Diesen Text gibt es hier auch in DeutschThe 2023 Christmas Market in Wroclaw
One of the most popular events of Wroclaw is certainly the Christmas Market. The fairytale atmosphere attracts not only a lot of foreign visitors from Germany, Czechia and Ukraine. Also Polish people from all over the country love it and start their pilgrimage to Wroclaw in late November.
In this post, we will provide you an overview of the Christmas Market, including opening hours, the areas where it takes place, which local food you should try, where you will be able to buy nice souvenirs, where to stay and of course a lot of other important and useful insights.
This post has been updated fully for the 2023 season, we had the big pleasure to visit the Christmas Market in Wroclaw directly on the opening evening on the 24th November 2023.
When will the Christmas Market open in 2023?
The dates for the Christmas Market 2023 in Wroclaw have been confirmed now. It will open from 24th November 2023 to 7th January 2024.
The opening hours are:
- On regular days from 10-21h
- On 24th + 25th Dec and 1st Jan closed
- On 26th December from 13-21h
- On 31st December the shops will close on 17h and gastronomy at 2am
In the picture you can see how it normally looks on a weekend 🙂 This picture was taken on the opening day in 2023 – but no worries, we also have some advice later on if you are not into large crows.
We personally recommend you to visit the Christmas Market during weekdays as on the weekend it is super crowded! During the week it is much more fun.
If you plan to visit Wroclaw during the Christmas Market, we recommend you to book a stay that is refundable in case something unforeseen will happen, so you will be on the safe side.
Will there be Christmas lights in Wroclaw?
A question which we got quite frequently is, if the market will happen at all, given the high energy prices, and if so, if there will be the illuminations.
Last year in 2022, the city made the decision to cut down the lights to the main market square only – in other parts of the town there was not as much as we were used to. In addition, bridges and some buildings only got illuminated up to 10pm in the evenings.
This year in 2023, the regular Christmas lights got installed at the Market Square, and the most iconic buildings like the university are again illuminated around the clock. However, the lights in the trees on the Oder Promenade or on the ring road did not come back yet.
The big Christmas Tree on the Market Square will get illuminated on 6th December 2023 at 17:00 for the ones who like to join the celebration.
As side note: the big New Years Party which used to happen every year at the Market Square, did not take place since 2019 and also won’t happen in 2023 – this got already confirmed. The city had cost of around 2.3 Million PLN the last time, but now has other more important areas to spend that budget on…
However if you are looking for inspiration on what to do for New Year‘s Eve in Wroclaw – here we have plenty of ideas.
We will let you be the judge if it feels really like less lights – here comes our drone overview picture from this year!
Impressions from the Wroclaw Christmas Market
We went to visit the Christmas Market in 2023 during the opening weekend in November and share some impressions for you here! Come on, and the picture with the dog is cuter than every other picture could be, so we simply had to include it…
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Where will the Christmas Market take place?
The Christmas Market in Wroclaw will be taking place in four main areas:
- The Market Square (Rynek)
- The Salt Square (Plac Solny)
- Świdnicka Street
- Oławska Street
Believe us, it will be hard to miss it and all four areas are connected with each other. And needless to say that a lot of small businesses have their own special Christmas events, offers and products.
You cannot escape Christmas, don’t even try! 😉
What food and drinks should I try at the Wroclaw Christmas Market?
Of course you will have plenty of opportunities to try the local and regional cuisine.
We strongly recommend to try Oscypek. That is a special smoked cheese from the polish mountains you won’t find anywhere else than in Poland. It comes with cranberries and is super delicious! You see it on the picture.
You prefer the classics? No worries, you will be able to find plenty of sausages, bigos, skewers, potato pancakes and more typical dishes from Poland.
Or should it be international? Churros, Fries, Langos, Sweet chestnuts, Crêpes, Chimney Cake and much more will be waiting for you.
Did we mention the mulled wine already? How could we not! There will be many, many different flavours to try, so you better plan some more time! And do not miss the tasty honey based alcohol!
How are the prices in 2023 and how did they change?
You might be surprised, but the price for a mug of regular mulled wine is 15 PLN in 2023. That means that actually the price has not changed since 2021! The deposit for the mug is 20 PLN, also exactly the same like last year and no changes.
Be aware that the official stalls for the mulled wine only accept cash, it seems easier to handle with the deposit – but you can return them at any stall.
In terms of food just to give you a little indication as well, on the opening day in 2023 we paid 22 PLN for a currywurst, a regular sausage is 20 PLN, a waffle with Nutella is also 20 PLN.
If you are on a budget…
… but you still want to enjoy as much mulled wine as possible? Then we have a secret hint which actually is not secret:
If you don’t fancy the special mugs in shoe design, you can get the mulled wine for 10 PLN from most bars around the Market Square as you can see in the picture… Of course this is the updated price from 2023. Look for “Grzane Wino”, that is the Polish name for it.
