Szekszárd’s Christmas season is back with a full slate of concerts, community events, and cozy escapes, anchored by the Mihály Babits (Babits Mihály) Cultural Center’s all-ages holiday lineup. In the heart of town at 7100, 10 Szent István Square (Szent István tér 10), the 2025 program brings music, tradition, and the unmistakable spirit of a famous wine region—just in time for the holidays.
Stage Lights and Madrigals
December 20 sets a celebratory tone with “Ünnepre hív a dal” — the Tücsök Music Stage’s Christmas show in Szekszárd. Expect joyful, family-friendly performance energy. Two nights later, on December 22, Madrigálkarácsony rings in with the Szekszárd Madrigal Choir’s concert, a double bill that leans into timeless harmonies and a candlelit mood. It’s the kind of program that pairs perfectly with cold air outside and warm hall acoustics inside.
Stay Where the Wine Flows
Hotel Merops**** puts you steps from the city center and right next to the Mészáros wine house. This boutique wine hotel embraces Szekszárd’s quiet-town charm and vineyard atmosphere with distinctive interiors, a trained, attentive staff, and tailored services. With eight rooms and two apartments, it offers an intimate base for holiday travelers. Food-wise, the Main Street Bistro in the Nádasdi House dazzles locals and visitors with a broad menu of polished comfort. The hotel organizes tastings, and the on-site cellar hosts events with that unmistakable Szekszárd cellar vibe—birthdays, friendly dinners, corporate evenings—designed to be unforgettable.
Gateway to the Wine Country
On a 2.5-hectare property at Szekszárd’s northern gate along Route 6, Sió Motel sits between the Szekszárd and Tolna wine regions, close to the Gemenc Forest and neighboring Sárköz. It’s practical, well placed, and built for those who want direct access to nature and vineyards without frills.
Modern Comfort, Local Pulse
Hotel Zodiaco*** is the only three-star hotel in Szekszárd and its surroundings, serving guests in a modern, elegant setting. Their philosophy is simple: satisfaction through constant innovation. Whether you’re swinging through for business or settling in for a holiday weekend, the aim is to keep it easy and pleasant.
Vineyard Stories, Cellar Doors
Attila Estate (Attila Birtok) sits in the Baranya Valley with 34.6 acres of vines. In the cellar you’ll find Blaufränkisch (kékfrankos), Kadarka, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zweigelt. It’s Szekszárd to the core—bold reds, nuanced spice, and heritage grapes shaped by rolling hills.
Bodri: A Valley of Plenty
Bodri Winery (Bodri Pincészet) sprawls across 247 acres and doubles as a tourism hub just south of Szekszárd: winery, event center, restaurant with show kitchen, and guesthouses in a picturesque valley. The 19,375-square-foot main cellar is crowned by twelve domes; an additional 3,229-square-foot aging cellar opens on tours. The 15,069-square-foot rosé facility is built for higher volumes without losing quality. Up to 61 guests can check into refined rooms, and wellness comes courtesy of a thermal-water underground domed Roman bath, jacuzzi, and sauna. At Optimus Restaurant, the kitchen spotlights the richness of Hungarian cuisine with a modern touch, tuned to the Bodri wine range.
Hidden Gems and Heritage Sips
Borfaragó Cellar (Borfaragó Pince) waits in the heart of the “upper town,” inside a former carpenter’s and woodcarver’s workshop. It offers tastings, handcrafted wines, and folk woodcarving masterpieces—ideal if you want a place that’s discreet yet easy to reach.
On Várdomb Hill (Várdomb), a winery centers its range around Blaufränkisch (kékfrankos) for its versatility, quality, and reliability, using it solo and as the backbone of blends. Other grapes—Riesling, Cserszegi Fűszeres, Kadarka, Portugieser, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah—get special focus too.
A local artisan estate tends vines mainly in the Porkoláb Valley and vinifies only its own fruit. Their wines skip industrial yeast, malolactic starters, enzymes, fining agents, colorants, and additives that tweak aroma or acidity; they also avoid filtration, sterilization, oxygen dosing, and heat treatment. Every wine is bottled.
Another Szekszárd cellar experiments widely, crafting rosés from nearly every red variety and winning serious international accolades. The reds lean local—Blaufränkisch (kékfrankos), Kadarka—layered with international varieties like Merlot, Cabernet, and Pinot Noir to preserve Szekszárd’s signature taste.
Family Roots, Warm Tables
The Eszterbauer family, with Swabian and Serbian roots, runs a tradition-rich winery in Szekszárd. In a handsome wine house and show cellar, family-led tastings welcome groups of 8 to 50, paired with bites from simple wine snacks to multi-course dinners. Their web shop stocks award winners ready to ship.
A family winery farming 16.3 acres across four Szekszárd sites grows Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Blaufränkisch (kékfrankos)—compact, focused, and rooted in place.
Organizers reserve the right to change dates and programs.
