Budapest Wine Tasting and Lunch

Budapest, Hungary

Don't get caught up in a touristy restaurant trying watered-down goulash in Budapest! Hungarian food, wine, spirits and hospitality are famous the world over, and you'll discover why on this gastronomic tour with your private guide. Numbers are limited to 20 people on this small-group walking Budapest wine tasting and lunch ensuring you'll receive personalized attention from your guide.

Your tasting extravaganza provides an overview of Hungary's typical food and drink, led by a private guide. You'll learn how Hungarian food is prepared and the exact ingredients that go into making the famous dishes, plus visit a market to see where the locals shop for traditional ingredients. You'll also get insider tips where to find the best restaurants while in Budapest!

Your tour begins with a visit to the great market hall where you will get an overview of the produce used in Hungarian kitchen. Here you will learn all about the use of the famous paprika spice, local vegetables and meats.

Your next stop takes takes you to a private wine cellar where you will begin with a discussion about the wines you will try.The wine tasting covers the traditional wines of Hungary, and reveals the history and legends behind each wine.

Last but not least you will visit a typical restaurant for a traditional Hungarian meal. Clean your pallet with a welcome spirit before you indulge in large bowl of goulash soup with bread, followed by a main meal and a typical Hungarian dessert.

After your lunch, visit a wine shop and enjoy a wine tasting there. You'll learn about the deeper meaning behind Hungarian wines and the significance they played in history.

USD $35.63

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Robert f	January 2012
Wonderful tour guide that has a passion for her job. Prior to our visit we had no understanding of Budapest or what to do, we were provided a wonderful overview of the great market, took a tram to our wine tasting and had a wonderful lunch. Good wines and great setting.

Review by: janstan	December 2011
Some really good wines and I was impressed by the informative sessions we had. I had a fantastic group with me and the guide was very helpful. Lunch was fun and delicious as well. Fun Fun Fun

Review by: Bridie F	December 2011
The tour was awesome! Our guide, Barbara was lovely and really knowledgeable - every step of the day was great, the Great Market Hall, wine tasting and lunch. I would highly recommend the tour for everyone!

Review by: Philip A H	October 2011
The guide was very knowledgable, the wine was really good and loved the goulash. The only negative is that this tour involved a lot of walking. This should be more emphasized for those who have problems walking for long distances or have back problems.

Review by: Norah M G	October 2011
good but just a bit long between some parts.

Review by: Randi P	October 2011
It was nice. The tour leader was very nice and seeing the market was fun. She seemed very knowledgeable about the wine we tasted.

Review by: James T	September 2011
We liked this tour. We did it early one and thought this was the best goulash (which seemed mandatory at all the other tours). The wine tasting was in the basement of a bicycle shop but it was fine. The guide did a good job of discussing the wines and the wine history of Hungary. Before the wine tasting, we walked to the central market and rode the train back to the starting point. The guide did a good job of discussing the items we saw on the way. This is a good "first day" tour.

Review by: jose alfredo s	September 2011
i WAS a bit disapointed here. I expected the wine tasting would be in a real wine cellar and_br/_ not in the agent`s cellar

Review by: mohammad	August 2011
The tour guide was knowledgeable and very nice, however, we expected to visit a real winery not a small basement at the tour office. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the tour.

Review by: DEBBIE B	August 2011
We were the only ones on the tour and our guide Barb was very pleasant but the tour was terrible. We walked through town to the market were we were left on our own for 20 minutes and then we walked back to the "office". At the office, there were bikes,books and Segways stored and a couple of old couches. We asked for help with tour but no one knew who to call which we didn't understand. We were wondering what happened to the "wine" tour when we were asked to go down in the cellar of this old office. It was a joke, dusty breadsticks and emply bottles along with a few candles and a must odor was their idea of a wine cellar. Fortunately, we just laughed about it and drank as much wine as we were allowed then we were taken to a small pub and given a bowl of soup and a beer. Barb was a nice girl but the tour was a joke.

