Freiburg Christmas Market

Freiburg spreads one market over eight sites around the old town from 19 November to 23 December 2026, with more than 140 stalls. In 2024 the organiser capped Glühwein at €4.50 a cup. Go on a weekday and climb the Münster tower before it shuts at 16:00.

OpensNovember 19, 2026

ClosesDecember 23, 2026

Entry CostFree

Opening hours10:00–20:30 Monday to Saturday, 11:30–19:30 Sunday. Opening day 19 November from 14:00, closed Sunday 22 November, last day 23 December 10:00–19:30.

Holiday hours · Dec 24: Closed, the market ends on 23 December at 19:30 · Dec 25: Closed

Last updated : October 28, 2026

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❄ Opens November 19, 2026 · runs to December 23, 2026 ❄

Airport, rail and getting around

Getting to Freiburg

How to reach Freiburg and get between the markets once you are there.

Nearest airportEuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL): Freiburger Airportbus from the French side of the terminal, hourly, about 60 min to the bus station next to Freiburg Hbf, then 10 to 15 minutes on foot to Rathausplatz

Getting aroundEvery site sits within about five minutes' walk of Rathausplatz, so you do the whole market on foot. Loop from Colombipark through Turmstraße to Rathausplatz, then Franziskanerstraße, Kartoffelmarkt and Unterlinden, and allow two to three hours with food stops. From the Hauptbahnhof it's 10 to 15 minutes on foot, or tram 1 to Bertoldsbrunnen.

From the airport

EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL) → Freiburg ZOB

about 60 min

The Freiburger Airportbus runs hourly from the French side of the terminal to the bus station next to Freiburg Hbf. Book ahead on the operator's site or app, then walk 10 to 15 minutes to Rathausplatz.

Tickets & times →

Private transfer to your hotel door

Late flight, small children or three bags each: a fixed price car to the door beats the train with luggage. The price is per car, not per person.

Check transfer prices

By train

Basel Badischer Bahnhof → Freiburg Hbf

42 min

The RE7 regional train takes 42 minutes and the slower RB27 about an hour. From Basel SBB, add a short S6 or tram 2 hop to Badischer Bahnhof.

Strasbourg → Freiburg Hbf

1 h 22 min

A French regional train to Offenburg or Appenweier, then the RE7 south to Freiburg. Trains run about hourly, so it works as a day trip in either direction.

Frankfurt (Main) Hbf → Freiburg Hbf

about 2 h 15 min

Freiburg sits on the Frankfurt to Basel main line via Karlsruhe. Stuttgart is about 2 hours and Cologne about 3 hours 15 minutes.

Freiburg Hbf → Colmar

1 h 51 min

There's no direct train, so the fastest run changes at Müllheim and Mulhouse. Leave Freiburg by 10:00 and check the last train back before you settle into Colmar's markets.

By car

Getting around

Freiburg Hbf → Rathausplatz

10–15 minFree

Walk east into the old town, or take tram 1 towards Lassbergstraße to Bertoldsbrunnen, a few minutes' walk from the stalls.

Freiburg ZOB → Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market

A booked shuttle from ZOB platform 7 bundles a guaranteed return seat with entry. Otherwise take the S-Bahn up the Höllental to Himmelreich or Hinterzarten and use the free shuttle, with a timed ticket bought online in advance.

Tickets & times →

Sleep close to the stalls

Where to stay in Freiburg

Book early. December does not do last-minute

Budget

Motel One Freiburg

On Friedrichring at the north edge of the old town, about 7 minutes on foot to Rathausplatz and 2 to the Unterlinden and Rotteckring stalls. Small, modern rooms and an easy walk from the station.

Check December rates →

Mid-range

Hotel Oberkirch

On Münsterplatz 22, facing the cathedral, about 5 minutes on foot to Rathausplatz. The Münstermarkt sets up outside the door every weekday and Saturday morning.

Check December rates →

Splurge

Colombi Hotel

At Rotteckring 16, right beside the Colombipark stalls and about 5 minutes on foot to Rathausplatz. A quiet, comfortable base to drop your bags between market rounds.

Check December rates →

Compare every hotel in Freiburg for your dates →Freiburg full for your dates? Strasbourg is About 1 hour 20 minutes by train, changing at Offenburg, for Strasbourg's Christkindelsmärik and usually still has rooms →

Why the Freiburg Christmas Market?

