What to Expect from Christmas Markets in Denmark
Denmark keeps its best Christmas behind a ticket office, and I've walked out of both of them thinking it was money well spent.
In Copenhagen that ticket gets you into Tivoli, the amusement park in the middle of the city, lit from one end of its lake to the other. In Aarhus it's for Den Gamle By, an open-air museum of about 75 old houses where every one is dressed for the Christmas of its own century.
The free markets on the squares are the weaker half, and you should know that before you book. Copenhagen's huts sell much the same things as the huts in any German city, at Danish prices, and I treat them as somewhere to drink a gløgg under the lights on my way to something better.
Outside the two cities, the markets worth a journey are at castles and in old towns. Egeskov's is at a moated castle, Kronborg's is inside the castle Shakespeare gave to Hamlet, and Ribe and Tønder dress their old streets for weeks.
Those keep a calendar of their own, and it runs early. Check Denmark's castle market dates before you book flights, because two of the best known have finished before most people's December trip begins.
When Are the Christmas Markets in Denmark in 2026?
The Christmas markets in Denmark run from Friday 6 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. The first date is when the huts opened on Nytorv in Copenhagen, and the last is Tivoli's final night.
For most trips the dates that count are the two big ones. Tivoli opens on Friday 13 November, and Den Gamle By opens a day later and runs to New Year's Eve.
The castles go first. Gavnø Castle, which bills its market as Denmark's largest, holds it on just two weekends, 6 to 8 and 13 to 15 November, and Egeskov runs for five weekends from 7 November and finishes on Sunday 6 December.
The towns come later. Odense's Hans Christian Andersen market is on for three weekends from 28 November, Kronborg's is expected on three December weekends, and Ribe holds a market every Advent weekend.
Come to Denmark on the weekend of 12 and 13 December if you can pick. It should have the most open at once, with nearly everything in Copenhagen trading, Odense on its last weekend, Kronborg expected to have one of its three, and Tivoli's Lucia procession on the Sunday evening.
After that the free markets shut fast. Copenhagen's street markets finish on 20 and 21 December and the ones in Aarhus by the 23rd, leaving Tivoli, Den Gamle By and the winter market on Kongens Nytorv for Christmas week.
The Best Christmas Markets in Denmark
For a first trip I'd book Copenhagen, and with children I'd book Aarhus. There's next to nothing between them on our Index, where Copenhagen scores 6.7 and Aarhus 6.6.
Copenhagen (My Pick)
Copenhagen comes first because of Tivoli. It has been there since 1843, and on a December evening there are so many lights round the lake and up the pagoda that I stop caring what I paid to get in.
The price moves with the day and the rides are extra, and a weekday is cheaper as well as quieter. Be through Tivoli's gates by about 15:30, because the sun sets at about 15:36 in mid-December and you get to watch the whole garden come on.
Once you're out of Tivoli, the Copenhagen Christmas market is a string of free squares along Strøget, good for a gløgg and a wander and no use at all for presents. Nytorv is the pick of them, with free skating and free skates, and Nyhavn has the photograph and the priciest gløgg in town, though its dates for this year aren't out yet.
For presents I'd cross town to Christiania. About 100 makers sell their own work in the Grey Hall, as they have every December since 1974, and Christiania's market is expected from 8 to 20 December, a good reason to leave your shopping until then.
Apart from Christiania, all of it sits along one 25-minute walk, with Tivoli at one end and Nyhavn at the other, and Copenhagen is very easy to do without a plan because of it.
Aarhus
I'd take an afternoon in Den Gamle By over any square in Denmark. The Aarhus museum leaves the lights and rides to Tivoli, and what your ticket buys is every Danish Christmas since the 1600s, one house at a time.
Those houses were moved here from towns all over Denmark, and each is decorated the way it would have been in its own day, with a 17th-century kitchen a few lanes from a 1970s flat. The æbleskiver are baked to a recipe from 1616, and I've never had a better excuse for a second plate.
You'll want time for that plate and for the houses. Give Den Gamle By in Aarhus four or five hours on a weekday and try not to leave before the 17:00 close, when the only light in the lanes comes from lanterns. Weekends are a different museum, with the little period rooms so full near Christmas that you can't really see them.
Outside the museum, the best of the Aarhus Christmas market is free. The Ridehuset crafts market has filled an old riding hall with Danish makers for more than 30 years, about 80 at a time, and it's where I'd buy presents in Aarhus. This year there's a new outdoor market of 25 stalls on Klostertorvet, near the cathedral, for a gløgg once the museum has shut.
Odense
Odense is 1h14 from Copenhagen on the line to Aarhus, and for three weekends a year it's worth getting off the train.
The Hans Christian Andersen market fills Sortebrødre Torv, in the old quarter where the writer grew up, with stalls, carriage rides and roasted almonds, and entry is listed as free. Odense's market runs on three weekends from 28 November, the last of them 12 and 13 December, and it's due to open at 10:00 both days, until 19:00 on Saturdays and 17:00 on Sundays.
There's no market on the other days, so I'd only stop in Odense if one of those weekends falls on your route.
Egeskov, Gavnø and Kronborg
The castle markets are where I'd send anyone who finds the city squares too thin, as long as they check the dates first.
- Egeskov, on the island of Funen, is a moated castle from 1554 with more than 100 stalls on each of its five market weekends, and it runs longer than the other two, which makes it the easiest to fit in. Tickets are 130 DKK online and 145 DKK at the gate, and the stalls open from 10:00 to 16:30. The one let-down is that the castle itself stays closed while the market is on.
