Bath Christmas Market 2026: Dates, Train and Parking Guide

Dates, opening hours and entry

A market across the whole city, no ticket needed

Free entry 18 days Open until 8pm on Thursday 26 November to 13 December

The stalls are spread along the city centre’s streets: Abbeygate Street, Bath Street and Milsom Street, according to Visit Bath, with Abbey Churchyard as the main hub. The market doesn’t have a single address. The addresses you find online are offices or landmarks, not the market itself. Most stalls sell crafts, food and gifts, and the council doesn’t publish prices.

Highlights

• No ticket to buy and no booking to make.
• A pedestrian city centre you can cover on foot, no guide needed.
• Open until 8pm from Thursday to Saturday, to see the market lit up.

Pixidia tip: weekday mornings look like the quietest time, though our research doesn’t put numbers on it. Evenings have the best lights, but the crowds are denser.

You can see the market without a guide. If you also want the city’s history, this three-hour walking tour, run by Viator, starts at the abbey’s great gates (Abbey Gate, according to the product listing). It doesn’t replace a visit to the market. Tour dates still need confirming on the Viator listing before you book.

Bath: Local Pubs & Historic Sights Walking Tour (3h) Prices and dates: see the Viator listing

See the listing and dates

Source: official market website and Visit Bath, checked on 12 October 2026.

The 2026 dates are confirmed by three separate sources: the official site, Visit Bath and the announcements from Bath and North East Somerset Council. Don’t rely on guides that repeat the 2025 dates (27 November to 14 December 2025): those belong to last year’s edition. The 2026 edition runs for 18 days, but the council has obtained permission to run the market for up to 25 days a year. That’s covered in more detail in the guides section further down.

Getting from London to Bath for the market

If you’re based in London, the train is the simplest option. Scheduled coaches exist, but we couldn’t verify their 2026 fares. Group coaches are covered further down. The amounts below are indicative unless stated otherwise.

By train: Paddington to Bath Spa

GWR runs from London Paddington to Bath Spa, in the heart of the city, and the market is a short walk from the station. Aggregators give a journey of about 1h12 to 1h27, with 52 to 72 trains a day in both directions. These frequencies still need confirming on the GWR website. We couldn’t verify any 2026 GWR fare: check gwr.com before you book, and compare single and return prices.

Saturday needs planning ahead. In 2025, GWR set up a queue at Bath Spa station from 1pm to 6pm to manage the crowds in the station and on the platforms, and the council announced extra services every Saturday. We found no equivalent announcement for 2026. If you’re going on a Saturday, travel early in the morning or late in the afternoon. A page on the official site, dated 2025, mentioned engineering work on London trains on 28 and 29 November; no 2026 timetable has been confirmed. Check with GWR.

By group coach: Royal Avenue

In 2025, group coaches had a single drop-off and pick-up point: Royal Avenue (BA1 2PH), reached via Gay Street, which is one-way. The official site says it’s about ten minutes’ walk to Milsom Street; another result says 650 metres, without settling the question. Slots are booked in advance through the council’s page beta.bathnes.gov.uk/coach-parking-bath (not read during verification). According to operators, bookings open every year in August, but the 2026 opening date isn’t confirmed.

Visit Bath gives indicative rates for coaches with 25 to 53 seats: £70 on Monday and Tuesday, £85 from Wednesday to Friday, £95 at weekends. These rates are calculated on the vehicle’s seat count, not the number of passengers, so a coach only makes sense for a group that fills it. The rates are indicative and come from a tourism source, not from the council. The 2026 rate hasn’t been confirmed: check with the council before you book.

By scheduled coach and car

National Express and Megabus serve the route, but we haven’t checked any 2026 fare or timetable: look at their websites directly. For driving, the city centre car parks and the low emission zone are covered in the next section.

Source: GWR page for the market (2025 season), official market site coach page (2025 season) and Visit Bath, checked on 12 October 2026. Train journey times and frequencies come from unofficial aggregators.

By car: parking and the low emission zone

Two city centre car parks are open 24 hours a day. Charlotte Street, the council’s official car park, has 1,056 spaces, is open round the clock and has no maximum stay. Its rates depend on the vehicle’s emissions: £2.50 to £4.10 between 6pm and 8pm, £7.20 to £9.30 for up to four hours, and £18.90 to £24 for a full day. SouthGate, an underground car park with 876 spaces, has electric vehicle charging points and accessible bays; we didn’t find its rate. There’s no special Christmas tariff: the standard rate applies. The council also runs Park & Ride sites at Odd Down, Newbridge and Lansdown.

Parts of the centre have been closed to traffic during earlier markets. Our sources list Cheap Street, Westgate Street and Upper Borough Walls in 2024, and a First Bus notice for the 2025 season, which we haven’t linked here. These are examples from past markets, not 2026 plans, so treat them as indicative and check the council’s map before you drive in.

For the low emission zone, a press summary of the council’s February 2025 statement says private cars and motorbikes are not charged. We couldn’t confirm the amount that applies to non-compliant coaches and minibuses: check it on GOV.UK, where the charge is paid, rather than with the council.

One common mix-up: Westonbirt, the Gloucestershire arboretum that Visit Bath describes as « at the other end of the city », can’t be reached on foot from Bath. You need a car, and it’s a separate day out from the market.

