Lons-le-Saunier Christmas Market

The prefecture of the Jura, set between the first plateau and the Bresse plain, Lons-le-Saunier gathers its Christmas market in the town centre, around the Italian-style theatre and Place de la Liberté. Wooden chalets line up along the pedestrian streets, close to the famous Rue du Commerce and its 146 stone arcades. Every hour, the theatre’s carillon plays the opening notes of the Marseillaise, a nod to Rouget de Lisle, who was born here in 1760. The Lons-le-Saunier Christmas market brings together craftspeople, makers and local producers in a town of water and salt, on the doorstep of the Jura vineyards.

The chalets around the theatre and Place de la Liberté

The event takes place at the foot of the theatre, on and around Place de la Liberté, the town’s pedestrian heart. For the 2025 edition, around fifty exhibitors set up for a mid-December weekend, with craftspeople and makers on one side and local producers on the other. The town organises the event with the help of My Production, and the format stays true to a mid-sized town: you move from jewellery and decoration stalls to food stands in a few minutes, without ever getting lost. In December 2024, the edition had to be postponed because of a wind warning that made putting up the structures risky, proof that the Jura weather still has its say in December. The event eventually went ahead in better conditions, and the weekend turnout showed how attached the people of Lons are to their market.

The setting shapes the atmosphere. Place de la Liberté forms a long rectangle lined by the theatre and the clock tower, with illuminated trees that set the tone as soon as night falls. Next door, Rue du Commerce unfolds its limestone arcades from the 17th and 18th centuries, a stone shelter that has seen generations of locals pass by. The author of the Marseillaise was born at number 24, in a house that is now a museum. Take a few minutes to look up at the vaults and spot the statue of Rouget de Lisle by Bartholdi, the very sculptor behind Liberty Enlightening the World. The market itself lasts two days, but all the festive decorations stay up for several weeks.

The Christmas village on Place de la Liberté: roller skating, merry-go-round and Father Christmas’s chalet

Alongside the two exhibitor days, Place de la Liberté turns into a Christmas village for a good part of the month. A roller-skating rink has replaced the sledges of previous years, with disco nights that teenagers love. A little train ride goes round for younger children, and food chalets offer something to warm you up between rides. Father Christmas is in his chalet on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 3pm to 6pm until 21 December, with a letterbox that takes letters until the 17th. Entry to the village is free until 4 January.

The big moment of the season is Father Christmas’s descent on 20 December from 6pm on the forecourt of the Carcom, with music and sweets handed out. Musical entertainment also livens up Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, from the ukulele collective to the brass band that warms things up as the temperature drops. Good to know if you have children: the programme mixes magic and close-up tricks, visits from Father Christmas and small street performances spread over the opening days. The roller rink also opens its disco nights to an older crowd, lights and music included, keeping teenagers busy while parents linger at the food chalets. As for decorations, the lights put up year after year dress the square and the shopping streets, with a reindeer in front of the Carcom and the young trees of Place de la Liberté lighting up at dusk. All of this gives the Jura prefecture a festive feel that goes well beyond the market weekend.

Treats at the Lons-le-Saunier Christmas market: the Jura and Bresse at the table

This is where the Jura meets the Bresse, and the stalls show it. Comté is the star, in every stage of ageing, alongside Morbier with its line of ash, not forgetting cancoillotte, which people from Franche-Comté like to spread warm. In your glass, Savagnin and vin jaune, the wine aged under a thin veil of yeast, come straight from the nearby slopes, with Château-Chalon less than twenty kilometres away. Jura winegrowers also bring their crémants and macvin, the region’s typical mistelle. The festive table would not be complete without PDO Bresse chicken, the king of poultry, or Morteau sausage and the sweet galette bressane. To keep the warmth of the market going at home, a good mulled wine recipe with spices and orange already does part of the work.

• Comté and Morbier, two PDO cheeses from the Jura mountains, to taste and take home for the festive cheeseboard.
• Cancoillotte, the runny cheese eaten warm, a trademark of Franche-Comté.
• Vin jaune and Savagnin, wines for laying down from the nearby Jura vineyards, with Château-Chalon less than twenty kilometres away.
• PDO Bresse chicken and Morteau sausage, two emblems of festive tables in the area.
• Mulled wine served steaming at the food chalets, the best companion for December evenings on Place de la Liberté.

Opening hours, access and practical information for the Lons-le-Saunier Christmas market

Entry to the market is free, and you only pay for what you eat, drink or take home. The 2025 edition took place on 13 and 14 December, on Saturday from 10am to 8pm and on Sunday from 10am to 6pm, after a postponement due to a wind warning the year before. The Christmas village on Place de la Liberté, meanwhile, was open over a much longer period, until 8pm in the evening during the school holidays. For winter 2026, the dates are still to be confirmed by the town, which usually publishes its programme in the autumn.

By train, Lons-le-Saunier station is about ten minutes’ walk from the centre, on the lines linking Besançon, Bourg-en-Bresse and Dijon, which makes a car-free trip realistic. By car, several car parks ring the pedestrian centre, and parking is free on Saturdays until the end of December, a real help when you come with the family. The town centre is flat and pedestrianised, so it is easy to get around with a pushchair or in a wheelchair, although the cobbles on some streets need a little care. Allow one to two hours to go round the chalets, longer if the children linger at the merry-go-round or on the roller rink.

What to see around the market

Lons is worth lingering in beyond the festive season. The town owes its name to salt: its salt springs were worked for nearly six thousand years, until 1966, by which time the town had already turned into a spa resort in 1892 around the Lédonia spring and its listed seven-hectare park. Rue du Commerce and its arcades, Rouget de Lisle’s birthplace, the church of Saint-Désiré and the Musée des Beaux-Arts give you enough for a morning of indoor visits between showers. The town’s location also makes it a handy base for exploring: the Jura vineyards start a few minutes away, and the Bresse plain and its poultry stretch out just to the west. Wine lovers will head on to Château-Chalon, the hilltop village that gave its name to the leading vin jaune appellation, or to Poligny, the capital of Comté, where the ageing cellars can be visited. After a morning in the arcaded streets, a glass of Savagnin or a piece of mature Comté is a fine way to round off the food break, especially when the cold settles over the first plateau.

If you are planning a festive getaway in the region, the Chalon-sur-Saône Christmas market is less than an hour away to the west, while the Beaune Christmas market and the Dijon Christmas market open the door to wine-growing Burgundy, with its hospices, mustard and grands crus. Enough to string together several moods in one weekend, from Jura salt to Burgundy’s climats.