When do Christmas markets open in Germany in 2026?

Most German Christmas markets open in the week after Totensonntag, which falls on Sunday 22 November in 2026, and 43 of the 65 German markets in our files open between Monday 23 and Saturday 28 November. A smaller group opens earlier in November, with Cologne's harbour market first on 13 November, and most of the early starters close again for Totensonntag itself. We read each market's 2026 dates from the organizer or the tourism board on 10 October 2026, and the counts below are computed from those files with the season engine behind the what's open on a date page.

Rule the market follows	Day in 2026	German markets on this rule	Examples
Friday before Advent 1	Fri 27 Nov	12	Nuremberg, Würzburg, Seiffen, Bautzen
Monday after Totensonntag	Mon 23 Nov	11	Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Augsburg, Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt
Friday before Totensonntag	Fri 20 Nov	8	Munich, Aachen, Rothenburg, Trier
Tuesday after Totensonntag	Tue 24 Nov	7	Leipzig, Bamberg, Passau, Wiesbaden
Thursday before Advent 1	Thu 26 Nov	4	Mainz, Baden-Baden
Wednesday before Advent 1	Wed 25 Nov	3	Dresden (all three of its markets in our files)
Monday before Totensonntag	Mon 16 Nov	3	Cologne Cathedral, Markt der Engel
Thursday before Totensonntag	Thu 19 Nov	3	Düsseldorf, Freiburg
Another rule	13 Nov to 11 Dec	10	Stuttgart, Bonn, Görlitz, Tübingen
No fixed rule	Varies	4	Berlin's Rotes Rathaus, Dresden's Neumarkt

Why does Totensonntag decide the opening day?

Totensonntag decides it because the German states protect that Sunday as a quiet day. The name means Sunday of the dead, and it is the last Sunday before Advent, so in 2026 it lands on 22 November, a week before the first Advent Sunday on 29 November. Each state's holiday law limits public events that day, and North Rhine-Westphalia names markets outright and bans them from 05:00 to 18:00. Many cities wait and open on the Monday or Tuesday after.

The rest of the calendar hangs off Christmas Eve. Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, with Totensonntag one week earlier, so every rule in the table shifts with the weekday 24 December falls on. That is why Nuremberg opened on 28 November in 2025 and opens on 27 November in 2026. The Sunday guide goes through each state's law, with its statute and how sure our reading is.

When does each city's market open in 2026?

The table gives the main market in each city we cover, plus Cologne's and Berlin's other big ones, in order of opening. A base town is the town page a market belongs to, so the Ravenna Gorge sits under Freiburg and Monschau under Aachen. The full European table lists all 65 German markets.

Market	Base town	Opens	Closes	Rule	Status
Cologne Harbour Christmas Market	Cologne	Fri 13 Nov	Sun 3 Jan 2027	Second Friday before Totensonntag	Announced
CentrO Christmas Market (Oberhausen)	Oberhausen	Fri 13 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Second Friday before Totensonntag	Projected
Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market	Cologne	Mon 16 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Monday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Bonn Christmas Market	Bonn	Wed 18 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Wednesday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Dusseldorf Christmas Markets	Dusseldorf	Thu 19 Nov	Wed 30 Dec	Thursday before Totensonntag	Announced
Freiburg Christmas Market	Freiburg	Thu 19 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Thursday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Aachen Christmas Market	Aachen	Fri 20 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Friday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Bernkastel-Kues Christmas Market	Bernkastel-Kues	Fri 20 Nov	Sun 20 Dec	Friday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Koblenz Christmas Market	Koblenz	Fri 20 Nov	Sun 3 Jan 2027	Friday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Munich Christkindlmarkt	Munich	Fri 20 Nov	Thu 24 Dec	Friday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Rothenburg Reiterlesmarkt	Rothenburg ob der Tauber	Fri 20 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Friday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Trier Christmas Market	Trier	Fri 20 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Friday before Totensonntag	Confirmed
Augsburg Christkindlesmarkt	Augsburg	Mon 23 Nov	Thu 24 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Christmas Market at Charlottenburg Palace	Berlin	Mon 23 Nov	Sun 27 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
WeihnachtsZauber Gendarmenmarkt	Berlin	Mon 23 Nov	Thu 31 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Announced
Berliner Weihnachtszeit at the Rotes Rathaus	Berlin	Mon 23 Nov	Sun 3 Jan 2027	No fixed rule	Confirmed
Heinzels Wintermarchen (Cologne Old Town)	Cologne	Mon 23 Nov	Sun 10 Jan 2027	Monday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Dinkelsbuhl Christmas Market	Dinkelsbuhl	Mon 23 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Frankfurt Christmas Market	Frankfurt	Mon 23 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Heidelberg Christmas Market	Heidelberg	Mon 23 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Potsdamer Weihnachtszauber	Potsdam	Mon 23 Nov	Sun 27 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Announced
Regensburg Christkindlmarkt	Regensburg	Mon 23 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Monday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Bamberg Christmas Market	Bamberg	Tue 24 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Tuesday after Totensonntag	Announced
Esslingen Medieval and Christmas Market	Esslingen	Tue 24 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Tuesday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Freiberg Christmarkt	Freiberg	Tue 24 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Tuesday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Leipzig Christmas Market	Leipzig	Tue 24 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Tuesday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Ludwigsburg Baroque Christmas Market	Ludwigsburg	Tue 24 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Tuesday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Passau Christmas Market at the Cathedral	Passau	Tue 24 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Tuesday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Wiesbaden Sternschnuppenmarkt	Wiesbaden	Tue 24 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Tuesday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Dresden Striezelmarkt	Dresden	Wed 25 Nov	Thu 24 Dec	Wednesday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Stuttgart Christmas Market	Stuttgart	Wed 25 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Wednesday after Totensonntag	Confirmed
Baden-Baden Christkindelsmarkt	Baden-Baden	Thu 26 Nov	Wed 6 Jan 2027	Thursday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market	Freiburg	Thu 26 Nov	Sun 20 Dec	Thursday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Lindau Harbour Christmas Market	Lindau	Thu 26 Nov	Sun 20 Dec	Thursday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Mainz Christmas Market	Mainz	Thu 26 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Thursday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Monschau Christmas Market	Aachen	Fri 27 Nov	Sun 20 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Annaberg Christmas Market	Annaberg-Buchholz	Fri 27 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Bautzen Wenzelsmarkt	Bautzen	Fri 27 Nov	Tue 22 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Gengenbach Adventsmarkt	Gengenbach	Fri 27 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Announced
Michelstadt Christmas Market	Michelstadt	Fri 27 Nov	Sun 20 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt	Nuremberg	Fri 27 Nov	Thu 24 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Seiffen Christmas Market	Seiffen	Fri 27 Nov	Sun 20 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Wurzburg Christmas Market	Wurzburg	Fri 27 Nov	Wed 23 Dec	Friday before Advent 1	Confirmed
Gorlitz Silesian Christkindel Market	Gorlitz	Fri 4 Dec	Sun 20 Dec	Friday before Advent 2	Confirmed
Tubingen Christmas Market	Tubingen	Fri 11 Dec	Sun 13 Dec	Friday before Advent 3	Confirmed

