When is Lyon's Festival of Lights in 2026?

Lyon's Fête des Lumières runs for four nights from Saturday 5 to Tuesday 8 December 2026, and the City of Lyon has confirmed both the dates and the nightly hours on the festival's own site. The installations light up from 19:00 to 23:00, except on Sunday 6 December, when they run from 18:00 to 22:00. Entry is free and needs no ticket.

We compiled this guide from the City of Lyon's festival and market pages and the Fourvière sanctuary's own pages, read on 10 October 2026. Each date says whether the organizer has confirmed it, a tourism or news page has announced it, or we projected it from the feast day because nothing is published yet. The 2026 programme of works and sites comes out in early November, so the artists named below are from the 2025 edition.

What	2026 date	Status	Hours	Catch
Fête des Lumières	Sat 5–Tue 8 Dec	Confirmed by the City of Lyon	19:00–23:00; Sun 6 Dec 18:00–22:00	About 2 million visitors over the four nights
Lumignons in the windows	Tue 8 Dec	Confirmed as the festival's last night	From dusk	A private custom in people's homes, with no route or programme
Procession to Fourvière	Tue 8 Dec	Projected; the 2026 times are unpublished	Left Saint-Jean at 18:30 in 2024 and 2025	The old town is packed on the festival's last night
Christmas market, Place Carnot	Fri 20 Nov–Thu 24 Dec	Confirmed by the City of Lyon	Mon–Thu 11:00–20:00, Fri 11:00–22:00, Sat 10:30–22:00, Sun 10:30–20:00	Closes early on the four festival nights

What are the hours of the Fête des Lumières in 2026?

The festival opens at 19:00 and closes at 23:00 on Saturday 5, Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 December 2026. Sunday 6 December starts and ends an hour earlier, from 18:00 to 22:00, which suits families with young children. A single work's own page can set different times, and the city publishes the full programme with every site and its hours on fetedeslumieres.lyon.fr in early November. Paper copies reach the festival information points in late November.

Every edition from 2023 to 2026 takes in 8 December, and the weekdays move from year to year. The 2025 edition ran Friday 5 to Monday 8 December, and 2024 ran Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 December. The City of Lyon pays for the festival with public and private partners. The 2025 edition held 23 works across 20 sites and included the festival's first drone show.

Why does Lyon light candles on 8 December?

The custom dates to 8 December 1852, when Lyon inaugurated a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary on Fourvière hill. A flood on the Saône had already pushed the ceremony back from 8 September. Bad weather threatened again that evening, and when the sky cleared, the people of Lyon put candles in their windows and lit up the city. The date already mattered in Lyon, because in 1643, with plague threatening, the city's aldermen had vowed to honour the Virgin every year if Lyon was spared. 8 December is the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception, and it is a working day in France.

Many Lyonnais still set lumignons (small candles in glass) on their windowsills every 8 December. Look up at the apartment windows as you walk between sites on Tuesday 8 December 2026. The city began lighting its monuments under its Plan Lumière in 1989, ran its first four-night festival around the 8th in 1999 and took the name Fête des Lumières in 2000.

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière keeps the religious side of the night. The 8 December procession is an act of worship led by the Catholic diocese of Lyon, and it climbs from Saint-Jean cathedral in Vieux Lyon up to the basilica. It left Saint-Jean at 18:30 in both 2024 and 2025, and in 2025 Archbishop Olivier de Germay presided at the youth Mass at 20:00. The sanctuary had not published its 2026 times on 10 October, so check fourviere.org in November. If you are watching and not walking, stand at the side and keep the route clear. In 2025 visitors could also set a lumignon on the basilica's esplanade to light a large dove of peace, and the donations went to a Catholic charity for migrants.

Who made the installations?

Every installation is an artwork by a named artist or studio, and the festival credits each one on its own page. These were the main 2025 works. The 2026 line-up is due in early November.

