Bristol at Christmas
The main Bristol Christmas market is small for a city this size, about 40 stalls along one shopping street in Broadmead, and in my opinion it’s not the best part of a Bristol Christmas.
The better stuff is scattered round the centre. The council’s St Nick’s Christmas Market on Corn Street has Bristol’s own independents, the Made in Bristol gift fairs at Bristol Beacon bring in over 200 local makers on three weekend days, and down on the harbour there’s a new ice rink and a vintage funfair.
What Broadmead does have is a very good bar. The Jäger Barn has igloos, ski gondolas and hot-air-balloon tables you can book, with live music from Thursday to Sunday, and drinks are cheaper than at Winchester or Exeter.
When Is the Bristol Christmas Market 2026?
The Bristol Christmas market on Broadmead runs every day from Friday 6 November to Wednesday 23 December 2026, and entry is free.
The stalls open 10:00 to 19:00, while the food stalls and bars keep going until 22:00, and there’s artificial snow at the centre of the market at 18:00 every evening. It closes early on its last day, the 23rd, so don’t leave it until then.
St Nick’s Christmas Market on Corn Street and Wine Street opens later, on 20 November, and it’s the one still trading on Christmas Eve, until 15:00 last year.
The Made in Bristol gift fairs are on just three days, Saturday 28 November, Sunday 6 December and Saturday 12 December, 10:00 to 16:00 at Bristol Beacon, and if you’re coming for presents, those are the dates I’d pick.
Broadmead, St Nick’s and Bristol On Ice all shut on Christmas Day, and one weekend to avoid from London is 28 and 29 November, when Paddington is closed.
| Date | What’s on |
|---|---|
| Fri 6 Nov | Bristol Christmas Market opens on Broadmead, with snow at 18:00 every evening |
| Thu 12 Nov | Live music in the Jäger Bar begins, Thursday to Sunday evenings until 20 December |
| Fri 20 Nov | St Nick’s Christmas Market opens on Corn Street and Wine Street |
| Fri 27 Nov | Vintage Winter Wonderland opens on Millennium Square |
| Sat 28 Nov | Bristol On Ice opens at the Harbourside Amphitheatre, and the first Made in Bristol Gift Fair at Bristol Beacon, 10:00 to 16:00 |
| Fri 4 to Sun 6 Dec | St Mary Redcliffe Treefest, with a Christmas market in the church |
| Sun 6 Dec | Made in Bristol Gift Fair at Bristol Beacon, 10:00 to 16:00 |
| Sat 12 Dec | Made in Bristol Gift Fair at Bristol Beacon, 10:00 to 16:00 |
| Wed 23 Dec | Last day on Broadmead |
| Thu 24 Dec | St Nick’s Christmas Market’s last day (09:30 to 15:00 last year) |
| Fri 25 Dec | Markets and Bristol On Ice closed |
| Sun 27 Dec | Last day of Bristol On Ice |
| Sun 3 Jan | Last day of the Vintage Winter Wonderland |
| From Mon 4 Jan | Closed until next season |
The Bristol Christmas Markets
Broadmead, St Nick’s and Bristol Beacon are all within about 12 minutes’ walk of each other, and the harbour sites are about 20 minutes from Broadmead, so you can do the lot on foot in an afternoon and evening.
Broadmead
The Broadmead market sits on the pedestrian shopping street between Merchant Street and Cabot Circus, so there’s no old square or cathedral behind it, just chain stores.
The stalls are a mixed bag, and some of them sell cheap bits at a steep markup, so I wouldn’t do my present shopping here.
What’s worth a look is the 15-metre big wheel and the Christmas tree ride, both open 10:00 to 21:00, and the snow at 18:00, which the kids will love.
The Jäger Barn is the real reason to stop. You can book an igloo, an enclosed ski gondola or a hot-air-balloon table for 90 minutes, at £10 a table from Monday to Thursday or £20 from Friday to Sunday, plus a compulsory package, and on a cold night with a group it’s a lot of fun.
St Nick’s Christmas Market
St Nick’s is the council’s own market, about 10 chalets and up to 25 umbrella pitches along Corn Street and Wine Street in the old part of the centre, round St Nicholas Market.
It’s small, but it’s where Bristol’s own independents sell, so it’s where I’d do my shopping, and it’s the last one standing on Christmas Eve.
It’s a daytime stop, though, because last year it closed at 17:00 on weekdays, 18:00 on Saturdays and 16:00 on Sundays.
