Best Christmas Markets in Europe 2026

Away from the big cities, smaller towns set their Christmas Markets in gorges, caves, castles and lakeside quays. These ten have published their 2026 dates:

• Christmas Market in the Ravenna Gorge, Breitnau (Germany). Wooden stalls in a wooded gorge of the Black Forest, beneath the illuminated Höllental Railway viaduct. Thursday to Sunday, 26 November to 20 December 2026, with paid timed tickets, which the organiser reports as sold out for 2026.
• Burg Satzvey Christmas Market, Mechernich (Germany). A moated castle first documented in 1396, with a nativity play in Latin and Middle High German in the castle park. The four Advent weekends, 28 November to 20 December 2026, with a paid entry ticket.
• Gemeentegrot Christmas Market, Valkenburg aan de Geul (Netherlands). Stalls of Christmas gifts in the corridors of a marl cave at the foot of the Cauberg. 13 November to 30 December 2026 (closed on 25 December), with timed entry tickets.
• Óbidos Vila Natal, Óbidos (Portugal). A family Christmas village inside the castle walls of a walled medieval town, run as a paid event. 27 November 2026 to 3 January 2027.
• Le Barcarès Christmas Village, Le Barcarès (France). A Christmas village on the Mediterranean coast with a natural-ice rink, an ice-sculpture museum, chalets and fairground rides. 20 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, with a paid entry ticket.
• Montreux Noël, Montreux (Switzerland). More than 150 chalets along the quays of Lake Geneva and a Flying Santa over the town every evening. 20 November to 24 December 2026, free to walk around.
• Gengenbach Advent Market, Gengenbach (Germany). Around 60 stalls on the market square, in front of a town hall whose 24 windows form an Advent calendar, with a new window lit every evening at 18:00. 27 November to 23 December 2026.
• Monschau Christmas Market, Monschau (Germany). Decorated huts across a half-timbered town in the Rur valley, selling Monschau mustard and Printen (spiced biscuits). The four Advent weekends, 27 November to 20 December 2026.
• Kaysersberg Christmas Market, Kaysersberg (France). A market of selected French artists and craftspeople in the courtyard of the Arsenal, in a half-timbered Alsace wine town. Friday to Sunday on the four Advent weekends, 27 November to 20 December 2026.
• Merano Christmas Market, Merano (Italy). Stalls of local handicrafts in the pedestrian zone of a spa town, with daily concerts. 26 November 2026 to 6 January 2027 (closed on 25 December).

The first market in this guide opens on 31 October 2026 in London, and most cities open between 6 and 27 November. The table gives, for each city, the first opening and the last closing date among its markets with confirmed 2026 dates:

Each market keeps its own dates inside these ranges, and the date guide of each city lists them one by one, as in the Vienna Christmas Market dates or the dates of the Cologne Christmas Markets.

Most of the markets in this guide need no entry ticket, because they stand on open squares, streets and parks. The exceptions are festival sites and markets in private grounds. In London, Hyde Park Winter Wonderland asks for an entry ticket for a booked date and time. In Edinburgh, Hopetoun House, the Edinburgh Winter Makers Market and Jupiter Artland require one. In Berlin, WeihnachtsZauber Gendarmenmarkt needs a ticket outside its weekday window of 11:00 to 14:00, the market on the RAW grounds charges on every day except Monday, and the Advent market at the Domäne Dahlem comes with a ticket that includes the museum. In Salzburg, the Advent market at Hellbrunn Palace charges entry until 19:00. In Copenhagen, Christmas in Tivoli is inside Tivoli Gardens, which needs an entry ticket.

Smaller markets in special settings are more often paid: the Ravenna Gorge, Burg Satzvey, the Gemeentegrot cave in Valkenburg, Óbidos Vila Natal and the Le Barcarès Christmas Village all sell entry tickets.

At the free markets the extras are paid separately, such as the ice rinks in Cologne, Brussels and Bruges, the Big Wheel in Edinburgh and the rides at Schönbrunn Palace and the Prater in Vienna.

No single market holds the title of oldest, because each claim rests on a different kind of record. Vienna's December market is one of the earliest forerunners: the Austrian tourist board dates it to 1296, when Albert I granted the city the privilege. In Germany two cities claim the oldest Christmas Market. Bautzen's Wenzelsmarkt goes back to 1384 and is, in its organiser's words, the oldest named in a chronicle, while the City of Dresden calls its Striezelmarkt, first held in 1434, the oldest in Germany. In France, the Christkindelsmärik in Strasbourg dates from 1570, and the organiser describes it as one of the oldest in Europe and long the only one in France.

Size is measured in visitors, and the figures come from the organisers themselves. Stuttgart's organiser counted around 3.5 million visitors in 2025, the City of Dortmund reported about 2.5 million in 2024 and 260 stalls in 2025, and Strasbourg's history page speaks of nearly 2 million visitors a year in 2010 to 2014. The Christmas Market on Rathausplatz in Vienna calls itself one of Europe's biggest.

European Christmas Markets sell Christmas decorations, crafts and gifts alongside hot drinks and regional food. In Strasbourg the Christkindelsmärik sells decorations for the Christmas tree and the Christmas Eve table, the Rathausplatz market in Vienna sells tree decorations, handicrafts and confectionery, and Prague's central squares sell Czech crafts. Craft and makers' markets add ceramics, glass, wood and jewellery, as in Colmar's Koïfhus.

Mulled wine is the common drink, under local names: Glühwein in Germany and Austria, vin chaud in Brussels, Alsace mulled wine in Strasbourg and Colmar, svařené víno in Prague and grzaniec galicyjski in Krakow. Vienna adds Punsch (hot punch), Cologne Eierpunsch (egg-liqueur punch) and Prague medovina (mead).

The food changes with the country. German markets serve Bratwurst, Reibekuchen (potato fritters) and Flammlachs (flame-grilled salmon). Austria has Maroni (roasted chestnuts) and Vanillekipferl (vanilla crescent biscuits) in Vienna and the Haunsberger, a filled bread roll, in Salzburg. Prague grills klobása and bakes trdelník, Krakow grills oscypek cheese, and Brussels fries croustillons and serves Liège waffles. British markets mix bratwurst and Dutch pancakes with local dishes such as the Yorkshire pudding wrap in Manchester.