Christmas Markets in Europe: 2026 Dates and Which Ones to Visit

You'll lean on your phone between markets for maps, train times and each market's hours, which change around Christmas. A HelloRoam Europe eSIM covers every country in this guide on one plan, so the same eSIM keeps working when your train crosses a border.

Eleven of the 12 markets in this guide have posted 2026 dates

This calendar covers 12 markets in 11 cities across 8 countries. Every date and time comes from the market's organizer or the city's tourism board, and hours are local time.

Brussels and Zagreb have posted their season dates but not their daily hours, and Brussels says more details arrive in November. Tivoli's Christmas page gives no hours, so check the calendar on its opening-hours page before you go.

Your travel dates decide which markets you can see

Rankings disagree on the best market, so start from your calendar instead. These picks use three tests: when you can travel, how easily the cities link by train, and how late the stalls stay open.

• Early November: of the cities with 2026 dates, only Vienna has markets open before November 13. Schönbrunn Palace and Stephansplatz both start on November 6.
• A first trip of about a week: Vienna and Prague. ÖBB, Austria's national railway, runs a direct Railjet from Vienna to Prague every two hours, and both cities keep their main markets open until 10 PM.
• Smaller cities and villages: Salzburg, or Colmar and the Alsace villages around it, where some markets open only on weekends.
• Between Christmas and New Year's: Prague, Salzburg, Tallinn, Zagreb, Brussels, Tivoli and Vienna's Schönbrunn market all stay open after December 26, and Colmar runs to December 29.
• Nuremberg, or Cologne's cathedral market: go before Christmas. Nuremberg's market closes at 2 PM on December 24, and the cathedral market ends on December 23.

Vienna runs more than a dozen markets at once

The Wiener Christkindlmarkt fills Rathausplatz, the square in front of City Hall, from November 13 to December 26, 2026. It opens daily from 10 AM to 10 PM. The Eistraum skating rink beside it stays open until January 6, 2027, except on December 31. Trams 1, 71 and D stop at Rathausplatz/Burgtheater, and the U2 subway stops at Rathaus.

The Vienna Tourist Board lists more than a dozen other markets for 2026. Four are worth knowing for different reasons:

• Schönbrunn Palace, November 6 to January 6: an ice rink, curling, a carousel and a Ferris wheel for kids. From Christmas Day on, it opens 10 AM to 7 PM.
• Freyung, November 14 to December 23: the Old Viennese Christmas Market, on a square where the Tourist Board says a Christmas market was held as early as 1772.
• Spittelberg, November 13 to December 23: craft stalls in the narrow lanes of the Biedermeier quarter. On weekdays it opens at 2 PM, so plan an evening visit.
• Riesenradplatz in the Prater, November 20 to January 6: a winter market with live music, rides for kids and food stalls.

If Vienna and Salzburg are your only stops, a plan for Austria alone covers both cities.

Airport trains into Vienna run differently until late 2027

Plan your arrival with care. The Tourist Board's airport notice says a central S-Bahn section between Wien Praterstern and Wien Hauptbahnhof is closed from September 7, 2026, until the end of October 2027. During the work, trains don't stop at Wien Mitte. The City Airport Train runs as a bus to Wien Mitte instead: the ride takes 21 minutes, with up to five departures an hour. ÖBB Railjet and Intercity trains also run nonstop from the airport to Wien Hauptbahnhof, the main station, in about 15 minutes, twice an hour.

Salzburg's cathedral-square market stays open until New Year's Day

Salzburg's Christkindlmarkt fills Domplatz and Residenzplatz, the squares beside the cathedral, with around 100 stands from November 19, 2026, to January 1, 2027. Tourism Salzburg traces it to a market on Cathedral Square in the late 15th century. The market in its current form has run since 1974.

Two dates stand out on the 2026 program: the traditional Krampus run on December 5 and the Perchten run on December 21. The stalls close at 3 PM on Christmas Eve, and the square hosts a New Year's Eve market on December 31.

Prague runs two big squares on one schedule

Prague's two main markets, on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square, share one organizer, Taiko. Taiko lists both as open November 28, 2026, to January 6, 2027, from 10 AM to 10 PM daily. Prague City Tourism calls the Old Town Square market one of the largest and most visited holiday events in the Czech Republic.