- Gavnø, near Næstved in the south of Zealand, has about 150 stands round a castle on its own small island. It's over by the middle of November, which is early even by Danish standards, so unless you're already in Denmark it's one for next year.
- Kronborg, in Helsingør, is the easy one from Copenhagen. Its market spreads through the courtyard and into the castle, the ticket covers the castle too, and the train takes about 45 minutes and runs every 20, with a ten-minute walk at the far end.
Ribe, Tønder, Aalborg and Bornholm
If a whole old town sounds better than a castle, Jutland has two. Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark, and on every Advent weekend it puts a market on the square by the cathedral, runs carriages through the streets and themes the lot on Peters Jul, a children's book about Christmas in the 1860s.
Ribe only works at a weekend, and Tønder is the answer if you can't manage one. Down by the German border, it has been a Christmas town since 7 November and stays one until 23 December, with the shops open every day and a Christmas department inside Det Gamle Apotek, a pharmacy from the 17th century.
Further out still, Aalborg's market on Gammeltorv runs from 14 November to 23 December, and on Bornholm the harbour at Nexø holds one on the four Advent weekends, from 27 November to 20 December. Both are free, and both are a long way to go for a market alone.
What Do Christmas Markets in Denmark Cost?
The gate is where Denmark gets you, and transport is where it gives a little back.
The two big tickets are almost the same price. Tivoli starts at 210 DKK and Den Gamle By costs 205 DKK, but Tivoli charges again for every ride while the museum charges nothing for anyone under 18, so two parents pay 410 DKK in Aarhus however many children they bring.
If you're going to Tivoli for the rides, the pass is worth buying once you'd take three or more, and you can make that call inside.
You'll spend again on food, and Den Gamle By gives a fair idea of how much, since two or three æbleskiver with a gløgg came to between 120 and 140 DKK there over the last two seasons.
The trains and the metro are where you get some of it back. The metro from Copenhagen airport is 30 DKK, a 24-hour City Pass with the airport included is 100 DKK, and the cheap Orange fares between Copenhagen and Aarhus start at 119 DKK if you book early.
Getting Around Denmark by Train
You'll want to fly in, because London to Copenhagen takes about 29 hours by rail, with a night in Hamburg on the way. Copenhagen airport makes up for it by being under 15 minutes from the centre on the metro.
Copenhagen to Aarhus takes as little as 2h40 on a direct train, with more than 30 a day, and both cities fit into one trip because of it. I'd do Copenhagen first and finish in Aarhus, because Den Gamle By is the one that opens on Christmas Eve.
If you'd rather fly straight to Aarhus, check which airport you're landing at. Aarhus Airport is 45 to 50 minutes from the station by bus, but many UK flights use Billund, about an hour and a half away on the 912X, which costs 162 DKK.
Crossing the Border
You can be at a Swedish Christmas market sooner than at a second Danish one. Malmö is 40 minutes from Copenhagen by train, over the Øresund Bridge, every 20 minutes and with no booking, and its market is on Gustav Adolfs Torg.
Gothenburg is 3h53 from Copenhagen on a direct train that runs every hour, and the Gothenburg Christmas market takes over the Liseberg amusement park, in case one Tivoli wasn't enough. Stockholm needs a change at Malmö this year, because the direct trains are suspended, and I'd keep the Christmas markets in Sweden to those first two from here.
Going south takes longer than the map suggests. The six daily trains to the Hamburg Christmas market take from 4h42, the long way round via Odense while the Fehmarn tunnel is being built, and the timetable changes on 13 December. Check your date before you plan the Christmas markets in Germany as a second leg.
Oslo is the one you sail to. The overnight ferry leaves Copenhagen at 16:30 every day and takes 17 and a half hours, landing you in time for the Oslo Christmas market and the rest of the Christmas markets in Norway.
What's the Weather Like in Denmark in December?
It's grey, damp and dark before four o'clock, and for once the dark is the good part, because Tivoli and Den Gamle By are both at their best after sunset.
December days in Copenhagen and Aarhus reach about 6°C and nights drop to 2 or 3°C, with rain on ten or so days of the month.
Snow is unlikely. Our snow odds study says Copenhagen gets snow on 9% of market days and Aarhus on 6%, so dress for cold and wet and count any snow as a bonus.
Christmas Week in Denmark
Come for Christmas week and the squares are nearly empty, because almost all the free markets pack up before Danes celebrate on the 24th.
Tivoli is closed on Christmas Eve and comes back on Christmas Day, with fireworks on the 25th and the 26th and more at 23:00 on New Year's Eve. Those two days after Christmas Eve are among its busiest of the season.
Den Gamle By in Aarhus opens on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, until 15:00 on the 24th and with its normal hours on the other two, when the shops in town are shut. That's rare for a Christmas market, and it's the reason I'd spend Christmas itself in Aarhus.
If you're in Copenhagen between Christmas and New Year and want stalls rather than rides, the winter market on Kongens Nytorv runs until 29 December and its rink until the 30th, though both shut on the 24th and 25th.
So, Are the Christmas Markets in Denmark Worth It?
Yes, as long as you go for the two you pay for. If free stalls on a square are what you love, Strøget won't do it for you.
What Denmark gets right is the dark. An evening in Tivoli and the last hour at Den Gamle By are two of the best things I've done in any December, and one direct train joins them up.
Spend the weekend of 12 and 13 December in Copenhagen, with one evening kept for Tivoli. Take the train on to Aarhus if you've got children or you're staying for Christmas itself, and if it's a castle you want, add Kronborg, because Egeskov's last day is 6 December.
