Budapest’s world-famous Christmas fair opens with horrific prices – PHOTOS

Blikk, a Hungarian tabloid, visited the world-famous Budapest downtown Christmas fair at the Vörösmarty Square yesterday, following its opening, and found horrific prices. Of course, that is relative. The prices might be high for a Hungarian purse and average income but may look low to foreign eyes.

We wrote HERE that Budapest’s Vörösmarty Square Christmas fair would open earlier than expected. The popular fair has been welcoming visitors since yesterday. The statue of Vörösmarty in the centre of the square is covered in a transparent “snow globe”, and an LED wall was built around the statue, which serves as a multimedia information point. In addition to the information content, visitors can participate in a community game activated by a QR code, HellóMagyar wrote.

Blikk, a Hungarian tabloid with the highest readers’ number, visited the fair and found high prices. Traditional Hungarian dishes like stuffed cabbage cost HUF 7,000 (EUR 18.5), while shashlik is HUF 5,000 (EUR 13.2), a slice of strudel is HUF 1,800 (EUR 4.75), flódni is HUF 1,900 (EUR 5). Some sellers ask for an extra HUF 400 (EUR 1) to wrap up the food. Meanwhile, hot tea costs HUF 1,000 (EUR 3), while hot chocolate HUF 2,200 (EUR 6.5), and you must pay HUF 1,350 (EUR 4) for a glass of hot wine. HERE is a recipe for stuffed cabbage, provided you want to prepare it at home.

Christmas fair at the heart of Budapest: delicious but expensive

One of the most popular dishes is traditional Hungarian goulash soup. In a plastic bowl, it costs HUF 4,500 (EUR 12), but you must pay HUF 8,500 (EUR 22.5) for a kettle. HERE we collected the 5+1 best places to try goulash.

Renátó Vida, a kitchen’s chef, said foreign tourists adore it and order it frequently. Their most expensive dish is beef. It costs HUF 9,900 (EUR 26.1), but is enough for two. Of course, side dishes cost extra. Grilled vegetables cost HUF 4,000 (EUR 10.5), and french fries and cabbage are cheaper. Tócsni costs HUF 2,500-3,000 (EUR 7-8) and is a perfect garnish to beef stew. HERE is a recipe.

Andrea and Litzia came from Italy and paid EUR 50 for two portions of tócsni, a stew and some french fries. They were surprised when they heard how much they had to pay and thought the prices were too high at the Christmas fair. But they added to the journalist of Blikk that the food was delicious. The tabloid highlighted that a seller said 490 out of 500 guests are foreigners.

Desserts are around HUF 3,000 (EUR 8). One of the most popular ones is steamed dumplings.

There is a cumpulsory cheap menu for those who cannot afford the expensive ones

If you do not have that much money, you can ask for a small menu for HUF 1,500 (EUR 4). For example, you may eat chicken stew with vegetables and fried potato for that price. It is a rule this year that customers must find hot meals for that much, but sellers do not advertise that.

Roasted chestnut costs HUF 2,500 (10dkg), last year it was HUF 2,200. One of the sellers said they could not raise prices as much as they should have, considering the price hike of Italian chestnut.

Importantly, you cannot pay in cash at Vörösmarty Square. That is a difference between that and the Christmas Fair in front of Saint Stephen’s Basilica (Advent Basilica), where you can use your paper money.

Read also:

• Where to find the best Christmas markets in Hungary – Check them out in THIS article
• Another shopping chain to be closed on 24 December in Hungary – Read more HERE

Here is a video of this year’s Christmas fair: