Budapest has a population of almost 2 million people. As a result, the city has lots of cinemas. If you are looking for information about the different cinemas in Budapest, you have come to the right place. Keep on reading to find information about the best cinemas, the most luxurious, and the most popular We will also share information about where you should go if you want to support the local cinemas and not the big chains.
Most of Hollywood blockbusters are produced and created with English-speaking actors. But, if you just buy a ticket in a Budapest cinema to watch a Hollywood movie, you might be surprised when they all speak Hungarian. That is because most movies in Hungary are dubbed. How can you fix this? More information further down.
Important information: audio, subtitles, and more
It is essential to know that most films in Budapest cinemas are dubbed, which means that you will listen to Hungarian voices, even though it is a Hollywood movie. Some films can be seen with English (original) audio and Hungarian subtitles. On some occasions, movies can be seen with English audio only, but with no subtitles at all. It is very important to study this carefully before you buy your tickets because this can easily ruin your cinema experience.
How can you see and know the difference? Below, you can see an image from the cinema program in a Budapest cinema. You can see descriptions such as DUB:HU (dubbed in Hungarian) and the original version (no subtitles). It is quite obvious what it means, but it is crucial that you look for these descriptions in order to watch your selected movie in a language suitable for you.
In the last picture, you can see that the audio is in English but with Hungarian subtitles. Good luck and enjoy!
Now that you have this basic information, it is time to find the best cinemas in Budapest.
Cinema City Budapest
At the moment, you can find Cinema City in Allee, WestEnd, Duna Plaza, Mammut, Campona, and Arena Plaza. These are all shopping centers, meaning that many people visit these cinemas and combine it with shopping, dining, and other activities. What is there to know about these different cinemas?
CinemaCity Allee
This is a very popular cinema among locals and visitors. It is located close to Moricz Zsigmond Korter, and you can easily travel to this cinema with metro (green line: Ujbuda Center) or by tram (18, 47, 49). There are also lots of buses moving in this area, but as a tourist, it is easiest to get here by metro. The shopping mall is big, and the cinema is found on the top floor. They have approximately 12 screens. Most of the movies are shown with dubbed voices, but due to the popularity of the cinema, you will often find some screenings with English audio as well.
Cinema City Arena
This cinema is located near Keleti Palyaudvar (Railway station). If you use public transportation, travel with the red or the green metro to Keleti Palyaudvar and walk from there. The mall is the biggest in Budapest, and here you have a city with all sorts of opportunities. They have an IMAX room, a 4DX room, and also a VIP cinema. If you visit the VIP cinema, you will get to eat and drink before entering the cinema, and you can later bring unlimited drinks and popcorn/nachos as you watch the movie. The chairs are adjustable and way nicer than a normal cinema chair. The price for a VIP ticket is between 8000-9000 HUF.
Cinema City WestEnd
WestEnd is yet another popular shopping mall in Budapest. It is located in the 13th district of Budapest, by the Nyugati railway station. You can get here easily using tram line 4/6, or with the blue metro (the station name is Nyugati Palyaudvar). This is a cinema frequently used by English-speaking visitors, meaning that you will find quite a lot of movies available in English.
Cinema City Mammut
This is the fourth option from CinemaCity with a central location in Budapest. The Mammut shopping mall is located near Szena square on the Buda side, alongside tram lines 4 and 6. If you want to travel to this cinema by metro, you should use the red metro line and travel to Szent tér. You will need to walk a few hundred meters from the metro stop to the mall.
Cinema City Campona
This is located far outside the city center which makes it uninteresting for tourists. Locals who live in the area like this cinema, but unless you live in the 22nd district of Budapest for some reason, you don’t really need to think about this cinema. Due to its location and visitors, it is very hard to find movies with English audio or subtitles here.
Cinema City Duna Plaza
You can find a sixth Cinema City cinema in Duna Plaza. This is located along the blue metro line in Budapest (just like the cinema in WestEnd), just further away from the city center. This is more used by locals, and the shopping mall isn’t that interesting either, so our guess is that you will probably find more interesting movies and more screenings with English audio in the previously mentioned cinemas.
Other cinemas in Budapest
There are several other cinemas in Budapest as well, and some of them are both good and interesting.
Etele Cinema
This is a cinema located in the shopping mall Etele Plaza. This mall opened in October 2021, meaning that the cinema is very new. They have special rooms for children’s movies with special lighting and decorations, and they also have a Premium cinema option available. There you can eat freshly baked pizza, eat soups, cakes, and desserts, get a cup of coffee, and later bring drinks and popcorn/nachos in unlimited amounts as you go to watch the movie. The price for a normal cinema ticket is approximately 2400 HUF, while a Premium ticket costs approximately 8000 HUF.
MiMozink
There is one MiMozink cinema in Budapest and it is located in Lurdy Haz. This isn’t a very central location, but if you live in the ninth district of Budapest, this might be a nice place to go.
- MiMozink website.
The cinema tickets are a little bit cheaper in MiMozink than in Etele Cinema and in Cinema City, but there isn’t a big difference.
SugarMozi
Would you like to combine shopping in a nice mall, some IKEA shopping, bowling, and then finish it with a cinema experience? Travel to Örz Vezér square in Budapest (end station on the red metro line). There you can find the Arkad mall, a big IKEA store, and then SugarBowling and SugarCinema. This cinema is mostly used by locals, meaning that it is hard to find movies in English here.
Budapest Film
Would you rather visit a traditional Hungarian cinema, one that isn’t located in a shopping mall? There are several such cinemas in Budapest located in the city center of Budapest. The largest one is Corvin Cinema, and it is located just next to the Corvin Shopping Center by the Corvin Negyed metro stop (blue metro). Near Ferenciek Tere, making it the most central cinema in Budapest, you can find Puskin Art Cinema, and in addition, you have Művész and Toldi Cinemas. If you want to support the local cinemas, you should visit one of these. In these cinemas you will also find movies that are from other countries, and not only blockbusters from Hollywood.
Cinema Mom
MomPark is a shopping mall at a nice location on the Buda side. As a tourist, you will not really see this mall or visit it, but it is still a nice area. For a long time, this was the number one place in Budapest for those who wanted to watch a movie in English. But, then the owners changed and now it has become really Hungarian, and they do not even have a website available in English. There is a bowling yard next to the cinema.
Above, you can see an example of the cinema program for Cinema Mom. You can see the movie Avatar. If they do not write anything special, it is dubbed into Hungarian. But, you can also see that they emphasize that they show it in the original language with Hungarian subtitles as well. This is marked with an F next to the time (which stands for Felirat/subtitles).
Tickets prices and other information
In most Budapest cinemas, an adult ticket costs about 2400 HUF. The prices might vary slightly, but that is the average cost for an adult cinema ticket in Budapest.
Here are some links that can help you out if you want to go see and watch a movie in a Budapest cinema:
- Cinema City (English)
- Corvin Cinema (Hungarian)
- MiMozink (Hungarian – but, can choose English)
- Sugar Cinema (Hungarian)
- CinemaMom (Hungarian)
