Craiova at Christmas
Craiova goes completely over the top at Christmas, and I mean that as a compliment. More than 2 million lights cover five squares in the centre, there are about 550 fir trees, a Christmas tree with a train running through it, and every evening Santa’s sleigh flies over Piața Mihai Viteazul.
It won European Best Destinations’ public vote for Best Christmas Market in Europe 2026, ahead of Zurich and Riga, and it’s been in the top two for three years running.
It’s run by City Hall as a big staged light park with a new theme every year, this year the Land of the Elves, rather than an old-town market with centuries behind it.
It’s brilliant if you want spectacle and the wrong trip if you want quiet tradition.
It’s also cheap for a British visitor, about €2.80 for a mulled wine last year, so a few nights here go a long way.
When Is the Craiova Christmas Market 2026?
The Craiova Christmas market runs every day from Friday 13 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, and entry is free. Last year it was extended by a week into January, so it’s worth checking nearer the time in case that happens again.
The stalls open 13:00 to 21:00 from Monday to Thursday and 10:00 to 22:00 from Friday to Sunday, though the attractions and shows can keep their own hours.
The flying sleigh show runs every evening at 18:30 in Piața Mihai Viteazul until 27 December, and it’s free, so make sure your trip falls before then.
On Fridays and Saturdays until 19 December there are concerts too, with local and national acts. Last year there was a second show at 19:30 on the 25th and 26th.
The market stays open over Christmas, on the 24th, 25th and 26th, so check the hours a few days before. On New Year’s Eve last year it reportedly ran from 14:00 to 01:00.
| Date | What’s on |
|---|---|
| Fri 13 Nov | Opening night, with fireworks at 18:00, and the flying sleigh show begins at 18:30 every evening |
| Fri 13 Nov to Sat 19 Dec | Concerts every Friday and Saturday |
| Sun 13 Dec | New non-stop InterCity from Bucharest starts, 2 hours 52 minutes |
| Thu 24 to Sat 26 Dec | Market open over Christmas |
| Sun 27 Dec | Last flying sleigh show |
| Thu 31 Dec | New Year’s Eve, hours not yet announced (reportedly 14:00 to 01:00 last year) |
| Sun 3 Jan | Last day of the market |
| From Mon 4 Jan | Closed until next season |
The Christmas Market in Craiova
The market spreads across five themed zones in the centre, Mihai Viteazul, Frații Buzești, Shakespeare, Casa Băniei and Doljana, all within about 600 metres, and walking from one lit street into the next is what makes Craiova different from markets that fill a single square.
Piața Mihai Viteazul is the heart of it, by the Mihai Viteazul statue, with Piața William Shakespeare about five minutes away and Piața Ierusalim and the old Casa Băniei a few minutes south. The children’s rides, Țara lui Moș Crăciun, are by the National Theatre.
This year’s set pieces are the tree with a toy train running through it about three metres up, an Elves’ Labyrinth through the toy workshops, the sleigh flying over a castle set with light effects and artificial snow, a traditional zone with terraces and a Christmas carousel, and a redesigned Piața Ierusalim.
It’s not subtle, and if you don’t like kitsch, a few hours of it will be plenty. With kids, though, it’s a dream, and I’d happily spend a whole evening wandering it.
There are 82 chalets and terraces plus 14 food trucks, and the selection rules favour producers and handmade work, though a lot of the chalets are food, so I’d come for the lights and the eating rather than the shopping.
When to Go
More than two million people came last season, and Saturday evenings bring long queues for food and the wheel, with Piața Mihai Viteazul the busiest of all.
So aim for a Friday evening or a Sunday morning, or come in late November, when it’s calmer. Just be in Piața Mihai Viteazul by 18:30 on whichever evening you pick, for the sleigh.
You don’t need to fight for the front, because it flies high enough to see from the back by the stalls, and the crowd thins straight after it.
