Katowice Christmas Market 2026: Dates, Hotels and Weekend Plan

Last updated 22.10.2026

Do not come to the Katowice Christmas market expecting a Gothic town hall or Renaissance arcades like in Kraków or Wrocław. Katowice grew out of coal mines in the 19th century, and the market on the Rynek makes no secret of it: the stalls stand between the Silesian Theatre, 1960s department stores and tram tracks, a 33-metre Ferris wheel turns above them and a giant Christmas tree glows in the middle. That contrast is exactly what we like about it, along with the fact that Katowice has its own airport and is only an hour by train from Kraków. The market on the Rynek in Katowice opens on Friday 20 November 2026 and, according to the organiser, runs until Sunday 10 January 2027. Entry is free. Below you will find where to stay, a plan for a long weekend, the 2026 dates and programme, what to eat, how to get there from the airport (including the city’s new low-emission zone if you hire a car) and 10 things to do in Katowice in winter for when the cold gets to you at the stalls.

Katowice Christmas market at a glance

• Dates 2026: Friday 20 November 2026 to Sunday 10 January 2027, according to the organiser, Jarmarki Śląskie.
• Location: the Rynek (market square) in central Katowice, a few minutes’ walk from the main railway station. For one weekend in December, in 2026 from 11 to 13 December, there is also the Jarmark na Nikiszu in the old mining district of Nikiszowiec.
• Opening hours: not yet published for 2026. We will add them here as soon as they are out.
• Entry: free. You only pay for rides, food and drink.
• Attractions: the Mega Młyn Ferris wheel (33 m), an electric train, a Victorian carousel with Silesian motifs, more than 100 stalls, and music and dancing at weekends.
• Ice rink: not mentioned in the organiser’s 2026 announcement so far. What is certain is the indoor rink in the Spodek arena, ten minutes’ walk from the Rynek (more in our winter tips).
• Currency: Polish złoty (PLN). Roughly €1 ≈ 4.3 zł and £1 ≈ 5 zł.
• Where to stay: in the centre between the main station and the Rynek, where everything is walkable. Our hotel picks are just below.
• Best for: a long weekend with two nights, ideally combined with Kraków or a trip underground into the old mines. Our Friday-to-Sunday plan is below too.

Where to stay for the Katowice Christmas market

Plenty of people treat Katowice as a quick stop on the way to Kraków or a few hours between trains. We would still stay the night. The Rynek is at its best after dark, when the tree, the wheel and the garlands above the stalls are lit, and that is exactly when you would otherwise be checking your watch for the last train or airport coach. With a hotel in the centre you get a relaxed Friday evening at the market, Saturday for the museums or a trip out of town, and Sunday morning to browse the stalls before half of Silesia arrives. Hotels in Katowice also tend to be cheaper than in Kraków or Wrocław, so a long weekend here costs less than you might expect.

So what is the best area to stay in Katowice? The centre between the main station, Dworcowa Street and the Rynek. From there everything is within a ten-minute walk: the market, the bars on pedestrianised Mariacka Street, and the Strefa Kultury (Culture Zone) with the Spodek arena and the Silesian Museum. If you arrive by train, including from the airport or from Kraków, you step off the platform and are at your hotel in five minutes. We picked the hotels below on Booking.com by location and guest ratings (as of October 2026), across different price levels:

• Hotel Monopol (Dworcowa 5): a five-star hotel with Art Deco rooms, 350 metres from the station and a few minutes from the Rynek. For couples who want to treat themselves. Bonus: a pool plus a dry and a steam sauna, where you can thaw out for free after an evening in the frost.
• Hotel Diament Plaza Katowice (Dworcowa 9–11): a four-star hotel on the same street, 300 metres from the station. For anyone arriving by train who wants the market around the corner. Bonus: a hotel restaurant serving Silesian food and an underground garage. Guest rating 9.3.
• Mercure Katowice Centrum (Młyńska 6): a four-star hotel in the centre, 450 metres from the station. For travellers who like a reliable chain standard with its own car park. Bonus: guests rate it above all for its location (9.8 out of 10) and its breakfast.
• Novotel Katowice Centrum (al. Roździeńskiego 16): 700 metres from the centre and from the Spodek, so halfway between the Rynek and the Strefa Kultury. For families with children. Bonus: an indoor pool with a hot tub, and family rooms.
• B&B HOTEL Katowice Centrum (Sokolska 4): the budget option, 500 metres from the station. For those who mainly need a bed and plan to spend the day out. Bonus: a 24-hour reception and a breakfast buffet.

💡 Book early and with free cancellation. The first to fill up are the opening weekend (20–22 November), the first weekend of Advent (27–29 November) and the weekend of Barbórka and St Nicholas’ Day (4–6 December). You can find more hotels and apartments with live prices in our list of places to stay in Katowice. If you are driving a hire car, check parking with the hotel in advance: the Rynek and the pedestrian streets around it lie inside the new low-emission zone (more in how to get to Katowice).

