Christmas Markets in North America

Christmas markets in North America open early, from 28 October in New York and between 6 and 21 November elsewhere, and several run until 3 January 2027. Sixteen markets cover thirteen cities in the United States and three in Canada, from Seattle to Quebec City. At least half of them claim the heritage of German markets, backed by German American chambers of commerce or by families from Germany, and admission is most often free. Prices are in US dollars (USD) or Canadian dollars (CAD).

New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Bethlehem, Pittsburgh and Boston: the Christmas markets of the East Coast

The New York Christmas market is held at Bryant Park, between 40th and 42nd Streets, where the Winter Village Holiday Shops open from 28 October 2026 to 3 January 2027, from 11am to 8pm on weekdays and from 10am at weekends, free admission. The park’s ice rink is free too, skate hire apart, until 28 February 2027. Union Square and Columbus Circle, run by the same operator, have no known 2026 dates yet. Union Square was open from 13 November to 24 December 2025, with 185 vendors.

Around 150 km away, the Philadelphia Christmas market, Christmas Village, brings together more than 120 vendors at LOVE Park and in the City Hall courtyard from 21 November to 27 December 2026, with a historic double-decker carousel, a Käthe Wohlfahrt tent and mulled wine mugs whose design changes every year. Admission is free, and the market closes on Christmas Day.

The Washington DC Christmas market, the DowntownDC Holiday Market, lines up its stalls on F Street NW, in the Penn Quarter district, in front of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, from 13 November to 23 December 2026, every day except Thanksgiving. Admission is free, the 121 vendors are local artisans and makers, with no German tradition claimed, and a stage hosts concerts from Thursday to Sunday from 19 November. The stalls open at noon Monday to Thursday and at 11am Friday to Sunday, right outside Gallery Place-Chinatown metro station.

The Bethlehem Christmas market, in Pennsylvania, is ticketed: 14 USD on Thursday and Friday, 16.50 USD at weekends, free admission on Friday from 5pm to 8pm. It runs over six weekends, Friday to Sunday in November and Thursday to Sunday in December, from 13 November to 20 December 2026, under the tents of SteelStacks, at the foot of the blast furnaces of the former Bethlehem Steel works, in a town nicknamed Christmas City.

The Pittsburgh Christmas market, the Peoples Gas Holiday Market, returns to Market Square, in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 20 November to 24 December 2026, closed on Thanksgiving Day, for its 15th edition, after a 2025 edition moved to the Cultural District while the square was under construction. Alpine-style wooden chalets fill the illuminated square over five weekends, Black Friday and Light Up Night included, from 11am to 8pm Monday to Thursday, until 9:30pm on Friday and Saturday and until 6pm on Sunday, hours subject to change. The 2026 admission price remains to be confirmed.

In Boston, Snowport fills the Seaport District from 6 November to 27 December 2026: more than 125 artisans and makers, six in ten of them from New England, bars, a Christmas tree lot, free admission. A weekend skip-the-line pass costs 15 USD. It is a makers’ market more than a German market, open-air and under marquees, in its sixth season.

Chicago, Denver, Carmel and Saint Paul: the Christmas markets of the Midwest and the Rockies

The Chicago Christmas market, the Christkindlmarket on Daley Plaza, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026. German American Events, a subsidiary of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, has run it since 1996, free, in the heart of the Loop, from 20 November to 24 December 2026. The Käthe Wohlfahrt shop from Rothenburg has a permanent spot there. A second site, in Wrigleyville, runs until 31 December.

The Denver Christmas market is carried by the same family of institutions, the German American Chamber of Commerce of Colorado. It sets up on the Tivoli Quad of the Auraria Campus, 2 km from City Hall, from 20 November to 23 December 2026, free admission, with around forty stalls, a 42-foot carousel, glassblowing workshops and a heated hall, the Festival Hall, open until 10pm.

25 km north of Indianapolis, the Carmel Christmas market, in Indiana, lines up its German food and craft huts on Carter Green, between the Palladium and the Tarkington Theater, from 21 November to 24 December 2026, Wednesday to Sunday. Admission is free, the Carter Green ice rink is ticketed.

