Dax Christmas Market

In Dax, the festivities take root around the Fontaine Chaude de la Nèhe, the hot spring that gushes out at 64°C in the middle of town and steams in the cold December air. Dax Christmas market spreads its wooden chalets across Place de la Fontaine Chaude and the neighbouring pedestrian streets, a few metres from the bullring and the Gallo-Roman remains. Under the garlands you will find foie gras and Landes duck, local wines and steaming mulled wine, in an atmosphere where the vapour from the spring mingles with the smell of roasted chestnuts. France’s leading spa town knows how to welcome winter, with an ice rink, a funfair and a sound-and-light show on the cathedral.

The chalets of Place de la Fontaine Chaude and the town centre

The “Dax tellement Noël” programme livens up the whole of December, with a main market gathering exhibitors on Place de la Fontaine Chaude and in the adjoining pedestrian streets. Foie gras, wine, honey, sweets, jewellery, bags and craft items share the stalls, next to mulled wine and hot drink stands that warm your hands. The setting works in the square’s favour: the hot fountain, remodelled in the early 19th century in Tuscan style under Louis XVIII, stands in the middle of the square with its portico and basin, from which steam rises constantly. It is this water, used since Antiquity, that made the town’s name as a spa and still draws visitors every year who come to treat rheumatism and joint problems. The flow approaches 2.4 million litres a day, at a temperature that does not change with the seasons, which explains the steam you can see even when the thermometer plunges. The spring is named after Nèhe, an ancient water deity, a detail that says a lot about how attached Dax is to this geological curiosity, born of a fault that appeared at the same time as the Pyrenees.

The entertainment is spread over several sites in the centre. On the Esplanade du Général de Gaulle, a 200 m² ice rink and a funfair take top billing, with Father Christmas’s chalet, a cascade, a carousel, hook-a-duck and trampolines. Square Max Moras has a children’s village with bouncy castles and a little farm for the youngest. Father Christmas himself strolls the streets of the centre on some weekend afternoons, between two rides. A roasted chestnut locomotive and a treats chalet complete the walk, giving you something to nibble as you go from stall to stall. Shops in the centre stay open on the Sundays before Christmas, so you can combine your year-end shopping and a tour of the chalets in one outing.

The atmosphere in Dax in December owes a lot to this water steaming away in the middle of town. As you work your way along the chalets, vapour from the spring drifts over the rooftops and gives the historic centre a slightly unreal light late in the day. The spa visitors who are here all year mingle with families who have come for the holidays, and the town keeps the peaceful rhythm of a spa resort even when the festivities are in full swing.

Foie gras, duck and pastis landais: treats at Dax Christmas market

This is Chalosse and the banks of the Adour, a land of fattened duck and good food. Landes foie gras rules the stalls, in jars or mi-cuit, ready for the Christmas Eve table, along with duck breast, confit and rillettes. Landes free-range chicken, raised outdoors under the pines, rounds off the basket for festive meals. On the sweet side, pastis landais, a brioche flavoured with orange blossom and rum, sits alongside tourtière, an apple pie with crisp, thin pastry. Winemakers from south-west France offer Floc de Gascogne as an aperitif and Armagnac to end the meal, while Chalosse beef and Adour kiwifruit remind you how rich the surrounding land is. Many producers at the market raise their animals and tend their orchards a few kilometres away, which gives you the chance to talk about how a foie gras is prepared or about an Armagnac vintage before choosing. Spiced mulled wine accompanies your tour of the chalets, and if you want to keep the mood going, a good mulled wine recipe with cinnamon and orange gets close to it at home.

• Landes foie gras, mi-cuit or in jars, to save for the Christmas Eve table.
• Duck breast, confit and rillettes, the local speciality sold by the producers themselves.
• Pastis landais, a soft orange-blossom brioche, and apple tourtière for dessert.
• Floc de Gascogne and Armagnac, to taste by the glass before leaving with a bottle.
• Spiced mulled wine and hot drinks, served steaming between two stalls.

Ice rink, opening hours and getting to Dax Christmas market

Entry to the market is free; you only pay for what you eat, drink or take home. For the 2025 edition, the festivities ran from late November to 4 January, with the ice rink and funfair open 11am-8pm during school holidays and at weekends, and 2pm-7pm on weekdays. Expect to pay around €5 for 20 minutes on the ice. For winter 2026, the exact dates are still to be confirmed by the town and the Grand Dax tourist office, which usually publish the programme in the autumn. The sound-and-light show projected onto the cathedral, the light parade and the fireworks mark the evenings, and on-street parking is often free in the afternoon during the festive period.

By train, Dax station is about a kilometre from the centre, on the Bordeaux - Irun line, served by TGV and TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine trains, which makes a car-free day trip doable. A free shuttle links the station to Place de la Fontaine Chaude and the Pont des Arènes, with two free park-and-ride car parks for those arriving by car. The town centre is pedestrianised and accessible overall, although a few cobbles need some care with a pushchair. Allow one to two hours to go round the chalets, more if you add the ice rink and a quick bite.

Spa heritage, bullring and the Adour: what to see around Dax Christmas market

Dax has plenty to offer beyond the chalets. The Fontaine Chaude de la Nèhe is the first stop: its 64°C water feeds the town’s spas and, mixed with silt from the Adour, goes into peloid, the famous thermal mud used in treatments. The Gallo-Roman ramparts, among the best preserved in France, encircle part of the historic centre and recall the age of the town, already a popular spa in Roman times under the name Aquae Tarbellicae. You can walk along a stretch of wall and its towers from the banks of the Adour, with information panels tracing the history of the ancient town. The bullring embodies the bullfighting culture of the Landes: the course landaise, where the écarteur dodges the cow without ever harming it, and the Dax feria set the town buzzing in August, and the building is worth a look even out of season. A walk along the Adour extends the visit, the river crossing the town from east to west before reaching the ocean at Bayonne.

If you want a break between two rounds of the market, the town’s spas and wellness centres offer baths in Nèhe water, continuing a two-thousand-year-old healing tradition. There is no need to follow a medical programme to enjoy the warmth of this water, and the experience fits a winter day nicely.

Dax is also a good base for exploring the south of the Landes and the Basque Country. Bayonne Christmas market and Biarritz Christmas market are both less than an hour away, with chalets, lights and Basque treats. To the east, Pau Christmas market rounds off a festive weekend at the foot of the Pyrenees, with its view of the snowy peaks from the boulevard.