Parc de Sainte-Croix at Christmas: Lumières d’Hiver

Rhodes, a small village in the Moselle between Sarrebourg and Château-Salins, is home to one of the most visited wildlife parks in the Grand Est region. Every winter, the setting changes character at nightfall: Parc de Sainte-Croix at Christmas combines watching the animals by day with an illuminated night trail called “Conte d’Hiver” (Winter Tale). The 2026 edition is a first for the park, which now opens every day during the cold season except 25 December, welcoming visitors from the Moselle, the rest of Lorraine and Alsace.

A night trail among the animals in winter

The day is built around the animals in their winter coats, with three new activities on how wildlife and plants adapt to the cold, plus workshops for families. This season the park adds a new farm, whose atmosphere borrows the codes of a Christmas market without being one in the classic sense.

When night falls, “Conte d’Hiver” begins: twelve illuminated scenes guide visitors for about an hour, on the theme of a quest “in search of the lost winter”, led by nature spirits. The park promises a new story for this third edition, with a reworked route compared with previous seasons.

In practice, half a day is enough to see the animals and enjoy the activities, before moving on to the hour-long night walk in the late afternoon. Both parts are covered by a single ticket, with no need to go back through the ticket office in between.

The Conte d’Hiver story links the twelve scenes together, rather than stringing along unrelated illuminations: the storyline, carried by the nature spirits described on the park’s website, speaks to children as much as to the adults who come with them.

Details of the new farm and its Christmas market atmosphere (number of chalets, craftspeople present) were not given on the official website as of 2 September 2026.

Parc de Sainte-Croix at Christmas 2026: dates and hours

The “Lumières d’Hiver” event starts on 20 November 2026, every evening. The park is open 11am-5pm until 24 December, closes on Christmas Day, then reopens with the same hours from 26 to 31 December. The ticket office closes one hour before the park, whatever the date.

The park’s official website says that “information for this 2026 edition is coming soon”: the end date of the night trail and the hours from January to March 2027 had not been published as of 2 September 2026. Check directly on parcsaintecroix.com before settling on a date.

Tickets are sold only through the park’s own ticket office: no third-party seller is listed for this event.

Booking on a weekday or outside school holidays cuts the wait at the ticket office before the night trail, whose route stays the same however busy the evening.

As with any outdoor visit, bad weather can change the evening programme: the park’s official website is the one to check just before you set off.

Tickets, prices and family budget

The dated “Lumières d’Hiver” ticket, which covers the park by day and the night trail, costs €30 for an adult aged 12 and over and €24 for a child aged 3 to 11; entry is free for under-3s. Booking online brings the bill down: the “web deal” lowers prices to €26 and €20. These prices were noted on 2 September 2026 on the park’s website.

Park pass holders and holders of a works council (CSE) ticket get the Conte d’Hiver included, with nothing extra to pay on site.

From the age of 12, the adult price applies: a teenager in the family therefore pays full price, unlike children aged 3 to 11, who get the reduced rate.

The price is closer to a wildlife park than to the free entry of a town-centre market: the evening is aimed at families planning a proper day out, animals and trail included, rather than a quick wander between chalets.

For two adults and two children aged 3 to 11, the outing costs €108 at the standard price (2 × €30 + 2 × €24), or €92 with the web deal (2 × €26 + 2 × €20). The park does not mention a standard parking charge for petrol or diesel vehicles.

The night walk lasts an hour, outdoors from start to finish: bring warm clothes and closed shoes, even on a mild evening.

A stay in a lodge adds a significant amount on top of these entry prices, but the exact cost was not yet public as of 2 September 2026: ask before booking.

Getting there from Metz, Nancy and Strasbourg

The park is reached via the A4, Sarrebourg exit, about an hour’s drive from Metz (85 km) and Nancy (60 km), and an hour and a quarter from Strasbourg (80 km). Sarrebourg itself is only 15 km from the site.

Two routes lead to the same place: the A4 from Paris, Reims or Strasbourg, or the departmental roads, via the D955, from Nancy and Metz. No bus link was identified between Sarrebourg station and the park, apart from the taxi service.

By train, Sarrebourg TGV station is 2 hours from Paris, 40 minutes from Strasbourg and the same from Nancy; from there, it’s fifteen kilometres to the park, by car or taxi. A taxi service links the station to the park, with a €5 discount for park visitors.

The car park has ten charging points for electric vehicles, billed per kilowatt-hour.

Stay in a lodge in the park, or choose Sarrebourg

The park offers nature lodges on stilts, open only in winter and decorated for the occasion: throws, fairy lights, biscuits, hot chocolate. Guests get the Conte d’Hiver free and two exclusive activities, including “Petits secrets entre voisins” (Little secrets between neighbours). Lodge prices had not been published as of 2 September 2026; ask the park before booking a stay.

Lodges are booked through the same ticket office as the Lumières d’Hiver ticket, on the park’s website. Reserved for the cold season, these stilted lodges are neither offered nor accessible the rest of the year.

For a night outside the park, Sarrebourg and Metz have most of the region’s hotels, less than an hour’s drive away in both cases. Nancy, a little further, is another option for combining the park with a Christmas market over the same weekend.

A lodge stay suits a family who want to stretch out the evening without driving home in the cold, rather than a quick stop between two Christmas markets.

This is for families looking for a winter evening that’s different from a traditional market: animals, a story told over twelve scenes, and some real darkness as well as the fairy lights.

• The Conte d’Hiver night trail, twelve illuminated scenes over about an hour’s walk, with a new story for the 2026 edition.
• The park’s lodges, decorated for winter and offered for this season only, with the Conte d’Hiver free for guests.
• A good complement to the Metz Christmas market, about an hour’s drive from the park.
• A weekend that combines well with the Nancy Christmas market, also an hour from the site.
• A new themed farm, with a Christmas market atmosphere announced by the park for this season.