Many people wonder whether shops, sights and restaurants in Budapest are open on 25 and 26 December. We have already written a long article about Christmas in Budapest with lots of tips both about what to do at Christmas in Budapest, as well as information about opening times for restaurants and more, so check it out for more information.
Source: Bing Designer (only an illustration)
But, to give a short answer here too, we can say that almost all of the sights and shops in Budapest are closed on 25 and 26 December. In other words, it is not possible to shop for clothes at Hennes and Mauritz or other similar stores, and food stores such as Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, SPAR, and the like have closed.
Most restaurants are also closed, but there are some that open on 25 December (but have closed on 24 December), but the vast majority are also closed on 25 and 26 December.
This also applies to most museums and baths. In other words, there is not much going on in Budapest these days. Fortunately, the stalls and food places at the big Christmas markets tend to stay open on the 25th and 26th of December, so those are perhaps the best places to stay in Budapest on these days.
There are also many river cruises on the Danube available these days.