Have you ever watched a movie or TV series and suddenly thought, Wait… is that Budapest? Living here, it happens more often than you might expect.
Budapest has become a favorite filming location for international productions, and over the years the city has played everything from Paris and Moscow to Berlin and other European capitals. Sometimes Budapest is recognizable immediately. Other times, you could watch an entire scene without realizing that the Hungarian capital is hiding in plain sight.
I’ve actually had a few unexpected encounters with the movie world myself.
One of the strangest happened when I was walking near my home and suddenly spotted Eva-Jane Willis, one of the actresses from FBI: International. The series has filmed extensively in Budapest, so seeing one of its stars casually walking around my own neighborhood felt slightly surreal.
I recognized her, of course. But for a few seconds I honestly couldn’t quite believe it was actually her. You know that strange moment when someone looks exactly like the person you’ve seen on your screen, but your brain is still saying, Surely not. Here? In my neighborhood?
And that is one of the things I love about living in Budapest. The city I know so well can suddenly become a movie set, and the people I normally see on screen can turn up on the street in front of me.
So, how did Budapest become such a popular filming location, and which movies and TV series have actually been filmed here? If you’re planning your own Budapest adventure, you can also check out my Budapest Travel Guide for more ideas on what to see and do in the city.
But for now, let’s take a little tour through Budapest’s cinematic side.
Why Do So Many Movies Get Filmed in Budapest?
There is a reason Budapest keeps appearing in international movies and TV series.
For filmmakers, the city is something of a chameleon. Within a relatively small area, you can find grand boulevards, historic cafés, Art Nouveau buildings, Neo-Renaissance palaces, old industrial spaces, riverside streets and modern cityscapes. With the right camera angle, Budapest can convincingly become almost anywhere in Europe. And sometimes you don’t even need to change that much.
The city has doubled for places such as Paris, Moscow and Berlin, while productions have also used Budapest simply because it looks like itself. Hungary’s established film industry, experienced crews, modern studios and financial incentives have made the country particularly attractive to international productions. The current Hungarian film incentive provides a 30% rebate on eligible production spending, and the scheme is secured through 2030.
But for someone living here, the most fun part isn’t the economics of filmmaking. It’s walking down a completely ordinary Budapest street and suddenly realizing that you’ve seen it on screen before. Sometimes the transformation is obvious. Sometimes you need to know the city really well to spot it.
And sometimes, apparently, you just need to be walking around your own neighborhood when one of the actors happens to be there too.
Budapest Has Played Many Different Cities
One of the most fascinating things about watching films shot in Budapest is trying to figure out which city you’re actually looking at.
Budapest has a rather impressive acting range. Its grand boulevards can pass for Paris, its historic buildings can become Moscow, its railway stations can suddenly belong to another country, and its elegant cafés and palaces can transport a story to almost any European capital.
And sometimes the transformation is surprisingly subtle.
Take Andrássy Avenue, for example. With its grand 19th-century buildings and elegant façades, it has appeared in productions including Munich, Bel Ami, Houdini and Genius: Picasso. The Chain Bridge has also had plenty of screen time, appearing in films such as I Spy, In Secret, 12 Monkeys and Gemini Man.
Then there are locations that filmmakers seem to particularly love for their ability to become something completely different.
Fisherman’s Bastion has doubled as Paris in several productions, while Keleti Railway Station has appeared in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Inferno. Vajdahunyad Castle, meanwhile, has featured in everything from The Borgias to The Witcher.
And this is where living in Budapest gives you a bit of an unfair advantage. Once you know the city well, you start spotting it everywhere. That building looks familiar. That street corner definitely looks like Budapest. Wait a minute… isn’t that the same bridge I crossed yesterday? Suddenly, watching a movie becomes a little bit of a game.
The Big Hollywood Productions
Budapest’s relationship with Hollywood is hardly a recent affair. Over the years, the city has welcomed some pretty impressive names, from Angelina Jolie and Tom Hanks to Matt Damon, Russell Crowe and Scarlett Johansson.
One of the films that really put Budapest on the international movie map was Munich (2005), Steven Spielberg’s historical thriller about the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics. Budapest doubled for several European locations in the film, including parts of Rome, Athens and Paris.
Then came Spy (2015), starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham, which made particularly good use of Budapest’s streets, bridges and grand architecture. The film is actually quite fun to watch if you know the city, because you can spend half the time following the plot and the other half trying to identify where everyone is running.
The Martian (2015) brought Matt Damon to Budapest too, although you might not immediately recognize the city while watching it. Some of the scenes representing the fictional NASA headquarters were filmed at the Hungarian National Museum.
And then there is Inferno (2016), starring Tom Hanks, which gave Budapest plenty of screen time while following Robert Langdon’s adventures across Europe.
By this point, Budapest was no longer a secret among international filmmakers.
The city had become one of those places where a production could arrive with a very ambitious idea, find exactly the architecture and atmosphere it needed, and make Budapest disappear into the story.
Or, if you’re watching from Budapest, make you sit up and say: “Hang on… I know that place.”
When the Movie Set Is Your Own City
One of the reasons I find Budapest’s connection with the film industry so fascinating is that it doesn’t feel particularly separate from everyday life.
In many cities, a movie set can feel like a completely different world. Streets are closed, enormous trucks arrive, security guards stand around and suddenly an ordinary corner becomes inaccessible.