Source: Charlotte Street car park, Bath and North East Somerset Council; SouthGate: Visit Bath, checked on 12 October 2026.

Bath on Ice, lights and events around the market

Abbey, Roman Baths and the city centre lights

Ice rink from 20 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 Free lights in the city centre

Bath on Ice is set up in Royal Victoria Park from Friday 20 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, according to Visit Bath. The organiser’s website wasn’t reachable during verification, and the adult prices shown on the same page don’t match: £16.50 in one place, £14.50 in another. So we don’t publish a price: check with the organiser before you go.

Visit Bath lists free lights in the city centre: Abbey Churchyard, Milsom Street, Green Street, Northumberland Place, Union Passage and Bridge Street. Its 2025 selection also mentions the giant tree in front of the abbey and the illuminated plane tree on Abbey Green. No 2026 light trail has been dated. The 2024 trail ran from 29 November to 31 December: don’t present it as a 2026 offer.

Good to know

• A reindeer track in town was launched in 2025; its return in 2026 isn’t confirmed.
• A Victorian carousel ran on Stall Street in 2025 (from 18 or 19 December to 5 January, according to the announcement). Its presence in 2026 isn’t confirmed.

Pixidia tip: if you’re only going once, save the lights for the end of the day, when they look their best but the crowds are denser, and book the rink for a weekday evening.

Budget: what to expect to pay

The market itself costs nothing: there’s no entry ticket. Spending goes on transport, parking, purchases at the stalls and paid activities nearby. Here are the benchmarks, with their status.

• Market entry: £0, no booking needed (Visit Bath, official site).
• Train London to Bath: no 2026 GWR fare verified. The advance fare is cheaper than the full fare, which we couldn’t check.
• Charlotte Street car park: £7.20 to £9.30 for up to four hours, £18.90 to £24 for a full day, depending on the vehicle’s emissions (official council rate).
• Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA): £20 according to GOV.UK, for stays of up to six months. An article on thelocal.fr dated 7 February 2026 (exact link to confirm) says it applies to nationals of the EU and EEA, France included, and that it is valid for two years. The date the current amount took effect isn’t confirmed.
• Currency: the exchange rate moves. Check it on the day you travel before comparing prices in pounds with your own currency.
• Bath Abbey: the visitor ticket is listed at £10 in an older announcement and at £16 in a 2026 one. Check bathabbey.org.
• Bath on Ice: paid, prices not published here (see the rink section).

The most uncertain cost is the train, since no 2026 GWR fare has been verified. Check the fares on gwr.com before you set your budget.

Which day and which traveller?

First trip, as a couple

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday the market stays open until 8pm. The nicest plan is to arrive in the late afternoon, wander the lit-up streets, then have dinner in town. To avoid the Saturday crowds, pick a Thursday or a Friday. For history, the abbey is a short walk from the stalls; a visit costs money (see the budget).

With the family

The free city centre lights, listed by Visit Bath, can be seen without a ticket. The reindeer track launched in 2025 has no confirmed return for 2026, and the Bath on Ice rink is paid, with no price published here. For the train, GWR set up a queue at Bath Spa on Saturdays from 1pm to 6pm in 2025; we found no equivalent announcement for 2026.

On a tight budget

The market is free, which already covers half the job. The items to compare are the advance train fare, booked early, and a city centre car park at the full-day rate (£18.90 to £24) or the up-to-four-hours rate (£7.20 to £9.30). A group coach only makes sense if the vehicle is full: its price depends on the vehicle, not on the passengers.

Reduced mobility

The market’s accessibility page returned a 404 error when we checked, and the only accessibility information we found concerns the accessible bays in the SouthGate car park. Before you go, contact the organiser about paved areas, access to the stalls and sloped sections.

To compare with other markets

For another European Christmas market, read our guide to the Cologne Christmas markets 2026. For another end-of-year trip in the UK, see the Edinburgh Christmas market and big wheel guide. If you want to add a day trip from London, compare the best day trips from London.

What other guides don’t tell you

The guides we read give the dates and free entry, but they often leave out the points below. Each one relies on a source checked on 12 October 2026. Two of them are 2025 pages or press summaries.

• A coach drop-off point in 2025. Royal Avenue (BA1 2PH), reached via one-way Gay Street, was the only drop-off and pick-up point that season. To be checked for 2026. Source: official site coach page (2025 season, to check for 2026), extract checked on 12 October 2026.
• Permanent permission, no extension announced for 2026. The council’s announcement of 2 September 2026 allows the market to run for up to 25 days a year, over a larger area. The council hasn’t announced any immediate extension beyond this year’s 18 days. Source: council announcement, checked on 12 October 2026.
• Bath on Ice runs over the same period. The rink opens from 20 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 at Royal Victoria Park, a period most guides don’t mention. Source: Visit Bath, checked on 12 October 2026.
• According to one summary, the low emission zone spares cars. Private cars and motorbikes would not be charged, according to a press summary of the council’s February 2025 statement. The amounts for coaches couldn’t be confirmed. Source: press summary checked on 12 October 2026, to verify on GOV.UK.
• 2025 visitor numbers are not the same as 2024’s. The council reports 439,000 visitors and £64 million in turnover for 2025, against about 444,000 visitors in 2024 according to the council (announcement node/32867). Source: council announcement of 24 June 2026, checked on 12 October 2026.