Szekszárd’s Babits Mihály Cultural Center is setting a lively pace for 2026, rolling out a year-long program of visiting theater companies, comedy nights, stand-up sets, one-person shows, and family productions. The venue at 7100 Szekszárd, Szent István Square (Szent István tér) 10 promises variety, quality, and easygoing entertainment throughout the year, making the city a dependable stop for culture-hungry locals and travelers alike.
Key Dates and Tickets
On April 21, Robin Hawdon’s farce Szeretőből egy is sok (One Lover Is Already Too Many) arrives as the fourth show of the Orfeum Season Pass. It’s a classic mistaken-identity comedy built for quick laughs and slick timing. Tickets are about 19.6 USD, a straightforward, single-price seating plan for the night in Szekszárd.
April 27 brings Amerikai komédia – Szving musical (American Comedy – Swing Musical), a toe-tapping, big-band-inflected crowd-pleaser mixing screwball rhythms with swing-era energy. Pricing is tiered, roughly 22.6 USD to 25.6 USD, and it should scratch the itch for anyone who wants Broadway sparkle with a Central European wink.
On May 5, the musical Jó estét nyár, jó estét szerelem (Good Evening Summer, Good Evening Love) by Endre Fejes and Gábor Presser returns as the fourth production in the Múzsa Season Pass. Subtitled Musical egy huligánról (A Musical About a Hooligan), it folds bruised romance and youthful angst into a melodic, era-defining favorite with a cult following.
June shifts the spotlight to kids. On June 10, then twice on June 11, Topolcsányi Laura and Maráth Viktor’s Pocahontas hits the stage in three pass formats: Elementary Season Pass, 4th Performance; Elementary Plus Season Pass, 4th; and Kindergarten Season Pass, 4th. Each performance is priced uniformly at around 6.7 USD, giving families a budget-friendly entrée into theater with age-tailored sessions.
June 23 keeps the laughs going with Férjek a slamasztikában (Husbands in a Jam), a French two-act comedy primed for mishaps, marital misunderstandings, and the kind of timing that leaves audiences grinning on the way out.
The agenda even peeks into 2027: on January 23, a blockbuster arrives with Dés László – Geszti Péter – Grecsó Krisztián: A Pál utcai fiúk (The Paul Street Boys), adapted from Ferenc Molnár’s classic novel. Tickets are a flat 27 USD, and the production promises a high-energy score, youthful defiance, and the enduring heartbreak of the red-shirted gang’s stand in Budapest’s storied backlots.
Where to Stay in Szekszárd
The Hotel Merops in downtown Szekszárd is a four-star wine hotel a short stroll from the main square and right by the Mészáros wine house. It blends small-town calm with wine-country ambience, tailored service, and a sleek interior. It’s pitched both to those craving quiet and to active travelers plotting vineyard rambles or city nights. Expect personalized touches and a roster of services that match its polish.
A few minutes away, the Sió Motel sits at Szekszárd’s northern gateway along Route 6, spread across 2.5 hectares between the Szekszárd and Tolna wine regions, with the Gemenc forest nearby and the Sárköz region next door. It’s a simple, convenient base for motorists, hikers, and riverland explorers who want easy access to countryside routes.
Hotel Zodiaco, the area’s only three-star property, leans into a clean, modern look. Its philosophy is simple: guest satisfaction through steady upgrades. Whether you’re here on business or sliding into a weekend escape, it’s designed to keep things smooth, elegant, and unpretentious.
Eat, Sip, Repeat
Merops also steers you toward the Nádasdi House’s Main Street Bistro, where generous menus and careful plating meet friendly bistro vibes. Wine tastings are part of the deal, and there’s a cellar ready to host birthdays, work dinners, or friends’ nights out with a hearty Szekszárd mood and flexible, event-friendly space.
The Attila Birtok estate sits in the Baranya Valley with 34.6 acres of vines, processing Kékfrankos, Kadarka, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zweigelt. The focus is local character—wine as a map of the soil—and a cellar culture that puts regional reds front and center.
Bodri Pincészet doubles as a sprawling tourism hub at Szekszárd’s southern edge. Think 247 acres of estate, a showpiece cellar crossed by twelve domes over 19,375 square feet, a 3,229-square-foot aging cellar for tours, and a 15,069-square-foot rosé facility that lets them scale up quality pours when the season hits. The Bodri estate welcomes up to 61 guests in well-appointed rooms, and the thermal, underground Roman bath—with jacuzzi and sauna—seals the deal for a wine-country unwind. At Optimus Étterem, chef-led plates riff on Hungarian classics, modernized without losing their roots.
Borfaragó Pince, tucked in the old upper-town core, pairs craft wines with folk woodcarving in a onetime joiner’s workshop. It’s discreetly located off the main drag yet easy to reach, making it ideal for group tastings that want atmosphere without the foot-traffic buzz.
Meet the Makers
On Várdomb Hill, a winery lineup highlights Kékfrankos—prized for its versatility and reliability—both solo and as a backbone for blends. Still, diversity reigns: Rhine Riesling, Cserszegi fűszeres, Kadarka, Kékoportó, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah also get star billing, with careful attention to each variety’s strengths.
A craft estate in the Porkoláb Valley goes fully low-intervention: only estate-grown grapes, no commercial yeasts, malolactic starters, enzymes, fining agents, colorants, or acid/aroma adjustments. They skip filtration, sterilization, oxygen dosing, and heat treatment, then bottle everything—wines with a raw, vineyard-first signature.
Another cellar leans into experimentation. Rosés are made from nearly every red variety in-house—entries that have scored serious international nods—while reds stay proudly local in flavor. Kékfrankos and Kadarka take the lead, rounded out by international varieties like Merlot, Cabernet, and Pinot Noir, with blends tuned to preserve the Szekszárd fingerprint.
The Eszterbauer family winery, rooted in Swabian and Serbian heritage, keeps tradition alive with guided tastings led by family members themselves. Their representative wine house and show cellar host 8 to 50 people, pairing award-winning bottles from their webshop with everything from simple bites to multi-course dinners. It’s hospitality as family portrait—poured, plated, and shared.
Across the region’s mosaic of plots—6.6 hectares here, 14 there—the focus stays tight: Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Kékfrankos in the field, and in the glass, a city-sized introduction to why Szekszárd keeps theatergoers and wine lovers coming back for more.
