Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Christmas in Oxford
A Christmas market on Broad Street, between the colleges — dates published, but with a calendar slip we want the organiser to fix.
The dates below have been reported for this year and fit the calendar, but we have not yet been able to confirm them with the organiser or an official source. The organiser gives "Saturday 21 November – Sunday 31 December 2026", but 31 December 2026 is a Thursday. We are treating the dates as provisional until that is corrected.
- Dates
- 21 Nov – 31 Dec 2026
- Opening hours
- Stalls: Sun–Wed 10am–6pm, Thu–Sat 10am–8pm; 24 Dec until 5.30pm; closed 25 Dec. Bars and food open later
- Address
- Broad Street, Oxford
Christmas in Oxford sets up on Broad Street, the wide street at the heart of the old university city, with Balliol and Trinity colleges on one side and the Sheldonian Theatre and the Bodleian Library a few steps away. It is hard to think of a more distinctive setting for a market.
Why these dates are provisional
The organiser’s own site gives the 2026 market as running from Saturday 21 November to Sunday 31 December. The opening date checks out: 21 November 2026 is a Saturday. But 31 December 2026 is a Thursday, not a Sunday. That is probably a slip carried over from an earlier year — but it is exactly the kind of mismatch that sometimes means the dates themselves are out of date, so we are listing them as provisional until the organiser corrects it.
Opening hours
According to the organiser, stalls open 10am to 6pm from Sunday to Wednesday and 10am to 8pm from Thursday to Saturday, with longer hours for the bars, food and entertainment. The market closes at 5.30pm on Christmas Eve and all day on Christmas Day.
What to expect
Gift and craft stalls, food, bars and entertainment in a compact space — Broad Street is wide but short, which makes this an easy market to see in an hour and a pleasant one to linger in.
Getting there
Oxford station is about fifteen minutes’ walk from Broad Street. The city centre is notoriously hard to drive into; the park and ride sites ring the city and run frequently.
Make a day of it
The Radcliffe Camera, the Covered Market, the Ashmolean Museum and the Pitt Rivers are all within a short walk. Many colleges open their grounds to visitors, though opening times are restricted in December.
Whatever the dates turn out to be, dress for standing still outdoors in the cold — see our guide to what to wear to a Christmas market.