Right next to it, the Glass Arcade in St Nicholas Market is the best lunch in the centre, with Pieminister, Tibetan dumplings at Momo Bar, Korean fried chicken at XO and Portuguese custard tarts, though the indoor market is closed on Sundays.
Made in Bristol at Bristol Beacon
The Made in Bristol gift fairs are the big one for presents, over 200 local makers under one roof at Bristol Beacon, and you’ll come out with presents nobody else will be giving.
They only happen on 28 November and 6 and 12 December, 10:00 to 16:00, so if you can, build your visit round one of those days.
On the Harbour
Down at the harbour, Bristol On Ice is new this year, a rink at the Harbourside Amphitheatre open 12:00 to 22:00 from 28 November to 27 December, closed only on 30 November and Christmas Day. Skating is £14.95 for adults, £12.95 for children or £49.95 for a family of four, under-fives can’t go on the ice, and there are two tipi bars with live music at weekends.
A few minutes away on Millennium Square, the Vintage Winter Wonderland has old fairground rides and street food, with pay-as-you-go rides and no entry fee.
It’s a bit run down in places, but it’s fine for small kids and photos, and the German, Belgian and vegan food stalls are handy.
What to Eat and Drink at the Bristol Christmas Market
The bar prices are the one thing at Broadmead that beat the West Country’s cathedral markets. These were last year’s prices at Broadmead.
- Mulled cider was £6, and in the West Country it’s the one I’d order over mulled wine.
- Mulled wine and toffee apple cider were £6 as well, and a pint of Pilsner Urquell in the bar £7.
- Hot chocolate was £4.50, or £6.50 with Baileys.
- Bratwurst or Krakauer from the Jäger Grill was £8.
The food is dull, and I wouldn’t bother with the pork rolls, so I’d eat at St Nicholas Market or along the harbour.
Things to Do in Bristol at Christmas
Bristol’s Christmas is spread round the city, and some of the best bits are nowhere near a market.
- The SS Great Britain has a light trail, Sailing The Stars, from 25 November to 10 January, with Winter Late evenings on 25 November and 5, 16 and 23 December.
- Luminate at Ashton Court is a 60 to 90-minute light trail through the estate, from 27 November to 28 December, closed on Christmas Day.
- Bristol Zoo Project’s Wild Lights runs from 27 November to 23 December, which makes three light trails, so pick one, and for me it’s the SS Great Britain, because it’s the only one round a ship.
- Panto means Sleeping Beauty at the Hippodrome from 5 December, with Craig Revel Horwood as Carabosse, or Cinderella at the Bristol Old Vic from 27 November.
- Bristol Cathedral has carols on 11 and 12 December, and there’s Beer and Carols on College Green on 17 December.
- For free, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and M Shed are both worth an hour, and Christmas Steps is full of independent shops.
Weather in Bristol in December
Pack a waterproof rather than a sledge. Bristol is mild and damp in December, about 8°C by day and 3°C at night, with rain on around 13 days of the month.
Our snow odds study gives a weekend visit just a 1% chance of snow.
Getting to Bristol, and Adding Bath
From London Paddington the train takes 1 hour 29 to 1 hour 36 minutes, every half hour, with the last one back to London at 22:50.
Temple Meads is about 18 minutes’ walk from Broadmead, or a short bus ride to the bus station right by the market.
Parking in the centre is hard work at weekends in December, so I’d come by train or bus.
If you do drive, the Cabot Circus car park is right by Broadmead, £4 for two hours or £3 for the evening after 17:00, and there’s a Changing Places toilet inside Cabot Circus.
Older cars may also have to pay Bristol’s Clean Air Zone charge, £9 a day, so check your car before you go.
The Park & Ride sites at Portway, Long Ashton and Brislington are free to park, but the last buses back on Sundays leave around 18:15 to 18:30.
Bath is only 11 to 17 minutes away by train, about four an hour, and its market is far bigger and more festive, so I’d base myself in Bristol for a night out and spend a day in Bath.
Bath’s market runs from 26 November to 13 December, so that’s the window if you want both.
Cardiff is 49 to 55 minutes away, and its market runs from 12 November to 23 December, which makes it the other easy add-on.
Is the Bristol Christmas Market Worth It?
For the Broadmead market on its own, no, I wouldn’t travel for it. But for a Bristol Christmas weekend that takes in St Nick’s, a Made in Bristol fair and an evening in the Jäger Barn, with a day in Bath next door, it’s a good one.
Come on one of the three gift-fair days if you can, shop at St Nick’s and Bristol Beacon, and save Broadmead for the bar after dark.