In Budapest, you can sometimes turn a corner and find yourself right in the middle of it.
I’ve seen this happen more than once over the years. Streets being closed, familiar buildings suddenly surrounded by production equipment, and actors appearing in places where you would normally just go about your day.
And then there are the moments when you don’t even realize you’re standing next to someone famous.
That happened to me at the now-closed La Bodeguita del Medio in Budapest, too. I had some rather memorable encounters there while international productions were taking place in the city, including one involving Russell Crowe and another involving an actress from Hercules.
But I’ll come back to those stories later, because first, let’s take a look at some of the movies that have turned Budapest into their own cinematic playground.
My Very Own Hollywood Encounters
Living in Budapest has given me a few rather unexpected encounters with the film world over the years.
One of them happened at La Bodeguita del Medio, the Cuban restaurant and bar that used to be one of my favorite places in Budapest. Sadly, it has since closed, but I still have some very memorable stories from those evenings.
One night, I literally bumped into Russell Crowe there. And by “bumped into”, I mean that I ran into him by the toilets. Not exactly the glamorous Hollywood encounter you might imagine, but probably a much more memorable one.
Then there was another evening when I met Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, who was in Budapest while Hercules was being filmed here.
She was incredibly friendly and we started chatting. She asked me where she could go out in Budapest, and somehow we ended up spending the rest of the evening together, talking, laughing and dancing.
The funny part? I didn’t actually realize who she was. It was only later that I found out that the friendly woman I’d been chatting and dancing with all evening was one of the actresses from Hercules.
I still find that story hilarious. And I think it says something about Budapest’s relationship with the film industry. The international stars who come here don’t necessarily exist in some completely separate Hollywood bubble.
They can be sitting in the same bar as you. They can be walking down the same street. And sometimes you can spend an entire evening talking and dancing with one of them without even realizing who you’re talking to. Which is probably one of the most unexpected souvenirs Budapest has ever given me.
And then there is another, rather different connection between my life and Budapest’s film world.
One of the films made here has a particularly special place in my heart because La Movida Cuba, the Cuban band my husband is part of, wrote and performed one of the songs featured in it, Una Noche de Bachata.
The film, One More Like, went on to win numerous awards, which makes the connection even more special for us.
It is also one of those little Budapest stories that probably wouldn’t mean much to someone who doesn’t live here. But for me, discovering that a song written and performed by people so close to me became part of an award-winning film made in Budapest is pretty amazing.
You can watch One More Like in English HERE.
When Budapest Becomes Somewhere Else
Perhaps one of the most entertaining examples is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The story takes us to Budapest in the 1970s, and the filmmakers actually shot several of those scenes here. Fisherman’s Bastion, Nyugati Railway Station and the Párisi Udvar all appear in the film, with the beautiful old arcade serving as the setting for one of its key scenes.
What makes the Párisi Udvar appearance particularly fascinating is that the film was shot there before the building’s huge restoration. If you’ve seen the Párisi Udvar as it looks today, you might have a hard time recognizing the faded, slightly mysterious passageway in the movie. The contrast is quite extraordinary.
And Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a perfect example of why Budapest works so well on screen. The filmmakers didn’t need to build an entire fictional city from scratch. They could simply find the right corner of the real one and let Budapest do the rest.
The same thing happened with Underworld, the 2003 vampire action movie starring Kate Beckinsale. The production used several Budapest locations, including Gozsdu Courtyard and the Budapest Metro.
Gozsdu Courtyard is actually one of those places that has been part of my own Budapest story for a very long time. I loved it even before the renovation, when it looked completely different and was nowhere near the buzzing entertainment quarter it is today. Back then, it felt much more atmospheric and a little mysterious, with its old courtyards and slightly worn-down buildings.
I remember it from a time when there were no rows of restaurants, bars and terraces filling the courtyards, and it certainly wasn’t one of the places everyone visiting Budapest had on their list. So seeing it later transformed into one of the city’s most popular entertainment areas was quite a change.
And knowing that Underworld had already discovered the atmosphere of the old Gozsdu long before that transformation makes me like the film connection even more.
I particularly like the Gozsdu Courtyard connection because it shows such a different side of Budapest from the grand landmarks we usually associate with the city.
And that’s really the fun of digging into Budapest’s movie history. Once you move beyond the obvious postcard locations, you start discovering that ordinary streets, courtyards, stations and interiors have been part of some surprisingly big stories.
And Who Knows Who I’ll Meet Next?
Living in Budapest means you never quite know what might happen around the next corner. Maybe you’ll recognize a building from a movie. Maybe you’ll walk past a film set on your way home. Or maybe you’ll suddenly realize that the person standing next to you is someone you’ve only ever seen on your screen.
I’ve already had my Russell Crowe moment. I’ve danced and chatted the night away with an actress from Hercules. And I’ve even spotted an FBI: International actress casually walking around my own neighborhood.
So, who knows?
Maybe one day I’ll bump into Wesley Snipes in Budapest too. And if that happens, I have only one request: Let’s salsa. It’s an old little dream of mine, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Until then, I’ll keep walking around my city, camera in hand, looking at Budapest the way I’ve always loved to: with a little curiosity, a little excitement, and still that childlike feeling that there might be something wonderful waiting around the next corner.
Because that’s the funny thing about living in Budapest. You can know a city for years and still have it surprise you.
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