Saintes Christmas Market

Saintes holds its Christmas market in the Fernand-Chapsal public garden, on the right bank of the Charente, right in front of the Arch of Germanicus and its twenty-century-old Roman stones. The wooden chalets line the park's paths, close to Place Bassompierre and Avenue Gambetta, which leads to the Cours National, the main shopping street of this old Saintonge town. Under the lights you come across Charente crafts, local producers and the smell of mulled wine rising as soon as dusk falls. The Saintes Christmas market enjoys a rare setting: a Gallo-Roman city, once capital of the province of Aquitaine, where the amphitheatre and the Abbaye aux Dames are never far from the stalls.

The Christmas village in the public garden, between a Roman arch and the Charente

The heart of the event is the Christmas village set up in the Fernand-Chapsal public garden, a tree-lined, car-free space where around twenty chalets host local craftspeople and designers. Home decorations, original gift ideas, handmade crafts and Saintonge produce are spread along the paths, with a covered food area where you can sit down for a while. The park looks straight onto the Arch of Germanicus, a 1st-century monument moved stone by stone in 1851 to save it from demolition. The contrast works: on one side the lit ancient columns, on the other the warm glow of the chalets.

Around the park, the town keeps the celebrations going. Avenue Gambetta links the garden to the Cours National, where shop windows dress up for December, while the left bank keeps its medieval lanes and Saint-Pierre cathedral. The Christmas carriage tours the area, a horse-drawn ride that younger visitors love, and the park bandstand hosts stories and short shows at set times. Father Christmas meets visitors in the village, and recent editions have included sound and light shows in the town centre. Everything is on foot, from the park to the banks of the Charente, where gabarre boats still sail in summer.

The Christmas village is modest in size, around twenty chalets, but the formula works because the setting carries it. You move from designers' stalls to local produce stands in a few metres without ever feeling jostled, and the covered area lets you catch your breath when Saintonge rain decides to join in. The garden paths, flat and wide, are made for a relaxed family visit, with the Roman arch as a glowing landmark from one end of the park to the other. It is this scale that gives the Saintes market its character: you chat with the craftsperson who turned the piece of wood or pressed the apple juice, and leave with a gift idea and the address of their workshop.

Treats at the Saintes Christmas market: Saintonge on your plate

This is the land of PDO Charentes-Poitou butter, of Pineau and of nearby Cognac, and you can tell from the stalls. Galette charentaise, a shortbread flavoured with angelica, goes into gift baskets alongside jars of local produce. Angelica, a candied plant inherited from the region's gardens, also flavours the sweets and liqueurs you find on the Saintes stands. Cagouilles à la saintongeaise, small snails simmered with garlic and parsley, are part of the local repertoire that producers showcase in winter. For festive aperitifs, Pineau des Charentes, white or rosé, goes with foie gras and candied melon, and neighbouring Cognac finds its place among the food gifts. For eating on the spot, the covered area serves waffles, churros and hot drinks to warm up between chalets. If you want to recreate the atmosphere at home, a good mulled wine recipe with cinnamon and orange does half the work.

• Galette charentaise with angelica, the region's emblematic buttery shortbread, perfect as a food gift.
• Cagouilles à la saintongeaise, small snails with garlic and parsley, a slow-cooked local speciality.
• Pineau des Charentes and Cognac from just down the road, to bring home for aperitifs and festive meals.
• PDO Charentes-Poitou butter and mojhettes, the white beans that are the pride of Saintonge tables.
• Spiced mulled wine served piping hot, the perfect ally for evenings spent strolling the park paths under the lights.

Opening hours, getting there and events: practical info

The market is free to enter, and you only pay for what you eat, drink or take home. The 2025 edition of the village ran from 10 to 31 December in the public garden, with long hours at weekends and during the last fortnight (roughly 11am-7pm) and afternoon opening on weekdays outside school holidays. For winter 2026, the town has announced the market in the public garden from 9 to 27 December; the opening hours and the Saintes Christmas programme have not yet been published. A free roller park, with skates to borrow, completes the programme on Place Bassompierre, right next to the park, easily keeping children busy for a good part of the afternoon.

By train, Saintes station is about fifteen minutes' walk from the public garden, on lines to Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Angoulême, so you can come without a car from much of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. A long-standing rail hub, the town is well served, and the walk from the station goes along the Cours National, which puts you straight into the festive mood. By car, several car parks ring the town centre and the banks of the Charente, but spaces fill up fast on December Saturdays: aim for the morning or late afternoon, when the lights come on in the park. The public garden is flat and car-free, so it is fine with a pushchair or wheelchair. Allow one to two hours to go round the chalets, more if you add the roller park and a walk to the abbey. When planning the outing, bear in mind that the full Saintes Christmas programme (carriage, shows, village hours) usually comes out in November on the town and tourist office websites.

What to see around the Saintes Christmas market

Saintes is worth exploring well beyond the chalets, and its Gallo-Roman past is plain to see. The town was Mediolanum Santonum, capital of the province of Aquitaine under the Empire, a status that left it a dense ancient heritage. The amphitheatre, dug into a small valley in the 1st century, is one of the oldest in the Roman world and could hold thousands of spectators from across the region. The Arch of Germanicus, beside the market, marked the entrance to the ancient bridge over the Charente before it was moved in the 19th century. The Saint-Saloine baths complete the picture of a city that lived on Roman time. On the right bank, a few minutes from the park, the Abbaye aux Dames shows off its carved Romanesque façade: founded in 1047 by Agnes of Burgundy, it was the first women's monastery in Saintonge, run by abbesses for centuries. Now a music centre, it hosts the Saintes festival every summer, a reference for early music, and can be visited in the warm over the holidays.

On the other bank, Saint-Pierre cathedral and its massive bell tower can be spotted from afar in the old town, to explore between two December showers. The gabarres that once sailed up the river recall the town's role as a river port. Saintes' position also makes it a good base for exploring the region: the La Rochelle Christmas market and its Atlantic harbour atmosphere are less than an hour away, the Angoulême Christmas market adds the touch of the comic-book capital, and the Bordeaux Christmas market and its Place des Quinconces extend the festive weekend further south. Périgueux, Cognac and the Gironde estuary are also within reach if you want to stretch a winter stay in Saintonge, between Romanesque heritage, vineyards and honey-stone villages.