Szekszárd rolls through 2026 with a full slate of culture, wine, and city-life energy centered around 10 Saint Stephen Square (Szent István tér 10). The Mihály Babits Cultural Center (Babits Mihály Kulturális Központ) anchors the calendar, serving locals and travelers with festivals, culinary pop-ups, concerts, theater, dance, and exhibitions. From free public lectures to big-stage musicals and heritage folk dance, the city’s famed wine tourism meshes seamlessly with a busy program that barely takes a breath.
Spring Spotlight: Musicals, Dance, and a Free Mind
On April 27, American Comedy – Swing Musical hits the stage in Szekszárd with tickets priced from about $22.90 to $25.90. Two days later, April 29 is stacked: the Health Free University (EGÉSZ-SÉG Szabadegyetem) tackles Love as Crisis (not only romantic crisis), led by mental health expert Cecília Bozzay, a complex arts therapist and family, relationship, and divorce mediator. The free evening is hosted by Margit Pócs, head of the Mental Health Workshop. Also on April 29, the city marks International Dance Day, and the Forrás Folk Dance Ensemble Independent Theater presents Útravaló, a dance-theater performance.
May 1 brings the Szekszárd May Day (Szekszárdi Majális), the city’s traditional May Day celebration, a community favorite that blends outdoor fun with local flavor.
May Momentum: From Iconic Love Stories to Local Talent
On May 5, Endre Fejes – Gábor Presser’s Good Evening, Summer, Good Evening, Love (Jó estét nyár, jó estét szerelem) returns as the Múzsa subscription’s fourth show, a musical about a hooligan, with tickets from about $19.90 to $22.90. May 8 offers Individual Graphology Short Analysis sessions, while May 9 hosts the Dance Gala – Origo Dance Studio showcase.
Travel lovers get their fix on May 12 at the Kultúrkortyok Free University with Tashkent to the Aral Sea – Uzbekistan, a talk pairing curiosity with culture. On May 14, comedian László Lakatos arrives with I’m Here (Megjöttem), supported by opening act Olivér Wolf, tickets around $21.30. May 15 features two concerts: the Szekszárd Youth Wind Orchestra’s rating concert and Gergő Kovács’s Song Evening at about $12.30. Runners take over on May 16 with the 15th Wine Region Half Marathon (Borvidék Félmaraton), a true wine-country classic.
On May 21 at the Mihály Babits Cultural Center, What Am I Without Music? (Zene nélkül mit érek én…) – a tribute to Zsuzsa Cserháti and Péter Máté – fills the hall, tickets at about $24.10.
Summer Stages: Family Theater and Big-Name Gigs
June warms up fast. On June 9, James Fritz’s 4:12 lands in Szekszárd. June 10 and 11 are dedicated to schoolchildren and preschoolers with three stagings of Laura Topolcsányi and Viktor Maráth’s Pocahontas: the 4th show for the Elementary Pass (June 10), plus the Elementary Plus Pass and Kindergarten Pass 4th shows (both June 11), all tickets around $6.60. On June 13, Apostol plays a major concert with tickets from roughly $28.70 to $35.50. June 23 brings Husbands in a Jam (Férjek a slamasztikában), a French comedy in two acts.
Autumn to Winter: Pianos, Mozart, Movie Music, Classics
September 7 hosts a piano recital by Endre Hegedűs and Katalin Hegedűs, tickets around $10.40. On November 6, organist Gergely Rákász presents Mozart, tickets near $15.00. November 24 adds a Film Music Concert. The season leaps into 2027 with a heavy-hitter on January 23: László Dés – Péter Geszti – Krisztián Grecsó’s The Paul Street Boys (A Pál utcai fiúk), based on Ferenc Molnár’s novel, tickets at about $28.70.
Where to Stay: Wine Hotels to Modern Comfort
Right by the Mészáros wine house, Hotel Merops**** sits in downtown Szekszárd, just minutes from the city center. It blends small-town calm with the wine region’s ambiance and focuses on personalized service and a distinctive interior. It’s built for both quiet breaks and active escapes.
Nádasdi Ház welcomes travelers with 8 rooms and 2 apartments and runs gastronomic programs in the city and around the region. Its Main Street Bistro delights locals and visitors with a broad menu, and the cellar hosts pure Szekszárd-style events from birthdays and friendly dinners to corporate gatherings. Wine tastings are on offer, with a promise of unforgettable evenings.
Sió Motel marks Szekszárd’s northern gateway along Highway 6, between the Szekszárd and Tolna wine regions, near the Gemenc Forest and the Sárköz area, spread over 2.5 hectares.
Hotel Zodiaco***, the only three-star property in and around Szekszárd, features a modern, elegant vibe and a guest-first philosophy, with steady upgrades aimed at both business stays and weekend downtime.
Wine Country: Cellars, Tours, Terroir
Attila Birtok in the Baranya Valley cultivates 14 hectares and processes Kékfrankos, Kadarka, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zweigelt. Bodri Winery (Bodri Pincészet) spans 100 hectares and doubles as a tourism hub at Szekszárd’s southern edge: winery, event center, restaurant, show kitchen, guesthouses, and an 1,800-square-meter grand cellar with twelve domes. The 300-square-meter aging cellar opens for tours, and a 1,400-square-meter rosé facility scales high-quality production. Sixty-one guests can stay in refined rooms, with a thermal-water underground domed Roman bath, jacuzzi, and sauna. Optimus Restaurant showcases the colorful spectrum of Hungarian cuisine, in a lightly modernized take designed for pairing with Bodri wines.
Borfaragó Cellar (Borfaragó Pince), set in the heart of the old “upper town,” mixes wine tastings, craft wines, and the art of folk woodcarving in a former carpenter-woodcarver’s workshop—a discreet, easy-access spot for gatherings off the main drag.
On Várdomb Hill, another winery spotlights Kékfrankos as a standout, both solo and as the backbone for blends, while nurturing Riesling, Cserszegi Fűszeres, Kadarka, Kékoportó (Blauer Portugieser), Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah. A local natural-style, craft winery in the Porkoláb Valley processes only estate-grown grapes and avoids industrial yeasts, malolactic starters, enzymes, fining agents, colorants, additives, filtration, sterilization, oxygen dosing, and heat treatment. Every wine is bottled. Another cellar experiments widely with blends and crafts rosé from nearly all available red varieties, with international awards to show for it, while proudly standing by Szekszárd’s signatures like Kékfrankos and Kadarka, complemented by Merlot, Cabernet, and Pinot Noir.
For something different, unplug on the vineyard hills with a glass in hand. The Eszterbauer family—of Swabian and Serbian roots—runs a tradition-rich family winery. Their representative wine house and show cellar host family-presented tastings, with food for 8 to 50 people, from simple bites to multi-course dinners, and a webshop of award-winners. Another family estate tends 6.6 hectares across four Szekszárd sites, planting Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Kékfrankos.
Good to Know
Organizers reserve the right to change dates and programs. For info, contacts, and updates, head to the Szekszárd Program Tourism hub at 7100 Szekszárd, 10 Saint Stephen Square (Szent István tér 10), and keep an eye on the national events calendar.
