Christmas Markets 2026 in York, Bath, Cardiff, Lincoln and Belfast: Dates and Hours

York’s Christmas market opens Thursday 12 November 2026 and runs to 21 December, and Cardiff’s opens the same day and runs to Wednesday 23 December, according to Visit York and the Cardiff Christmas Market’s own site. Bath’s follows on Thursday 26 November, Lincoln Cathedral holds a ticketed market on 3 to 5 December and Belfast’s opens on 14 November. Our comparison table, a week-by-week grid and a one-page printable are below.

We also cover Manchester and Birmingham, Edinburgh and London’s Hyde Park Winter Wonderland in separate stories.

How do the five markets compare?

Market	Dates	Closed days	Weekday hours	Weekend hours	Last day
York	12 Nov. to 21 Dec.	Tuesdays	10.30am to 7pm, Wednesday to Monday	Same hours	Closes 5pm Monday 21 Dec.
Bath	26 Nov. to 13 Dec.	None listed	Mon. to Wed. 10am to 7pm; Thu. to Sat. 10am to 8pm	Sunday 10am to 6pm	Sunday 13 Dec.
Cardiff	12 Nov. to 23 Dec.	None listed	Mon. to Sat. 10am to 6pm; Thursdays in December to 7pm	Sundays 10am to 5pm	Wednesday 23 Dec.
Lincoln Cathedral	3 to 5 Dec.	Not applicable	Not printed	Not printed	Saturday 5 Dec.
Belfast	From Sat. 14 Nov., noon	Not announced	Not announced	Not announced	Not announced

Sources: Visit York, the Bath Christmas Market and Cardiff Christmas Market sites, Lincoln Cathedral and Belfast City Council, all seen on 4 November 2026. Saturday 5 December for Lincoln is our reading of the cathedral’s “3 to 5 December” and its weekday; the cathedral prints no hours.

What are the York Christmas market 2026 dates and hours?

Visit York lists “12 November – 21 December 2026” and hours of “10.30am – 7pm, Wednesday–Monday”. It adds that the market is “closed Tuesdays for a weekly rest day” and “closes at 5pm on Monday 21 December”. The market sits on Parliament Street and St Sampson’s Square.

By our count, that is 40 dates between opening and closing, and five of them are Tuesdays (17 and 24 November, 1, 8 and 15 December), leaving 35 trading days.

What are the Bath Christmas market 2026 opening times?

The Bath Christmas Market site gives “Thursday 26th November to Sunday 13th December 2026 (inclusive)”, which is 18 dates by our count. Hours differ by day:

Day	Hours
Monday to Wednesday	10am to 7pm
Thursday to Saturday	10am to 8pm
Sunday	10am to 6pm

The site’s address is 36 Stall Street, Bath, BA1 1QH. It does not state a number of chalets, so we do not give one.

What are the Cardiff Christmas market 2026 dates?

The Cardiff Christmas Market runs “from Thursday 12 November to Wednesday 23 December”, 42 dates by our count. Hours are 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sundays, “with a late night to 7pm every Thursday in December”. The Thursdays in December before it closes are 3, 10 and 17 December. The site does not name streets on the page we read, so we say only that it is in the city centre.

Is there a Christmas market at Lincoln Cathedral in 2026?

Lincoln Cathedral’s homepage announces “Lincoln’s first-ever Cathedral Christmas Market”, “taking place 3–5 December”, and says tickets are on sale. That is Thursday to Saturday in 2026. The page does not print a ticket price or opening hours, so check the cathedral’s site before you plan a trip.

When does the Belfast Christmas market open in 2026?

Belfast City Council’s Christmas lights page says the switch-on is on Saturday 14 November 2026, 6.30pm to 7.30pm at Belfast City Hall, and that the market “will open at 12 noon on the same day, Saturday 14 November”. The council has not yet announced a closing date or daily hours for 2026. For comparison, last year’s run was 15 November to 22 December 2025, according to the council’s Christmas page.

Which markets are open in the same week?

This grid counts the days each market is open in Monday-to-Sunday weeks, from our computation of the dates above. It assumes each market trades on every listed date except York’s Tuesdays. Belfast is left out because its closing date is not announced.

Week starting	York	Bath	Cardiff	Lincoln
Mon. 9 Nov.	4 days	Closed	4 days	Closed
Mon. 16 Nov.	6 days	Closed	7 days	Closed
Mon. 23 Nov.	6 days	4 days	7 days	Closed
Mon. 30 Nov.	6 days	7 days	7 days	3 days
Mon. 7 Dec.	6 days	7 days	7 days	Closed
Mon. 14 Dec.	6 days	Closed	7 days	Closed
Mon. 21 Dec.	1 day	Closed	3 days	Closed

The week of Monday 30 November is the only one in which York, Bath, Cardiff and Lincoln are all open.

UK Christmas market dates to mark: openings, last days and Belfast switch-on

The printable lists each opening, York’s 5pm close on 21 December, Lincoln’s dates and Belfast’s switch-on at 6.30pm and market opening at noon. Print it, then add the dates to the November 2026 printable calendar and the December 2026 printable calendar.

Dates and hours can change, and we checked the organisers’ pages on 4 November 2026. Belfast’s closing date and the Lincoln hours and prices are still to come.