The top 10 best clubs of Budapest
What to do in Budapest during the nights when you feel the boogie in your legs? As you are coming to Budapest as a visitor, chances are that you are searching for the absolutely best places to go. We understand you: with limited time to discover the nightlife of the city, you shouldn’t end up in parties you don’t enjoy to the fullest!
Here, let us give you a guide to navigate through the nights of Budapest like a pro when it comes to dancing!
One general advice before jumping into the nightlife: take cash with you in Hungarian forints, as several bars don’t accept cars, and don’t withdraw money from Euronet ATMs if you can avoid it because they charge you high fees.
Morrison’s 2
Let’s start your introduction to the clubs which are open from Monday to Sunday - that’s right, in Budapest you can find dance clubs open literally every night of the week! And if you happen to go out on Monday night, that’s your lucky day for the craziest drink deal the city has to offer! Every week, the beer will cost you a ridiculous 149Ft (less than 0,49€ - yes, it really is so cheap) in Morrison’s 2 between 9-12pm, so you don’t need to think of predrinking elsewhere either! The entrance is only 500Ft (1,5€) till midnight if you click going on this event.
On other nights, “Morri” (as nicknamed by locals) welcomes you too with a cool atmosphere in its garden (which is even heated during winter months!) and on 7 dance floors, to make sure you find the perfect room for your mood. With different atmospheres and music styles ranging from house and techno through mainstream and r’nb to retro, it is guaranteed that everyone finds their favorite.
With the most beer pong tables in the city, karaoke room, pub games such as table football, and giant screens to broadcast major sports events, the club offers you great alternatives for fun also if you wanna take a little break from dancing, or simply prefer these kinds of nighttime activities.
Address: Szent István körút 11.
Instant-Fogas Complex
Perhaps the most famous ruin pub & nightclub of Budapest has been created by uniting 2 legendary clubs into one when Instant and Fogasház merged in 2017. Open every day of the week, Instant-Fogas is a safe choice anytime to meet people from all over the world, and a must-go once you are in Budapest. The club offers 18 bars, 7 dance floors, a magical garden, and all rooms decorated in a unique, surrealistic style.
The dance floors’ styles range from the dark and mystical room of underground electronica, LÄRM, to the mainstream, and even rock music!
You can enjoy free entrance to the club too - but beware, despite the capacity of more than 2000 people, queues get very long and slow early in the night due to its enormous popularity, especially in the summer and on weekends!
It’s also the usual place where the Pub Crawls of Budapest finish. We highly recommend you to join one, as this is probably the best way to get in quickly to the club by skipping the line, and you can enjoy your free welcome shot too with your newly made drink-buddies.
Pro tip: take some cash of Hungarian forints with you, because at some of the bars they don’t accept card payments!
Address: Akácfa utca 49-51.
Akvárium
The location of this club is unique, hence the name: in the heart of the city, it is situated right under a pool at Deák Ferenc tér. This square is the main outdoor gathering point for young local people in the summer, sipping drinks while sitting in the grass. During the warmer months, Akvárium also has a nice terrace open with more than 100 tables, so that you can enjoy the vibe in a more comfortable way. Akvárium is even a bit more of a large event hall than a club, hosting unique parties almost every night in its 3 rooms up to 1500 people in its Big Hall. Focused on live concerts and electronic and techno music, this club welcomes world-famous DJs and artists every week, like Lost Frequencies, Milky Chance and countless more quality events. It deserves fully the top spot of the Best Big Club category, that it officially won at the Budapest Nightlife Awards in 2019.
Fun fact: the name of the dance floors (Big Hall, Small Hall) is a play on words too, as they contain the Hungarian word “hal” that means fish, bringing fun into the Aquarium feeling.
Address: Erzsébet tér 12.
Doboz
Doboz is more of a premium ruin bar and club, with a rather elegant vibe compared to Instant-Fogas. Doboz is a cozy place with indoor and outdoor tables, and good food, open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Around midnight, with people filling up the garden and dance floor it becomes a club to enjoy partying all night long for mainstream music by some of the best Hungarian DJs.
Doboz means “box” in Hungarian, and got its name from the large, red metal establishment built in the garden that hosts the dance floor for hundreds of people. The biggest attraction of the place is undoubtedly the King Kong wooden statue, which is climbing up a huge tree located in the middle of the garden.
Pro tip: take cash with you in Hungarian forints, as they don’t accept bank cards at the bar.
Address: Klauzál utca 10.
4bro Downtown
Located in Gozsdu udvar, the lively nightlife centre of the city, 4bro Downtown is the most famous club of the neighborhood. The main dance floor looks like a bigger bar, along with a half-covered terrace to enjoy smoking without exiting the club, and you can find downstairs a pretty good and intimate second dancefloor too. Directly opening from the Downtown, you can reach Aether too, which in our opinion is the best techno club of Budapest - you can read the details below in this article!
