1 May in Budapest: Labor Day, Majális and What Closes
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1 May is Labor Day in Hungary, a public holiday, and in Budapest it is a park day. Families spread out on the grass in City Park, food stalls and beer tents go up, and the supermarkets are shut.
Hungarians call the day’s picnic majális. If you are in town, it is the most relaxed public holiday of the year to join in, and nobody expects you to know anything about its history. Here is how the day works, what ran last year, and what changes in 2027, when 1 May falls on a Saturday.
For the rest of the Hungarian year, from carnival to Christmas, see our calendar of Hungarian holidays and traditions.
📋 At a Glance
| 1 May 2027 | |
|---|---|
| Day | Saturday, public holiday (Labor Day) |
| Long weekend | None: a Saturday holiday gives no extra day off |
| Where people go | City Park (Városliget) and other parks, for majális |
| Shops | Chains and malls closed; restaurants and cafés can open |
| Transport | BKK holiday timetable; 2027 notice not yet published |
| Baths | Weekend hours; Széchenyi 08:00 to 20:00 |
| 2027 program | Not announced yet; this page is updated when it is |
What Majális Is, and Why You Will Run Into It
Majális means a May outing, a spring picnic in the open air. On 1 May it is the whole package: food stalls and beer tents, a stage with music, games for children, and a lot of people sitting on the grass for the afternoon.
The day has two roots. One is the old spring festival of May, with its green branches and May trees. The other is the workers’ holiday: Hungary first marked 1 May as Labor Day in 1890, and the first large trade-union May Day in City Park was held that year. The unions kept holding their May Day in City Park for well over a century after that.
For a visitor, the practical upshot is simple. City Park is full and cheerful, the big shops are closed, and the rest of the city runs on holiday mode. Our City Park guide has the park itself: the lake, Vajdahunyad Castle and the museums around it.
Last Year: 1 May 2026 in Budapest
Everything in this section happened in 2026. It shows how the day usually runs, not what is planned for 2027.
In 2026, 1 May fell on a Friday, so Hungarians had a three-day weekend, 1 to 3 May.
- City Park’s big meadow hosted the DOGZ Festival, a dog festival with a majális mood, organized by IndaEvents: pack walks by breed, a canicross course, street theater and talks. Entry was free under 18 and over 65, and visitors aged 18 to 65 paid a small entry fee or a higher support ticket that partly went to two animal shelters.
- The trade unions were not in the park. The Hungarian Trade Union Confederation (MASZSZ) said the park company had not given it its usual spot on the meadow, and held its May Day street party at and in front of its headquarters, Városligeti fasor 46-48, a few minutes’ walk from City Park. It kept the tradition of laying wreaths at the trade-union memorial stone by Dózsa György út, and said it aims to return to City Park in 2027.
- BKK’s transport notice also named a festival in the Tabán, the park below Buda Castle, and extra buses to the Castle itself.
Nobody has published a 2027 May Day program yet, for City Park or anywhere else. In 2026 the programs were announced in April, so expect the 2027 ones around then; this page will be updated when they are out.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: the DOGZ Festival date, venue, organizer, program and ticket rules at dogzfesztival.hu; the MASZSZ statement on its 2026 May Day, the Városligeti fasor address, the wreath-laying and the aim to return in 2027 at maszsz.hu, and its 2025 program at the memorial stone at szakszervezetek.hu; 1890 as the first Labor Day in Hungary and the first large City Park May Day from the Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon, entry “május elseje”, at mek.oszk.hu, and from maszsz.hu.
The May Tree (Májusfa)
The other 1 May custom you may spot is the májusfa, the May tree. Traditionally young men cut a tall, straight tree in the forest at night, stripped the trunk and left a leafy top, decorated it with ribbons, handkerchiefs and sometimes full bottles of wine, and set it up at dawn on 1 May in front of the house of a girl they were courting. In many villages one big tree stood in front of the church or the mayor’s house too. In the north and west of the country the tree came down again at Pentecost, often with music, games and a climbing contest.
