German Christmas Markets 2026: Dates for All 14 Cities

27 November to 24 December 2026, open a final half day, 10:00 to 14:00. The market fills the Hauptmarkt, with linked areas toward Rathausplatz. Nuremberg's Christkind is an elected role, not a hired mascot: for 2025 to 2026 it is Nora Falk, chosen by public vote and a jury. She opens the market 27 November at 17:30 from the Frauenkirche balcony, reciting the Prolog tied to the market's 1948 postwar revival. The stalls crowd the Frauenkirche's ground floor, but the church is written into the ceremony itself, not just hidden behind stands.

25 November to 24 December 2026, open until 14:00 on 24 December only. The 592nd Striezelmarkt covers the wide Altmarkt, backed by the Kulturpalast. Dresden calls this Germany's oldest Christmas market, citing a 1434 charter from Prince-Elector Friedrich II. Bautzen disputes the title, tracing its own Wenzelsmarkt to a market right from 1382: the two cities use different definitions of when a market becomes a Christmas market. The Stollenfest falls 5 December, when a giant Stollen is cut before the Kulturpalast. Its 2026 weight was not yet published.

20 November to 23 December 2026, fully closed on Totensonntag, 22 November, a rule most of the other thirteen markets skip. Stalls spread across Marktplatz, Grüner Markt, Kirchplatz and the Lichthof am Rathaus. Each year the market opens with the Reiterle riding into the Marktplatz on horseback. The city describes the Reiterle as an old, dark figure once tied to the souls of the dead, later softened into a Christmas messenger. Calling it strictly pre-Christian, as some pages do, goes further than the city's history confirms. The stalls wrap around the Rathaus and the Ratstrinkstube.

Provisional: 16 November to 23 December 2026. The operator has not finalised this date, and closes for Totensonntag, 22 November, either way. This is the Weihnachtsmarkt am Kölner Dom, also called Markt der Herzen, on Roncalliplatz, against the cathedral and about a minute from the Hauptbahnhof. Cologne runs several more markets under separate names and dates, at Alter Markt, Neumarkt, Rudolfplatz and elsewhere; mixing one of those with the cathedral market's date is the most common error found here. The stalls crowd the Petrusbrunnen at the cathedral's base, though its towers stay visible.

23 November to 22 December 2026. The market spreads beyond Römerberg into Mainkai, Paulsplatz, Friedrich-Stoltze-Platz, Hauptwache and Roßmarkt. The city's page documents a market episode from 1498, tied to a wedding that reportedly brought a thousand horses into town. The often repeated claim of a market dating to 1393 was not confirmed on the current official page and should be treated as unverified. Not everything at Römerberg is postwar rebuilding: the Alte Nikolaikirche survived 1944 largely intact, and the market extends its hours to 21:00, a real gain, not decoration.

20 November to 24 December 2026, moved earlier than usual, and closed on Totensonntag, 22 November, though that date falls inside the range. Stalls circle Marienplatz, before the Neues Rathaus and the Mariensäule; the Rathaus balcony is used in the market's programme, not just crowded by stands. The Kripperlmarkt, a nativity-scene section by Alter Peter, is called by the city "probably the largest of its kind in the country," a qualified claim, not a record. The market's roots trace to a 1310 mention and the 1624 to 1803 Nikolaidult, not an unbroken line to today.

25 November to 23 December 2026. As of 30 August 2026 the operator had not published full 2026 hours; do not assume last year's times apply. Around 250 vendors spread across Schillerplatz, Marktplatz, Schlossplatz and Karlsplatz rather than one enclosure. The market's first documented mention dates to 1692; calling it "one of the oldest in Europe," as the operator does, reaches beyond that fact. In 2025 the official site recorded about 3.5 million visitors; in 2023 the third Advent weekend was the busiest. Around Schillerplatz the stalls put the Schillerdenkmal and Stiftskirche in the foreground.

20 November to 22 December 2026, the shortest run of the fourteen main markets in this article. The 46th Trierer Weihnachtsmarkt fills the medieval Hauptmarkt and the Domfreihof, in front of the Trier Dom. It closes entirely on Totensonntag, 22 November, a full-day shutdown only a few of these fourteen markets apply. On the Hauptmarkt the Marktkreuz and Petrusbrunnen disappear into the stalls at close range; at the Domfreihof the market uses the Dom deliberately as its backdrop rather than hiding it.

20 November to 23 December 2026. Stalls run through the Markt, the Katschhof and the square by the Aachener Dom, using the Rathaus and cathedral as a monumental corridor, not a backdrop. On Totensonntag, 22 November, Aachen does not close for the day like Rothenburg, Trier and Munich: it opens late instead, 18:00 to 21:00 only. Look for the Printenmann figure, tied to Aachener Printen, the local spiced biscuit worked into the market's iconography. Stalls make the Rathaus ground floor and the Karlsbrunnen harder to see, though both stay visible above.

23 November to 23 December 2026 for the main market around the Rathaus, though the season is really six separate markets, roughly 250 stands combined. Two, at Lambertikirchplatz and Überwasserkirchplatz, close a day early on 22 December; the other four, including the Rathaus market, run to 23 December. Saying "Münster's Christmas market closes 23 December" is true for only part of the system. The markets follow the Altstadt's walking route, past the Historisches Rathaus and Prinzipalmarkt, St. Lamberti, Überwasserkirche and the Kiepenkerl area, so the market overlaps the old-town walk rather than competing.