Paris at Christmas 2026: Markets, Lights and a First-Timer's Winter Plan

The avenue and the Tuileries

The Champs-Élysées Christmas Illuminations & Christmas Market (Avenue des Champs-Élysées) costs nothing and needs no ticket. The lights run nightly 17:00 to 01:00 until 3 January, and the trees twinkle on the hour and at each quarter-hour. Stand low on the avenue and the Arc de Triomphe closes the view at the top of the slope.

The market fills the lower-avenue gardens, the widest stretch of pavement on the walk. It is the first season back after 10 years away, so the opening weekend brings heavy crowds and the usual first-season teething. Come on a weeknight, once the stallholders have found their feet (€).

Marché de Noël des Tuileries (La Magie de Noël), in the Tuileries between the Louvre and the Concorde obelisk, runs 14 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, and entry is free. It is the most central of the markets and the one with the view. A hundred wooden chalets line up along the formal gravel allées, with a small ice rink and fairground rides set among the clipped trees.

The 70-metre wheel rises over the gravel, and after dark it is what you come for. Rides and the wheel are paid per person. Buy a vin chaud, queue for the wheel, and leave the craft shopping for Saint-Germain (€€).

Markets under Notre-Dame and along Boulevard Saint-Germain

Marché de Noël de Notre-Dame (Square René Viviani, Left Bank) is a small grid of white-canvas chalets in a walled garden, with the flying buttresses and the reopened west front of the cathedral standing directly across the Seine arm. The stalls sell French crafts and regional food, and since the cathedral reopened this is the shortest market walk to its doors. It runs 26 November to 27 December 2026, shutting before New Year while the bigger markets carry on.

Entry is free. The site is physically tight: split a group of more than 15 into twos and threes, and eat somewhere with room (€€).

Marché de Noël de Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Boulevard Saint-Germain, beside Square Félix Desruelles) strings 40 chalets along the central reservation, with the squat Romanesque bell tower of the abbey church lit behind them. It has traded for more than 20 years. More craft here, less fairground than the Tuileries.

The run is 27 November 2026 to 6 January 2027, the longest of any central Paris market, and the chalets are still trading at Epiphany when the others have packed up. The cafés behind it, Deux Magots and Flore, will not take a large walk-in, so book a table ahead (€€).

The quay under the Eiffel Tower

Village de Noël de la Tour Eiffel (Quai Jacques-Chirac) sets its chalets on the riverside quay directly under the tower's south-east leg, with iron latticework filling the sky above the stall roofs and the wake of the bateaux-mouches on the water opposite. No other market in the city gets you a photograph like it, and the walk-through is free.

The dates, 5 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, have been flagged as provisional by the operator. Reconfirm them before you build a trip around the village. The quay narrows at the tower end, and the open ground towards Pont de l'Alma is where you can stand still (€€).

La Défense and the Alsatian stalls at Gare de l'Est

Marché de Noël de Paris La Défense (the esplanade below the Grande Arche) is the biggest market in Île-de-France and the earliest to open, trading 12 November to 31 December 2026, with the 'Le Sommet' festive zone going on to 3 January 2027. Between 300 and 400 red-and-white chalets pack the concrete pedestrian esplanade, the hollow square of the Grande Arche and mirrored office towers rising straight above the stall roofs.

An ice rink and food halls sit among them, and entry is free. RER A and Metro 1 drop you on top of it. The skyscraper setting is the opposite of picture-postcard Paris, so decide how you feel about that before you ride out (€).

Marché de Noël Alsacien de la Gare de l'Est (rue d'Alsace side of the station forecourt) is 15 producer stalls, kouglof rings and bredele tins stacked under awnings against the 19th-century train-shed façade. It trades 2 to 18 December 2026 only, the shortest window of the season. Hours are 09:00 to 19:30, and 10:00 to 19:00 on Sundays. On 16 December it closes at 18:00.

The producers bring kouglof, mannele and bredele, Munster and potato pancakes. Buy and carry it away: Strasbourg's larder without the train (€).

Christmas windows and two rooftop rinks

Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann (Boulevard Haussmann) hangs a giant Christmas tree beneath the stained-glass Art Nouveau dome, tiered balconies curving around it. No interior in Paris is photographed more at Christmas. Go before 11:00 or forget the shot.