One run in this table is projected. The CentrO Christmas Market (Oberhausen) follows its rule, because a listings portal calls the 13 November opening provisional and the CentrO had published nothing by 10 October. Munich has two more projected markets outside the table, the Christmas Market at the Chinese Tower and the Munich Residenz Christmas Village, and both follow their 2025 pattern.

Which markets open before Totensonntag, and what happens that Sunday?

Eighteen German markets in our files open before 22 November, most of them in the Rhineland or in Munich. On Totensonntag itself, eleven of the eighteen close for the whole day, among them the Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market, the Munich Christkindlmarkt, the Freiburg Christmas Market and the Rothenburg Reiterlesmarkt.

Two of them come back in the evening. The Aachen Christmas Market and the Cologne Harbour Christmas Market both open from 18:00 to 21:00 that day, once the state's ban ends. The other five list no closure for that Sunday in their files, and three of those runs are projected, so read the organizer's page that week before you count on them. If you land in Germany on 22 November, plan the day around a museum or a church and save the stalls for Monday.

Has anything changed for 2026?

Munich has moved its opening. The city now starts the Munich Christkindlmarkt on the Friday before Totensonntag, which is 20 November in 2026. Until 2025 it opened on the Monday before the first Sunday of Advent. The council paper behind the change keeps the market shut on 22 November and open again on the Monday.

The Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market has confirmed 16 November to 23 December, and the work under its square still hangs over the season. The city's April 2026 release put emergency repairs in the garage under the square through to autumn 2026, and the city's tender allowed for a year without a market. We found nothing published after April that changes the dates. Book a refundable room for Cologne and look at the market page again in November.

In Dresden the city's market site and its stall tender disagree by half an hour on the opening on 25 November. The Dresden Striezelmarkt page gives 16:00 from the market site and notes the tender's 16:30.

When do German Christmas markets close?

Most German markets close on 22 or 23 December, 33 of the 65 in our files. Four keep going into Christmas Eve until 14:00: the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt, the Dresden Striezelmarkt, the Munich Christkindlmarkt and the Augsburg Christkindlesmarkt. Frankfurt finishes earlier than most, on 22 December.

Fifteen German markets run past Christmas. Heinzels Wintermarchen (Cologne Old Town) stays on the Heumarkt until 10 January 2027 after a break on 24 and 25 December, and the WeihnachtsZauber Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin carries on to New Year's Eve (announced). The Baden-Baden Christkindelsmarkt runs to 6 January 2027. The Christmas Eve page lists every market we cover that trades on 24 December, with its hours.

Quick answers

When do Christmas markets open in Germany in 2026?

Most Christmas markets in Germany open between Monday 23 and Friday 27 November 2026, in the week after Totensonntag on 22 November. Cologne, Munich, Aachen and a few other cities open earlier, between 13 and 20 November.

When does the Nuremberg Christmas market open in 2026?

The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt opens on Friday 27 November 2026 and runs to 24 December, closing at 14:00 that day. The city's market notice confirms the dates.

When does the Munich Christmas market open in 2026?

The Munich Christkindlmarkt opens on Friday 20 November 2026 and runs to 24 December (confirmed). It closes on Totensonntag, 22 November, and reopens on Monday 23 November.

When does the Cologne Christmas market open in 2026?

The Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market opens on Monday 16 November 2026 and runs to 23 December (confirmed). It closes for Totensonntag on 22 November. Cologne's harbour market opens first, on 13 November (announced).

What is Totensonntag?

Totensonntag means Sunday of the dead, and it is the last Sunday before Advent, which puts it on 22 November in 2026. German state holiday laws protect it as a quiet day, so many Christmas markets wait until after it to open or close for that day.

Are German Christmas markets open on Christmas Eve?

A few German Christmas markets open on the morning of 24 December 2026. The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt, the Dresden Striezelmarkt, the Munich Christkindlmarkt and the Augsburg Christkindlesmarkt close at 14:00 that day, and most others have already ended on 22 or 23 December.