas Day Dinner Menu on the River Cruise, Budapest
Budapest River Cruise with Dinner
The festive buffet dinner is made by Hungary’s star chef, Attila Tanacs, so your dinner will be romantic, hearty, and full of the local flavors, yet offering the option to eat healthy international dishes. The Christmas dinner on December 25 will reflect some of the culinary traditions of Hungarians at Christmas time, and also include some of the typical Hungarian meals.
Soups
- Goulash Soup: Alföld style goulash with soup noodles
- Vegetable soup: Tarragon vegetable soup with noodles
Although many Hungarian families eat traditional Hungarian fish soup at Christmas, as it is made of carp, many tourists find it strange, while some rave about it. In light of this, we have decided to offer the classic Hungarian goulash soup (which is unlike a dense stew, and more like a rich soup in Hungary), and a lovely vegetable soup suitable for vegetarians. However, we recommend tasting the fish soup in one of the Hungarian restaurants in Budapest if you want to try the Christmas soup of Hungary.
Main courses
- Stuffed cabbage: mini cabbage wraps with spiced minced meat and rice inside
- Meatballs in tomato sauce
- Turkey cutlets with vegetables in parsley sauce
- Csongrád style pork slices in garlic sauce
- Chicken Breast Paprika: chicken breast stewed in paprika style
Stuffed cabbage Hungarian Christmas dish – Blese Photography (pork & rice with herbs wrapped in cabbage leaves)
Stuffed cabbage is a very traditional winter meal in Hungary, and most Hungarians also eat stuffed cabbage at Christmas. On our river cruise you can try this delicious meat wrap in miniature versions. The average size of stuffed cabbage in Hungary is almost like a female fist.
Turkey dishes have been on the Xmas dinner table for many decades in Hungarian families, especially where pork has been gradually replaced by more healthy turkey dishes. This is a decisive trend in Hungarian cuisine in the last 20-30 years that pork based meals are often replaced with poultry.
Side dishes
- Boiled potatoes
- Potato lángos (the classic Hungarian snack, often called fried bread or the Hungarian pizza)
- Noodles
- Steamed jasmine rice with corn
Somloi Galuska – sponge cake, Hungarian dessert – Szilard Szakacs Photography
Vegetarian Meals
- Grilled polenta terrine with feta cheese
- Grilled vegetables
Salads
- Corn salad in dill and yoghurt dressing
- Vinaigrette potato salad
- Cucumber salad with sour cream dressing (again, something typical Hungarian, eaten simultaneously with meat based dishes)
- Caesar salad
Hungarian wine included – Kristof Borkowski Photography
Desserts
- Somló style sponge cake pudding (i.e. Somloi Galuska) – sponge cake with rum and fruit filling, topped with chocolate cream and vanilla cream
- Mini tiramisu cup
- Blueberry fruit cream with chocolate sponge cake
- Chocolate mousse
Drinks
- 1 glass of wine (or juice) (but more is available in our Drink Bar for a moderate price)
- 1 bottled water