Bamberg Christmas Market

Bamberg's market fills the Maxplatz and runs down the pedestrian zone over the Grüner Markt toward the Obstmarkt. The tourism service lists the 2026 run from Tuesday 24 November to Wednesday 23 December, with the mayor opening it at 18:00 on the first evening. Wooden stalls sell toys and tree decorations. Bratwurst and Lebkuchen stalls stand between them, and there's Glühwein to keep your hands warm.

Bamberg calls itself a Krippenstadt, a city of nativity cribs, and the cribs are the reason to give it a day. The tourism service says the passion for crib-building goes back about 400 years to the Jesuits. Many church cribs here change through the season, following the story from the Annunciation through the childhood of Jesus to the wedding at Cana. The Großkrippe on the Schönleinsplatz stands with life-size figures in a half-timbered house, and the Bamberger Krippenmuseum reopens in late November.

The market's hours are generous at the front of the day: it opens at 09:30 on weekdays and Saturdays and at 11:00 on Sunday. It closes at 20:00 from Sunday to Thursday and at 21:00 on Friday and Saturday. On all four Advent Saturdays in 2026 the shops around it may stay open until midnight, and the city's late shopping night falls on 19 December.