Kraków Christmas Market

The Kraków Christmas market, Jarmark Bożonarodzeniowy, sets up on the Rynek Główny, on the Town Hall Tower side, from 27 November 2026 to early January 2027. It is organised by the Krakowska Kongregacja Kupiecka with the company Artim. In 2025, the City counted 105 craft and food kiosks there, run by traders from all over Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. Since 2025, IMAGO, the folk art centre, has run a second market focused on crafts; in 2026, it sets up on St Mary Magdalene Square, on the way to Wawel. The Kraków nativity scene competition, the szopki, a tradition inscribed by UNESCO, is held on the square in early December.

2026 dates and opening hours

The 2026 edition opens on 27 November 2026 and runs until early January 2027 (3 or 6 January). The stalls open at least from 10am to 8pm, and some of them may stay open later, until midnight at the latest. In 2025, the market was held from 28 November to 1 January, with an official opening on 29 November at noon, and entry was free.

105 kiosks at the foot of the Town Hall Tower

The kiosks line up on the square, on the Town Hall Tower (Wieża Ratuszowa) side, a stone’s throw from the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice). In 2025, the City counted 105 of them, run by traders from all over Poland and four other countries. On the stalls: hand-painted baubles, wreaths, candles, embroidered tablecloths, nativity scenes, ceramics, wood, wool, jewellery, wooden toys and sheepskin jackets from the region. The 2025 decor lined up more than 600 natural Christmas trees, a wooden nativity scene by the sculptor Józef Lasik and, new that year, a Venetian carousel.

On the food side: maczanka krakowska, sausages, soups, country bread, gingerbread, roasted nuts, grilled oscypek with cranberries and grzaniec galicyjski, the mulled wine of Galicia. In 2025, żurek and a small mulled wine cost 35 zł, maczanka 45 zł.

A stage hosts carols and folk groups. In 2025, municipalities from Lesser Poland took turns presenting themselves there, and on 6 December, 150 Santas paraded for the 150th anniversary of the city’s public transport, before the lighting of the tree.

The szopki, Kraków’s nativity scenes

The Kraków nativity scene competition (szopki krakowskie) is one of the city’s symbols; the tradition is on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. On 4 December 2025, for its 83rd edition, the makers displayed their nativity scenes at the foot of the Mickiewicz monument, on the Rynek Główny, from 10am, before a presentation on the market stage. It takes place every year on the first Thursday of December.

IMAGO: a second market on St Mary Magdalene Square

IMAGO Centrum Sztuki Ludowej opens a new kiermasz on St Mary Magdalene Square (plac św. Marii Magdaleny), on Grodzka street, from 30 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, a first at this location. It is meant to be intimate and elegant, with a deliberately reduced number of stands, chalets with awnings and open stalls. In 2025, it held its first market on the Mały Rynek, from 1 December to 1 January, and it returns there for a second edition from 30 November 2026 to 6 January 2027. On the 2025 programme: crafts, folk music, workshops on wreaths, podłaźniczki and straw and paper decorations, and a szopka krakowska workshop.

Getting to the Kraków Christmas market

Kraków John Paul II Airport in Balice counts among its destinations Paris (Charles de Gaulle, Orly, Beauvais), Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Basel-Mulhouse, Geneva, Zurich, Brussels-Charleroi, London (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted), Madrid and Rome (Fiumicino, Ciampino). Airlines, frequencies and operating periods depend on each route, and some are seasonal: compare flights when you book.

In the city, the Rynek Główny and St Mary Magdalene Square are around 500 m apart, in the direction of Wawel: both markets can be done on foot in the same evening.

• The Wrocław Christmas market, around 260 chalets in 2025, opens from 20 November 2026 to 7 January 2027.
• The Warsaw Christmas market is shared between the old town and plac Defilad.
• The listings of the Prague Christmas market, the Vienna Christmas market and the Budapest Christmas market complete a central European tour.