Hotels near Christkindlmarkt at Marienplatz

The Münchner Christkindlmarkt is the Munich Christmas market most visitors have in mind, and in 2026 it runs from 20 November to 24 December on Marienplatz, spilling west along Neuhauser Straße and Kaufingerstraße and south towards the Rindermarkt. Its documented history reaches back to a Nikolaidult recorded on Kaufingerstraße in 1642, and it has stood in front of the neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus since 1972. Hours are 10:00-21:00 Monday to Saturday, 10:00-20:00 on Sunday and 10:00-14:00 on Christmas Eve, as confirmed on the official Christkindlmarkt website.

The centrepiece is a 25-metre Christmas tree lit with 3,000 lights. A few steps away beside St. Peter's Church, the Kripperlmarkt is probably the largest nativity market in Germany: ten stalls selling nothing but cribs, carved figures from South Tyrol's Val Gardena and miniature accessories, a Munich tradition since 1757. Brass bands and choirs play from the Town Hall balcony on Sunday to Thursday evenings, and the Krampus run takes over the old town on Sunday 13 December 2026 from 15:00 to 17:00, drawing up to 50,000 onlookers. Glühwein comes in a souvenir mug with a deposit (Tassenpfand) refunded when you hand it back.

Pro Tip: Come on a weekday between 10:00 and 13:00, before the Neuhauser Straße shopping crowds build. On Wednesdays (25 November and 2, 9 and 16 December 2026) a free 30-minute carol sing-along starts at 16:30 outside St. Michael's Church on Neuhauser Straße, with lyric booklets handed out.