Warsaw Christmas Market

The Warsaw Christmas market comes in two parts. The historic old town market occupies the Międzymurze Piotra Biegańskiego, the strip of land that runs along the city walls between Castle Square and the Barbican; in 2025, it opened from 21 November 2025 to 6 January 2026, with free access. Since the 2025-2026 season, a second, much larger market has set up on plac Defilad, at the foot of the Palace of Culture and Science, with a 55 m Ferris wheel and around a hundred stalls according to the Polish press; its first edition ran from 28 November 2025 to 1 January 2026. Check the 2026 dates of both markets before you go.

Dates and opening hours: the 2025 edition as a guide

In the old town, the chalets traded Sunday to Thursday from 11am to 8pm, on Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 9.30pm. On 24 December, only a few stalls were open; on 25 and 26 December, 31 December and 1 January, the market welcomed visitors from noon to 9.30pm.

On plac Defilad, the market opened Monday to Thursday and on Sundays from 11am to 9pm, on Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 10pm; on 24 December from 10am to 4pm, on 25 and 26 December from noon to 9pm, on 31 December from 11am to 9pm and on 1 January from noon to 5pm, according to RMF24 and Radio Eska. Entry to both markets is free.

Old town: grilled oscypek and Galician mulled wine

Between Castle Square and the Barbican, the chalets sell decorations, ceramics, wooden objects and jewellery. The food stalls serve grilled oscypek with cranberries, the smoked cheese of the Polish mountains, grzaniec galicyjski, a spiced mulled wine, roasted nuts, chestnuts and gingerbread. On the Old Town Market Square, a stone’s throw away, an ice rink surrounded the Mermaid statue in 2025, according to the PIK Warszawa portal.

Plac Defilad: Ferris wheel, carousel and open-air cinema

The plac Defilad market, held under the honorary patronage of the Mayor of Warsaw, plays the funfair card: a 55 m Ferris wheel, which the press presents as the tallest in Poland, a Venetian carousel, a Santa’s house, a 14 m Christmas-tree carousel, a stage, and an open-air cinema on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The press counts around a hundred stalls and some forty food outlets.

The palace can be seen from afar: the market occupies the modern centre of the city, around 2 km from the old town.

Getting to the Warsaw Christmas market

Several airlines serve Warsaw from Paris and France, Brussels, Geneva, Zurich, London, Madrid and Rome, to Chopin Airport or to Modlin: compare flights and the arrival airport when you book, some routes are seasonal.

In the city, the old town and plac Defilad are around 2 km apart: both markets can be done in the same day, on foot or by public transport. To continue through central Europe, the Prague Christmas market, the Budapest Christmas market, open from 13 November 2026 to 1 January 2027, and the Vienna Christmas market, from 13 November to 26 December 2026, each have their own listing; our page of Christmas markets in the Czech Republic brings together the listings of the neighbouring country.