Review by: Fred W	July 2011
Great tour. Very interesting guide, would recommend it to anyone.

Review by: Greg P	June 2011
This was really great fun. We enjoyed the trip out into the countryside, even though there was one brief rain shower. Our guide was fun and knew lots of information about the area and the wine. She even made lunch for us when we stopped at a small family-owned winery. Couldn't have been a better day!_br/_ AND all the biking was downhill. No worries.

Review by: dave	June 2011
Thankfully our tour guide, bless her, waited for us, as we were waiting at a totally different meeting point; - the one Viator stated to meet at. We read and re-read the instructions as others not showed up and not even the guide. The travel company listed was across the road and didn't seem interested till the last minute, and after a phone call, we were told to meet at another location. When finally we met up all was well and a pleasant and interesting tour was had.

Review by: Angela A	May 2011
Excellent tour! Our guide was very informative and personable, and the Hungarian wine was exceptional!

Review by: Penelope C	April 2011
Well thought out trip. The guide did need a little more experience as it was her first trip, so the wine tasting was enjoyable but not informative. Loved the fact that an underground trip was included..

Review by: Helen G	November 2010
Excellent guide, although we walked fast and tended to lose the group a little. Our group was too big - 19 - which was fun, but it made the tour way too long. The guide knew the market stall holders and we had lots of little extras - tasting salami etc. It was good fun but the tour was actually too long, because of all these people, we left after 4 hours. Really interesting though and the other people were great fun, real mix of travellers

Review by: Kathryn E	November 2010
This tour was a nice idea and we did indeed see the food market, tasted 5 wines, tried a type of Hungarian garlic pizza and finished with goulash soup. The guide was very nice too and had a number of interesting comments. The stalls in the market offered us a taste of Hungarian sausage and other items too which was nice. I would not however take this tour again as it last approximately 4.5 hours rather than the stated 2 - 3 hours. When in Budapest for a short weekend, that cut into precious touring time. There was also a lot of unnecessary walking all around the city which wasted a lot of time. All of the things on the tour could have been accomplished alone and in a lot less time, however, if someone has a lot of time and would like to share a unique experience with others they might like this type of tour.

Review by: Peter G	November 2010
A great way to see Budapest. Very friendly and knowledgeable guide. Only disappointment was the meal - we only had one course!

Review by: janet marion H	November 2010
A bit disappointing, took all day rather than 2 1/2 hours, rather a lot of walking & then left to find your own way back to meeting place, met nice people though.

Review by: Anonymous	August 2010
This was a great way to learn about the eating culture in Budapest. We went to the market with our excellent tour guide Adina where we learned about the common food, spices, and delicacies. Then we did some wine tasting and ended the tour with goulash soup. Wonderful tour!

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	July 2010
Great experience. Highly recommend

Review by: Irina S, Norway	May 2010
It was really nice tour. We enjoyed it very much. Our guide was really good. Thank you. But I suggest to change the name of the tour because my opinion wine tasting provide some wrong expectation. I suggest the name like Discovery food and wines of Hungary you have other tour wine tasting. Regards, Irina

Review by: Gregory P, United States of America	May 2010
This was fun, I would do it again.

Review by: Valerie W, United Kingdom	January 2010
I was unable to go on this Excursion because I hurt my leg and had trouble walking. But I will be visiting Budapest again in July and will organise it again nearer the time.

Review by: Anonymous	December 2009
First, we found the product details of this tour on Viator misleading - as there was no visit to a private cellar, or visit to a local bar for appetizer. We were brought to a local market, back to the tour office for 15 mins and then straight to the restaurant for a 3 course meal with 3 glasses of wine. Secondly, the guide has let this tour down. Even though the voucher suggested that one should be ready 15 minutes before the tour starts, there was no one at the meeting point, and the guide arrived 8 minutes late. She seems uninterested and rushed through most of the walking part of the tour - we did however, gained a few interesting facts. Lunch was the best part of this tour for us, with nice food and wines being served. All in all, a good deal if you treat this as an informal lunch and leisurely walk.

