Budapest Entertainment

  1. Club Vittula

    Probably the best place to get drunk and dance in Budapest at the moment, with cutting-edge DJs and cheap Slovakian blond (beer that is). Need we say more?

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  2. Columbus Jazzklub

    On a boat moored in the Danube just north of V Vigadó tér, opposite the Budapest Inter-Continental Hotel, this club has transformed itself from being 'just another Irish pub' to a jazz club of note, with big-name local and international bands.

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  3. Cotton Club

    This centrally located restaurant and nightclub with gangster-and-moll décor (complete with cigar room) has live jazz - or let's say 'jazz lite' - nightly at or .

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  4. Fonó Buda Music House

    Fonó Buda has regular programmes on Wednesday and the second Friday of each month as well as concerts by big-name bands throughout each month; it's one of the best venues in town for this sort of thing. Consult the website for more details.

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  5. Jazz Garden

    This is a sophisticated venue with traditional, vocal and Latin jazz, and odd décor -a faux cellar 'garden' with street lamps and a night 'sky' bedecked with blinking stars. Book a table in the dining room; music starts here at .

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  6. Kalamajka Táncház

    This gleaming cultural centre in the Northern Inner Town hosts the incomparable Kalamajka Táncház. The Kalamajka band play authentic folk music every Saturday evening to an appreciative dancing crowd that fill the floor till late in the night.

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  7. Kisstadion

    This venue is smaller than the nearby Budapest Sportaréna and thus something of an elephants' graveyard (think, Rod Stewart) for international acts.

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  8. Laser Theatre

    At the Planetarium in Népliget, the Laser Theatre has a mixed bag of video (some 3D) concerts with laser and canned music featuring the likes of Madonna, Pink Floyd, Queen, Mike Oldfield, Vangelis and Enigma, and performances by Carmina Burana. Very low tech and old hat but fun in a retro kind of way.

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  9. M4 Music Club

    A particularly smoky place named after the illusory fourth metro line that still refuses to get dug or built or started, M4 has both live music (pop, rock, soul, funk) and DJs.

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  10. Óbuda Society

    This very intimate venue surrounded by appalling Óbuda housing estates takes its music very seriously and hosts recitals and some chamber orchestras.

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  12. Oscar American Bar

    The decor is cinema-inspired - film memorabilia on the wood-panelled walls, leather directors' chairs on the floor - and the beautiful crowd often act like they're on camera. Not to worry - the powerful cocktails (some 150, in fact) go down a treat. Music most nights.

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  13. Palace of Arts

    The main concert halls in this palatial arts centre by the Danube, just opposite the National Theatre, are the 1700-seat National Concert Hall and the smaller Festival Theatre, accommodating up to 450 people. Both are purported to have the best acoustics in Budapest.

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  14. Petőfi Csarnok

    The city's main youth centre, the PC is in City Park and the place for smaller rock concerts (Jamiroquai, Yngwie Malmsteen etc).

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  15. Pótkulcs

    The 'Spare Key' is a wonderful little venue, with a varied menu of live music from most nights and táncház (folk music & dance workshop ) at every Tuesday. The little central courtyard is a wonderful place to chill out in summer.

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  16. Satchmo

    As its subtitle 'Amerikai Kreol Jazztaurant ' would suggest, this club-restaurant with big windows just round the corner from Szabadság tér serves up 'American' Creole cuisine (lots of spices, shellfish and 'blackened' things) and live jazz music courtesy of Mr Louis Armstrong from Thursday to Saturday nights.

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  17. Symphony Ticket Office

    Symphony Ticket Office sells tickets to the philharmonic and other classical-music concerts.

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  18. Szimpla

    This is a distressed-looking, very unflashy three-floor venue, and it's just a hop, skip and a tumble from the stilettos south of Liszt Ferenc tér. There's live music three nights a week.

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  19. West Balkan Club Bar

    This place without a sign has something for everyone - from live music and/or DJ to bars in the garden and films on the big screen. Bit alternative.

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  20. Wigwam Rock & Blues Club

    This place with the wacky name is one of the best of its kind in Hungary, and hosts some big-name Hungarian rock and blues bands on Friday and Saturday nights.

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