The Saint Paul Christmas market, the European Christmas Market, is the Christmas market of the Twin Cities, 16 km from Minneapolis. It opens over five weekends, Friday to Sunday, from 20 November to 20 December 2026, on the east plaza of Union Depot, free admission. The crafts come from Europe, from the region or from fair trade, and the heated tents extend Fridays and Saturdays until 10pm.

Dallas and Arlington: the Christmas market of Texas

The Dallas Christmas market is held outside the city, in Arlington, 29 km from Dallas City Hall: the Texas Christkindl Market takes over the North Plaza of Globe Life Field, the city’s stadium, from 20 to 22 November and then from 27 November to 23 December 2026, closed during Thanksgiving week. Inspired by the twinning between Arlington and the German town of Bad Königshofen, it has been running since 2011 and this is its 16th edition, with new vendors and more entertainment than the previous edition. In 2025, admission was free and the stalls opened every day from 11am to 8pm, the hours and free admission of 2026 remain to be confirmed. Parking is free in Lot B, unless otherwise stated.

Seattle and Los Angeles: the Christmas markets of the West Coast

The Seattle Christmas market is a recent market, in its fourth year, created on the model of the Vancouver Christmas Market. It fills the Seattle Center from 20 November to 26 December 2026, plus an evening on 31 December, with more than 80 artisans’ huts, a Christmas pyramid that doubles as a stage, a carousel, Glühwein and Feuerzangenbowle, and artificial snow every day. Admission is booked by 30-minute time slot, the season pass costs 31.99 USD, and children aged 6 and under get in free.

Los Angeles has no Christmas market of its own. The Los Angeles page covers the Christmas Market OC, in Huntington Beach, Orange County, 51 km from Los Angeles City Hall on the 405. It sets up in Old World Village, a Bavarian village opened in 1978 by the Bischof family, with an indoor village of Christmas shops, open every day from 15 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, and an outdoor Biergarten Wednesday to Sunday from 18 November. The admission price is not yet known. Wiener dog races take place on 15 November and 6 December.

Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto: the Christmas markets in Canada

The Montreal Christmas market plays out on two squares. The Grand Marché de Noël fills the place des Festivals, Place-des-Arts metro, from 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, with 40 huts of local artisans, more than 150 free activities and the show “Noël à Montréal”. The Village de Noël, from the same organiser, La Lutinerie, sets up on the place du Marché Atwater from 26 November to 24 December, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with 59 artisans and Santa’s office. Admission is free at both.

The Quebec City German Christmas market sets its huts on six sites in Old Quebec, a UNESCO World Heritage site, from the place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville to the place D’Youville, from 19 November to 23 December 2026, Thursday to Sunday, then every day from 21 to 23 December. Admission is free, and 125 vendors were present in 2025.

In Toronto, the Distillery Winter Village transforms the historic distillery district from 12 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, closed on Christmas Day, for its 17th year. The tree lighting opens the season on 12 November at 6pm. Admission is free before 4pm, and all day Monday to Wednesday until 13 December. At peak times, tickets cost from 16 CAD, tax extra, free up to age 9. The seasonal cabins join the district’s more than 90 permanent shops and restaurants.

Glühwein, Feuerzangenbowle and artisans’ huts: what to eat and what to bring home

Glühwein, German mulled wine, is served in Philadelphia in a souvenir mug whose design changes every year, and in Seattle alongside Feuerzangenbowle, the punch with a flaming sugarloaf. Montreal and Quebec City say vin chaud, Huntington Beach opens its outdoor Biergarten, and Bryant Park has its Lodge, a bar and food hall open from 10am to 10pm. On the plate, Carmel gathers German food huts, Denver local and European food vendors, Boston businesses from New England.

For gifts, the Käthe Wohlfahrt shop, from Rothenburg, holds a permanent spot in Chicago and a tent in Philadelphia. Montreal and Quebec City showcase Quebec artisans, Bryant Park artisans from New York and beyond, Saint Paul crafts from Europe or fair trade, and Huntington Beach reserves its stalls for handmade gifts in the German or European tradition. Washington lines up 121 local vendors, artisans and makers. In Denver, workshops teach you to make glass ornaments.

