Colmar's Christmas market in 2026: the six markets, the dates, and how to do it right

Overview

Colmar’s Christmas market is really six markets, all in the historic center and a short walk apart, and the town itself is the reason to come. The half-timbered houses and canals that make Colmar famous the rest of the year are lit and decorated for the season, and the markets sit in the squares between them, so walking from one to the next is half the visit.

The two largest are on Place des Dominicains, about sixty chalets at the foot of the Dominican church, and Place de l’Ancienne Douane, nearly fifty around the Schwendi fountain beside the canal. The other four each have a character of their own:

• the Koïfhus, the medieval customs house on Place de l’Ancienne Douane, holds an indoor market of local craftspeople, potters, glassmakers and jewelers among them, with the Decapolis hall upstairs;
• Place Jeanne d’Arc is the market of regional produce, laid out like a small Alsatian village;
• Petite Venise, Little Venice, has the market for children, with a nativity scene, a carousel and a letterbox for Father Christmas;
• the gourmet market on Rue de la Montagne Verte is nine cabins run by nine restaurateurs, beside the big wheel.

The organizers count nearly two hundred exhibitors across the six, most of them from Alsace.

When it runs

The six markets are open from 23 November to 29 December 2026, according to the official site:

• Monday to Thursday: 11:00 to 19:00
• Friday to Sunday: 10:00 to 20:00
• 24 December, Christmas Eve: 11:00 to 17:00
• 25 and 26 December: 10:00 to 20:00.

The gourmet market and the big wheel stay open longer, every day from 11:00 to 22:00, and run on to 3 January 2027, closing at 17:00 on New Year’s Eve. So does the program the organizers call Noël Féérique, on Place Rapp, which keeps the same dates and hours. From 30 December the six markets are closed, and those three are what is left.

Local tip: the six markets close at seven on weekdays, earlier than in many cities. Last season the town’s Christmas lights came on at 16:30 in December, so a weekday visit that starts in the late afternoon sees the markets and the lit streets at once.

What to eat and drink

The official site lists the season’s Alsatian specialties, and they are what the stalls sell. To drink there is vin chaud, red wine mulled with star anise, cinnamon, vanilla and orange peel, served in a reusable cup you pay a deposit on and get back when you return it. To eat in your hand there are bredele, the small Christmas biscuits baked in dozens of flavors; pain d’épices, the spiced honey gingerbread; the manala, also called mannele, a brioche shaped like a little man and eaten around Saint Nicholas’ day on 6 December; and kougelhopf, the tall ring cake with raisins soaked in kirsch.

For a sit-down meal, the gourmet market is the place: nine restaurateurs cook to eat on the spot or to take away, with cooking shows in the middle, and last season the menus ran from oysters to Alsatian dishes. Place Jeanne d’Arc sells regional produce, foie gras among it, to take home.

The city’s food pages cover bredele, kougelhopf and baeckeoffe, the Alsatian dish of marinated meats and potatoes baked in white wine.

Getting there

Colmar station is on the main line between Strasbourg and Basel, and the train is the easiest way in: regional TER trains from Strasbourg take half an hour to forty minutes. From the station the old town is about a fifteen to twenty minute walk, and the markets farthest in take a little longer.

The town center is closed to traffic during market hours, from 23 November to 29 December, so do not plan to drive in. If you come by car, the city runs a park-and-ride at the Parc des Expositions on 28 and 29 November and on 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20 December 2026: parking costs €5 a day and a free shuttle runs to the center every ten minutes, from 9:00 to 23:30 on Saturdays and 9:00 to 21:10 on Sundays.

On 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20 December, local public transport is free across the Colmar area.

Practicalities

Entry is free: the markets stand on public squares.

Come midweek if you can. The organizers run the park-and-ride and the free transport only on Saturdays and Sundays, which is when they expect the crowds.

Book a room early if you want to sleep in Colmar rather than visit from Strasbourg. In December the old town fills first; Colmar’s guide covers where to stay.

Carry some cash. The official site does not say whether every stall takes cards.