This highlight of the annual celebration featured a spectacular drone show, lasers and light painting along with the fireworks display - which was the largest in Europe, according to Zoltán Kovács, Hungarian State Secretary for International Communications and Relations.



If you didn't get to see it in person, as you can see in this full video of the evening action, the half-hour show was a real masterpiece of choreography, with a final total of 45,530 pyrotechnic effects synchronised and set off from 500 different launch points along the Danube.



For those there it was a pretty unforgettable experience, which captivated locals, expats and visitors from all over the world - according to officials, hundreds of thousands around Hungary celebrated the founding of the state on August 20th.

St. Stephen’s Day celebrations in Budapest drew record crowds, with nearly 798,000 people gathering along the Danube embankments and surrounding areas according to mobile cell data released by MTÜ.

The figure marks a 12.5% increase from last year, according to the Hungarian Tourism Agency.

Of those attending with mobile phones, 83% were Hungarian residents, up 14% year-on-year, with the majority arriving from districts around Budapest including Érd, Budakeszi and Szigetszentmiklós.

The number of international visitors carrying mobile devices reached almost 139,000, a 7% increase compared with 2024, with Germany, Romania, Poland, Italy and Slovakia serving as the largest source markets.

The evening fireworks show drew more than 450,000 spectators — 125,000 more than last year. Around 365,000 of them were Hungarian, representing a 41% rise, while 89,000 were foreign visitors from around 60 countries, up 27% from 2024.

The largest groups came from Romania, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Italy.

One-day visitors from outside Budapest also rose, with 395,000 arriving for the celebrations, a 13% increase from last year, the MTI news agency reported..

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