Christmas in Riquewihr: Your Ultimate Guide
Riquewihr is one of Alsace’s most adorable villages, filled with colorful, half-timbered homes and surrounded by row upon row upon row of vineyards.
It’s a fairytale location no matter when you visit, but in December it seriously looks like Santa’s elves just threw up over the entire village. Suffice it to say, Riquewihr is so incredibly picturesque during the holidays, and is a top Christmas market destination in Alsace.
Let’s discuss the different things to do and spots to visit in Riquewihr at Christmastime.
The Streets of Riquewihr
Riquewihr is a little unique among Christmas towns and cities in Europe. In most locations, the markets are the main attraction, with the city decorations almost acting like a supplement.
In Riquewihr, however, the town’s decorations ARE the attraction. Practically every building has intricate and whimsical decorations, garland, and lights, sometimes using novel items like teddy bears, stuffed animals, gingerbread, or oversized ornaments to adorn the houses.
Strings of lights run between the houses, and it just feels like an actual fairytale film set.
Rue du Général du Gaulle is the main thoroughfare through town and is the most sumptuously decorated, but make sure to duck down and explore the side streets, too,
One of my personal favorite streets is Rue des Ecuries, right off Rue du General de Gaulle. Head all the way to the end and then turn and look back towards the main street for this picturesque view.
The Riquewihr Christmas Market
Interestingly, the Christmas market in Riquewihr was actually pleasantly calm, despite the crowds in the rest of the village. About 40 chalets fill the Place Fernand Zeyer square, just next to the Hotel de Ville, and continue all along the Rue des Remparts to the edge of town.
There’s a Christmas tree in the middle of the market and beautiful displays fill the wooden chalets.
While not an exhaustive list of everything for sale, these are some of the things you can buy at the Riquewihr market:
Food and Drink in Riquewihr at Christmastime
The Riquewihr Christmas Market really is focused on gifts and shopping – with just a few stalls selling hot drinks, such as vin chaud (mulled wine), chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) or other alcoholic beverages.
Riquewihr does have a really cute Christmas market cup with a winter scene of the village on it.
You won’t find food stalls in the market. Instead, street food is incorporated into the village, where permanent stands sell bretzels (pretzels), crepes, tarte flambée, sausages, kouglehopf, or manela.
La Féerie de Noel Boutique
It seems appropriate that a town renowned for its holiday festivities would have an actual brick-and-mortar store dedicated to Christmas.
La Féerie de Noel (“The Christmas Fairy” – how cute is that) is a sprawling, almost museum-like store that winds you along a designated path through at least half a dozen rooms, where you can admire and purchase all sorts of different ornaments and decorations.
The store just feels like a happy jolt of Christmas cheer with its decorations – plus don’t miss the Nutcracker just outside the front door.
When to Visit the Riquewihr Christmas Market
Riquewihr is tiny but its reputation as a Christmas mecca is big. Expect high crowds – like, very high crowds.
Even on a weekday morning (when I visited) there were a lot of people. It wasn’t so much that it took away from the experience or you were just shuffling through town, but parking was difficult and the town was certainly full. I’d avoid weekends at all costs.
Time of Day: Also, I’d actually recommend coming here during the morning or afternoon, because the magic of Riquewihr is the decorations, and personally I think they are best appreciated when its light out.
Practical Information
These are answers to common questions people have about visiting the markets in Riquewihr.
How to Get to Riquewihr at Christmastime
By Rental Car: This is certainly the most convenient and flexible way to visit Riquewihr if you’re doing a large Alsace Christmas market tour and want to easily pop into a few different villages or cities everyday.
Navigating the countryside of Alsace is straightforward, and there are parking lots on the edge of town. Coming from Colmar, the journey takes about 20 minutes, and 50 minutes from Strasbourg.
By Shuttle: In 2024, Alsace started running a Christmas shuttle, mainly between Colmar and other villages in the region. This shuttle runs every hour (or half hour on weekends), costs €8-15 for a full day use, and is a really convenient way to get around if you don’t have a car.
Because the shuttle can fill up, it is highly recommended to get a ticket in advance. You can check out timetables and more information about the shuttle at the bottom of this article.
By Bus: The #16 bus runs between Colmar and Riquewihr several times throughout the day. This is an okay option – while the bus only costs €4 and you can get there in 15 minutes, it only runs about 8 times a day, and often with several hours between the next bus.
In practicality, it often doesn’t line up super well with how long you’d want to stay in Riquewihr, and you might end up either waiting around for the bus or cutting your visit short. You can check out the bus schedule here
By Uber: There is Uber in Alsace, and I’ve used it on a few occasions. I’ve had no problems getting picked up in bigger cities (to take me to smaller villages), but I have had difficulty with drivers accepting the ride request to pick me up from a village and bring me back to the city.
Dates and Hours for the Riquewihr Christmas Market
The 2024 Riquewihr Christmas Market opens on Thursday, the 28th of November, and runs through Saturday, the 21 of December.
Markets hours are:
- Monday – Friday: 10am – 6:30pm
- Satursday & Sunday: 10am – 7:30pm
How Much Time Do You Need in Riquewihr?
2-4 hours is plenty of time to take in the Christmas markets and atmosphere in Riquewihr. With just a few hours, you can browse the stands and buy any gifts, get something to eat, and walk up and down all the adorable streets in town.
Other Helpful Tips
- Make sure you visit other Christmas markets in the region! The Colmar Christmas Market and Strasbourg Christmas Market are the most famous, but the markets and atmosphere in Eguisheim, Obernai, and Mulhouse are also excellent.
- There are no entrance fees to visit the Christmas markets.
- People in Riquewihr speak French, of course, but many also speak German. In addition, you will find that most people interacting with tourists speak at least some English.
- There are some stands that will accept card, but many places will just take cash, so make sure you have cash on hand.