I spent three days in Freiburg during the market last year, and what would bring me back is the city more than the Christmas market stalls.

The Christmas market in Freiburg itself is mid-sized. It has more than 140 stalls spread over 8 sites, all in the old town, and none of them is more than about five minutes’ walk from Rathausplatz, so you can see the whole thing in one single afternoon.

Which actually leaves the rest of your days free, and in my opinion, Freiburg is very good at filling them. You have the Black Forest that starts at the edge of town, Basel is under an hour away by train, and Strasbourg and Colmar are both under two hours (as well as rest of the Alsace region).

That’s why I’d call it the best base on the Upper Rhine for a few days of markets.

And also a few days here won’t wreck your budget. For example, in 2024 the one cup of Glühwein went up to €4.50 a cup, the first rise since 2017.

On Marienplatz in Munich you pay €5 to €7.50, plus a €5 deposit on the mug.

Freiburg Christmas Market 2026 Dates and Hours

The Freiburg Christmas market runs from Thursday 19 November to Wednesday 23 December 2026, and entry is free.

It’s open 10:00 to 20:30 Monday to Saturday, and Sundays run shorter, from 11:30 to 19:30.

Opening day starts at 14:00. Last year the official opening came at 19:00 on Rathausplatz with the ceremonial cutting of the Lebkuchen, and the 2026 time hasn’t been announced yet.

Two days catch people out. The first is Sunday 22 November, when the market is closed for Totensonntag, the day Germans remember their dead.

The second is the finish. It closes for good at 19:30 on 23 December, so there’s no market in Freiburg on Christmas Eve.

Date	What’s on
Thu 19 Nov	Market opens at 14:00
Sun 22 Nov	Closed for Totensonntag
Sun 29 Nov, 6, 13 and 20 Dec	Advent Sundays, with extra stalls on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße from 11:30
From Tue 1 Dec	Advent meditation with music in St Martin’s Church, daily at 17:30
Sun 6 Dec	St Nicholas arrives on Rathausplatz at 17:00
Wed 23 Dec	Last day, 10:00 to 19:30
From Thu 24 Dec	Closed until next season

Next season is already fixed, from 18 November to 23 December 2027, if you like to plan a year out.

When you book, for this year or next, make sure it’s Freiburg im Breisgau, in the far south-west of Germany next to France and Switzerland. Freiberg in Saxony has a Christmas market of its own and an almost identical name, and the two get mixed up.

Before you go

Freiburg Christmas Market Essentials

Sort before you leave

Get an eSIM. Your maps, tickets and the walk back to the hotel all live on your phone. Unless your plan roams free where you’re going (EU deals often stop at the Swiss border), an eSIM is the cheap fix. Get one on Airalo or Yesim if you burn through data, since it hops between networks on its own.

Insure the trip. Icy cobbles and Glühwein are a wobbly mix, and seeing a doctor abroad gets pricey fast without cover. Buy it when you book, so a cancelled trip is covered too.

Know your flight rights. Flights get messy in December. If yours lands three or more hours late for a reason the airline could control, EU rules can owe you up to €600 a person, and AirHelp only takes a fee if they win. Check your flight

Check the dates twice. Plenty of markets wrap up a day or two before Christmas, and some close early on Christmas Eve, so check before you book anything you can’t cancel. See every market’s dates

Drop the bags. Morning arrivals beat a 15:00 check-in by hours, and nobody browses stalls towing a suitcase. Radical Storage has drop-offs in most market cities. Book a bag drop

Put in your bag

Dress for standing still. You’ll spend hours on cold cobbles with a mug in your hand, so warm waterproof boots and thick socks do more for you than a fancy coat.

Carry coins. Lots of markets add a deposit for the mug to your first drink, and you get it back in coins when you return it. Small stalls like cash too, and outside the eurozone that means local money.

Pack a power bank. Cold drains phone batteries fast, and your phone is the map, the tickets and the camera all day.

Bring a universal adapter. Most of Europe uses round two-pin plugs, but the UK and Switzerland each have their own sockets, so one adapter that covers all three saves a late-night hunt.

Zip it up. Crowded squares are a pickpocket’s favourite shopping trip. Keep your phone and wallet in a zipped front pocket or a cross-body bag.

That’s the short list. The full Christmas market packing list covers the rest, from thermals to hand warmers, and sizes it to how cold your market gets after dark.

