Christkindlmarket Chicago

Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza is the most authentically German market in North America, and deliberately so: it was founded in 1996 and modelled directly on Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, with a substantial share of vendors travelling from Germany for the season.

The mug

The collectable boot-shaped mug is the thing people queue for. The design changes every year, it is stamped with the year, and Chicagoans collect them in the same way Germans do. You pay a deposit which you can reclaim, but most people keep it — that is the point.

What is there

German food done properly: bratwurst, schnitzel, potato pancakes, spätzle, giant pretzels, roasted nuts and Glühwein. The stalls sell nutcrackers, beer steins, cuckoo clocks, hand-blown ornaments and wooden toys, much of it imported directly. The plaza setting — under the Chicago Picasso sculpture, surrounded by the Loop’s towers — gives it a distinctly urban character that the Bavarian market huts play against nicely.

Getting there

Daley Plaza is in the middle of the Loop at 50 W Washington Street, and almost every CTA line stops within a couple of blocks. Washington/Dearborn and Clark/Lake are the closest.

When to go

It runs 20 November to 24 December 2026 — the thirtieth anniversary season. Hours are Sunday to Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 9pm, with short days on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve (both 11am to 4pm).

Chicago in December is genuinely cold, with wind off the lake funnelling through the Loop’s streets. Weekday afternoons are far less crowded than evenings and weekends, when the plaza can be difficult to move through.

Worth knowing

There are additional Christkindlmarket locations beyond Daley Plaza — recent years have seen sites in Wrigleyville and Aurora — which are less crowded if the Loop is overwhelming. Check which location a listing refers to before travelling.

If Daley Plaza is too much

The Loop location is the original and the busiest. Recent years have seen additional Christkindlmarket sites elsewhere in the Chicago area, which are considerably less crowded and carry much the same vendors. If you are going with small children or simply dislike crowds, check whether an alternative site is running before defaulting to Daley Plaza.

Making a day of it in the Loop

Daley Plaza sits in the middle of Chicago’s architectural showpiece district, and December is a good month for it: the Art Institute, the Chicago Cultural Center — free, and with the largest Tiffany dome in the world — and Millennium Park with its own rink are all within about ten minutes’ walk. The Macy’s windows on State Street and the Walnut Room are a Chicago Christmas tradition in their own right, two blocks away.