Since its launch in 2016, Dunapest Festival has become an important forum for cultural and urban engagement across the Danube region. All programmes are held on the banks of the Danube which provides the perfect backdrop, and an open yet intimate atmosphere, to a series of top-quality programmes which attract visitors and tourists alike.

This is the third time Dunapest Festival will be held and supported by the Local Government of Budapest. At the end of the summer weekend  we can get closer to the Danube, with more than one hundred artists and performers in the capital’s river-side locations. The three-day festival between 31 August – 2 September invites Danubians to discover the relationship between this great waterway and its cities, and to explore the possibilities the river-side offers for city-dwellers.

At the same time, the festival inspires city dwellers and visitors to re-discover Budapest, the Danube and the natural and artistic connections between the Danube countries and traditions. The aim of the festival is to focus attention on the Danube and to redefine the relationship between city and water. Music, theater, fine art, film, literature, urbanism, gastronomy, children’s programs and water-sports will be featured, while the festival area is shaped by the Danube: the programmes are  organized from Népsziget via the downtown Danube shore right to the A38 and Trip stables to Valyo Harbor. At Népsziget for two days, the audience can enjoy concerts such as Benedek Szabó and Galaxies, Antonia Vai, Middlemist Red, Apey or Dope Calypso. On the Margaret Island, petanque and frisbee competitions will be held on Saturday to those who love city sports, and at Wesselényi Csónakház a rowing family day will be organized jointly with the Hungarian Rowing Association.

Watch out for the special theatre productions on tramline No2 in cooperation with the Budapest Transport Company, and in the Ludwig Museum one-minute sculptures will be created in an improvisation show. Urban aspects of city and river relations are discussed at professional workshops at the DANUrB conference on the Danube theme. Pecha Kucha is talking about the latest architectural and design trends, offering 12 thematic walks for visitors to Víziváros (District 1.) , Lupa Island, the Népsziget, but the steam mills are also being shown – they were operating at the beginning of the 20th century on the Danube – , as well as Miklós Ybl’s architecture.

During the Dunapest you can also visit three locations with exciting and fresh films: the highlight of the festival is the animated film Ruben Brandt in the Castle CinemaGarden, the Virágvölgy which won prize at Karlovy Vary will be shown in Népsziget, and the “Fresh Meat Budapest” in co-operation with the International Short Film Festival, where a selection of short films by the Danubian countries all screened at Valyo Harbour. The latter will be also the place for some hiphop culture on Saturday. In the exhibition hall of the Capa Center, we can get acquainted with photographs of Budapest, split by the Danube. At the Erzsébet Bridge, the Three Holló cafe, Friday will be the literary one: there are three countries along the Danube with foreign authors along with Hungarian tourists, and the Trip Stage will host a Sunday-themed international slam showcase on Sunday. In addition to concerts on the Népsziget on Saturday, family day programs with children’s work, community grilling and trout smuggling, rowing and slicing also be held. The Dunapest Festival concludes with the Concert of the Budapest Festival Orchestra in the Várkert.

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