Open the packing list

How to Beat the Crowds

Once you’ve booked, go on a weekday, ideally before 16:00, when the squares still have room.

Weekends are honestly a different market. On the Advent Saturdays in 2024, about 57,000 people came each day, which is a lot of elbows for a market this compact. Over the whole 2025 season a record 1.54 million people came, and 1,639 tour coaches pulled in.

If a Saturday is all you’ve got, be there when the stalls open at 10:00 and leave before the early afternoon, if you can.

The Market, Square by Square

Rathausplatz is the right place to start on any day, and from there the eight sites link up into one easy loop.

Head through Franziskanerstraße to Kartoffelmarkt and Unterlinden, carry on to the stalls at Predigertor, then follow Rotteckring round to Colombipark and come back in along Turmstraße.

Allow two to three hours with food stops.

Rathausplatz

This is the centre of it all, framed by the Old and New Town Halls and St Martin’s Church, with the carousel and the tourist information. From here, follow the stalls out of the square along the side of the church.

Franziskanerstraße

Franziskanerstraße has been the market’s craft lane since 1991, and it runs along St Martin’s Church to the arcades of Kaiser-Joseph-Straße. Expect jewellery, ceramics, honey, sheepskin slippers and Christmas decorations, plus a UNICEF stall that has been here for decades.

Shop the whole market with a careful eye, though. Some of what I saw on the stalls was clearly mass-produced, and if you spot the same thing on three different stalls, it wasn’t made by the person selling it. The handmade pieces are here. They just aren’t everything.

Kaiser-Joseph-Straße on Advent Sundays

On the four Advent Sundays you get more to choose from, because the lane runs on into the main street.

With the shops shut, extra craft and food stalls set up under the western arcades of Kaiser-Joseph-Straße from 11:30, and local social organisations put out their own stalls in front of the town halls. That makes Sunday the day the market is at full size, even with the shorter hours.

Kartoffelmarkt and Unterlinden

Back on the loop, Kartoffelmarkt is the family corner. Its Christmas bakery runs supervised cookie baking for kids and grown-ups, €4 a go, from 14:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 11:00 to 18:00 at weekends.

You sign up at the hut itself, and from there Unterlinden, a minute further north, leads through to the Predigertor stalls.

Colombipark and Rotteckring

From Predigertor, the stalls along Rotteckring bring you to the newest part of the market, added in 2021.

It fills a lit-up park around the Colombischlössle, a small villa that houses the archaeology museum, with the photo point out front.

Most of what’s here is food and drink, so this is where I’d stop and eat at Colombipark.

What to Eat and Drink

Colombipark had 11 food stalls of its own last year, but the dishes worth eating turn up all over the market. Most of it is southern German Christmas market food, and a few dishes are proper Freiburg.

Lange Rote is Freiburg’s own long red sausage, and it’s the first thing I’d order. Its real home is the Münstermarkt by the cathedral, so have one there for lunch and another at the Christmas market to compare. Nobody’s judging.
Käse-Bengel is a baguette filled with melted cheese, and it’s exactly as good an idea as it sounds.
Dampfnudeln are big steamed yeast dumplings, served with vanilla sauce or plum compote. One is basically dinner.
Flammkuchen is the thin, crisp flatbread with crème fraîche, onion and bacon that Baden shares with Alsace across the Rhine.
Schupfnudeln are finger-shaped potato noodles, pan-fried until they’re golden at the edges.
Roasted chestnuts double as a hand warmer, which you’ll appreciate by the second hour.
Glühwein here is made with Baden wine, red or white, and the alcohol-free Kinderpunsch on Rathausplatz is there for kids and for whoever’s driving.

Make sure you bring cash for the deposit and everything else. The organiser points you to the cash machines near every part of the market rather than promising you can use a card.

Leave the Car Behind

Come by train if you can. Driving into Freiburg annoyed me on my trip, mostly because of the parking restrictions.

The old town is a pedestrian zone, and in 2025 the market sites also sat behind security barriers, so the car won’t get you close to the stalls. From the main station it’s 10 to 15 minutes’ walk to Rathausplatz, or tram 1 to Bertoldsbrunnen in the old town.

If you’re driving anyway, leave the car at Park and Ride, like the one at Paduaallee on the edge of town, and take the tram in.

If you’re flying in, you can skip the car altogether. The airport bus from EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg runs hourly and takes about an hour to Freiburg’s bus station, right next to the main station.

