Olomouc Christmas markets: two squares, a rink and quiet hours
- Published
- 31 October 2026
- Reading
- 4 min read
- Where
- Olomouc, Czechia
- Prices checked
- 31. Oct 2026.
Olomouc runs two Christmas markets at once, one on the two main squares and one beside an ice rink, and the quieter hours suit families best.
A Christmas market does not have to mean a crush and a wall of noise, and Olomouc is a good place to test that. The squares hold the big market, a smaller one sits beside a free rink, and on weekdays one corner was switched down on purpose in 2025. Dates for 2026 have not been published yet, so everything below follows last year's edition.
Vánoční trhy on Horní and Dolní náměstí
The main Olomouc Christmas market, Vánoční trhy, spreads over Horní náměstí and Dolní náměstí, the two squares of the old centre. Last edition's dates — 2025: 21 Nov – 23 Dec (limited 26–31 Dec). On Horní náměstí a Christmas tower, the vánoční věž, stood 10 m tall and gave a view over the stalls. If you can reach only one market, make it this one.
The stalls kept these hours — 2025: 10 am–8 pm, food to 10 pm. Food stayed open later than the rest, so a late dinner belongs on the square. Concerts, puppet shows and Ježíškova pošta, the Baby Jesus post office for children's letters, ran alongside the stalls, which made the area more of a programme than a market.
Sensory hours on Dolní náměstí
The cliché says a Christmas market is a place for people who like a crowd. In 2025 Olomouc added something that story rarely includes: sensory hours for people with autism, on every working day from 10 am to noon on Dolní náměstí. The lights were dimmed and there was no music.
The hours were meant for people with autism, but anyone who likes a market without the noise can use them, because the same square offers everything else, only quieter. If you can choose, come on a weekday morning to Dolní náměstí and go to Horní náměstí only after lunch.
Tržnice, the rink and the wheel
The second market, Vánoční tržnice, came with its own ice rink. Its dates in the 2025 edition — 2025: 4 Nov 2025 – 4 Jan 2026. The rink was free to use, and a panoramic Ferris wheel ran beside it. This is the calmer of the two markets, and the skating is a reason to come even if you have no wish for the stalls.
What to drink and when to go
A charity punch was served on one day in 2025, with the proceeds going to the organisation Za sklem. The date — 2025: 15 Dec. A hot cup in your hand suits an evening on Horní náměstí best.
On Sunday afternoons craftspeople showed their work on the squares, which is a good reason not to keep the weekend for walking only. For quieter hours, choose a weekday before noon. The verdict stays the same: if you can reach only one market, make it Horní náměstí, and keep Tržnice and the rink for another evening.
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Czechia, in brief
What now
If this sounds like your trip, start here.
Olomouc
→The Czech Republic's second-largest heritage-protected town centre, with the Holy Trinity Column and an astronomical clock on two squares.
Olomouc in 1 day
→From the station to the Upper Square, then up to the cathedral and down to the Lower Square, with a stop at noon for the clock, which runs no other time.
Day trips from Olomouc
→Přerov is closest, Hranice na Moravě has aragonite caves, and Zábřeh na Moravě has its own chateau.
Where to stay in Olomouc
→Olomouc is a day's visit, but it has both a hostel and a hotel, so a night here makes sense when this is a stop on a longer journey, not the final one.
What to eat in Olomouc
→One cheese runs through the local dishes: plain on bread, fried, in a potato pancake or inside a schnitzel.
The best time to visit Olomouc
→Olomouc sits deep inland, with no sea to soften the extremes, so the gap between peak season and off-season is mostly a gap in crowds on the two squares.
Getting around Olomouc
→By train from Prague airport to the main station, then by tram or half an hour on foot to the Upper Square, and nothing beyond walking inside the core.
Czechia
→A capital on the Vltava, the country's second city, a spa town with a film festival and a small town bent around a river — one country still paying in koruna
Strasbourg's Christmas market, and how old it really is
→How old the Strasbourg market really is, when it runs in 2026, where the crowds gather, what to eat from the deposit cup and why so many visitors sleep in Colmar.