The animated windows along Boulevard Haussmann carry 'Au cœur de Noël' by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, 12 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. Windows and dome tree are free in store hours. The small open-air rink on the roof terrace faces the Eiffel Tower and runs 24 November to 3 January. It is €16 for an adult and €7.50 for a child, skates included. Those are 2025 rates, so reconfirm. Slots are timed and capacity is limited (€€).

Printemps Haussmann (Boulevard Haussmann) knitted and crocheted its windows this year for 'Un Noël bien tricoté', with 160 hand-embroidered cats, mice and wool balls behind the glass. The inauguration moved from 5 November as a precaution over Paris demonstrations, and the official site now points to 10 November 2026. Check that date before you make the trip. Viewing from the pavement is free.

The rooftop rink is 105 m² of synthetic ice on the 7th-floor terrace, with the Eiffel Tower on the skyline. It runs 7 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. Hours are 13:00 to 19:00 and the minimum age is 6. Skating is free. The rink takes 15 skaters at a time across twelve 30-minute slots, and you register online (€).

BHV Marais (52 rue de Rivoli) tells one story across six consecutive windows beneath the corner cupola, a little fir tree hunting its lost lights, with the Hôtel de Ville façade down the street. 'Le conte du Petit Sapin' opens from 17 November 2026, and the festive inauguration is still to be confirmed. For children these are the best windows in the city, and they cost nothing. The pavement is wide enough to walk the six chapters in order, and nothing needs booking (€).

Ice in the Grand Palais nave

Le Grand Palais de Glace (the Grand Palais nave) lays 2,700 m² of ice under the riveted glass-and-steel roof, hangs a 16-metre illuminated moon above the skaters and dresses the rim as a Harry Potter set. This eighth edition is the most spectacular indoor Christmas thing in Paris. It runs 12 December 2026 to 6 January 2027.

Morning sessions are €27 and afternoons €32 for an adult, skates included. The evening session runs 20:00 to 02:00 with DJs and light shows, and costs €39. Evening is the slot that suits adults, and it sells out, so book. On 24 and 31 December the rink closes at 18:00 (€€€).

Lanterns in the Bois de Boulogne

Jardin d'Acclimatation (Bois de Boulogne) lights 2,000 silk lanterns across six hectares of parkland for Nuits Indiennes, Taj Mahal domes, elephants and peacocks glowing on dark lawns and doubled in the park's ponds. The fourth edition runs 27 November 2026 to 21 February 2027, which outlasts Christmas by two months.

The trail opens 18:00 to 21:30 with last entry at 21:00, daily in the school holidays and Wednesday to Sunday in term time. The route runs one way and takes 45 minutes. Noël Merveilleux, the rides and shows, runs 21 November to 3 January. Entry is timed, and family and unlimited passes are sold (€€).

Bercy Village and the Disneyland day

Bercy Village (Cour Saint-Émilion) is a cobbled lane of converted stone wine warehouses under giant gilded oak leaves and oversized pine cones, with an 8-metre tree you walk through. The lights are up 19 November 2026 to 5 January 2027 and everything outdoors is free, with Santa and elves appearing on set December dates. It is the quietest stop here and it has no market stalls. Book a table along the lane and make it a lights-and-dinner evening (€).

Disneyland Paris (Marne-la-Vallée) runs Disney's Enchanted Christmas from 7 November 2026 to 6 January 2027, Sleeping Beauty Castle floodlit in blue and white behind a 24-metre Main Street tree. World of Frozen does Christmas for the first time this season, Arendelle dressed under Nordic garlands and snow. The parade runs twice daily, and all the Christmas entertainment is included with a park ticket.

The RER A takes 45 minutes from central Paris. It is the most expensive day of the winter and the one that reliably delivers for families (€€€€).

Dates and bookings to check

Book the Grand Palais sessions and register for a rooftop rink slot before you travel; the markets and the store windows need no ticket. Two things on this list are still unconfirmed, the Eiffel Tower village's run and the Printemps window inauguration, and both are worth checking in the week before you go.

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