Review by: Peter B, United Kingdom	November 2009
The visit to the market was quite interesting, but we were particularly pleased that the guide stayed with us for lunch and explained all the food and wines, as well as giving us lots of information about Budapest as well. She seemed in no hurry, which made for a very fulfilling experience.

Review by: anthi m, Cyprus	November 2009
We were lucky! It was just us and the guide. She was great. The 3 course meal turned out to be a pub lunch, but seeing as the Gulash was so superb, and the wine too, on the whole it was money well spent.

Review by: Anthi M	November 2009
We were lucky! It was just us and the guide. She was great. The 3 course meal turned out to be a pub lunch, but seeing as the Gulash was so superb, and the wine too, on the whole it was money well spent.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	September 2009
Delicious local foods and wine. Learned so much about the local culture and history. Tour guide was great!

Review by: bernadette h, United Kingdom	September 2009
This was a very good outing and more soas there was just the two of us there and we had the full services of our tour host.She was a great young woman with a super personality and excellent English. She made the event very interesting and answered our barrage of questiong with detail and clarity.The market tour was a delight and we got top tips on hungarian cooking and ingrediants.The lunch was hearty hungarian fare and the wine which followed each course was delicious.One word of warning however,I dont eat meat and told the guide this on the day ,she arranged a veggie lunch but it wasnt good but I dont hold the restaurant responsible as they had no time prepare .Overall a highly enjoyable experience and one which i would recommend.

Review by: Bernadette H	September 2009
This was a very good outing and more soas there was just the two of us there and we had the full services of our tour host.She was a great young woman with a super personality and excellent English. She made the event very interesting and answered our barrage of questiong with detail and clarity.The market tour was a delight and we got top tips on hungarian cooking and ingrediants.The lunch was hearty hungarian fare and the wine which followed each course was delicious.One word of warning however,I dont eat meat and told the guide this on the day ,she arranged a veggie lunch but it wasnt good but I dont hold the restaurant responsible as they had no time prepare .Overall a highly enjoyable experience and one which i would recommend.

Review by: Alexandra M	August 2009
We were very excited reading the other reviews, but I must say that we were somewhat disappointed. Our guide was nice but not super informative. We went to a market and learned about Hungarian foods, had lunch and wine, and that was it. We learned nothing about how to prepare the food or much about the wine, which were not very good. We sweated through lunch too, it was so hot.

Review by: Anonymous	July 2009
A great tour guide who gave us insight into the people, culture, and food of Hungary. A thought provoking time, very enjoyable!

Review by: Catherine S	May 2009
This tour isn't exactly as described on the Viator page. There was no visit to a cellar or bar, no tasting of spirits and no specific recipes. It's pretty informal and ad hoc, but I enjoyed it. It's a charming little tour to a traditional indoor market to see delicious produce laid out. Tour group size is usually small, so there's plenty time for questions and chat. We loved our guide and talked about all sorts of things. The market does close early on a Saturday, so some stalls were already shut when we got there, but it didn't detract much. From the market, it's a short walk to the tour office and on to a restaurant for a three course lunch and wine tasting - bring your appetite! After all the food and drink, we were ready for a bit of a rest. Our guide had to leave, but there was no hurry for us to leave the restaurant, so we could sit until we were fit to waddle to a cafe to sit and watch the world go by.

Review by: Kendall S, United States of America	April 2009
One of the best tours we have been on! Amazing wines and even better food! Our travel guide was very knowledgeable and just wonderful!

Review by: Morgan S	April 2009
One of the best tours we have been on! Amazing wines and even better food! Our travel guide was very knowledgeable and just wonderful!

