The Palace Games were first organised in 1985 to commemorate the meeting of the kings of Hungary, Poland and Bohemia at Visegrád in 1335. The 41st games ran on 10–12 July 2026, and the 42nd are confirmed for 9–11 July 2027; the festival always takes the second weekend of July. More than 1,000 participants take part, including re-enactment and equestrian groups from Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Germany, Czechia and Serbia.
Events are spread across the excavated Royal Palace, the Royal Wine Court, the Park Stage, the Solomon Tower and the jousting field on the Danube bank. The headline shows are the mounted tournaments, with choreographed jousts, battle scenes and demonstrations of medieval cavalry techniques, alongside falconry displays, court dances and music. A royal procession opens the games, torchlit parades wind through the town in the evenings, and a fair of food and craft stalls runs for almost a kilometre along Fő utca. Children’s shows and workshops run on the Park Stage.
The games are ticketed, with day passes and separate seats for the tournaments sold online through the organisers’ site and jegy.hu; prices vary by day and programme. Visegrád is about 45 km north of Budapest: the easiest routes are the bus from Budapest’s Újpest-Városkapu station, the train to Nagymaros-Visegrád followed by the ferry across the Danube, or a boat from Budapest in summer. Accommodation in the town is limited, so many visitors stay in Szentendre or Budapest.
