Manchester and Birmingham Christmas Markets 2026: Opening Dates and Times

Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market opens first, on Thursday 5 November 2026, and Manchester Christmas Markets open the next day, Friday 6 November 2026, according to Visit Birmingham and Visit Manchester, the cities’ official tourism sites. Our side-by-side table and a one-page printable are below.

Visit Manchester has not yet confirmed Manchester’s opening hours for 2026. Birmingham’s hours are published, so the table gives them in full.

What are the Manchester and Birmingham Christmas market dates?

	Manchester Christmas Markets	Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market
Opens	Friday 6 November 2026	Thursday 5 November 2026
Main sites close	Tuesday 22 December 2026	Thursday 24 December 2026
Longer-running sites	Albert Square and Cathedral Gardens to Sunday 3 January 2027	None listed
Days open, by our count	47 (main sites); 59 (Albert Square and Cathedral Gardens)	50
Hours	Not yet confirmed	Published (see below)
Source	Visit Manchester; Transport for Greater Manchester	Visit Birmingham

The day counts are our calculation, counting both the first and last date. They assume the markets trade on every date in the range; neither source lists closed days.

What are the Manchester Christmas Markets 2026 dates?

Visit Manchester says the markets “will open on Friday 6 November 2026 and run until Tuesday 22 December 2026,” with 210 stalls “spread throughout some of the city’s most popular locations.” It adds that Albert Square and Cathedral Gardens “will remain open until Sunday 3 January 2027.”

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), in its stakeholder advice last updated on 19 October 2026, gives the same pattern. Markets open across the city centre from Friday 6 November and “primarily run until Tuesday 22 December,” with smaller sites at Cathedral Gardens and Albert Square staying open longer.

Visit Manchester says “opening hours for 2026 have not yet been confirmed” and that further details of all market locations will be announced closer to the event. We have not listed individual sites for that reason.

What are the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market opening times?

Visit Birmingham lists the 2026 market as running from 5 November to 24 December 2026, from Victoria Square down New Street in the city centre. Its weekly hours are:

Day	Opens	Closes
Monday to Thursday	11am	9pm
Friday	11am	9.30pm
Saturday	10am	9.30pm
Sunday	10am	9pm

On Remembrance Sunday, 8 November, the market opens later, at 1pm. The page does not state Christmas Eve hours, so check Visit Birmingham before travelling on Thursday 24 December.

Which dates should you mark?

The printable lists the six dates that matter: both openings, the Remembrance Sunday late start, the Manchester main-site closing on Tuesday 22 December, Birmingham’s last day and the end of the Albert Square and Cathedral Gardens run on Sunday 3 January 2027. Print it, then add the dates to the November 2026 printable calendar and the December 2026 printable calendar.

What else is on around the same dates?

Birmingham’s market opens on Bonfire Night, which our Bonfire Night 2026 story covers. For London, see the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland 2026 story, and for the Christmas Day and Boxing Day closures see our UK Christmas bank holidays story.

Dates and hours can change, and we checked the official pages on 28 October 2026. Manchester’s hours and the full site list are still to come.