Officially the bars are not allowed to refill your shoe mugs, but nobody will care if you pour the wine yourself from the paper mug into the shoe mug.
Follow us for more life hacks ;))
What to do at the Christmas Market?
If you have not been in Wroclaw at all or want to explore more of it, we always recommend the free walking tours which have to be booked in advance here.
For kids there is a fairly tale forest where you can watch for example Pinocchio like in the picture here. But also some carousels, a roller coaster and some more fun attractions are waiting for you. Lots of opportunities to make pictures with dwarfs, mushrooms, christmas trees and other stuff 🙂
If you are more on the romantic side, try a ride on the horse carriage here.
And of course always worth to check are the guided tours which we recommend here (including free self-guided tours via our blog).
In case this is your first time in Wroclaw, we have to recommend you our blog post about the best things to do in Wroclaw! There you find a quite extensive collection of our top recommendations 🙂
If you don’t like crowds…
In the next two pictures you can see the crowds of a normal Saturday evening, as we already wrote, we recommend a visit during the weekdays.
However, there are also some smaller markets that we can recommend. For some of them we still are waiting for the details, but we will update this section shortly.
- The Opera Christmas Market – last year it opened on 3rd December, this year we did not get any news and as of 8th December it is still not open, hence we have to assume it will not happen
- The Four Temple District Market – same, as of 8th December we have no news on it and have to assume it won’t happen
- The Bridge Hotel Christmas Garden: On the weekends from 26th November to 17th December they open their Christmas Garden with carol singing, cozy fireplaces and exquisite hot drink creations like hot chocolate with chili. Every Saturday from 2 p.m until 8 p.m and Sundays from 12 p.m until 6 p.m.
Hidden Gems: Illumination Parks in Wroclaw
We have two recommendations for real hidden gems, related to the Christmas Market in Wroclaw as well. If you like lasershows and illuminations, or are coming with kids, these are for you. Also in case you want to move a bit more off the crowds, these spots are quite off the beaten track for regular visitors.
The first option is the Lumina Park at the Castle Topacz (Zamek Topacz), around 15-20 minutes by car south of Wroclaw. You will find trains, castles, animals and lots of other objects beautifully illuminated. Even a real travel around the world is waiting here to be taken… Here is their official page.
The second recommendation is the Botanical Garden just next to the Cathedral Island. During winter time it is beautifully illuminated and there are laser shows and projections – great stuff! We have unfortunately received feedback that this event will not be happening in 2023, but keeping fingers crossed for 2024 again. As replacement for the missing Botanical Garden shows in 2023, the Wroclaw Zoo has a “Garden of Lights” featuring animals from the African continent…
The Garden of Lights at the Wroclaw Zoo
We have managed to visit the Garden of Lights in December and have to say that it is really nicely made! You walk through a small part of the Wroclaw Zoo during the evening and while doing so, you can admire the light installations from “Wild Africa”.
Some interactive elements like a Quiz are well thought of, and especially kids are having a lot of fun here.
It is still open till early March 2024 and you can find more details here on their homepage.
Where to buy souvenirs in Wroclaw?
Good question! You need to be aware that the Christmas Market is probably one of the most expensive places to buy souvenirs and some of the items you might find less expensive in other parts of the city.
The sellers need to pay a lot (really, a lot!) for their licence to sell on the market. You will pay for that as well…
We recommend to check out the Old Butcher’s Stalls (“Stare Jatki”) where you find local galleries which operate all year round from there. Well, on the picture they look closed because we got up early to make some pictures 😉
Of course the cold winter time is also always a great opportunity to buy some nice calendars – like the ones that we created here 😉
What about a risky investment?
If you like to invest and you look for some insider information… In 2019 the special mulled wine mugs (in shoe-form, with special edition every year) were traded very successfully. Many people did not return them despite the deposit and were able to sell them online for more than 100 PLN.
As the stalls were running out of them already very early, they had to take some leftover mugs from previous years. Quite grotesque and funny at the same time to drink from 2017 mugs in 2019 🙂
Since last year, there are even huge mugs where two people can step inside and take pictures. And it seems, that at least for now, there are still enough available to take back home… This year the deposit is 20 PLN.
The 2023 edition has a really beautiful purple colour, we like it a lot! Look for yourself on the picture.
Where to stay during the Christmas Market?
Well, the question is if you want to stay directly in the middle of the city when it is hard to move around. We recommend to stay just north of the old town in vibrant Nadodrze or in the Four Denomination District.
You will find specific recommendations in our accommodation guide to Wroclaw where we compare hotels, hostels, apartments and camping.
