Colmar Alsace Christmas Market Guide 2024

Located in the Alsace region of France, Colmar is a charming and picturesque town of half-timbered buildings and flower-lined canals. During the festive season, the enchanting historic town centre of Colmar becomes a winter wonderland of Christmas market stalls, twinkling lights and whimsical decorations. In this post, learn more about the Colmar Alsace Christmas Market and what to expect visiting in 2024.

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Colmar Alsace Christmas Market

Colmar is situated in northeast France, near the border with Germany and 45 minutes from Strasbourg, the Alsatian region capital. The closest airports to Colmar are Strasbourg Airport (SXB) and EuroAirport Basel Muhouse Freiburg (BSL). By train, Colmar is 2 hours 20 minutes from Paris and 3 hours 30 minutes from Lyon.

Colmar Christmas Market 2024

26 November to 29 December 2024

There are six different Christmas Markets dotted around the Colmar town centre. The Colmar Christmas Markets will be open from 26 November to 29 December.

Typically, the Colmar Christmas Markets opening hours are as follows:

Monday to Thursday: 10am to 7pm
Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am to 8pm
24 December: 10am to 5pm
25 December: 2pm to 7pm

Colmar Marché de Noël

Each of Colmar’s six Christmas Markets is a mini-village of chalets, food and artisan chalets or stands installed in different town squares. Altogther there are 180 market stalls to explore in the Colmar Alsace Christmas Markets.

The six unique Colmar Christmas Markets are the Marché Gourmand (Gourmet Market), Place des Dominicains, Place de l’Ancienne Douane, the Koïfhus Artisan Market, the Petite Venise Children’s Christmas Market and Place Jeanne d’Arc.

Marché Gourmand

Address: Place de la Cathédrale

Located next to Collegiale Saint-Martine, the Gourmet Market at the Colmar Alsace Christmas Market features nine cabins with chefs serving up Alsatian regional specialties.

Delicious foods on offer include oysters, soup, risottos and tartiflette. The Gourmet Market is underneath a covered tent and there are standing bars available to enjoy your food on site.

Place des Dominicains Christmas Market

Address: Place des Dominicains

The largest Colmar Christmas Market is located at Place des Dominicains, next to the magestic, brightly lit 14th-century Dominican Church.

The Place des Dominicains Christmas Market is dedicated to Alsatian artisan arts, with 60 market stalls selling a wide range of handcrafted gifts, Christmas decorations and festive treats.

Place de l’Ancienne Douane Christmas Market

Address: Place de l’Ancienne Douane

With over 50 chalets lining the town’s picturesque canals, the Christmas market located at Place de l’Ancienne Douane is the second biggest Christmas Market in Colmar.

Market stalls at Place de l’Ancienne Douane sell a selection of gifts from local souvenirs to handmade chocolates, craft beers and local wines.

Koïfhus Artisan Market

Address: 29 Grand’Rue

Located in the medieval Koïfhus building, and near Place de l’Ancienne Douane, this charming indoor artisan market features a huge variety of products made by local artists and craftspeople.

Twenty local artisans at the Koïfhus Craft Market include potters, glassmakers, cabinetmakers, woodcarvers, hatters and jewelers. On the first floor, you will also find the Toy Museum.

Petite Venise Children’s Market

Address: Place des 6 Montagnes Noires

One of the highlights of visiting the Colmar Alsace Christmas Markets with kids is exploring the brilliant Children’s Market, Petite Venise. This lovely Christmas market has 43 colourful market stalls, a beautifully detailed nativity scene, a merry-go-round and a giant yellow letterbox where kids can drop off their letters to Father Christmas.

The market stalls at Petite Venise sell a variety of wooden toys, games, decorative fairy lights and plush toys.

Place Jeanne d’Arc Colmar Christmas Market

Address: Place Jeanne d’Arc

The Christmas Market at Place Jeanne d’Arc recreates the intimate atmosphere of a traditional Alsatian village. Place Jeanne d’Arc was one of our favourite Christmas Markets in Colmar.

The Place Jeanne d’Arc Christmas Market is dedicated to local products and offers many Alsatian culinary delights, including charcuterie, wine and brandies, Christmas cakes and gingerbread.

Le Cercle Des Aromes – Wine Bar, 5 Pl. Jeanne d’Arc, Colmar

While technically not part of the Christmas market, I can also highly recommend stopping by the Le Cercle Des Aromes wine bar to enjoy an excellent selection of local Alsatian wines and characuterie. Le Cercle Des Aromes is off Place Jeanne d’Arc, behind the Christmas market.

We enjoyed our experience at Le Cercle Des Aromes, taking a break from the chilly evening and discovering new to us Alsatian wines.

The following day, we visited one of the wineries, Maison Gustave Lorentz, which is about 30 minutes drive from Colmar. We enjoyed a wine tasting at Maison Gustave Lorentz and bought a box with Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Crémant d’Alsace to bring back home to London.

If you have time to, it is a great experience to head into the surrounding vineyards of the Alsace region to visit the local wineries. Make sure to check the opening hours, since many wineries are only open during certain days of the week depending on the time of year.

Where to Stay in Colmar

The historic town centre of Colmar is mostly pedestrianised and easy to walk around. If you are travelling to Colmar as part of a Europe road trip, then you will find several car parks dotted around the town centre. We stayed in an apartment rental about a short walk from the Colmar town centre, on Haslinger Place. While the apartment rental was average, it had a fantastic location for the Christmas markets and was conveniently situated next to a large open car park.

When I searched for apartment rentals on Booking.com, I chose the Église des Dominicains (Domincan Church) as a landmark to make sure where we were staying was within a short walking distance to the Colmar Christmas Markets. You can also choose any of the main Christmas Market squares, such as Place de l’Ancienne Douane or Place Jeanne d’Arc, as landmarks to search around for accommodation.

Colmar Christmas Markets Map

I have also pinned the location of the six Christmas Markets in Colmar in a Google Map Guide. For a direct link to the map to bookmark, click here. To explore the map, click on the door sign with an arrow just before the map title.