They serve delicious food and drinks as well as a restaurant before 10pm, when the place starts to transform into a hip club. You can dance the night away for hip-hop and r’nb beats and meet the coolest international and local bros and sis’ in this cool central club! On Fridays and Saturdays, the club becomes full with hundreds of people already around midnight.
Address: Király utca 13.
Heaven Club
The newest club of Budapest opened its doors in 2019, and with more than 1000 people capacity it instantly became one of the biggest single-dance floor party places in the city. Heaven gives you a luxurious impression thanks to its tasteful and elegant interior design. Located next to Vörösmarty square, Heaven hosts parties every week with different themes, music and sometimes international DJs. It gained incredible popularity within a few months of existence, and if you go there, you will see why! This best new nightclub is open on Fridays and Saturdays between 22:00 and 06:00 (recommended to arrive by midnight to avoid standing in line for long). Since its opening, bad girls and boys go to Heaven, too!
If you want to live a real unforgettable VIP night with a sophisticated atmosphere, we suggest you to book the best tables and bottle service, and access the VIP bar with fastlane tickets to enjoy a truly exclusive experience.
Address: Deák Ferenc utca 5.
Story
Visitors who have been to Budapest some years ago might know this dance club as Tesla, which was its name before the renovation. It has quickly become the best new story in Budapest’s nightlife. Located in the same street as Szimpla ruin bar, Story Club hosts hip parties from Thursdays to Saturdays.
The latest R&B and Hip-Hop sounds are being played here, at some thematic parties, explaining why it has become one of the youngest and most energetic places to party in the city. It’s a social gathering place for locals but for the coolest internationals as well. As a party-lover you will really appreciate their crystal clear VOID Acoustics sound system! The club also offers a large VIP area with the option for table reservation.
Story also has a garden area during the summer months: Hétkert, the urban jungle of the Budapest party district with lots of green plants, cocktails and fresh pizza to provide a great chilled atmosphere.
Address: Kazinczy utca 21.
Ötkert
Pronounced as Oetkert, this one is a bit more fancy club with a unique location, near the Danube between the Pest side of the Chain Bridge and the St. Stephen’s Basilica. Since 2010 ÖTKERT is one of the most popular clubs of Budapest with cool people, good house, disco and hip-hop music, famous local DJs, and occasionally concerts and unique programs. Described as the hippest urban club of the city, they have face control and dress code policy, so don’t go in there wearing sportswear. Maybe the best place to enjoy a given Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, with 2 dance floors, beautiful girls & guys, and several cool DJs. No wonder why Ötkert has been always voted top 2 in the Best Big Club category of the Budapest Nightlife Awards in the recent years.
You can also find Secret Room within the building of the club, which is a small house music club for selected members (don’t worry, you can get on the guest list for most events), with smokie house & tech-house music.
2010
Discounts
Address: Zrínyi utca 4.
Aether
Aether is an underground techno club right underneath 4Bro Downtown in Gozsdu court, one of the liveliest nightlife centers of Budapest. It has been awarded the official “Best Small Club of Budapest” title for 2 years in a row by the most prestigious voting of this kind, Heineken Budapest NightLife Awards.
Unique visuals, Funktion-one sound system, friendly people, and sometimes losing the sense of time are the characteristics of Aether that welcomes renown international DJs along with the créme de la créme artists of the Hungarian techno scene every weekend. Dance till eternity under the downtown!
You can access Aether directly from 4Bro, but don’t worry if you don’t want to mingle in the mainstream party, you can buy a separate ticket for the techno raves only.
Address: Király utca 13.
Ellátóház
As a ruin bar styled cool pub and garden, Ellátóház is open every night of the week. It is located right next to Gozsdu court, in the same building as The Hive Party Hostel, so you can always find it filled with young international travelers.
Usually with free entrance, Ellátóház hosts tribute concerts and parties with the ultimate vibe of freedom all night long as it transforms into one large dance floor. The atmosphere will be welcoming, friendly and easygoing at all times in this club, where you can sing out loud your all-time favorite hits till dawn.
If you join a Pub Crawl, you can hit this bar and club during your fun-intense discovery of the Budapest nightlife too!
Address: Dob utca 19.
Some clubs that sadly closed down, but we loved them
Corvin Club
Considered like the sharpest-faced techno club in the Eastern European area with its minimalistic design, VOID sound system and vanguard programme with the most recognized electronic music artist from all around the world, Corvin Club was the underground mecca of Budapest till it unfortunately needed to close its doors in 2018.
Kuplung
One of the oldest cult ruin bars of Budapest in Király utca closed its doors when the building was sold, demolished and now there are apartments built in its place.
+1: You might be surprised that we didn’t include the perhaps most iconic ruin bar of Budapest, Szimpla on this list. The reason is simply that it is not considered as a club, as dancing is not their focus, but it is the first one of the so-called ruin pubs, and the signature place to go in Budapest. If you wanna read more about it and its peers, you can click HERE for our recommendations on the best ruin bars of Budapest that are definitely worth a visit besides Szimpla too!