Greening up downtown Budapest: celebrate St Patrick’s Day with the local Irish

The Irish-Hungarian Business Circle (IHBC), in collaboration with the Embassy of Ireland, is proud to bring the St. Patrick’s Festival & Parade 2025 to Szabadság Tér on Sunday March 16th. This vibrant celebration of Irish culture is an unmissable event not just for the Irish diaspora, but for families across Budapest.

A Day of Irish Music, Dance & Culture

From 12 to 6 PM, festival attendees will be treated to a fantastic line up of live performances, featuring a blend of traditional and contemporary music and dance. Budapest Gaels GAA will showcase Gaelic football and hurling on Szabadság Tér, whilst dog lovers can meet a pack of pedigree Red Setters and Irish Wolfhounds. Alongside traditional Irish food and drinks, families and festival goers will be treated to balloon bending and face-painting. The Parade kicks off at 14:00, led by the great man himself—St. Patrick – and winds its way through District V, passing some of Budapest’s iconic landmarks, including the Parliament and St Stephen’s Basilica, before returning to Szabadság Tér for more entertainment. 

Irish–Hungarian Heritage: Honouring Henry Spelter

This year’s festival honours Henry Spelter – one of 540 Hungarian refugees welcomed to Ireland in the wake of the 1956 revolution. A celebrated confectioner from one of Hungary’s great baking families, Spelter worked at Dublin’s iconic Bewley’s café. In 2022, the ‘Mary Cake’ he introduced there returned to the Bewley’s menu, with funds raised from its sales donated to the Red Cross to support Ukrainian refugees in Ireland. Honouring Spelter’s memory, the Ambassador will be joined in leading the parade by members of the Spelter family and Hazel Carmichael, the Bewley’s baker who rediscovered the ‘Mary Cake’, which the Embassy will serve at its St Patrick’s Day reception.