Vienna Christmas markets: which one if you only have one evening
→Five markets, the 2026 dates, what a punch and a mug deposit cost, and an order for one evening on foot.
Salzburg Christmas markets: five markets, one day
→Salzburg has five Christmas markets with five sets of dates, and the 2026 dates and hours are already published.
Innsbruck Christmas markets: seven of them, and which comes first
→Seven Christmas markets stand within walking distance in Innsbruck, and Advent there is a route rather than a single square.
Nuremberg Christmas markets: Christkindlesmarkt and three more
→The Hauptmarkt holds the headline market, but a December day in Nuremberg divides better across four.
Dresden Christmas markets: Striezelmarkt and nine more
→The Advent market on Altmarkt gets the attention, yet the city lists ten, from medieval craftsmen in the Stallhof to white pagodas in Neustadt.
Cologne Christmas markets: six markets, one route
→Cologne counts 13 markets for 2026, and six of them repay an evening.
Munich Christmas markets: which to visit and in what order
→Munich has around ten Christmas markets, each with its own theme, and in 2026 the season opens with an ice rink before the main Christkindlmarkt follows a week later.
Berlin Christmas markets: which one to pick and when to go
→The Berlin holiday market worth paying for is the WeihnachtsZauber on Gendarmenmarkt, the one with a gate and a weekday free window.
Prague Christmas markets: which to pick, dates and prices
→Two big Prague Christmas markets fill the central squares while a handful of smaller ones sit in the neighbourhoods.
Budapest Christmas markets: which first, what it costs, when to go
→Two Christmas markets lead Budapest's Advent, and the order you visit them in decides how much of the evening you enjoy.
Zagreb Christmas markets: an advent spread across the squares
→Zagreb spreads its Advent across squares, parks and whole neighbourhoods instead of one fenced-off spot.
Ljubljana Christmas markets: where the stalls are and how to walk them
→Ljubljana's Advent market runs as a string of stalls along the river, from Prešeren Square to Breg.
Bratislava Christmas markets: three squares and a hall
→Bratislava's Christmas markets fill three squares of the old town that sit side by side.
Kraków Christmas markets: the Main Square, Mały Rynek and szopki
→Kraków has two Christmas markets, one on the Main Square and a smaller one on Mały Rynek, plus a szopka contest that gives December its own date.
Timișoara Christmas markets: where, when and in what order
→This guide to the Timisoara Christmas market covers the three squares and the county fair beside them.
Graz Christmas markets: sixteen markets, one walking route
→Sixteen Christmas markets sit within walking distance in the old town of Graz, and one of them is the pick for a single evening.
Leipzig Christmas markets: from the Markt to Augustusplatz
→Which areas make up the Advent market in Leipzig, when they open, how the mug deposit works and how to walk them in one evening.
Brno Christmas markets: five squares and when each one runs
→Brno spreads its Advent market over five squares in the old centre.
Sibiu Christmas market: dates, food and one-evening plan
→One square, one Christmas market in Sibiu, Romania, and a short list of things that cost money.
Wrocław Christmas markets: the Rynek, Plac Solny and Kraina Koni
→Wrocław has two Christmas markets, and only one of them has official 2026 dates so far.
Gdańsk Christmas markets: Targ Węglowy and the six zones
→Gdańsk has one Christmas market, the Jarmark Bożonarodzeniowy, spread over several zones around Targ Węglowy.
Paris Christmas markets: which to pick, dates and ice rinks
→Paris has three big Christmas markets, at Tuileries, La Défense and Notre-Dame, and each suits a different kind of evening.
Lyon Christmas market and Fête des Lumières: how to see both
→Lyon has one big Christmas market and a four-night festival of light that matters more.
Rome Christmas markets: Navona, nativity scenes and lights
→Rome has one craft market, a Vatican exhibition of nativity scenes and a lot of light.
Naples Christmas markets: the street of the crib and what else opens
→Naples answers the question of the Christmas market with one street of nativity workshops, San Gregorio Armeno, where red huts stand in front of the shops.