Site (2025)	Work	Artist
Place des Terreaux	Le lundi c'est raviolis !	Tigrelab
Cathédrale Saint-Jean	Lumina	László Zsolt Bordos
Gare Saint-Paul	Nouvelle Vague	Svitlana Reinish, Panagiotis Tomaras and Vali Chincișan
Quai des Célestins (view of Fourvière)	Les Malles Persanes	Thierry Pierras
Basilique de Fourvière	Région des Lumières à Fourvière	Les Allumeurs de Rêves (director Gilbert Coudène) with Étienne Guiol
Place Antonin-Poncet	Le jardin de lumière	Orel and Olivier Davy
Place de la République	Astralys	Philippe Morvan
Place de la Bourse	Insight	Johan Corrèze
Place d'Albon	Onion Skin	Thomas Vaquié and Olivier Ratsi
Parc de la Tête d'Or	Post Idols and Journey of a Lamp Post	Pitaya

Place des Terreaux hosts a work every year. It is the busiest site and takes around a million visitors across the four nights. Le jardin de lumière on Place Antonin-Poncet was made for children and families. The Fourvière projection ran again from 26 to 31 December 2025, which gave anyone who missed the festival a second chance to see it.

When is the Lyon Christmas market open in 2026?

The Lyon Christmas market on Place Carnot runs from Friday 20 November to Thursday 24 December 2026. The City of Lyon published those dates and the hours in its call for charity stallholders on 30 September 2026, and Visiter Lyon still listed them as provisional on 10 October. More than 100 chalets sell decorations, toys and jewellery beside regional jams, honey, chestnuts, pain d'épice, foie gras and wine, and the city lends some of its own chalets to charities and to makers with its Fabriqué à Lyon label.

The market closes early on all four festival nights, at a time the city or the prefecture sets later. In 2025 that was 18:00 on most festival nights and 17:00 on the Sunday. Shop before the chalets close, then walk north up the Presqu'île to the light installations. Place Carnot sits right outside Perrache station and its metro line A stop.

How do you get around the Fête des Lumières crowds?

Stay on the Presqu'île (the strip of central Lyon between the Rhône and the Saône) and walk. Most festival sites lie within walking distance of a hotel there, and you can go back in to warm up between shows. Book that room early, because the organizer counts about 2 million visitors over the four nights.

Leave bags at the hotel. In 2025 bags slowed the security checks at the Parc de la Tête d'Or, where luggage was banned. That year the park opened its gates an hour before the shows and took its last entries an hour before the end. It closes in bad weather. Takeaway alcohol and glass are banned inside the whole festival perimeter.

Holders of the French Carte Mobilité Inclusion get priority queues, dedicated entrances, reduced-mobility parking and adapted routes. About 3,000 disabled visitors used them in 2025, and the 2026 details go up on the festival's Handi-accueil page from 4 November. For a proper meal before the crowds build, cross the Rhône to the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse at 102 cours Lafayette. The market hall sits five minutes on foot from Part-Dieu station, and its oyster counters serve until 22:00 from Monday to Saturday.

Quick answers

When is the Fête des Lumières in 2026?

The Fête des Lumières runs from Saturday 5 to Tuesday 8 December 2026, and the City of Lyon has confirmed the dates. The installations run 19:00 to 23:00, and 18:00 to 22:00 on Sunday 6 December.

Do you need a ticket for Lyon's Festival of Lights?

No. The Fête des Lumières is free and needs no ticket. The City of Lyon funds it with public and private partners.

Why is the Fête des Lumières on 8 December?

The Fête des Lumières grew from 8 December 1852, when Lyon inaugurated the statue of the Virgin Mary on Fourvière hill and residents lit candles in their windows. 8 December is the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Is the Lyon Christmas market open during the Fête des Lumières?

Yes. The Place Carnot Christmas market opens on the festival days from 5 to 8 December 2026 and closes early, at a time the city or prefecture sets. In 2025 it closed at 18:00, and at 17:00 on the festival Sunday.

When is the 2026 Fête des Lumières programme published?

The City of Lyon publishes the 2026 Fête des Lumières programme in early November on fetedeslumieres.lyon.fr. Paper copies reach the information points in late November.