Zwolle Christmas Market

The Zwolle Christmas market takes place on the Grote Kerkplein, the square of the great church in the capital of Overijssel, in the middle of the Museumkwartier. The 2026 dates have not yet been published; in 2025, the Zwolsche Kerstmarkt occupied the square on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 December, from 11am to 5pm, during the WinterWarmte festival and the Winters Zwolle winter programme. Two days of stalls, choirs and workshops: the format is that of a town get-together, sized for a stop between Amsterdam and the north of the country.

The Zwolle Christmas market on the Grote Kerkplein

The Visit Zwolle listings announce “dozens of stalls” of Christmas products, crafts and creations by Zwolle makers, with demonstrations, small workshops, choirs and bands. The exact number of stalls is not published. The market is part of the WinterWarmte festival, organised by Gastvrij Zwolle; Visit Zwolle publishes its listing under the title “Kerstmarkt in het hart van de stad”, the Christmas market in the heart of the city, and entry was free in 2025.

WinterWarmte, Peperbus Winterlicht and the light trail: winter 2025

The market is one piece of a larger whole. In 2025, Winters Zwolle ran from 8 December to 4 January 2026: the WinterWarmte festival occupied the Grote Kerkplein from 12 to 23 December, the Peperbus tower received the Peperbus Winterlicht projections from 11 to 27 December, and the Lichtbeeldenroute, a trail of light artworks, crossed the city from 8 December to 4 January. The 2026 programme is to be followed on visitzwolle.com; the dates of the market itself remain to be confirmed.

Practical details and getting there from France

• When: 2026 dates to be confirmed; in 2025, Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 December, from 11am to 5pm.
• Where: Grote Kerkplein, 8011 PK Zwolle, in the Museumkwartier.
• How much: free entry in 2025.
• Train: Eurostar Paris-Nord, Brussels-Midi, Rotterdam, Schiphol, Amsterdam Centraal in 3h20, around ten direct departures a day, then an NS train from Amsterdam to Zwolle; the station is less than a kilometre south of the square.
• Car: 553 km and about 6h30 from Paris, 337 km and about 4 hours from Lille, 596 km and about 6h10 from Strasbourg, without traffic.
• Nearby: the Dickens Festijn in Deventer, the Elburg Christmas market and, for the journey, the Amsterdam Christmas market.

With two days of opening in 2025, the market lends itself to a stopover rather than a stay: Deventer and Elburg give you enough to fill the rest of the weekend, and the train settles the question of parking in the centre.