You are more likely to see one in a village or at a folk event than in central Budapest. The closest easy place is the Hungarian Open Air Museum (Skanzen) in Szentendre, which lists a May Day “Green Festival” on 1 May in its 2026 yearly program. At the 2025 edition the maypole went up at 14:00, with crafts, folk games and music around it. Our Szentendre guide covers the trip there.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: the May tree custom from the Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon, entry “májusfa, májfa”, at mek.oszk.hu; the Skanzen 2026 program at skanzen.hu and the 2025 May Day program at skanzen.hu.
Saturday 1 May 2027: No Long Weekend
1 May 2027 is a Saturday, and that is the whole story for the calendar. The Labor Code lists 1 May as a public holiday by date and has no rule that shifts a holiday falling on a weekend to the Friday or the Monday. So nobody gets an extra day off, and the city will not see the long-weekend getaway it had in 2026.
What it does change is the Saturday itself. Shops follow the public holiday rule rather than their normal Saturday hours, so a Saturday morning grocery run is off. Friday 30 April is an ordinary working day with ordinary opening hours.
The long weekend in May 2027 is Pentecost: Whit Monday, 17 May, is a public holiday, which gives Hungarians 15 to 17 May off. Our Budapest in May guide has the rest of the month, and our public holidays guide has every holiday of the year.
Open or Closed on 1 May
Big shops close, and the reason is a labor rule, not a shop rule. Hungary’s Labor Code lets retailers roster staff on a Sunday but not on a public holiday, so the supermarket chains, the mall stores and most high-street shops stay shut on 1 May. What stays open is what falls outside that rule:
- Restaurants, cafés and pubs, plus the food stalls of any majális.
- Petrol-station shops, which sell basic groceries.
- Small shops run by their owners, without employees on the rota.
- Hotels and their restaurants.
If you are self-catering, shop the day before.
Sources, read on 5 September 2026: holiday status from §102(1) of the Labor Code (Act I of 2012) and the rostering rule from §101(1) and §102(2), at njt.jog.gov.hu. Pentecost 2027 by calendar computation.
Getting Around: Last Year’s BKK Service
BKK runs its public holiday timetable on 1 May, the same category it uses on Sundays. In 2027 the holiday is a Saturday, and the 2027 notice is not out yet, so here is what BKK did last year, on 1 to 3 May 2026:
- 1 May (Friday): holiday timetable. For the City Park May Day events and Andrássy út, BKK pointed people to the M1 metro, ran trams 1, 4 and 6 more often as needed, and used articulated vehicles on trolleybuses 70 and 79.
- Tabán festival: buses 5, 8E, 110 and 112 were the fastest way from the center.
- Buda Castle: buses 16 and 216 ran more often as needed.
- 2 and 3 May: Saturday timetable on the 2nd and holiday timetable on the 3rd, with the M1 and bus 16 again running more often toward City Park and the Castle.
The same weekend also opened the season of the car-free lower Pest embankment: from the 1 May long weekend until late October, the riverside road between Margaret Bridge and Elisabeth Bridge closed to cars at weekends and on holidays and belonged to people on foot and on bikes. BKK announces each year’s season itself.
The M1, the little yellow line under Andrássy út, is the one to use for City Park either way: it stops at Hősök tere and Széchenyi fürdő, both at the edge of the park. Our metro guide covers tickets and lines.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: BKK’s notice for the 2026 long weekend, as reported by Magyar Hírlap on 30 April 2026; the 2026 embankment season from the Budapest city government’s enbudapestem.hu, 29 April 2026 and BKK’s news item of 22 October 2026 (bkk.hu).
The Baths on a Public Holiday
The thermal baths do not close for 1 May. Budapest Spas runs them on their weekend hours on every public holiday, so in 2027, when the holiday is a Saturday anyway, nothing changes:
- Széchenyi: 08:00 to 20:00, with the pools to be left 20 minutes before closing and the cash desk shutting an hour before. Our Széchenyi guide covers the pools. It is right next to the City Park picnics, so expect it to be busy by midday.
