Bath Christmas Market 2026: 26 Nov to 13 Dec, Free Entry

Bath Christmas Market runs from Thursday 26 November to Sunday 13 December 2026. That is 18 days, entry is free, and no booking is needed. The organiser is Bath and North East Somerset Council, and every detail below comes from the market’s own website or the council’s own reports, checked on 4 September.

The one thing not published yet is the road closure list. Everything else, dates, hours, park and ride, the residents’ preview, is already fixed.

Dates and opening hours

The market’s information for residents page sets out the 2026 calendar in full:

• Wednesday 25 November, 5pm to 7pm: Residents’ Preview Evening
• Thursday 26 November to Sunday 13 December: the market itself, 18 days inclusive
• Monday to Wednesday: 10am to 7pm
• Thursday to Saturday: 10am to 8pm
• Sunday: 10am to 6pm

So the last Sunday, 13 December, closes at 6pm, and the busiest late nights are the three Thursday to Saturday runs. If you want the market at its quietest, a Monday or Tuesday morning in the first week is the answer.

Residents with a Discovery Card get offers from traders Monday to Friday, which the market flags on the same page.

Where it is, and how big

There is no single site. The market spans the city centre, “from Abbeygate Street in the south to Milsom Street in the North”, with the central point given as Stall Street, BA1 1QH. The getting here page describes “over 180 festive chalets spread across the city centre, including Bath Street, Union Street, and the Abbey Quarter”.

For scale, the council’s own figures for the 2024 market were an estimated 444,000 visitors, £60.4m of turnover for businesses, £48.9m of associated spend in the city and support for more than 500 jobs. In 2025 the market carried more than 250 businesses, 65% of them from Bath and the surrounding area, plus 32 community groups. The production contract is held by local events company Muddy Dog, which has it to 2030.

The planning decision, and why the market is not getting longer

On Wednesday 2 September 2026 the council’s Planning Committee voted 7 to 1 to grant a permanent permission for the market, replacing the temporary consents it has run on for years. The new permission allows up to 25 days a year and adds Queen Square, Kingsmead Square and Parade Gardens to the permitted area (Bath Echo, 3 September 2026).

None of that changes 2026. The council’s own release the same day says it “has no current plans for immediate expansion or to extend the event from its current 18-day duration” (B&NES newsroom, 2 September 2026). Councillor Paul Roper put the case for the headroom this way: “The larger area is not about flooding everywhere with chalets. It’s about giving the team the flexibility to think of new ideas/new creativity, and we need space to do that.”

The council’s figures in that release run slightly higher than the ones it published last December: more than 440,000 visitors a year and up to £64m for the local economy, with 65% of traders from the Bath area, 85% from the South West and 71% of visitors also spending in the city’s shops, cafes, restaurants and attractions.

Treat the 25 days as a ceiling that exists for future years, not a promise about this one.

Road closures: not published yet

The market says closures will be enforced for the chalet build and for the event itself, and that “details of road closures will be available closer to the time”. Two things it has committed to:

• Construction runs 8am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday, and the organisers say they will contact premises directly if they need to work outside those hours.
• Temporary infrastructure comes out as soon as the market ends, to reopen roads quickly.

Security firm GES is on site 24/7 through the build and the event, working with the emergency services and the council CCTV team. Emergency access is maintained throughout. Questions go to Christmas_market@bathnes.gov.uk.

One closure detail is already published, and it is on the accessibility page rather than anywhere obvious. At the request of Avon and Somerset Police, some closures will affect Blue Badge holder spaces on Cheap Street, Westgate Street and Upper Borough Walls. If you rely on those bays, plan for them to be gone.

We will add the full closure list here as soon as the council publishes it, which on past form means November. In the meantime our Bath roadworks and travel page tracks what is already shut in the city centre.

Accessibility, quiet hours and toilets

The market publishes more on this than most, and it is worth knowing before you go (event accessibility).

• Quiet shopping runs Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10am to 12pm. No large-scale entertainment is scheduled in those hours, for visitors with sensory sensitivities.
• Bath Central Library opens as a place to decompress at weekends, with free wi-fi, computers and a children’s area.
• Accessible event toilets are at Terrace Walk, Bilbury Lane and Royal Avenue, open for the whole run. The nearest Changing Places toilets are at Bath Leisure Centre, North Parade Road BA2 4ET, and Southgate Vaults, 12 Southgate Street BA1 1AQ. Public toilet hours differ from the event ones.
• There are cobbles at Abbey Green. Event and security staff are trained to assist, and the market publishes a full Equality Impact Assessment.
• Blue Badge holders park free with no time limit in on-street pay and display bays and in resident zones across B&NES, but charges still apply in most car parks, and a time clock is needed where a bay carries a time limit.

Park and ride, trains and coaches

The market’s advice is blunt: use public transport. Bath’s three park and ride sites are Odd Down (south), Newbridge (west) and Lansdown (north), and the market page lists extra services during the event:

• Monday to Friday: up to every 10 to 15 minutes from 06:15 to 21:00, then every 30 minutes until 23:30
• Saturday: up to every 5 minutes from 06:15 to 19:00, then every 15 minutes until 21:00, then every 30 minutes until 23:30
• Sunday: up to every 5 minutes from 09:30 to 19:00

One caution on that page. It also carries a notice that “on Tuesday 9th December the last bus back to Landsdown Park and Ride will be at 21:30pm”. 9 December 2026 is a Wednesday, so that line is left over from the 2025 market and has not been cleared. The frequencies above may equally be last year’s numbers republished, so check them again in late November before you rely on the last bus.

Bath Spa station sits in the centre, a short walk from the chalets, with services from London Paddington and Waterloo and 15 minutes from Bristol Temple Meads. The bus station is next door on Dorchester Street. A BathRider multi-operator ticket covers the urban area.

Coaches have one option and only one: Royal Avenue, near the Royal Crescent, is the sole drop-off and pick-up point for city centre coach trips during the market, with toilets including an accessible one. It is a 10 minute walk to Milsom Street at the north end of the market and 15 minutes from the furthest chalets, downhill on the way in and uphill on the way back. Operators have to book a slot through the market’s permit pages.

If you do drive, Bath’s Clean Air Zone is live and charges some vehicles, so check your registration before you set off. Blue Badge bays exist in most city car parks and on street near the market. Our parking in Bath page has the council tariffs, including which car parks give a free first hour.

What else is on around it

Bath on Ice returns to Royal Victoria Park. The rink’s own site says only “Returning November 2026” and is not selling tickets, so there are no dates, session times or prices yet. It is worth noting the market’s coach page already refers to Bath on Ice as a landmark near Royal Avenue, which suggests the two overlap as usual.

The Christmas light trail and its switch-on have not been announced for 2026. Search results still surface a Bath BID page about a Milsom Street switch-on at 5pm on Thursday 25 November with the trail running from 3.30pm nightly until 31 December. That page was published on 16 November 2021 and describes the 2021 event. Do not plan around it. Bath BID’s site carried no 2026 Christmas announcement when we checked on 4 September.

Bath Racecourse has two festive nights of its own on Lansdown: Fireworks Night on Friday 6 November and a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer drone light show on Saturday 21 November. Details are on our Bath fireworks and bonfire night page.

For the rest of the year, our things to do in Bath page keeps prices for the Roman Baths, the spa and the free tours up to date.

The short version

This page is updated as the council publishes closures, the light trail and Bath on Ice dates.