Villefranche-sur-Saône Christmas Market

In the heart of Beaujolais, half an hour from Lyon, the Villefranche-sur-Saône Christmas market sets up on Place des Arts, the large esplanade alongside Rue Nationale. From the first days of December, the Beaujolais capital brings out its garlands, wooden chalets and ice rink, against a backdrop of the Renaissance façades the town is known for. People come for the village atmosphere as much as for tasting the Beaujolais crus and local specialities. Villefranche fully embraces its role as a lively sub-prefecture of the Rhône: a town where it’s easy to walk from one spot to the next, and where wine is part of the scenery as much as everyday life.

A Christmas village on Place des Arts

The event takes place on Place des Arts, a central esplanade that hosts the town’s Christmas village every winter. For the 2025 edition, it ran from 6 December to 4 January, with a 300 m² rink of natural ice as its centrepiece, at a single price of €6 for everyone. Around it, a carousel, a trampoline and pony rides keep families busy, while the chalets display crafts, treats and gift ideas. Natural ice is a detail that matters: it gives skating a different feel and sound from a synthetic rink, and children happily spend a good hour on it.

For the carousel, allow €2 a ride or €10 for six, and the trampoline welcomes children over three for €5 a session. Pony rides are offered at weekends in December between 2pm and 6.30pm, plus a few weekday slots around the holidays. The programme is clearly designed for families, with enough to fill an afternoon without breaking the bank. Between activities, the craft stalls let you tick off part of your gift list: jewellery, soaps, wooden objects, tree decorations.

The bandstand on the square also hosts Christmas story readings run by a local association, a calm moment younger children love in the late afternoon. The town also goes big on lights. Three-dimensional light decorations adorn Rue Nationale, Place des Arts and the Rond des Chantiers, turning a stroll into a trail of lights from late afternoon. A craft market bringing together local producers and makers completes the programme over one weekend in December, with plenty of exhibitors from Beaujolais and the surrounding area. It’s the perfect moment to leave with a basket full of farm produce, cheeses and bottles to open over the holidays.

Beaujolais wines and local specialities

Villefranche has been the capital of Beaujolais since the early 16th century, and you can taste it in the glass. At the market, winegrowers from the nearby crus pour their wines: Morgon, Fleurie, Brouilly, and of course Beaujolais Nouveau, still in the air a few weeks after its release in mid-November. Mulled wine in hand, you drift from chalet to chalet without hurrying. To recreate the atmosphere at home, a homemade mulled wine recipe does the trick nicely, with a light red base that recalls the local Gamay.

Each Beaujolais cru has its own character. Morgon ages well and gains depth, Fleurie is all finesse and floral aromas, and Brouilly stays supple and easy to drink young. In December, several estates offer tastings in their cellars or at the market, a chance to talk with the people who make the wine. If you plan to take some home, the vaulted cellars of the town centre and the wine shops on Rue Nationale add to what the village offers.

On the plate, the region stands up for hearty cooking. Andouillette and tablier de sapeur (breaded, pan-fried tripe) lead the way, quenelles in Nantua sauce recall how close Lyon is, and crispy bugnes go with coffee. Pink praline colours the tarts and the praline brioches sold at bakeries in the centre. Enough to fill a gap between stalls. Waffles, roasted chestnuts and artisan chocolates complete the village’s food offering, with a few savoury stalls for those who prefer a tartiflette or a hot soup.

Practical information for visiting the Villefranche-sur-Saône Christmas market

The dates of the 2026 edition have not yet been officially confirmed. Based on previous years, the village opens in early December and stays until around Epiphany. In 2025, entry to the chalets and activities was free, with a ticket needed only for paid attractions (€6 ice rink, carousel, trampoline, ponies). 2026 hours are still to be confirmed: in 2025, the village was open daily 2pm-7.30pm, closed on 25 December and 1 January, and closing early at 5.30pm on 24 and 31 December.

• Location: Place des Arts, right in the town centre, a few steps from Rue Nationale and the collegiate church.
• By train: Villefranche-sur-Saône station on the Lyon-Mâcon line, under 10 minutes’ walk from Place des Arts, with frequent TER regional trains from Lyon.
• By car: A6 motorway exit, car parks in the town centre and on the outskirts; weekdays are best to avoid the weekend crowds.
• Budget: allow €10-25 for a visit with a few tastings and a family activity, a little more if you combine the ice rink and ponies.
• Accessibility: Place des Arts is flat and step-free, suitable for pushchairs and wheelchairs, with wide aisles between the chalets.

If you’re coming with children, aim for mid-afternoon: the lights come on, the ice rink is in full swing and pony rides run at weekends in December. Allow one to two hours to go round at a relaxed pace, a bit more if the children want to try every activity. The Villefranche market fits nicely into a trip around the region, between the Lyon Christmas market and the one in Mâcon, both less than an hour away. A weekend is enough to combine all three if you feel like hopping between towns.

A Renaissance setting and a Gothic collegiate church

What gives Villefranche its character is Rue Nationale and its Renaissance houses. This long shopping street, laid out along a medieval road, hides inner courtyards and 16th-century mansions behind its façades, counted among the town’s treasures. The houses follow the same logic inherited from the Middle Ages: a narrow but very deep plot, because tax was calculated on the width facing the street. Behind the first building on the street comes an inner courtyard, then a second building linked floor by floor by wooden or stone galleries. A signposted trail helps you spot the finest ones, with spiral staircases and Italian-style loggias few passers-by would suspect. Beneath, a network of vaulted cellars recalls the days when wine was kept cool there, some still in use today, others open to visitors by appointment.

Two minutes from the chalets, the Collégiale Notre-Dame des Marais raises its Flamboyant Gothic spire, bristling with surprising gargoyles. Its façade was completed in the 16th century and its bell tower, rebuilt in the 19th, rises to more than 80 metres. Lit up in December, it serves as a landmark for anyone walking up Rue Nationale from the Saône. The river runs along the eastern edge of town and completes the picture of a winter break in the Rhône, with its landscaped banks and bridges over to the opposite bank, in the Ain.

Exploring the Beaujolais des Pierres Dorées

Villefranche makes a good base for exploring the vineyards, and the Christmas market is a good reason to stay for a weekend. West of the town lies the Pierres Dorées country, the corner of Beaujolais where villages are built from an ochre limestone that turns honey-coloured as soon as the winter sun catches it. The wine route starts from Villefranche station and links a string of hilltop villages: Charnay and its 17th-century château, Theizé, Chessy, then Oingt, a fortified medieval village listed among the most beautiful villages in France, overlooking the Azergues valley.

In December, these villages slow right down, but their cobbled lanes and views over the vines keep all their charm under a cold sky. Several Pierres Dorées estates open their cellars for tastings, and some hold their own small Christmas market over a weekend, often run by local winegrowers. It’s a chance to meet craftspeople based in the stone houses, taste a Gamay by the fireside and leave with a few bottles for the holidays. Allow around thirty minutes’ drive from Villefranche to reach the heart of the area, a little more if you make lots of stops.

To plan the outing, the simplest option is to set off early in the morning, see two or three villages during the day, then head back to Villefranche in the late afternoon to finish among the lit-up chalets of Place des Arts. Cyclists will also find signposted loops through vines and hamlets from the town, rideable when there’s no frost. And if you’d rather go further, the Bourg-en-Bresse Christmas market is just across the Saône, in the neighbouring Ain, about forty minutes’ drive away. Between markets, vineyard tastings and walks through the golden-stone villages, the region is made for a long winter weekend without ever driving far.