Vilnius Christmas Market

The Vilnius Christmas market sets up on Cathedral Square (Katedros aikštė) from 28 November to 27 December 2026, with free entry. The square’s Christmas tree is lit on 28 November at 7pm, live on the public broadcaster LRT, and its theme stays secret until that evening. In 2025, the market had 48 wooden chalets laid out as a promenade. The “Kalėdos sostinėje” (Christmas in the capital) festival is organised by Vilnius City Municipality and the Vilnius Cultural Center; in 2025, the Christmas Cities Network named Vilnius European Christmas capital.

2026 dates and programme around the square

The market is open from 28 November to 27 December 2026, from noon to 8pm Monday to Wednesday, until 9pm on Thursday and 10pm on Friday and Saturday, from 11am to 8pm on Sunday. Around the square: a two-storey carousel next to the chalets, a Christmas train through the illuminated old town from 28 November to 6 January, a charity market on Town Hall Square (Rotušės aikštė) on 28 November, a Christmas run on 5 December and the Design Square from 15 to 20 December. The Town Hall Square ice rink is also back, from 29 November 2026 to 25 January 2027. In 2025, the market was held from 29 November to 28 December.

Sweets, gingerbread and amber: what the chalets sell

The chalets sell colourful sweets, gingerbread and mulled wine, and, for gifts, scented candles, amber jewellery and handmade wooden toys. The market remains modest in size, 48 chalets in 2025; the draw of the season is the tree.

The Cathedral Square tree, a new theme every year

The Vilnius Christmas tree changes its look every year, and the City makes it its Christmas emblem. In 2025, it was a natural 16-metre spruce; in 2024, a 15-metre spruce stood inside a giant bauble made of more than 80% recycled or reusable materials; in 2023, a 16-metre spruce donated by a resident; in 2022, a birthday cake with 700 candles for the city’s 700th anniversary, celebrated in 2023; in 2019, a chess theme; in 2018, a clock. On 28 November 2026 at 7pm, the new theme is revealed at the moment of lighting.

Kūčios: the Lithuanian Christmas Eve in twelve dishes

On 24 December, the Kūčios Christmas Eve supper brings together twelve meat-free dishes, one for each month of the year to come: kūčiukai, small biscuits dipped in poppy-seed milk, herring, cranberry kisielius. The market closes on 27 December, three days after this supper.

Getting to the Vilnius Christmas market

Cathedral Square and Town Hall Square are less than a kilometre apart, in the old town. Vilnius is reached by air from Paris, Brussels, Zurich, London and Rome, direct or with a connection; compare the winter 2026-2027 routes with the airlines and on Vilnius Airport’s website, and check that the route you choose still runs in December, some are seasonal.

• On the other side of the Baltic, the Helsinki Christmas market occupies Senate Square from 27 November to 22 December 2026.
• The Stockholm Christmas market brings together Stortorget, held since 1837, and Skansen, at weekends from 27 November to 20 December 2026.
• The Copenhagen Christmas market opens on Nytorv and Gammeltorv from 6 November to 21 December 2026.