Brunico Christmas Market

Below the castle of the prince-bishops and facing the Kronplatz ski slopes, Brunico Christmas market (Bruneck) keeps its chalets open from 27 November 2026 to 6 January 2027 in the historic centre of the Val Pusteria. Brunico is the capital of this valley in eastern South Tyrol, a small town of around 17,000 people where more than 80% of the population speaks German, and its Christkindlmarkt is spread over three sites linked on foot: via Bastioni (Graben), piazza Paul Tschurtschenthaler and the Ragen di Sopra quarter. It is the skiers’ market: the Kronplatz lifts leave from the edge of town, and many visitors go from piste to chalet in the same day.

Three sites in the medieval centre of Brunico

The centre of Brunico comes down to one long street lined with houses with oriel windows and painted façades, via Centrale (Stadtgasse), closed off by fortified gates, with the castle above. The market takes up the streets around it. The first site is via Bastioni, the Graben, the former moat turned into a walkway along the old town: the chalets follow one another along its whole length, under the illuminated trees. The second is piazza Paul Tschurtschenthaler, a small square in the centre. The third, Ragen di Sopra (Oberragen), is the oldest quarter, near the parish church, where the mood is calmer.

The town describes its chalets as “lovingly decorated”, with woodcarving, handmade jewellery, woollen goods and a “South Tyrolean barn” gathering produce from the surrounding farms. The number of stalls has not been published for 2026. The town was granted the right to hold a market in 1370, as Wikipedia notes, and the trading tradition still shows in the shop windows of the Stadtgasse.

The three sites can be walked as a loop, in whatever order you like: via Bastioni for the row of chalets and the illuminated trees, the Stadtgasse for the shop windows and the Gasthaus inns, Ragen di Sopra to finish quietly near the church. The whole thing fits within a radius of a few hundred metres, on the flat, which makes the market manageable with a pushchair or after a day’s skiing, when your legs have had enough.

The market is open every day from 10am to 7pm, public holidays included, with two exceptions: on 24 December it closes at 2pm, and on 25 December it is closed. On 31 December and 1 January, the chalets keep their normal hours. The food stalls serve later, until 8pm from Sunday to Thursday and 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays.

Goulash in a bread bowl and Strauben: the cooking of the Val Pusteria

The speciality the town puts forward is goulash soup served in a hollowed-out loaf of bread, eaten with a spoon and finished off with the crust. Strauben, those spiral fritters fried in front of you and dusted with icing sugar, are the market’s other classic. The rest of the menu is South Tyrol’s: speck, canederli, apple strudel and Glühwein, the name everyone here gives to mulled wine, even if the bilingual signs also say vin brulé. If you want to know what separates a Tyrolean Glühwein from an Alsatian mulled wine or a Scandinavian glögg, our article on mulled wine and its variations covers the question.

Allow €10-25 per person for a meal at the chalets and a souvenir.

• Market from 27 November 2026 to 6 January 2027, every day from 10am to 7pm, public holidays included.
• On 24 December, closes at 2pm; closed on 25 December.
• Food until 8pm from Sunday to Thursday, 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays.
• Free entry; all the town-centre car parks are paying.
• Bruneck Kronplatz Card: free public transport throughout South Tyrol for guests staying in town.

Getting to Brunico from France

Brunico is on the Val Pusteria line, which leaves Fortezza, on the Brenner line, and heads towards San Candido and Austria. The station is a few minutes’ walk from the centre. From France, you therefore need to reach the Brenner: from Paris, the shortest route goes through Milan, where three TGV and two Frecciarossa trains arrive every day as of 22 September 2026, in just over 7 hours (5 hours 40 minutes to Turin) via the Maurienne, on a line reopened in spring 2025 after the August 2023 landslide (engineering work in the Mont Cenis tunnel suspends these direct trains from 11 September to 9 October 2026, outside the market season). From Milan, you go to Verona, then to Fortezza via Bolzano and Bressanone, and on to the Val Pusteria regional train. From the north, the Railjet Munich-Innsbruck-Verona trains stop at Fortezza every two hours. Innsbruck is the nearest airport, followed by Verona, Munich and Milan.

The Val Pusteria line was partly closed from 15 December 2024 to 26 January 2026 for engineering work, with replacement buses; it is back in service for winter 2026, but a glance at the altoadigemobilità app before you set off is still wise. For guests staying in Brunico, the Bruneck Kronplatz Card gives free access to all public transport in South Tyrol, which lets you reach the other markets without a car.

By car, it is a full day from Paris via the Fréjus or Mont Blanc tunnel, the A4 to Verona, the A22 to the Bressanone-Val Pusteria exit, then the valley road. All the town-centre car parks are paying; the town recommends the train and the bus.

Kronplatz, the castle and the Val Pusteria

Brunico is first and foremost a ski resort. Kronplatz (Plan de Corones), which rises to 2,275 metres, overlooks the town, and Wikipedia places Brunico at its foot. A morning on the slopes followed by the market in the late afternoon is the typical programme for local visitors, when December snow allows.

Brunico Castle, first mentioned in a deed of 1256 and attributed to Bishop Bruno von Kirchberg, caps the old town. It houses the MMM Ripa, one of Reinhold Messner’s mountain museums, devoted to mountain peoples. From its ramparts, the view takes in the Stadtgasse, the snowy rooftops and Kronplatz opposite.

The Val Pusteria has several Christmas markets on the same railway line. To the east, San Candido Christmas market, open on the Advent weekends then every day from 18 December, makes a half-day visit. To the west, at Fortezza, you join the Brenner line and Bressanone Christmas market, then Bolzano Christmas market. Those coming from Austria often pass over the Brenner pass and through Innsbruck Christmas market.