Dates and opening hours for 2026
The 2026 market opens on Friday 27 November, the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent, and closes on Sunday 3 January 2027. The table on this page has the hours from LiveRiga, the city's tourism office.
Riga keeps the market open over Christmas. Christmas Eve runs 10:00 to 20:00, Christmas Day 10:00 to 21:00 and the 26th 10:00 to 22:00. On New Year's Eve it stays open until 2:00, and on 1 January it opens late, at 12:00, and closes at 20:00.
The programme follows the week: a DJ on Fridays, choirs on Saturdays and folk music on Sundays, with Santa's house and a post box for letters to Lapland in between.
Where it is and how to get there
Dome Square, Doma laukums, is the largest square in the Old Town, in front of Riga Cathedral. Old Town hotels are a few minutes away on foot. From Riga Central Station it is about fifteen minutes' walk, and from the Art Nouveau quarter around twenty-five.
From the airport, bus 22 runs into the centre in about half an hour, and a taxi takes around twenty minutes. Much of the Old Town is closed to ordinary traffic, so a taxi drops you at the edge and you walk the last few minutes.
Five minutes from Dome Square, on Town Hall Square in front of the House of the Blackheads, an octagonal plaque in the cobbles marks where the Blackheads guild is said to have raised the first decorated tree in 1510. In recent years smaller Christmas stalls have also appeared on Līvu Square and in Esplanāde park; check the city's listings for what is on this year.
What to eat and drink
Start with grey peas with bacon, pelēkie zirņi ar speķi, the Latvian Christmas dish, then smoked fish, sausages and piparkūkas, the thin spiced gingerbread that turns up in every Latvian house in December.
To drink, there is mulled wine, karstvīns, and the local hot drink made with Riga Black Balsam, a dark herbal liqueur, usually mixed with hot blackcurrant juice. It is an acquired taste, and the blackcurrant is what makes it work. The Post Office's 2025 Christmas Markets Report put a glass of mulled wine in Riga at about €4, among the cheapest in Europe.
Most stalls take cards. The craft stalls sell wool socks and mittens in Latvian patterns, candles and wooden toys, and the mittens are worth buying on the first day rather than the last.
Weather, daylight and what to wear
December in Riga hovers around freezing, a degree or so above zero by day and a few below at night, with snow likely but not guaranteed. A cold spell can take it well below minus ten.
On the shortest day the sun rises a little after 9:00 and sets around 15:45, under seven hours of light. The market and the Old Town look their best from about 16:00, when the lights come on.
Dress in layers, with a warm hat and gloves, and wear shoes with grip: the Old Town is cobbled throughout and the cobbles ice over.
Beyond the square
The Art Nouveau streets around Alberta iela are a twenty-minute walk from Dome Square, and under snow they are some of the quietest and loveliest streets in the city. The Central Market, in five former zeppelin hangars, is the place to buy smoked fish and rye bread to take home.
For a day out, Rundāle Palace, Latvia's baroque palace by the architect of St Petersburg's Winter Palace, is about an hour and a quarter south by car, and its gilded rooms are quiet in winter. Sigulda and the Gauja valley, about an hour northeast, are at their most atmospheric in snow.
Riga also sits midway between Tallinn and Vilnius, which makes it the natural middle of a three-market trip.
Seeing it with us
Our Christmas in Riga trip puts you in an Old Town hotel so that the market is an evening walk, not an outing, with a local guide for the Old Town by day, a ride on Sigulda's public bobsled track, and a quieter second market in Cēsis.
If you want all three capitals, the Baltic Christmas route links Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn by private car in the weeks when all three markets are open.
| Dates | 27 Nov 2026 to 3 Jan 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Thursday | 11:00 to 21:00 | |
| Friday and Saturday | 10:00 to 22:00 | |
| Sunday | 10:00 to 21:00 | |
| 24 Dec / 25 Dec / 26 Dec | 10:00 to 20:00 / 21:00 / 22:00 | |
| 31 Dec / 1 Jan | 10:00 to 2:00 / 12:00 to 20:00 | |
| Entry | Free |
- When is the Riga Christmas market 2026?
- From Friday 27 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, on Dome Square in the Old Town.
- Is the Riga Christmas market open on Christmas Day?
- Yes. It is open 10:00 to 20:00 on 24 December, 10:00 to 21:00 on 25 December and 10:00 to 22:00 on 26 December.
- Where was the first Christmas tree in Riga?
- On Town Hall Square, in front of the House of the Blackheads, where an octagonal plaque in the cobbles marks the spot. Riga dates it to 1510. Tallinn claims an earlier tree, in 1441.
- Is the market expensive?
- Not by European standards. The Post Office's 2025 Christmas Markets Report priced a glass of mulled wine in Riga at about €4, one of the lowest of the markets it compared. Entry is free.
- How many days do I need in Riga in December?
- Two full days covers the market, the Old Town and the Art Nouveau quarter. Add a third for Rundāle Palace or Sigulda.
Make this part of your Latvia trip.
Tell us your dates, interests and the pace you have in mind. We will suggest how this could fit your route.
