COPY LINK

For members

DISCOVER FRANCE

17 of the best Christmas markets in France

From huge and world-famous to small, cute and traditional - France has plenty of options for enjoying a Christmas market.

Published: 24 November 2023 17:12 CET
Updated: 30 November 2023 14:49 CET

17 of the best Christmas markets in France

Christmas in Colmar. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP)

Nancy

An early start to the seasonal celebrations in Nancy, as the city’s St Nicholas’ festival kicks off on November 24th, and runs to January 7th.

St Nicolas’ Day – December 6th – is a huge deal in Germany, and because of historic links to Germany many areas of north east France celebrate it as well.

In Nancy, they combine St Nicolas and Christmas into a 40-day festive celebration.

Strasbourg

Strasbourg has hosted Christmas markets since around 1570, and has got pretty good at them down the centuries – it’s the reason the city brands itself as the ‘Christmas capital of France’. This year’s celebrations kick off on November 24th and run to December 24th – and the tree is already in place in Place Kleber.

As usual, hundreds of chalets host local artisans selling Christmas gift ideas on the Grande Île, while the streets will be festooned – yes, festooned – with illuminations celebrating a very Alsace Christmas.

Colmar

Strasbourg likes to boast that it is France’s ‘Christmas capital’, but smaller Colmar, less than an hour down the A35, has a Christmas market that’s just as perfectly formed – and features every single one of those Alsace-Lorraine festive traditions. It runs from November 23rd to December 29th this year.

Eguisheim

Sticking in the Christmas-loving north-east of France, medieval Eguisheim – with its colourful Alsatian houses around the castle is a must-visit. Its authentic and traditional Christmas market is an opportunity to discover the local gastronomic products and enjoy a glass of vin chaud with the villagers. The Christmas market, along with its Veilleur de Nuit on the town ramparts, begins on November 24th and runs – with a three-day break between December 24th and 26th – until December 30th.

Mulhouse

Mulhouse’s Christmas market takes place in a sea of Christmas fabric. Almost 10km of specially created festive material decorate the frontages, monuments and pedestrian streets in the city’s historical centre for the celebrations, which kick off on November 24th and run to December 27th.

Nice

Proving the north-east of France does not have a monopoly on Christmas market-themed traditions, Nice’s annual festivities run from December 7th to January 7th in and around Place Masséna and bring a little southern flavour, as well as a ferris wheel.

It’s not a Christmas speciality, but try the local socca bread while you’re there.

Mouans-Sartoux

In fact, the south of France has a Christmas tradition all its own, celebrated in Mouans-Sartoux – the Foire aux Santons opened on November 3rd and runs until December 24th. As well as the traditional mini-figures, used to populate seasonal creches, there’s a Christmas market, light festival and other events to celebrate.

Lyon

Another one on a slightly different note, Lyon’s Fête des Lumières is a magnificent event which has made the reputation of the city.

Between Thursday, December 7th and Sunday, December 10th, visitors from across the world are invited to enjoy enchanting walks in an ever-changing sea of light and sound – including large projections over some of the city’s most beautiful monuments. You’ll find incredible exhibitions displayed over the facades of major landmarks and scattered around the city as you walk (perhaps with a vin chaud in hand).

There’s also a more traditional Christmas market with dozens of illuminated chalets offering local products and arts and crafts. Lyon is known as the foodie capital of France, so enjoy superior food at the market.

Montbéliard

Montbéliard, on France’s border with Switzerland, calls its market “the Lights of Christmas”. During the advent period, from November 25th to December 24th, its picturesque city centre is illuminated with thousands of lights.

The market gathers 160 craftsmen who sell authentic and traditional products. The good fairy of the Pays de Montbéliard Aunt Airie keeps local traditions going by telling her story to the children.

Brive

From December 8th until January 6th, Brive, in the Corrèze, is in full festive mode. There’s a toboggan run, and a winter funfair, and a gourmet market, and musical entertainment in the city centre. And Santa pops by, too.

Lille

Lille starts celebrating Christmas on November 22nd, and doesn’t stop until December 31st.

