San Sebastián Christmas Market

The San Sebastián Christmas market (Donostia, in Basque) opens its chalets from 1 December 2026 to 6 January 2027 on the paseo del Urumea and the plaza Ramón Labayen, along the river, according to the municipal tourist office. A craft market accompanies it on the plaza Cataluña, in the Gros district. Entry is free, every day from 10:30am to 2pm and from 4:30pm to 8:30pm. On 21 December, the Feria de Santo Tomás turns the city centre into a farmers’ market for a day, around txistorra and cider: for a visitor based in Bayonne or Saint-Jean-de-Luz, it is the Christmas outing with the greatest change of scenery just across the border.

2026-2027 dates and opening hours of the Christmas market

The tourist office Donostia San Sebastián Turismoa lists the 2026-2027 edition from 1 December 2026 to 6 January 2027, from 10:30am to 2pm and from 4:30pm to 8:30pm, with free entry. The office put this notice online in April 2026, without a programme: reread it before you come.

The 2025-2026 edition ran from 28 November 2025 to 6 January 2026, with the same hours. The Ayuntamiento (the city council) organises the market; in 2025 it switched on the city’s lights on 28 November at 7:30pm, the day of the opening. The date of the 2026 switch-on had not been published as of 12 October 2026.

Chalets on the paseo del Urumea, plaza Ramón Labayen and plaza Cataluña

The chalets occupy the paseo del Urumea, the promenade along the right bank of the river, south of the station, and the neighbouring plaza Ramón Labayen. The tourist office describes stalls of Christmas goods and crafts, a musical programme and activities for children, with an ice rink and rides set up around the market in 2025. The craft market on the plaza Cataluña, further north in the Gros district, completes the picture. In 2022, the chalets still stood on the nearby paseo de Francia: older guides give that address.

In 2023, the city council announced 64 chalets, 40 on the paseo del Urumea and 24 on the plaza Ramón Labayen, against 57 the year before. The market’s appeal lies in its setting along the river, in its programme and in the Feria de Santo Tomás, which falls in the middle of the season.

The Feria de Santo Tomás, on 21 December

The Feria de Santo Tomás takes place every year on 21 December, in San Sebastián as in Bilbao. In 2026 it falls on a Monday, from 10am to 8pm, with free entry, organised by Donostia Kultura (the city’s cultural body, which runs the festivals department) and the Ayuntamiento. It marks the start of Christmas in the Basque Country. On that day the city “turns into a rural market”: the stalls sell txistorra (fresh grilled chorizo) tucked into a talo (corn flatbread), cider, cheese, txakoli, rosquillas, honey, pastries, fruit and vegetables, and crafts. The fair also shows farm animals, and the bertsolaris (improvising poets), the trikitilaris (accordionists) and the txalapartaris (txalaparta players) liven up the squares.

In 2024, according to the Basque news agency Orain, Donostia Festak counted 162 stalls, including 42 txistorra stalls run by schools and associations, 26 of crafts, 17 of talo, 15 of cheese and dairy products and 12 of pastries, plus cured meats, honey, bread, cider, fruit and vegetables. The stalls spread between the plaza de la Constitución, heart of the festivities in the Parte Vieja, the plazas Gipuzkoa, Okendo and Zuloaga, the Boulevard and pedestrian streets. That same year, the sow Kaxilda, a Duroc cross of around 400 kilos, occupied her pen on the square.

The 2025 report published by Donostia Kultura gives the typical programme: fruit and vegetable competition (Memorial José Salaberria), 29th Euskal Herria txistorra competition, honey, scarecrow and baserritarra (Basque farmer) costume competitions, gastronomy competition, women’s hand pelota, women’s Copa de Oro of aizkolaris (wood chopping) on the plaza de la Trinidad, children’s games on the plaza Zuloaga. The city has served drinks in reusable cups since 2004: 45,000 made available in 2025, 27,000 used, on a rainy day. Donostia Kultura publishes each edition’s programme at donostiakultura.eus/festak.

Lights, Ferris wheel, nativity scene and Olentzero

In 2025, the city lit close to 100 streets, according to the tourist office: the façades of the María Cristina and Londres y de Inglaterra hotels, of the Victoria Eugenia theatre and of La Perla, a “rain of stars” on the avenida de la Libertad, a 20-metre tree at Reina Regente, a ceiling of light on calle Loiola, a glowing sphere on the Zurriola and cubes set on the Urumea. The Ferris wheel in the Alderdi Eder gardens, in front of the city hall, stood 32 metres tall in 2025 and looks out over the bay of La Concha.

The nativity scene on the plaza de Gipuzkoa has occupied the garden since 1957, the work of Rafael Munoa and José Luis Usabiaga with the Asociación Belenística de Gipuzkoa. On 24 December, Olentzero, the charcoal burner who brings the presents on Christmas Eve in Basque tradition, roams the city with Mari Domingi; in 2025 the day ran from 10:30am to 7pm, with free entry. On 5 January, the Three Kings tour the neighbourhoods, receive children at the city hall, then parade through the centre.

Getting to the San Sebastián Christmas market from France

The train is the simplest way from the Basque coast: SNCF train to Hendaye (TGV from Paris), then the “Topo”, Euskotren’s E2 line, which leaves from Hendaye station and reaches the centre of San Sebastián. Check the timetables on euskotren.eus before you set off. The Adif station (Estación del Norte), a few minutes’ walk from the paseo del Urumea, receives Renfe trains from Madrid and Barcelona, and the Cercanías to Irun.

Four airports lie within a radius of just over 100 km, according to the tourist office: San Sebastián (Hondarribia, 20 km away, flights from Madrid and Barcelona), Biarritz (45 km), Bilbao (105 km) and Vitoria (100 km); Biarritz and Bilbao are linked to the city by direct buses. The bus station, 1 paseo Federico García Lorca, is served by coaches from Bayonne, Biarritz and Paris.

• The Bayonne Christmas market and the one in Saint-Jean-de-Luz combine with San Sebastián over a single weekend on the Basque coast.
• Our page of Christmas markets in Spain brings together the country’s listings, from Barcelona to Vigo.