Christmas fairs are as essential elements of the Christmas season as the tree itself. Our favorite from this year's range is the one at the Basilica: here the festive ambience is ensured by almost 200 programs, 80 handicraft vendors and the international food and drink selection of the street food section in Zrínyi Street.

Visitors can admire the 3D light paintings on the monumental façade of the Basilica every night, and the children can enjoy the huge ice rink around the 9-meter tall Christmas tree. The 200 m² ice rink around the magically decorated Christmas tree is the center of the fair for the greatest joy of the children who can use it free of charge or even participate in the skating courses at the weekends. In the “Hunger for Love” bakery set up by the Hungarian Inter-Church Aid, volunteers and visitors will prepare honey-cake hearts together with special surprise guests supporting the charity to thank its donors for their generosity.

At the fabulous wooden houses in front of the Basilica we can choose between countless carefully pre-selected, great quality handcrafted gifts and the design items of talented young artists. We can also taste the holiday season’s most popular dishes along with this year’s novelties in Zrínyi Street, which turned into a real food truck show. The advent delicacies and the flavors of international cuisine occupied the whole street, where the coolest Hungarian food trucks and street food vendors are present such as Zing Burger, KolBice, BudDog, Paneer, MexKitchen, Balkán Grill, Befaló Bill, DiVino and Korhely.

And if all this were not enough, we have one more reason to visit: Saint Stephen’s Basilica got into the CNN’s Top 10 list of the most photographed places in the world last year.

Photos: facebook.com/adventiunnepabazilikanal