Great Market Hall

The Great Market Hall, opened in 1897, is Budapest's grandest and largest covered market, a vast three-level hall of iron and glass with a colourful tiled roof. Its ground floor brims with strings of paprika, salami and sausage, fresh produce and Hungarian delicacies, while the upper gallery holds craft stalls and counters serving langos and other street food.

Background

The building is also known as the Central Market Hall or Market Hall I. The idea came from Károly Kamermayer, the first mayor of Budapest, and it was his largest investment. Kamermayer retired in 1896 and was still present when the hall opened on February 15, 1897. Samu Pecz designed and built it, on Fővám square at the end of Váci utca. It covers 10,000 square meters under a steel structure. Calls for market halls to improve the city's food supply go back to the 1860s. A thorough renovation started in 1991, the hall reopened in 1997, and in 1999 it received the FIABCI Prix d'Excellence.

Source: Wikipedia, "Great Market Hall"

The main sights

• The paprika and salami - the strings of paprika and Hungarian sausages.
• The produce hall - the fresh fruit, vegetables and delicacies.
• The upper-gallery food stalls - the langos and street-food counters.
• The iron-and-glass building - the grand tiled-roof market hall itself.

When to go

Year-round; mornings are freshest, and it is closed Sundays. It is liveliest at lunch with the upper food stalls busy.

What to expect

It has become touristy, so the upper gallery in particular is geared to visitors and pricier. It is a place to browse, buy paprika and graze rather than bargain-shop. Mornings are calmer and fresher than the midday crush.

Nearby

The Liberty Bridge, the Gellert Baths and the Vaci shopping street are nearby.

Key facts