Aubenas Christmas Market

Perched on its rocky spur above the Ardèche valley, Aubenas, the main town of the south of the department, puts on its festive finery every December. Aubenas Christmas market sets up at the Agora du Champ de Mars, with its wooden chalets, its ice rink and mulled wine that scents the aisles. A little higher up, the medieval lanes climb towards the Renaissance castle and Place du Château, lit up for the occasion. The town plays on two fronts: the foodie buzz down below and the magic of the illuminations that dress the historic heart, with an enchanted forest set up in front of the castle towers. Plenty to fill an afternoon between Ardèche treats and a stroll through the old town.

The Champ de Mars chalets and the illuminated old town

The market is set out at the Agora du Champ de Mars, the large square laid out below the old centre. For the 2025 edition, a dozen chalets brought together craftspeople and designers around a compact programme, from 17 to 24 December, with the ice rink set up right next door from 13 December to 4 January. Twelve stallholders is a format suited to a mid-sized town: you go round without rushing, you really talk to the makers, and every stall has its own personality. Woollen soft toys, jewellery, candles, chocolate, soaps, pieces made from cotton, wood and leather, cured meats or mulled wine: the selection matches the spirit of a local market where you leave with a gift that has a story. For children, a hook-a-duck game and crêpes kept the queue busy while parents finished their shopping. The compact format has its advantages: between the market and the rink next to it, you move from one to the other in a couple of steps, without having to plan everything in advance.

The festivities do not stop at the chalets. The Aubenas setting climbs all the way up to the castle, whose Renaissance façade and towers crown the rocky spur above the valley. In front of the building, on Place du Château, an illuminated enchanted forest lights up every evening at around 7.30pm, from 6 December to 4 January, turning the forecourt into a picture made of light. The castle itself reopened in July 2024 after restoration, converted into a centre for contemporary art and heritage, which gives you a good excuse to extend your visit indoors. Between the lower and upper town, you walk through cobbled lanes lined with stone houses, dotted with small squares and vaulted passageways that climb towards the keep. The Dôme Saint-Benoît, a former Benedictine chapel crowned with its 18th-century cupola, rounds off this tour of the town’s heritage.

Food at Aubenas Christmas market: the Ardèche on your plate

Here, the chestnut is queen. The Ardèche grows a PDO chestnut that goes into roasted chestnuts, chestnut cream (Clément Faugier, the historic producer, has its workshops in nearby Privas) and a whole host of treats that fill festive tables. On the stalls and in the shops of the centre, you will also come across caillette, a meatball of pork and herbs, maôche and bombine, slow-cooked dishes from the farming tradition, and picodon, a small goat’s cheese with plenty of character. Bilberries from the volcanic sucs, jams and chestnut biscuits finish filling the basket, alongside chestnut honey and marrons glacés, which make good gifts to slip under the tree. In the glass, Côtes du Vivarais wines go with the food, and fin gras du Mézenc, the marbled beef of the high Ardèche plateaus, turns up in seasonal meals. This land is so attached to its chestnut that it has made it a festival in its own right, the Castagnade, celebrated in the autumn in the surrounding villages: in December, it is the sweet version that fills the stalls, from candied chestnuts to chestnut cream yule logs.

Mulled wine, served steaming hot beneath the garlands, remains the common thread of the visit. If you want to keep the atmosphere going once you are home, a good mulled wine recipe with cinnamon, orange and cloves quickly recreates the scene.

• PDO Ardèche chestnuts: roasted chestnuts, chestnut cream and biscuits, the local star of December.
• Caillette and maôche, charcuterie specialities of the Ardèche to take home vacuum-packed.
• Picodon, a small matured goat’s cheese, perfect on a festive cheeseboard.
• Bombine, a slow-cooked dish of potatoes and meat that warms up winter meals.
• Côtes du Vivarais wines and spiced mulled wine, served by the glass between two chalets.

Opening hours, ice rink and getting there: practical information

Entry to the market is free: you only pay for what you eat, drink or take away. The 2025 edition held its chalets from 17 to 24 December at the Agora du Champ de Mars, with the ice rink opening earlier, from 13 December, and staying until 4 January. Around it, the town rolled out a whole festive programme: a live Advent calendar every evening at 5.30pm, with its daily surprise, parades such as the Bubble Sisters and their giant bubbles, pony rides on Sunday afternoons and then non-stop as the 25th approached, and an opening firework display on 6 December at the Champ de Mars, followed by the switch-on of the lights at 7.30pm. This almost daily rhythm of events keeps the town lively throughout the season, not just on the days the chalets are open. If you are coming as a family, time your visit for a parade or pony-ride day: it turns a simple shopping trip into a full afternoon out. For December 2026, the exact dates are still to be confirmed by the town of Aubenas and the Pays d’Aubenas-Vals tourist office, which usually publish the programme in the autumn.

By car, Aubenas is reached via the N102 from Montélimar and the Rhône valley, or by road from Privas and Valence. Several car parks ring the centre, including those near the Champ de Mars, but spaces become scarce on December weekends: it is best to arrive in the early afternoon. The town has no active passenger station, so by train you travel via Montélimar or Valence TGV, then by coach or car for the last stretch. The Champ de Mars is step-free and accessible, while the steep, cobbled lanes of the old centre take a little effort with a pushchair. Allow one to two hours for the market and the ice rink, longer if you head up to the castle and the enchanted forest in the evening.

What to see around Aubenas Christmas market

The medieval town deserves some of your time. Aubenas castle, with its Renaissance façade, its machicolated towers and its roof of glazed tiles, can now be visited as an art and heritage centre, and its top offers a wide panorama over the Ardèche valley. The Dôme Saint-Benoît, a few minutes’ walk away, hosts exhibitions and concerts beneath its hexagonal cupola, a former Benedictine chapel whose drum and roof draw on the Italian Renaissance. Over the festive season, the cultural programme at the dome and the castle gives you one more reason to extend your outing indoors between two rounds of the chalets. On the way back down, the lanes, mansions and cobbled squares tell of the town’s past in trade and silk, between the Vivarais and the Cévennes. Aubenas long lived off silk thread and chestnuts, and this double history can still be read on the merchants’ façades and in the layout of the streets that climb in steps. The discovery trail offered by the tourist office links the main landmarks in a short loop, handy when it is cold and you want to alternate between outdoors and indoor visits. Wear good shoes: between the Champ de Mars at the bottom and Place du Château at the top, it is uphill, and the cobbles get slippery after rain.

Aubenas also makes a good base for exploring the south of the department. Vals-les-Bains, a spa town, is a few kilometres away for a quiet break. Further south lie the Ardèche gorges and their cliffs, and to the west the high plateaus lead to Mont Gerbier de Jonc, where the Loire rises. If you are touring the region’s end-of-year markets, Montélimar Christmas market and its nougat capital are less than an hour away via the N102, Valence Christmas market extends the day in the Rhône valley, and Alès Christmas market opens the door to the Cévennes of the Gard a little further south.