Verona Christmas markets: from Piazza dei Signori to the Arena
→Verona spreads its Christmas markets over four places, from the Arena square to the old Arsenal, and one evening is enough to walk the best of them.
Milan Christmas markets: Duomo, Oh Bej and one evening in order
→Milan has three events that pass for Christmas markets, and they differ in age, size and price of admission.
Madrid Christmas markets: Plaza Mayor and what else is worth it
→Madrid's main Christmas market sells decorations rather than mulled wine.
Barcelona Christmas markets: Santa Llúcia, the port, Sagrada Família
→Three Christmas fairs, a Catalan idea of what one should sell, and a route for one December evening.
London Christmas markets: Winter Wonderland and where else to go
→London has no single Christmas market, only a ticketed amusement park, a riverside walk and a few lit squares.
Christmas markets in Europe: which city suits which trip
→Forty-eight cities compared on dates, size and character, with a pick for one evening, for children, for after New Year and for anyone tired of mulled wine and wooden huts.
Linz Christmas markets: Hauptplatz and Volksgarten
→Two free Linz Christmas markets, one for crafts on Hauptplatz and one for families in the Volksgarten, with dates, hours and a sensible order for one visit.
Warsaw Christmas markets: Old Town and Plac Defilad
→Warsaw has two Christmas markets in two different places, one in the shadow of the Palace of Culture and one beside Castle Square in the Old Town.
York Christmas markets: St Nicholas Fair and what to pair it with
→York's main Christmas market is St Nicholas Fair, set along Parliament Street, and this page explains where it sits, when it runs and how to fit the Shambles and the Minster into the same evening.
Bath Christmas market: a short run, so pick your day
→Bath Christmas Market is short and compact, with chalets in the historic centre beside the Abbey.
Maastricht Christmas market: Magisch Maastricht on the Vrijthof
→Magisch Maastricht turns the Vrijthof into a winter park with a covered ice rink, a 45 m Ferris wheel and Austrian-style chalets.
Trieste Christmas markets: the mercatini around the Borsa and Ponterosso
→The Trieste Christmas markets are a handful of streets and two squares near the Borsa and Ponterosso, with an ice rink and the San Nicolò fair nearby.
Turin Christmas markets: a small village and a city of lights
→Turin has no single big Christmas market.
Bologna Christmas markets: five small fairs, the oldest under a portico
→Five small Bologna Christmas markets, the oldest under a portico roof, with dates for 2026/27, what to eat on the way and a simple order for one evening.
Debrecen Christmas market: Kossuth tér, ice rink and Advent
→Debrecen's Christmas market is a citywide Advent with its centre on Kossuth tér, where an ice rink and ten thousand lights share the square.
Hamburg Christmas markets: Rathausmarkt, Jungfernstieg, Santa Pauli
→Hamburg runs several Weihnachtsmärkte at once, from the historic Rathausmarkt to white tents on the Alster and an adults-only market on the Reeperbahn.
Novi Sad Christmas markets: Zimzolend on Trg slobode
→Novi Sad has one Christmas market, called Zimzolend. It fills Trg slobode with wooden huts, and entry is free.
Poznań Christmas markets: Betlejem Poznańskie
→Poznań spreads its Christmas markets over three places and keeps them running until Epiphany, with free entry on the two squares and a separate fairground stop.
Toruń Christmas market: gingerbread and the Old Town
→Toruń's Christmas market is a single fair on the Old Town Square, with more than 100 exhibitors, gingerbread baking workshops and a full children's programme.
Bled Christmas market: the Winter Fairytale by the lake
→Bled's Christmas market is the Winter Fairytale on the lakeside promenade, with regional food, live music at weekends and a legend about a sunken bell.
Sofia Christmas market: the NDK fest and the German market
→Sofia has two Christmas markets, a festival in front of the NDK and a German market in the City Garden. Official dates for 2026 are not out yet.
Szeged Christmas market: Advent at Dóm tér
→Szeged Advent turns Dóm tér into a small Christmas market with a 50 m Ferris wheel, a straw maze for children and mulled wine.
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