What to Eat and Drink at the Craiova Christmas Market
The food is good, hearty Romanian market cooking, plus stalls from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Moldova, Bulgaria and Serbia, so you can eat your way across half the region in one evening.
- Mici are little grilled skinless sausages, and two with fries came to nearly 30 lei last year.
- Sarmale are cabbage rolls stuffed with minced meat and rice, the taste of a Romanian Christmas.
- Beans with ham hock are a big warming bowl for a cold night.
- Langoș, fried dough, and kürtőskalács, chimney cake, are the snacks to walk round with.
- Cozonac is the Romanian sweet bread, and a good one to take home.
- Mulled wine was 15 lei last year, about €2.80, poured by wine producers wherever possible.
The prices are steep by Romanian standards, but for a British visitor they’re very fair. Most chalets take cards, as Romanian law now requires, but carry some lei too, because cash is quicker for small buys.
A hot chocolate was 24 lei last year and half of it was cream, so for coffee and cake I’d duck into a café just off the squares, where it’s cheaper and warm.
For a sit-down dinner, Casa Ghincea does proper Romanian food, bean soup in a bread bowl and a meat platter served on a sword for four, with staff who speak English, and Curtea Berarilor is a craft-beer pub with food.
Rides, the Rink and the Wheel
The sleigh show is free, but the rides add up. Last year the rink was 50 lei an hour, the wheel 30 lei and the carousel 25 lei.
The wheel gives you the whole light show from above, and on a Friday evening, ahead of the Saturday queues, it’s the one ride I’d pay for.
Things to Do in Craiova
Craiova’s daytime surprise is Brâncuși, with a version of The Kiss in the art museum and his biggest outdoor works a train ride away in Târgu Jiu.
- The Art Museum in the Jean Mihail Palace on Calea Unirii is a French-baroque palace from the early 1900s, and it has a Brâncuși room with a version of The Kiss. It’s closed on Mondays.
- Nicolae Romanescu Park is a huge old park with a lake and a suspension bridge, lovely for a crisp morning walk.
- The Oltenia Museum covers the region’s history, with its ethnography collection in the old Casa Băniei, right in the market, which makes it the easiest place to duck into when you need ten minutes out of the cold.
- Târgu Jiu, about 2 hours 30 to 3 hours by train, has Brâncuși’s Endless Column, Gate of the Kiss and Table of Silence, outdoors and free, and it’s the day trip I’d make.
Weather in Craiova in December
Craiova gets properly cold in December, about 4°C by day and below freezing at night, and our snow odds study gives a weekend visit a 13% chance of snow, far better odds than the English markets, which mostly sit between 1% and 6%.
Pack a proper winter coat, a hat, gloves and warm boots, because you’ll be outside on the squares for hours, and the evenings bite.
Getting to Craiova for the Christmas Market
From the UK, Wizz Air flies direct from Luton three times a week and from Birmingham twice a week, and bus 8 runs from the airport into town every hour, round the clock.
Otherwise, fly to Bucharest and take the train, about 3 hours 45 minutes, or 2 hours 52 minutes on the new non-stop evening InterCity from 13 December. Craiova station is about 2 km from the main square, also on bus 8.
Book your hotel early, because weekend rooms sell out and what’s left gets expensive, especially from 20 December.
English is less widely spoken in Craiova than in Bucharest, and its region scores lowest in Romania for English, so a translation app helps.
If you’re driving, the streets round the market jam up, so a car park is better than circling.
Craiova is a trip of its own rather than a stop on a bigger route. Budapest is over 11 hours away by train, so if you want a classic Central European Christmas market as well, I’d treat them as two separate trips.
Is the Craiova Christmas Market Worth It?
If you love lights and spectacle, absolutely. The scale of it is genuinely hard to believe, the sleigh flying over the square is a joy, and it’s far cheaper than any market in Western Europe.
Book the flight and hotel early, come on a Friday evening or Sunday morning before 27 December, and be in Piața Mihai Viteazul for the sleigh at 18:30.
