Gdansk Christmas Market — Why It Was Voted Europe's Best in 2025

Gdansk in summer gets the tourist crowds and the beach headlines. Gdansk in December gets something arguably better: a Christmas market that was voted Europe’s best in the 2025 European Best Destinations poll, with the result picked up by outlets including Forbes. If a European Christmas market is on your list this year, it is worth putting Gdansk near the top.

The 2026 dates

The market runs across several squares of the Old Town — Coal Market (Targ Weglowy), Long Market (Dlugi Targ) and the area around the Shakespeare Theatre — from November 20 to December 23, 2026. That gives you roughly five weeks to work with, which matters for planning — the atmosphere shifts noticeably between the quieter opening weeks and the final run-up to Christmas, and which version you get is entirely a matter of when you book.

Why it won

A Christmas market lives or dies on its setting, and Gdansk has one of the best in Europe. The stalls run along Long Market and the Long Embankment, framed on every side by rebuilt 15th-17th century townhouse facades and the tower of the Main Town Hall. Add string lights, a large decorated tree, and the reflections off the Motlawa river after dark, and you get a backdrop that does most of the work before you have bought a single mulled wine.

What sets it apart from markets that are essentially rows of identical wooden huts is the mix of genuinely regional stalls: Baltic amber jewellery, hand-thrown regional ceramics, wooden toys and decorations, alongside food that leans into what this part of Poland actually eats and drinks rather than a generic pan-European market formula. It reads as a Gdansk event that happens to be a Christmas market, not a Christmas market that happens to be in Gdansk.

What to see and do

• Long Market and the Long Embankment — the main run of stalls, best experienced slowly, after dark, when the lights are on.
• The Main Town Hall tower — worth climbing on a clear day for a rooftop view over the market and the whole Old Town below.
• Neptune’s Fountain — the city’s best-known landmark sits right in the middle of the market route, usually decorated for the season.
• Mariacka Street — a short detour from the main market, quieter and atmospheric, good for amber shopping away from the busiest stalls.
• St. Mary’s Basilica — a few minutes’ walk away, worth stepping into if you want a break from the cold and the crowds.

Plan for at least two to three hours to walk the market properly, longer if you want to eat, browse the stalls in detail, and climb the town hall tower.

Food and mulled wine

This is where the market earns repeat visits. Expect grzaniec (Polish mulled wine, usually served warm and spiced) alongside gingerbread, roasted nuts, sausages straight off the grill, and pierogi from stalls that do brisk business all evening. Prices are typical market pricing — reasonable per item, but they add up if you are eating and drinking your way through the evening, so budget with that in mind.

The best strategy for a first visit is to walk the full length of the market once without buying anything, note which stalls had the queue that told you something, and then loop back.

Avoiding the crowds

The market is genuinely busy in the final ten days before Christmas — expect shoulder-to-shoulder walking on weekend evenings from mid-December onward. If crowds are not your thing:

• Visit on a weekday, ideally in late November or the first half of December, before the pre-Christmas rush builds.
• Go in the late morning or early afternoon if you want to browse stalls without a crowd, then come back after dark for the lights once you already know what you want.
• Weekday evenings in the opening weeks hit a good balance — the lights and atmosphere are there, but you are not queuing for mulled wine.

The first week or two after the market opens on November 20 is consistently the quietest window with the market at full atmosphere, which makes it one of the better-kept secrets of the whole run.

Practical tips for your visit

A handful of things that make the evening easier:

• Dress for standing outside for hours, not just walking. The market is best enjoyed slowly, and a cold coastal evening will find any gap in your layers if you are stopping at every third stall.
• Bring cash as a backup. Most stalls take cards now, but a market this size still has the occasional stand that prefers cash, particularly for small items.
• Go up the Main Town Hall tower on a clear evening. The view over the lit-up market and the Old Town rooftops is one of the best photo opportunities in the city all year.
• Combine it with dinner nearby. Restaurants around Long Market and the Long Embankment get busy on December weekends — a reservation is worth making if you want a specific spot.
• Check opening hours before a late visit. Stalls generally close earlier on quieter weekdays than on the busiest pre-Christmas weekends, so do not assume the market runs as late every night.

Getting there and around

Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport (GDN) has direct connections across much of Europe, which makes a December weekend trip an easy add-on even from cities without frequent flights. From the airport, rail and bus options both reach the centre in well under an hour. Once you are in the Old Town, the market itself needs no transport at all — everything from Long Market to Mariacka Street to St. Mary’s Basilica is within a ten-minute walk.

Where to stay

If the market is a central part of your trip, staying within walking distance changes the experience completely — you are not planning your evening around the last tram, and popping back to the apartment to warm up between stalls is genuinely realistic rather than a hassle. Our Bastion Walowa apartments sit a short walk from Long Market, close enough that the market becomes an extension of your evening rather than a separate outing. Self check-in via a Tedee smart lock also means a late train or a delayed flight will not leave you waiting outside in the cold for someone to hand over keys.

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Make it a winter city break

December in Gdansk is not just about the market. Museums run without the summer queues, restaurants have tables available without a reservation made weeks in advance, and the whole Old Town has a quieter, more atmospheric feel than during the summer peak. If you are weighing whether a winter visit is worth it beyond the market itself, we lay out the full case — including what is closed for the season and what genuinely is not — in a separate guide → Gdansk in winter.

A practical combination that works well for a short trip: two nights around the market itself, with a day built around the Old Town’s museums (the European Solidarity Centre and the Museum of the Second World War both run year-round) for whenever the cold or a grey afternoon makes an indoor stretch welcome.

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Planning a Christmas market trip and want an apartment within walking distance of Long Market? Message our concierge — tell us your dates and we will match you to the right Bastion Walowa apartment before the closest ones to the market sell out for December.