The Christmas traditions of North America you will come across at the markets

The season is set around Thanksgiving, 26 November in 2026: the markets open in the days before it, and on that Thursday Carmel, Boston, Seattle, Huntington Beach, Washington and Pittsburgh close, Arlington takes a break from 23 to 26 November, while Chicago and Denver open from 11am to 4pm and Philadelphia from 9am to 5pm. Several markets carry on past Christmas and run until 3 January 2027: Bryant Park, the Grand Marché in Montreal, Toronto and Huntington Beach, the last two closed on 25 December. On Christmas Day, Bryant Park opens from noon to 5pm and the Grand Marché in Montreal from 11am to 7pm.

The tree lighting opens the season in Toronto, on 12 November at 6pm. Ice rinks go with several markets, free at Bryant Park, ticketed at Carter Green in Carmel. Carousels turn in Philadelphia, Denver and Seattle. Philadelphia brings in the Christkind and Schuhplattler dancers, Seattle raises a Christmas pyramid, Bethlehem rents out private igloos, Toronto offers an immersive Nutcracker on a separate ticket, Pittsburgh includes Light Up Night, the city’s annual celebration, in its calendar, and Washington schedules concerts from Thursday to Sunday from 19 November.

Santa receives visitors in his castle in Quebec City, at his office at the Village de Noël in Montreal, and in the Festival Hall in Huntington Beach on Saturdays and Sundays from 2pm to 5pm. Huntington Beach adds a live Nativity on 20 December, Montreal a signature show, Bryant Park Live After Dark evenings from 19 to 24 December at 4pm, Boston a Christmas tree lot.

Getting to North America and travelling between the Christmas markets

Flights from Europe to New York, Montreal, Quebec City, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Boston, Washington, Dallas or Pittsburgh are worth comparing across airlines, direct routes and connections, before booking. Once there, the big-city markets are reached by public transport: 42 St-Bryant Park station in New York, 15th St/City Hall in Philadelphia, Gallery Place-Chinatown in Washington, Place-des-Arts and Lionel-Groulx in Montreal, Daley Plaza in the heart of the Loop in Chicago.

Several markets can be combined by car. Bethlehem is 95 km from Philadelphia and 138 km from Bryant Park, Philadelphia around 150 km from New York. Carmel is 25 km from Indianapolis, Saint Paul 16 km from Minneapolis, Huntington Beach 51 km from Los Angeles, with no direct public transport line, Arlington 29 km from Dallas City Hall. Carmel offers free parking throughout the city and weekend shuttles, Bethlehem and Old World Village free parking next door, Arlington Lot B at Globe Life Field, free unless otherwise stated. In Quebec City, leave the car on the edge of Old Quebec and finish on foot.

When to go: the 2026 calendar of Christmas markets in North America

Bryant Park opens first, on 28 October, followed by Boston on 6 November, Toronto on the 12th, Montreal, Bethlehem and Washington on the 13th, Huntington Beach on the 15th, Quebec City on the 19th, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Saint Paul, Pittsburgh and Arlington on the 20th, Carmel and Philadelphia on the 21st. Two markets open only at weekends, Bethlehem from Friday or Thursday to Sunday and Saint Paul from Friday to Sunday, Carmel closes on Monday and Tuesday, and Arlington takes a break from 23 to 26 November, between its first weekend and the rest of the season. Every weekend from 28 November to 20 December, all sixteen markets are open at the same time.

The closures are then spread out: Saint Paul and Bethlehem on 20 December, Denver, Quebec City, Washington and Arlington on the 23rd, Chicago, Carmel, Pittsburgh and the Village de Noël at Atwater on the 24th, Seattle on the 26th with an evening on the 31st, Boston and Philadelphia on the 27th, Bryant Park, the Grand Marché in Montreal, Toronto and Huntington Beach on 3 January 2027. For a trip that takes in Christmas itself, aim for New York, Montreal, Toronto or Southern California.