Budapest’s famous City Park Ice Rink (Városligeti Műjégpálya) is facing uncertainty ahead of its centenary season, as holes in its ageing cooling pipes have pushed the planned renovation beyond the original deadline and more than doubled its estimated cost. However, a separate repair contract could still allow the rink to open as planned on 20 November.
The rink, located beside Vajdahunyad Castle, is due to celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. The Budapest Municipality has been preparing special events for the season opening, but concerns have emerged over the condition of the cooling system and the handling of its planned replacement.
According to reports by Index and Népszabadság, the renovation has become significantly more expensive than initially expected. The Budapest Sports Service Centre (BSK), which operates the facility, originally included HUF 400 million in its budget for a complete replacement of the cooling system. By June, however, a preliminary estimate had risen to HUF 776 million. The contract eventually signed with the winning contractor was worth HUF 798 million net – more than HUF 1 billion (approx. EUR 2.8 million) including VAT.
The deadline has also slipped considerably. Although the project was initially expected to be completed before the current skating season, the latest schedule puts the end of construction in August 2027. The work is now planned to begin after the current season, once the necessary materials have been purchased.
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Why has the renovation become so expensive?
BSK technical director László Happ said the first HUF 400 million estimate was based on the original plans and had been prepared without a detailed assessment of the cooling system’s current condition. More detailed calculations and preliminary offers later revealed that some specialised components would cost considerably more and take longer to obtain than expected.
The Budapest Municipality was reportedly not informed in advance that the project would be split into two stages, with material procurement scheduled to run until January 2027 and construction starting only after the skating season.
The capital’s property committee rejected a proposal concerning the revised deadline in a vote of six against and two in favour. Its chairman, Árpád Orbán, announced plans for an extraordinary internal audit and called an on-site committee meeting for 11 November.
Check out our article from last year: Budapest’s magical City Park Ice Rink returns — Here’s when you can skate by a castle again!
Will the rink open this November?
There is still hope for the 2026–27 season. A separate contractor has been selected to carry out urgent repairs to holes in the main steel pipeline running through the utility tunnel beneath the rink. The work has a budget of HUF 15 million and is intended to keep the facility operational for the coming months.
The cooling system has suffered problems for years. The rink underwent a major renovation between 2008 and 2011, costing HUF 4.9 billion net, including HUF 3.3 billion in EU funding. Further repairs costing HUF 580 million were carried out in 2014, but corrosion has increasingly affected the pipe network in recent years.