Around 900,000 visitors a year head to the charming Christmas market in Flanders’ capital, which features local artisans and traders, as well as those from regions of France, Poland, Canada, and Germany.

Paris

The capital hosts several Christmas markets. Opposite the Eiffel Tower, for example, 60 wooden chalets spring up, where – from mid-December – artisans sell craft products and culinary wonders. This year, there’s also ice rink, board sports and various activities.

There are also markets at Notre-Dame, Montmartre, gare de l’Est, Auteuil, Trocadéro au Champs de Mars, the Tuileries, the Hôtel de Ville, and Saint-Germain des Prés.

Ile-de-France

On the other side of the periph’ the biggest Christmas Market in the greater Paris region is at La Defense, where some 180 chalets will be occupied by artisans and traders selling gifts for the season. It opened on November 16th and runs until December 27th.

Bordeaux

From November 24th to December 27th, the Allées de Tourny is transformed into a Quebec-style winter wonderland, with the usual array of stalls selling festive gifts, and treats while the unmistakable aroma of a foodie Christmas fills the air.

Bayonne

Bayonne invites visitors to rediscover the magic of Christmas from December 1st to January 7th – the day before children head back to school – from the Ferris wheel on Place de la Liberté, Santa Claus village in Les Halles, Christmas market on Place du Réduit, lantern evenings, parades in town… to delight young and old alike.

Vannes

Brittany does Christmas as only it can – with Santa arriving in the town on a two-masted sinagot (boat) for a tour of the town on a carriage to meet young and old, accompanied by korrigans of Breton folklore. The celebrations start on December 1st and last until January 7th, 2024.

Montauban

There’s an add-on to the Christmas celebrations in the Tarn-et-Garonne capital of Montauban. Visitors can – from December 16th through to February 11th – enjoy a festival des lanterns in the Jardins des plantes.

Small towns

Most towns in France have some sort of Christmas market, even if it’s just for a couple of days, and these are often more relaxed affairs than the big-city events.

Local craftsmen and shops take stalls and you can also try local food specialties – such as Toulouse sausage and aligot in the south, hot spiced cider in Brittany or the ’12 desserts of Christmas’ in Provence.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Travel deals to take advantage of as prices drop ahead of Paris Olympics

After some soaring prices earlier in the year, costs for both accommodation and travel are now back to roughly seasonal norms.

In certain cases, train and plane tickets have fallen well below their summer averages.

As for lodging, the French press has reported that occupancy rates at Paris hotels are “gradually falling” as the event approaches, with many hotels and Airbnbs available.

What’s going on?

Around 15 million people are expected to visit Paris between late July and early September – considerably more than the 6.2 to 6.4 million visitors who came between July and August in 2023 or the roughly 10 million summer visitors Paris saw in pre-pandemic days.

As such, many predicted that prices would skyrocket ahead of the Olympic Games, but there are a few other factors to consider aside from large volumes of tourists.

A survey in March 2024 found that almost half of Parisians planned on leaving the city during the Games period. On top of that, over half (64 percent) of Olympics tickets were sold to French people, many of whom are planning to stay with friends and relatives in the capital and thus have not booked accommodation.

As of late May, almost half of the French ticket holders had not reserved any hotels or Airbnbs during the Olympic period.

Many property owners in the capital also listed their homes on Airbnb with the hopes of earning some extra money during the Games. However, this led to an over-saturation of the market.

French daily Le Monde reported that there were more than 145,000 properties on offer on Airbnb during the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, compared with 65,000 in normal times.

When it comes to hotels, UK online newspaper The Independent reported that hotel occupancy rates are expected to be “between 60 and 70 percent during the Games.”

The deals to look out for

Eurostar

According to reporting by The Independent, Eurostar tickets during the Olympics have declined by 11 percent in the last two weeks alone. The UK online newspaper found that the average Eurostar ticket price had dropped by €30 (or £26).

At the time of writing, The Local found that the cheapest one-way tickets on the day of the Opening Ceremony (July 26th) were €126, dropped to €112 the following day.

For a round trip ticket from July 26th to August 2nd, the lowest price was €169 – around average for the summer holiday period.

