Form detailed and up-to-date information about hours and events at the various market halls, visit:
http://www.piaconline.hu/new/index.php?pageLang=angol
or (with less current information but a broader range of several of the better and more central markets:
http://welovebudapest.com/shops.and.services.1/the.best.marketplaces.in.budapest
But I’m happy to give you my take on the ones I frequent as well.
The Nagycsarnok or Great/Central Markethall, is the major tourist mecca among market halls in the city,m but also a first rate functioning market for produce, meats, pickles, fish, game, and charcuterie. Not the absolute top of the line, ad with somewhat higher prices than the more local markets, its mezzanine is filled withy souvenir booths and stand-up dining options. There’s a small farmers’ market on weekends, but don’t miss the Szimpla market on Sundays for artisanal foods and organic produce…
The Lehel ter Market Hall is the most modern, with a somewhat gaudy Asian feel to its exterior but perhaps the best array of foods of any of them in the city; surely the best farmers’ market in Pest, and the upstairs langos stand is among the best places to shoot up cholesterol in the city (the other competitors being the Hunyadi tér piac, and the markethall behind the Mammut Mall — the Fény utcai piac ).
Others that are worth a detour in various ways include the one a Rákóczi tér (great artisanal sour cream the thickness of creme fraiche), the one at Hold utca behind the American Embassy (now renovated and called the Belvárosi Markethall), and the one at Bosnyák tér (in the depths of working class/poor Budapest, a neighborhood no tourist ever wanders into and therefore in some ways worth a detour … but there’s no English spoke anywhere nearby and it’s not a neighborhood to get lost in especially at night … still a friend says it has the best langos anywhere in town)
