Digne-les-Bains Christmas Market

A prefecture tucked between the first Alpine foothills and the lavender hills, Digne-les-Bains lights up for the holidays all along Boulevard Gassendi, the long plane-tree-lined avenue that runs through town. Digne-les-Bains Christmas market sets up its wooden chalets on Place du Général de Gaulle, a few steps from the fountain and the café terraces. Around it, the spa, the geological reserve and the memory of Alexandra David-Néel give the town a character all its own, halfway between the mountains and Provence. People come for Haute-Provence crafts, lavender honey, a cup of mulled wine, and that particular winter light that bathes the Bléone valley.

The Boulevard Gassendi chalets and the village on Place du Général de Gaulle

The event is centred on Place du Général de Gaulle, at the foot of Boulevard Gassendi. Around thirty wooden chalets host craftspeople, producers and designers from the region every year. In just a few steps you go from a stall of hand-turned objects to one selling lavender soaps, then on to a honey producer. The Christmas village occupies the square for the whole festive period, with mascots, horse-drawn carriage rides and concerts dotted through the afternoons.

The square also has an ice rink and fairground rides, set up well before the market opens and kept going until the very start of January. In 2025, it cost three euros for half an hour on the ice, a reasonable price for keeping the kids busy while their parents make the rounds of the chalets. Boulevard Gassendi, pedestrianised along its central stretch, is made for a relaxed stroll under the lights, between decorated shops and cafés where you can warm up. The lights ceremony, with fireworks and a gospel concert, opens the season in early December and sets the tone for the weeks that follow.

Digne-les-Bains Christmas market on your plate: lavender honey and Haute-Provence flavours

Here the treats carry the accent of the Provençal mountains. Honey takes pride of place on the stalls: golden lavender honey and mountain honey gathered on the heights, also turned into nougat, biscuits and syrups. Lavender is everywhere, in soaps, creams and little sachets to tuck into a stocking. Producers from around Digne bring their tourtons, the filled fritters typical of the Southern Alps, served savoury or sweet, and Haute-Provence petit épeautre, an ancient spelt that makes a soup to warm up cold evenings. Sisteron lamb, tomme and ewe’s milk cheeses from the valley complete the basket for festive meals.

Spiced mulled wine passes from hand to hand, served piping hot as you wander. If you want to keep the mood going once home, a good mulled wine recipe with cinnamon and orange is all it takes to recreate the aromas of Place du Général de Gaulle. The flavours to look out for first between two chalets:

• Lavender honey and mountain honey, in jars, nougat and gingerbread, the sweet signature of the Digne area.
• Southern Alps tourtons, fritters filled with potato, spinach or jam, best eaten warm.
• Haute-Provence petit épeautre, as grains or in soup, an ancient cereal grown on the plateaus.
• Sisteron lamb and ewe’s milk cheeses, to take home for Christmas Eve dinner.
• Spiced mulled wine, a good companion late in the afternoon when the chill comes down from the mountains.

Parade, ice rink and entertainment: the festive programme

December in Digne is about more than chalets. The Christmas parade makes its way down Boulevard Gassendi with illuminated floats, elves, mascots and Father Christmas, drawing families out in the middle of the afternoon. Pyrotechnic shows and sound-and-light displays projected onto the town hall façade mark a few memorable evenings. Children’s workshops, concerts, puppet shows and Father Christmas riding by in his carriage are added as the days go by, often for free.

Entry to the market is free; you only pay for what you eat, drink or take home. The 2026 edition runs from Friday 11 to Thursday 24 December, 11am-7pm, closing at 4pm on the 24th; a late opening may be added one evening, on a date yet to be set. The 2026 ice rink, rides, parade and lights have not yet been announced by the town. The ice rink and rides generally open earlier, from late November, and stay until the first days of January.

By train, Digne-les-Bains station drops you about ten minutes’ walk from the centre and the market square. The Chemins de fer de Provence line, the famous Train des Pignes, also links the town to Nice on a narrow-gauge track through the hinterland, a scenic way to arrive when it is running. By car, several car parks surround the centre, but spaces are hard to find on December weekends: arriving in the early afternoon or at the end of the day, when the lights come on, saves a lot of circling. Boulevard Gassendi and the square are step-free, manageable with a pushchair or a wheelchair. Allow one to two hours to look around, more if you add the ice rink and a spin on the rides.

What to see around Digne-les-Bains Christmas market

The town is well worth a full day. Digne is the gateway to the Haute-Provence geological reserve, one of the largest in Europe: the ammonite slab, on the edge of town, displays hundreds of fossils nearly two hundred million years old, and the museum trail shows the skeleton of an ichthyosaur recovered from the surrounding marl. A curiosity that makes a change from the usual visits and goes down very well with children.

East of the centre, the Maison Samten Dzong keeps alive the memory of Alexandra David-Néel, explorer and the first European woman to enter Lhasa, who spent her final years in Digne. The visit traces her journey to Tibet and her love of the Himalayas. As Digne is a spa town, the thermal baths also offer a warm break after a morning out in the cold. To stretch the weekend along the market trail, Gap Christmas market is a good hour away via the Durance valley, while Aix-en-Provence Christmas market and Avignon Christmas market open up the Provence of santons and the thirteen desserts, further south.