Review by: Matthew S, Australia	February 2009
A great tour. The guide was fantastic, very interesting, friendly and knowledgeable. A nice walk around the city looking at a couple of sites and a nice fresh food market, then on to the restaurant where the food was just spectacular. Highly recommend this tour.

Review by: MATTHEW S	February 2009
A great tour. The guide was fantastic, very interesting, friendly and knowledgeable. A nice walk around the city looking at a couple of sites and a nice fresh food market, then on to the restaurant where the food was just spectacular. Highly recommend this tour.

Review by: Kimberly C, United States of America	December 2008
Our guide was great. She spent time with us and discussed the culture, history and the politics of Budapest. It was a wonderful experience.

Review by: Julie S, Australia	November 2008
Great fun. Unfortunately, the market was closed following a public holiday so we missed out on this. Walking about learning of the history before enjoying the delicious lunch meant we saw and learned a lot. Going to an authentic pub/cafe and the insight into Magyar wine and food we gained were something we couldn't have had otherwise.

Review by: Randal N, United States of America	November 2008
Excellent way to get to know Budapest's eating culture. Our guide was incredible. She was very knowledgeable and very passionate about Budapest.

Review by: Susan N	September 2008
The title of this trip was very misleading. This was definitely not a wine tasting as we know it. The food was excellent, however, and 3 small glasses of wine were provided. The guide let the trip down. She started by saying this is not a popular tour and although knowledgeable, she was clearly not interested in the walking part of the tour. She walked very fast with no concern for the ability of the party and did not once check to see if everyone was there and keeping up. Of course, this could be because she was late turning up, which meant that we had to make up time! I had to use my UK mobile to ring the office to see if there was going to be a tour guide, which was an unexpected expense! It's such a pity as the city is beautiful, and with a little care by the guide it could become a very popular tour.

Review by: Deikun L, United States of America	July 2008
The guide for this tour was WONDERFUL!!! She was interesting, knowledgeable, and definitely a joy to learn from. It was good to get to go to the market and see how the 'natives' do their shopping not to mention see the outlandish mark ups we tourists were paying for fresh fruits and vegetables. The meal was filling and the wine was generous.

Review by: TRACY D	July 2008
The guide for this tour was WONDERFUL!!! She was interesting, knowledgeable, and definitely a joy to learn from. It was good to get to go to the market and see how the 'natives' do their shopping not to mention see the outlandish mark ups we tourists were paying for fresh fruits and vegetables. The meal was filling and the wine was generous.

Review by: John B	July 2008
Very good and interesting guide although a lot of unnecessary walking. Very pleasant food and wine and well worth doing, recommended.

Review by: Bronwyn G, Australia	May 2008
We loved the whole experience: visiting the food markets, tasting the food and wines, and interacting with our guide and the local people we met.

Review by: Dyana H, United States of America	May 2008
Fabulous! The food and wine were fantastic, and it was wonderful to have a local guide explain the history and tradition of Hungarian food. Also, the trip to the local marketplace was wonderful with the guide explaining sights along the way.

Review by: Elaine F, United Kingdom	February 2008
Tour guide was excellent. Great way to spend 3 hours, we made it into a full night. Good value for money. Would highly recommend.

Review by: ELAINE F	February 2008
Tour guide was excellent. Great way to spend 3 hours, we made it into a full night. Good value for money. Would highly recommend.

Review by: Chris L, Canada	November 2007
What a great way to start our trip to Budapest. Our guide was wonderful. We certainly learned a lot about life in Budapest. The subterranean, Transylvanian-atmosphere setting for the wine tasting was brilliant, especially with the flickering candlelight from the chandeliers. The guide was really knowledgeable about Hungarian wine, and we were able to purchase a bottle of our favourite wine. The pubs that we visited were great, unique, out of the way places that we would never have visited on our own. Wow, were they ever out of the way! Where did they find those funky lampshades? The food and beer of course were the best. As you can tell, we absolutely loved it. Everyone visiting Budapest would be well advised to take this tour.