Creil Christmas Market

Set on the banks of the Oise, between the Île Saint-Maurice and its old heart, Creil hosts a festive neighbourhood-sized event every December. Creil Christmas market stays modest, with around fifteen chalets, and that’s exactly what gives it the feel of a village fête: local artisans, the smell of mulled wine and the scrape of skates on the ice, all a few metres from the Faïencerie arts centre. Nothing flashy, just a warm interlude in a town with an unusual faience history. People come for the atmosphere and the convenience, thirty minutes by train from Paris, rather than for any grand scale.

Creil Christmas market, around the Faïencerie

The market sets up near the Faïencerie arts centre, along the walkway beside the former factory site. The fifteen or so wooden chalets are packed into a compact area, which makes the visit quick and easy with children: you go round in under an hour, double back, and stop at the mulled wine stand without ever losing sight of your family. For the 2025 edition, the opening took place on a Friday evening in early December, with the lights switched on straight afterwards. On the stallholders’ tables, you’d find sweet treats, jewellery, decorations, honey, perfumes, leather goods and organic products, mostly from makers and producers in the Oise.

Two attractions stand out and are big hits with families: an open ice rink for skating with family or friends, and horse-drawn carriage rides that add a fairy-tale touch along the walkways. The market is run by a local service club, in a friendly, community spirit that suits the size of the event: takings from some of the activities fund local causes, a detail that gives the outing a little extra meaning. You can tell the stallholders know each other, chat with visitors and take the time to explain a craft rather than deliver a sales pitch. The tight layout is a real advantage with young children: no dense crowd to get lost in, a single walkway to keep an eye on, and activities within sight of one another. It’s a quiet late afternoon out rather than a full day, which leaves time to round off the trip with the nearby museum or a walk on the island.

A town shaped by fine faience

You can’t talk about Creil without mentioning its fine faience factory, which made the town’s name known well beyond the Oise. Founded in 1797 by a Parisian crystal maker, Robert Bray O’Reilly, the works took a few years to find its feet before taking off in the early 19th century. Its production, both decorative and practical, was so well known that Flaubert mentions Creil faience in Sentimental Education. In 1840, the workshop merged with the one in Montereau, creating the famous Creil-Montereau brand. The Creil factory closed its doors in 1895, but production stamped with both names carried on into the 1920s. Black stoneware, fine faience, opaque porcelain, painted and printed designs: the range covered everyday tableware as well as showpieces.

This heritage can be seen today at the Musée Gallé-Juillet and its Maison de la Faïence, two houses built on the site of the old medieval castle, on the Île Saint-Maurice. The Maison Gallé-Juillet tells the daily life of a well-to-do Creil family, from the Revolution to the First World War, through nineteen rooms furnished in period style. Just opposite, the Maison de la Faïence, opened in 2010 to display the ceramic collections, shows off the factory’s rich output. Pairing the market with this visit gives substance to a winter day: the chalets for the atmosphere, the museum to understand what shaped the town.

The Île Saint-Maurice and its forgotten castle

The island, wrapped by the arms of the Oise, keeps a slightly old-fashioned holiday-resort feel that contrasts with today’s railway-junction town. Yet this is where Creil’s old heart beats. A fortified castle stood here from the Middle Ages: the surviving remains date back to the 13th century, in the time of the Counts of Clermont, and the site controlled shipping on the Oise, at a time when most goods travelled by water. In the 14th century, the building was transformed and modernised for King Charles V the Wise, who turned it into a pleasure residence. It was impressive enough for the architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau to include it in 1576 in his collection Les plus excellents bastiments de France.

Largely dismantled before the Revolution, all that remains is a low medieval hall and a few sections of wall, listed as a historic monument in 1923. A restoration campaign was launched in 2023 to bring this little-known part of local heritage back to life. In December, when the lights dress the riverbanks, this quiet history adds another layer to the walk: you go from the Faïencerie chalets to the stones of the old castle in a few minutes on foot, along the water.

Picardy specialities to try on the spot

Creil is in Picardy country, and the food follows suit. On the stalls and in the nearby bakeries, a few classics are worth a look:

• Gâteau battu: a tall, fluted cylindrical brioche, wonderfully soft, a speciality of the Ponthieu that often turns up on festive tables. Its dough, rich in butter and egg yolks, makes it a perfect partner for a hot chocolate.
• Ficelle picarde: a thin crêpe rolled around ham and mushrooms, baked with cream, created in Amiens in 1956. Just the thing when it’s freezing outside.
• Tarte au sucre, a golden, lightly caramelised sugar brioche, perfect between two stalls.
• Flamiche aux poireaux, a puff pastry pie filled with leeks melted in cream and nutmeg, a hearty winter dish.
• A glass of spiced mulled wine or a local beer to warm your hands between two walkways.

To recreate the atmosphere at home, a good homemade mulled wine recipe makes all the difference: citrus, cinnamon and a decent red wine are enough to bring back the smell of the chalets. The Oise producers at the market are also a chance to leave with a jar of local honey or jam, to make the weekend last once you’re home.

Practical information and getting there

Creil is a major rail junction north of Paris, which makes the market very easy to reach without a car. The station is served by TER Hauts-de-France regional trains and the RER, with direct links to Paris, Amiens and Compiègne; allow about thirty minutes from Paris. The market site is about ten minutes’ walk from the station. By car, the town can be reached via the A1 (Senlis exit) then local roads, with parking in the town centre. Entry to the market is free; the ice rink and carriage rides may be charged depending on the time slot.

The 2026 dates were not yet confirmed in summer 2026: the event usually takes place around the first weekend of December, over three days. We recommend checking the programme on the website of the town or the Creil Sud Oise tourist office a few weeks beforehand. The compact site is accessible with pushchairs and wheelchairs, as the walkway is flat and level. Bring warm clothes: the banks of the Oise quickly turn damp in the evening, and mulled wine isn’t always enough to keep out the chill rising from the water.

Around Creil, more markets to combine

Creil’s central position in the Oise makes it a handy base for taking in several markets over a weekend. Fifteen minutes away by train, Chantilly Christmas market plays on its château and Great Stables for a grander setting. To the north, Compiègne Christmas market puts on a bigger event around its Gothic town hall. And to the west, Beauvais Christmas market is held at the foot of Saint-Pierre cathedral, home to one of the tallest Gothic choirs in Europe. Enough to put together a varied tour, from the small friendly market to the bigger events, without ever driving for long.