Strasbourg & Colmar Christmas Markets in Photos

Colmar is one of the most festive places to visit in Europe during the Christmas season. This small city is stunning year-round, with its colorful half-timbered houses, decorated storefronts, and cobblestoned streets. Add in twinkling lights, Christmas trees, garlands, and stalls selling mulled wine and holiday gifts, and you have one of Europe’s best destinations during the Christmas season.

Strasbourg is a much larger city, and with that comes a city vibe. Strasbourg lacks the small charm appeal of Colmar, but it is still a gorgeous place to visit in December. The decorations on the buildings are very elaborate and seeing them is one of the big highlights of being in Strasbourg at Christmas.

This guide covers Strasbourg and Colmar at Christmas, with information on both Christmas markets. To plan your time, don’t miss our guide about How to Spend One Day in Colmar. This was written during our first visit to Colmar, but it also works well in December.

Table of Contents

Christmas in Colmar: In Photos

All of these photos of Colmar were taken on our visit in December 2024.

We spent one night in Colmar, which gave us plenty of time to see it both during the daytime and in the evening. Colmar is jaw-dropping in the evening, once the sun sets and the lights come on, so if you can plan your visit to be here after sunset, you’ll be in for a real treat. By the way, sunset is right around 5 pm in December.

Colmar Christmas Market

Open: November 26 to December 29, 2024
Hours: Monday through Thursday 11 am to 7 pm; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 10 am to 8 pm; reduced hours December 24, 25, 26
Website: noel-colmar.com

Our visit to the Colmar Christmas Market was on Friday, December 13 to Saturday, December 14, one of the busiest times to visit the market. If you can time your visit to avoid a weekend, you will miss the worst of the crowds.

There are multiple markets spread out across town. These range from small, gourmet food markets to larger markets with a Ferris wheel and rides for kids. The noel-colmar.com website has excellent guides on the Colmar Christmas market, with maps, information on where to park, and even market attendance forecasts. It also has information about the markets in the nearby Alsatian towns.

We visited Colmar after spending about 11 days in Germany. In Colmar, for sale are the typical homemade crafts and sweet treats you see throughout Germany, but we saw quite a bit of gourmet food and Alsatian wine in the Colmar markets. It was a nice change, not only to try some different foods, but to shop for a wider variety of gifts.

One day is just enough time to explore Colmar’s Christmas markets and see a few sights in Colmar. If you spend multiple days in Colmar, you can use it as home base to explore other Alsatian towns or visit the Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market.

Where to Stay in Colmar

The first time we visited Colmar, we stayed at Reflets Sur La Lauch Apartments. This amazing small property is located on Little Venice, so it has an excellent location. We had a two-bedroom apartment that had a kitchen, a living room, one and half bathrooms, and a washing machine. The views from our room were incredible. If you look on Booking.com, we stayed in the “loft.”

On our visit in December, we stayed at Le SCANDINAVE Centre Ville/2 chambres + Terrasse. This two-bedroom apartment is located just outside of the city center. It took about 10 minutes to walk to the heart of Colmar, so it still has a good location. I chose this property because it has parking, and I knew that arriving in Colmar on a Friday evening, parking would be a disaster. It was a good choice and worked perfectly for our one night stay.

Other places to consider are the Colmar Hotel (mid-range highly rated property located just outside of the city center), James Boutique Hotel Colmar Centre (mid-range boutique property), and Paul & Pia (budget hotel with a great location).

Strasbourg Christmas Market in Photos

Open: November 27 to December 27, 2024
Website: noel.strasbourg.eu

The Strasbourg Christmas Market is one of the most popular in Europe. It even has the nickname “Capital of Christmas.”

This was one of the busiest Christmas that we visited in all of Europe. Tour buses arrive in droves, flooding the streets with visitors. Even midday on a Friday, this was a very, very busy place.

Kara and I spent a few hours here, exploring the different sections of the market and taking photos. After our visit to Germany, we did not love the vibe here. It felt touristy and very busy and honestly, we couldn’t wait to leave. Colmar also feels touristy and busy, but the overall setting of Colmar is amazing, so it’s still worth seeing, in my opinion.

So, if you have limited time in the Alsace region of France, prioritize Colmar and some of the smaller Alsatian towns such as Eguisheim and Riquewihr, and put Strasbourg farther down on your must-see list.

Here are a few photos from the Strasbourg Christmas Market.

European Christmas Markets

We have been to quite a few Christmas markets throughout Europe. In the upcoming weeks, we will be publishing a detailed guide to the markets in France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and England, so stay tuned!

If you have any questions about what it is like to visit Colmar at Christmas, or if you want to share your experience, let us know in the comment section below.

More Information for Your Visit to Colmar