Colmar’s six Christmas markets run from 23 November to 29 December 2026 in the old town. They open from 11:00 to 19:00 from Monday to Thursday and from 10:00 to 20:00 from Friday to Sunday, close at 17:00 on 24 December and open on Christmas Day, according to the town’s official Christmas site. For a place to stay, MICHELIN’s 2026 list gives Colmar 1 Key hotel, La Maison des Têtes.
Six markets inside one old town
Colmar is small. The six markets sit a few minutes’ walk from each other, and the streets between them are closed to cars during opening hours for the whole season. Place des Dominicains sets its chalets around the Dominican church. Place de l’Ancienne Douane fills the square by the Koïfhus, the old customs house, and the Koïfhus itself holds the indoor craft market. Place Jeanne d’Arc sells regional food. The children’s market is in Petite Venise, on Place des Six Montagnes Noires, by the canal.
The sixth is the gourmet market, on the Montagne Verte sports ground, with the big wheel beside it. It keeps its own hours. It opens every day from 11:00 to 22:00 and stays after the others close, until 3 January, with an early finish at 17:00 on 31 December. The Christmas fair on Place Rapp follows the same calendar.
One rule matters. The markets shut at the posted time, to the minute, for security reasons, so the last half hour is a poor moment to start shopping.
La Maison des Têtes, the Key hotel of Colmar
MICHELIN lists seven Key hotels in Alsace for 2026, and one of them is in Colmar, as in our guide to the Key hotels of Alsace. La Maison des Têtes holds One Key. MICHELIN describes “a small hotel in a unique building from 1609”, “named for the sculpted heads that adorn its façade”, and says “it’s been given a thoroughly modern makeover” inside. It has 21 rooms, some large enough for a family of four, a brasserie and a MICHELIN-Starred dining room. The house stands on Rue des Têtes, a short walk from Place des Dominicains.
Two more Key hotels are close. Le Chambard, in Kaysersberg, has 31 rooms, an indoor pool and a Starred restaurant, and the village holds a smaller market of its own. The Hôtel des Berges at Illhaeusern, beside the two-Star Auberge de l’Ill, has 19 rooms on the bank of the river. Both hold One Key.
Trains, the weekend park and ride and the village shuttles
Colmar is on the main line between Strasbourg and Basel, about half an hour from the first and 45 minutes from the second by regional train. The station is a 15-minute walk from the markets. Drivers have a park and ride at the Parc des Expositions on the four weekends from 28 November to 20 December, at 5 euros a day with the bus into town included, and a free shuttle links the Bleylé car park by the station with the centre on weekdays.
The wine villages are the second half of the trip. The Navettes de Noël, the Christmas shuttle buses, leave Colmar station from 27 November to 20 December for Kaysersberg, Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Eguisheim, Turckheim and Munster. A day ticket costs 17 euros from Friday to Sunday. Children under 12 travel free with a booked seat. Tickets are sold online only, from 12:00 on Thursday 12 November, as the regional guide JDS reports.
The Luxury.it perspective
Colmar is the Alsace market for people who want the postcard without Strasbourg’s scale. Everything is on foot, the canal of Petite Venise is lit, and the season runs to 29 December, when most German and Swiss markets have already packed up. The limit is rooms. One Key hotel with 21 rooms cannot carry a town that fills every weekend of Advent, so the dates decide everything: come between Monday and Thursday, in the first week or on the last days after Christmas. Book La Maison des Têtes with a table in its dining room, and keep Le Chambard as the second choice. Our Strasbourg Christmas guide has the capital of the region, half an hour north.
Related guides
Basel Christmas market 2026 · Zurich Christmas markets 2026 · Paris Christmas markets 2026 · Michelin Keys in Champagne and Burgundy · All 24 cities by opening date
