Obernai Christmas Market

Obernai Christmas market plays a rare card in Alsace: a “Christmas of yesteryear and tradition”. Forty-five wooden chalets set up among the half-timbered houses of the historic centre, the mulled wine is made with white wine to the local winegrowers' recipe, and nativity scenes are on show in the parish church. All of it around thirty minutes from Strasbourg by TER regional train, with crowds far easier to breathe in than in the great Alsatian capital of Christmas.

Five squares, 45 chalets: Alsace in its intimate version

The market spreads across five squares of the historic heart: Place du Marché, Place du Beffroi, Place André Neher, Place de l'Étoile and the Cour Athic. Around 45 little wooden houses take up residence there, decorated with real fir trees and set against the half-timbered façades that make the wine town's reputation.

Scale changes everything. Where Strasbourg takes over the whole city, Obernai fits in a pocket handkerchief: you can walk round the market in an hour without ever leaving the old town. That is precisely the format that appeals to anyone looking for the Alsatian atmosphere without the human tide of December weekends in Strasbourg.

Obernai Christmas market dates and opening hours for 2026

The 2026 edition is announced from Friday 27 November. It ends on Thursday 31 December, according to the tourist office. As a guide, the 2025 edition ran from 28 November to 31 December, closing on Christmas Day.

Opening hours follow a steady rhythm:

• Sunday to Thursday: 10am to 8pm;
• Friday and Saturday: 10am to 9pm;
• 24 and 31 December: early closing at 4pm.

Entry is free, as at almost every Alsatian market.

Food and crafts: what awaits you on the stalls

Obernai bills its market as one “of gastronomy and crafts”, and the chalets deliver. On the food side: foie gras, gingerbread, bredele biscuits, jams, chocolates and Christmas beer. The local curiosity is the Obernai mulled wine, made with Alsace white wine in the winegrowers' cauldron (€3 a glass in 2025, plus a €2 deposit for the cup). A true signature in a region where red dominates everywhere else.

On the craft side, you will find ceramics, candles, blown-glass baubles, wooden toys, Alsatian textiles and pieces by artists from the region. The events carry on the “Christmas of yesteryear” spirit:

• an exhibition of nativity scenes in the church of Saints-Pierre-et-Paul;
• antique toys on display in the belfry;
• a 2 km treasure hunt through the old town (allow 1.5 hours);
• storytelling walks, Christmas concerts and Father Christmas's letterbox;
• rides for children, carousel and little train first among them.

Getting there from Strasbourg, and what next?

The TER regional train remains the simplest option: 30 to 40 minutes from Strasbourg station, with trains every 30 to 60 minutes during the day. Obernai station is 5 to 10 minutes' walk from the first chalets, which spares you the parking question. If you drive, free Pass'O shuttles link the outlying car parks to the centre over the Christmas period.

A word of planning advice: go for a weekday. At weekends, the crowds make walking through the narrow streets hard going. Come on a Tuesday or Thursday in the late afternoon and you get the illuminations after dark while the market is still easy to move around.

Obernai pairs well with the other stops on the Alsace Wine Route. Colmar and its markets lie further south, and the village of Eguisheim, another stronghold of traditional Christmas, rounds off a coherent two- or three-day itinerary. If you are staying in Strasbourg, Obernai makes an easy half-day trip.