If you prefer to have your own space in an apartment, you will be able to find our specific recommendations here. In this post we made a pre-selection of amazingly located apartments for couples, groups, budget travellers and luxury stays.
If you decided to stay in a hotel, we have our pre-selection here with some luxury hotels, budget hotels, wellness hotels, romantic hotels and many more: Here are our personal hotel recommendations for Wroclaw.
UPDATE from November 2023:
As last year we had some capacity issues with accomodation, we will keep you updated on the booking situation in Wroclaw here. For now there are enough rooms end of 2023 available, but some hotels already jumped to crazy prices of more than 5000 PLN per night! We also know about some hotels that are fully booked every weekend during the Christmas Market.
So book ahead to be on the safe side – currently there are enough regular priced hotels available. Click here to see which places to stay are actually still available on Booking.com.
And here we have an overview map of Hotels in Wroclaw for you where it is easy to find central and nice locations close to the Christmas Market:
Where to find more information about the Christmas Market in Wroclaw?
We recommend you the official page of the Wroclaw Christmas Market here. There you will find the latest updates and event schedules too.
On the left side you will find a nice video which gives you a feeling about the amazing atmosphere. Just the smell of cinnamon and mulled wine is missing.
If you are interested in a guided tour of the city, also in winter the electric golf carts operate and bring you to the best places in the city – with heating 🙂
Here you can find the available schedules and latest online fares.
What about New Year’s Eve in Wroclaw?
We have received a lot of mails and messages on social media on how to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Wroclaw.
Actually so many, that we felt it is worth to write a little blog post just with that topic, to give some inspiration on what to do, and it is finally available now 🙂
We hope that you will enjoy the Christmas Market in Wroclaw as much as we do! Don’t forget to check out our post about the best FREE things to do and see in Wroclaw!
You want to plan your trip to Wroclaw? Don’t miss out on our planning guides with the best places to stay, the best ways to travel to Wroclaw by car, train, bus and a lot of further useful information!
Do you have some comments on this article? Help us and also help other visitors by leaving your feedback in the comment section below!
18 Comments
claire
Do you use euros?
Ewa & Mirko
No, we have Polish złoty as currency in Poland.
annie
what time will the christmas marked open the 24.october
Ewa & Mirko
Hello, it will open on 24 November at 12:00.
Laura
Do you know when the Christmas Market in Wroclaw starts in 2023? We would like to visit it and book the hotel early.
Mirko
Hi Laura, the dates have not been officially published, but based on the past years, we can be 90% sure that it will be the 17 November as start date.
Stevie McPheators
I visited Wroclaw with my son in Auhust for the speedway and enjoyed the city so much I’m visiting again late November with my wife for the Xmas Market
CHRIS S
Hi My wife an i were thinking of spending christmas in Wroclaw and understand the importance of wigilia for families but was wondering if there were any restaurants/hotel retaurants open on the 24th ??
Mirko
Hi there, hotels are open but restaurants probably just a very few, it will be very quiet on the 24th…
Donnie Ashcraft
We visited the 2021 Christmas Market and was unable to find a souvenir Christmas market mug or two. Do you know where we can purchase some?
Ewa & Mirko
Hi Donnie,
There were no special mugs in 2021 and older ones got reused but instead of returning them, you just keep them and don’t get the deposit back, this is how most people do it. The other option is to order online from the Christmas Market but they only ship within Poland.
Pat Connolly
Hi
my wife has just returned from wroclaw and she loved the Christmas Market. unfortunately the ceramic mug she got broke in her luggage so I was wondering is it possible to get one shipped to Ireland ?. I’ll gladly pay the cost of postage and shipping if it could be here for Christmas. or if anyone is going to the market from Ireland if you could pick one up for me, I’ll pay for the postage when you get home.
Mirko
We still have two at home as the queue to return them was too long, will send you a mail…
Chuck Pelshaw
Wroclaw is a beautiful city…. I hope to see it this year during the Christmas season! It looks amazing in the pictures
Glynis Perkin
Dear Mirko,
Thanks for your response regarding purchasing mugs in the UK. I’m happy to pay shipping costs and it doesn’t matter when they arrive! Thanks for your response and the newsletter which I enjoy.
Best wishes,
Glynis
Glynis Perkin
Is it possible to purchase the Christmas hot wine mugs from the UK and have them posted to the UK ?
Mirko
Hey! It looks like the official shop only supports a delivery in Poland and as well Polish payment options. The shop is also designed in a quite strange way and you need to purchase packaging twice and then pay shipping on top. Two mugs are around 60 PLN. If you really, really want them, send us a message via contact form and we try to manage somehow, but also shipping to the UK might be expensive then (plus Brexit and customs risk if delivery is late)…
Ceci
Can’t wait! This website always has such wonderful information about Wroclaw and events, especially for foreigners 🙂
Keep up the good work! 🙂