Stalls lean toward Czech-made goods: glass and straw ornaments, ceramic and wooden nativity scenes, lace tablecloths and cookie molds. Take metro line A to Staroměstská for Old Town Square or to Můstek for Wenceslas Square. If Prague is your only stop, you can skip the regional plan and pick from data plans for the Czech Republic.

Alsace takes some planning, and Strasbourg's dates aren't out yet

Strasbourg's official Christmas site lists eight market areas. They run from the Christkindelsmärik on Place Broglie to the stalls around the cathedral and the Grand Sapin, the city's big tree on Place Kléber. Its 2026 dates still read "to be announced", so hold off on plans built around a set market day. Last year's markets ran November 26 to December 24, 2025.

Colmar is easier to plan. Its tourism office lists six markets open November 23 to December 29, 2026. Hours run 11 AM to 7 PM Monday to Thursday and 10 AM to 8 PM Friday to Sunday. The villages around it keep their own calendars, and several aren't open every day:

From November 27 to December 20, 2026, Christmas Shuttle buses run from Colmar's train station to Kaysersberg, Riquewihr, Ribeauvillé, Eguisheim, Turckheim, Munster and Neuf-Brisach. Only the Eguisheim line runs Monday to Thursday. The other lines run Friday to Sunday, and the Neuf-Brisach line runs only on December 12 and 13. A full-price day ticket covers every line. Shuttle tickets are sold only online. Sales open Thursday, November 12, at noon Central European Time (6 AM Eastern). After that, more tickets go on sale 3 days before each travel day.

The same site posts an attendance forecast calendar, built on 2024 visitor numbers, that rates each day from light to very high. Use it to find a quieter weekday.

Nuremberg's market and Cologne's cathedral market close by Christmas Eve

Germany has enough markets to fill a trip of its own, so this guide covers only two of them:

• Nuremberg: the Christkindlesmarkt runs November 27 to December 24, 2026, from 10 AM to 9 PM. It opens with a ceremony at 5:30 PM on November 27 and closes at 2 PM on Christmas Eve.
• Cologne: the market on Roncalliplatz, in front of the cathedral, runs November 16 to December 23 with more than 140 stalls. It shuts for one day, Sunday, November 22.

From Austria, ÖBB runs Nightjet sleeper trains to Cologne, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover, with departures from cities including Vienna and Salzburg. A route that stays inside Germany needs only a data plan for Germany.

Brussels, Copenhagen, Tallinn and Zagreb run into January

Brussels' Winter Wonders runs November 27, 2026, to January 3, 2027. The organizer lists 238 chalets across squares including Place de la Monnaie, Place Sainte-Catherine and Place de la Bourse.

Christmas in Tivoli takes over Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen's amusement park, from November 13 to January 3, and every ride stays open for the season. Tivoli sells entrance tickets, so budget for admission on top of what you spend at the stalls.

Tallinn's market fills Town Hall Square in the medieval Old Town from November 20, 2026, to January 6, 2027. Stalls open daily from 10 AM to 8 PM, and hot drinks are served until 10 PM, or 11 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.

Zagreb closes last of the markets in this guide. The Zagreb Tourist Board's Advent site lists November 28, 2026, to January 7, 2027, one week into the new year.

Size and age claims come from the organizers themselves

Organizers measure size in different ways, and several claim deep roots. Here is what each one publishes:

Strasbourg's 1570 is the earliest exact year on the list, and Brussels gives the highest stall count for a single event. Neither tells you which market you'll enjoy most, so pick by the trip you want.

Sort out data and tickets before you fly

If you were going to use your US phone plan abroad, compare eSIM and roaming costs first. Several bookings on a market trip happen on your phone: Colmar's shuttle seats, Tivoli admission, and ÖBB's Sparschiene saver fares, which its app sells up to six months ahead. A few steps at home keep all of that working once you land:

• Find out whether your phone takes an eSIM before you buy, and ask your US carrier to unlock the phone if it's locked.
• Before you pick a plan size, work out how much data you'll use.
• Install the eSIM at home on Wi-Fi, using our iPhone and Android install instructions. The plan's days start only when it first connects to a network at your destination, so installing a few days early doesn't use any.
• When you land, switch the line on, turn on data roaming for that line and choose it for mobile data. HelloRoam support is open 24/7, so a settings problem late on a market night still gets an answer.
• Keep the phone warm. Apple's battery guidance says iPhone works best between 32°F and 95°F, and very cold weather can shorten battery life until the phone warms up again. Carry it in an inside pocket between stalls.