Freiburg Beyond the Stalls

Freiburg itself is the part of the trip I loved most, and it’s why I’d give it more than one night. Without a car, it’s an easy city to do on foot.

You should start the day at the top and climb the Münster tower before the market gets busy. It’s 209 steps and €5, open 11:00 to 16:00 Monday to Saturday and 13:00 to 17:00 on Sundays. The top gallery is closed in winter, but the platform still looks out over the old town, the Rhine plain and the Black Forest.

On a weekday morning the Münstermarkt will be on at the foot of the tower. It’s Freiburg’s year-round farmers’ market, open 07:30 to 13:30 Monday to Friday and until 14:00 on Saturday, with produce, flowers, Christmas greenery and those Lange Rote stands.

The Christmas market doesn’t use Münsterplatz at all, so you won’t find Christmas stalls around the cathedral.

On the walk from the cathedral to Rathausplatz, watch your feet. The Bächle, the little water channels that run along the old-town streets, are easy to step in after a Glühwein or two, and local legend says if you do, you’ll marry someone from Freiburg.

Once it’s dark, take your Glühwein up the Schlossberg. It’s the hill right behind the old town, and the view over the lit-up rooftops is worth the climb.

For a real mountain, take tram 2 to Günterstal and bus 21 to the Schauinsland cable car. It runs every day of the year from 09:00 to 17:00 and climbs 3.6 kilometres to 1,219 metres in about 15 minutes, and that’s the Black Forest without needing a car.

Day Trips by Train

The rest of the region is a train ride away, and this is where Freiburg pays off as a base, with four markets close enough for a day out.

Basel is 42 minutes away on the RE7 to Basel Badischer Bahnhof. Its market runs from 26 November to 23 December 2026 on Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz, daily from 11:00 to 20:30, so it’s an easy afternoon trip.
Strasbourg takes about 1 hour 22 minutes, with a change at Offenburg or Appenweier and trains roughly every hour. It’s the big one, with more than 300 stalls, and its Christkindelsmärik has been going since 1570.
Colmar is 1 hour 51 minutes with changes at Müllheim and Mulhouse. Leave Freiburg by 10:00 and check the last train back before you settle in. It’s beautiful, and it’s also the most crowded market around, with 1.6 million visitors squeezing into a town of 68,000.
Ravenna Gorge is the snowy one, about forty huts under a railway viaduct in the Black Forest. Freiburg gets snow on only 6% of market days, which is what our snow odds study found over 21 winters, while the gorge gets it on 60%. If you can get in, book the shuttle from Freiburg’s bus station, platform 7, which guarantees your seat back.

If You’re There Over Christmas

Freiburg’s market is done by the evening of the 23rd, so for Christmas itself, the trains are your plan.

Strasbourg is your best bet for Christmas Eve. Its chalets stay open until 18:00 on the 24th, and it’s closer than Colmar by train. Colmar opens from 11:00 to 17:00 on the 24th and then carries on until 29 December, which makes it the one for the days after Christmas. In Basel, the Wienachtsdorf Christmas village on Theaterplatz keeps going until 3 January 2027.

Is the Freiburg Christmas Market Worth It?

Yes, as a base for two or three nights. Strasbourg is bigger, but Freiburg is easier to do, it’s good value, and it puts a handful of other markets within a train ride.

So book your room early, especially for Advent weekends. Do the market midweek before 16:00 and stay as the lights come on, give the mornings to the city, and save one day for Basel or Strasbourg.

Tours

Make an evening of it

A few worth paying for. The markets themselves are free.

Kulinarische Adventsführung (Culinary Advent tour)

about 2 hours · from €38

A walk through the old town with gingerbread, biscuits and a hot chocolate or Glühwein, run by a city tourism partner from the Tourist Information on Rathausplatz. It's in German, so it suits German speakers and food lovers.

Check availability ↗

Höhepunkte der Altstadt (Highlights of the Old Town), public tour

about 1.5 hours · from €11

The Bächle, the Münster inside and out, the Historisches Kaufhaus and the old lanes, starting at the Tourist Information. English departures cost €15 and run on set days, so check the monthly schedule.

Check availability ↗

Freiburg old town self-guided audio tour

about 2 hours · from €10

A self-guided English audio walk from the Old Town Hall past the Martinstor, the Münster, the Schwabentor and the Fischerau. Good for a daytime loop before the market gets busy.

Check availability ↗

Combine your trip