Flights

If you are flying from the UK, as of mid-June, Google Flights placed London-Paris flights in the ‘Typical’ price range. The cheapest round-trip tickets were with budget airline Vueling, at €139 for one week (July 26th to August 2nd).

However, flights from other cities in the UK were significantly cheaper, particularly if you are willing to change the dates slightly.

For example, five-day (July 29th to August 2nd) round-trip tickets from Bristol from cost €99 with Easyjet, and one-week (July 27 to August 3) round-trip tickets with Ryanair from Belfast cost €59.

For those flying from the US, prices had dropped significantly for a 10-day trip (July 26th to August 5th) from NYC to Paris, when compared with December 2023.

At the time, tickets were in Google Flights’ seasonal norms with average prices around €821. However, as of mid-June the same round-trip tickets were available for as low as €523.

The flight planning tool also ranked tickets during the Olympic period between LA and Paris as ‘low’ compared to seasonal norms.

Hotels and accommodation

As mentioned above, there were still many hotel options still available in and around Paris as of mid-June.

At the time of writing, Airbnb offered over 1,000 options for the first week of the Games, with options around €150 for an entire apartment for two people in central Paris, and possibilities closer to €230 for a family of four.

When it comes to hotels, many were still above seasonal norms, but prices were lower than initial estimates.

For example, in December the Paris deputy mayor in charge of tourism Frédéric Hocquard had estimated that the average price of one night in a hotel in Paris would be €699 during the Olympic Games, compared with €169 in July 2023, an increase of 314 percent.

At the time of writing websites such as Booking.com and Kayak still had several rooms available for around €200 per night.

Other costs

Those visiting during the Games will also pay a higher price for public transport.

Between July 20th and September 8th, the price of a single ticket – which can be used on the Metro, buses, RER trains or trams – will go up to €4, in contrast to the €2.10 it costs currently, and purchasing a 10 tickets at once (a carnet) will increase from €16.90 to €32 during the Games.

This does not affect residents with a travel pass or monthly card, or people who buy tickets in advance.

Are Olympics tickets still available?

Yes. While many have already secured tickets, there are still opportunities on the official resale platform – full details HERE. Games organisers are also releasing a limited number of new tickets every Thursday on the official ticket platform here.

Meanwhile there are ticket available for the Paralympics via the ticketing website here.

The Olympics/Paralympics website is the only official channel for ticket sales, so you should be extremely cautious about any tickets offered for sale on any other websites or forums.

But should I visit Paris during the Olympics?

If you were hoping for a last-minute Olympics trip then this is very much still on the table.

But if you want to enjoy a more typical tourist visit, you should expect larger than normal crowds and you should be prepared to reserve early. You should also keep in mind that there will be security zones across the city, as many of the matches and events are taking place in central Paris.

Eiffel tower – Be aware that the Tower is close to a Games venue. It will remain open during the Olympics period apart from the day of the Opening Ceremony (July 26th). However between July 18th and July 25th the Tower is in a security zone so you will require a QR code to enter – more info here. From July 27th onwards no QR code will be required for visitors – the Tower will be in a red zone, which has restrictions on vehicles, but which pedestrians can enter freely.

Louvre – During the Olympic Games, the Louvre will remain open to visitors, except for July 25th and 26th. However, all visitors from July 1st to September 8th must book a ticket ahead of time. As for the Tuileries Garden, it will be closed on August 28th and throughout the Games it will be in a security zone, meaning vehicular traffic will be severely limited – although pedestrians can still access it.

You can find more info about Olympics related disruption/changes for the Louvre HERE.

Versailles – The château, as well as the gardens will remain open to the public throughout the Games, with normal visiting hours.

The rest of France

Just because you’re taking a train or a plane to Paris, it doesn’t mean that you have to stay there – the capital is connected to all of France’s major cities – Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and more – by high-speed TGV trains, as well as many smaller cities and towns.

Of the millions of people who visit France each year, 80 percent of them visit sites within just 20 percent of the country; largely Paris, the Riviera and certain well-known Alpine towns.

However, there are many other options – here is our guide to off-the-beaten-track places.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!