- Rudas: weekend schedule, 06:00 to 20:00 in the wellness area, with the Turkish bath mixed all day. On a Saturday, night bathing runs 22:00 to 03:00, with tickets sold online only. No entry under 14.
- Lukács: 07:00 to 19:00, with the sauna area open for the full hours, as at weekends.
- Gellért is closed for renovation.
Bath operators publish date-by-date exceptions only a few months ahead, so check the bath’s own page in the week before you go.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: standard hours and the public holiday rule at szechenyifurdo.hu, rudasfurdo.hu and lukacsfurdo.hu.
Day Trips and Programs That Weekend
- Szentendre and the Skanzen. The open-air museum’s May Day festival, with the maypole, is the most direct way to see the folk side of the day. Szentendre’s old town is a short ride from Budapest on the suburban railway.
- A picnic of your own. Margaret Island and City Park are the obvious lawns. Bring the food from the day before, since the supermarkets are shut.
- The riverside walk. If the car-free embankment season starts with the 1 May weekend again, the lower Pest embankment is a calm walk along the Danube.
Before You Go
- Food: shop on Friday 30 April 2027; restaurants and cafés are open on the day.
- Program: check back here in April 2027, when the City Park and union programs for the year are usually announced.
- Transport: look for BKK’s 1 May notice at bkk.hu in the last days of April; the M1 is the line for City Park.
- Calendar: no long weekend this time. For three days off in a row, Pentecost, 15 to 17 May 2027, is the one. Another holiday with the same pattern of closed shops and open restaurants is 23 October, Hungary’s national holiday for the 1956 revolution.
Good to know
Is 1 May a public holiday in Hungary?
Yes. 1 May is one of the public holidays listed in the Hungarian Labor Code, and Hungarians call it *a munka ünnepe*, the festival of work. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday. The Labor Code has no rule that moves a holiday falling on a weekend to a weekday, so it brings no extra day off and no long weekend that year.
Are shops open in Budapest on 1 May?
The big ones are not. Hungary's Labor Code lets retailers roster staff on a Sunday but not on a public holiday, so supermarket chains and shopping-mall stores close for the day. Restaurants, cafés, pubs, petrol-station shops and small shops run by their owners can open. If you are self-catering, shop the day before.
What does majális mean?
Majális is the Hungarian word for a May outing or spring picnic, and on 1 May it means a day outdoors with food stalls, beer, music, games for children and families on the grass. The custom grew from the folk spring festivals of May and joined the workers' holiday after 1890, when Hungary first marked 1 May as Labor Day. In Budapest the classic setting is City Park (Városliget).
Does public transport run on 1 May in Budapest?
Yes, on BKK's public holiday timetable. Last year, on Friday 1 May 2026, BKK ran the holiday timetable, recommended the M1 metro for City Park and Andrássy út, and ran trams 1, 4 and 6 more often as needed. It also ran buses 16 and 216 to Buda Castle more often as needed. BKK publishes the notice for each year shortly before the holiday at bkk.hu.
Are the thermal baths open on 1 May?
Yes. Budapest's thermal baths run their weekend hours on public holidays. Széchenyi is open 08:00 to 20:00, Rudas switches to its weekend schedule with the Turkish bath mixed all day, and Lukács opens its sauna area for its full hours. On Saturday 1 May 2027 those are simply the Saturday hours. Gellért is closed for renovation.
What is a májusfa?
A májusfa is a May tree: a tall, straight tree stripped of its lower branches, with a leafy top decorated with ribbons, handkerchiefs and sometimes bottles of wine. In Hungarian villages young men cut it in the forest at night and set it up at dawn on 1 May in front of the house of a girl they were courting. In many places it was taken down again at Pentecost with music and dancing. The Hungarian Open Air Museum in Szentendre raises one at its May Day festival.
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