The Katowice Christmas market as a long weekend

Let us be honest: if you are already staying in Kraków, Katowice works as a day trip. The train takes about an hour, you can spend the afternoon in Nikiszowiec or a museum, the evening on the Rynek and be back in Kraków before midnight. But if you are flying in specifically for the Christmas markets, two nights in Katowice make far more sense. You get the market at its prettiest in the evening, the mines and museums in daylight, and you are not rushing for the last train. This is how we would plan the weekend:

• Friday: fly into Katowice Airport or Kraków Airport, transfer to the city (see how to get to Katowice), check in in the centre and head straight for the Rynek. In the evening, mulled wine, a ride on the Ferris wheel above the lit-up square and dinner at one of the places near the Rynek. If you still have energy, finish the day in the bars on Mariacka Street.
• Saturday: in the morning, the Silesian Museum, built underground in a former coal mine, and a walk through the Strefa Kultury past the Spodek, where you can go ice skating. In the afternoon, take a city bus to Nikiszowiec, and on the weekend of its Christmas market stay there until dark. In the evening, back to the Rynek, where there is a stage programme at weekends.
• Sunday: either a trip out of town (the Guido Mine in Zabrze, the silver mine in Tarnowskie Góry or the Planetarium in Chorzów), or a morning at the market before the crowds and an afternoon flight home.

For a longer trip, combine the weekend with Kraków, about an hour away by train. The market on Kraków’s Rynek Główny starts a week later this year, on 27 November, and we cover it in detail in our guide to the Krakow Christmas market. Both cities have the most going on during the Advent weekends, and since the Katowice market runs until 10 January, you can also go between Christmas and New Year.

Why visit the Katowice Christmas market

First, the length of the season. Many Central European markets close on 23 December, but on the Rynek in Katowice you can drink mulled wine between Christmas and New Year and even on the first weekend of January. Second, it is easy to reach: Katowice has its own international airport, and Kraków is an hour away by train, so you can see two very different Polish markets in one trip. And third, because of everything else Katowice offers beyond Advent. In a single weekend you can fit in the market, an underground museum in a former coal mine, a red-brick miners’ estate and a concert in the modern hall of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR).

Is Katowice worth visiting if you want a romantic medieval square? No. After the big redevelopment finished in 2016, the Rynek feels modern, with cafés, tram tracks and 1960s department stores, so the market relies on rides rather than on its backdrop. For families with children that is actually an advantage: the wheel, the little train, the carousel and the lit-up houses with moving figures are all in one place. If you are after old Silesian atmosphere, take the bus out to Nikiszowiec.

How to get to Katowice

By plane. Katowice Airport (KTW) lies in Pyrzowice, roughly 40 km north of the city, about 35 minutes by road. You can get into the centre by airport coach or taxi, and the Pyrzowice Lotnisko railway station is about 500 metres from the terminals. Timetables and prices change, so check the current options on the airport’s website before you fly. The alternative is Kraków Airport (KRK), which usually has more routes: take the airport train to Kraków Główny and change there for Katowice, about an hour on the train. Which airlines fly to Katowice and Kraków from your home airport changes every winter, so check the current routes rather than relying on last year’s.

By car and the low-emission zone. If you pick up a hire car, note that since 29 June 2026 central Katowice has a low-emission zone, the Strefa Czystego Transportu. It covers the Rynek and the pedestrian streets around it (Stawowa, Dworcowa, Staromiejska, Mariacka). Its boundary is formed by Piotra Skargi, Moniuszki, Pańki, Dudy-Gracza, Warszawska, Francuska, Tylna Mariacka, Dworcowa and Słowackiego streets, which are themselves outside the zone. Cars registered outside Katowice and the GZM metropolitan area must meet these limits: petrol cars no more than 27 years old and at the same time Euro 3 or built in 2000 or later; diesels no more than 18 years old and at the same time Euro 5 or built in 2009 or later. According to Polish media there is no charge to enter and no sticker or registration is required. A modern hire car will meet the limits easily; if you are driving an older diesel, park outside the zone and walk into the centre. If you are combining the trip with Czechia, Ostrava is about 100 km and just under an hour away via the Věřňovice/Gorzyczki border crossing and the A1 motorway. Polish state-run motorways are free for cars, so there is no toll between Ostrava and Katowice; on the Czech side you need an electronic motorway vignette.

Where to park. The closest options to the Rynek are the underground car park of the Galeria Katowicka shopping centre by the station (ul. 3 Maja 30) and the car park by the Spodek (Korfantego 35). It is worth driving to the Silesian Museum separately: it has a large underground car park where the first three hours are free and each further hour costs 5 zł (about €1). On an Advent Saturday afternoon expect the garages in the centre to be full, so arrive in the morning or the evening instead.

By train. Katowice is a major rail hub. From Kraków the train takes about an hour, and PKP Intercity also links Katowice with Wrocław and Warsaw; timetables and tickets are on intercity.pl. If you are coming from Czechia, direct trains run from Ostrava and Bohumín in about two hours, and according to Czech Railways there is a direct EuroCity from Prague; otherwise you change in Ostrava or Bohumín. Katowice main station is in the centre and you can walk from it to the Rynek.

By coach or on a tour. FlixBus and RegioJet run to Katowice from Prague, Brno and Ostrava. Tour operators also run one-day Advent coach trips, mostly on Saturdays in December. It is convenient, but you only get a few hours in Katowice and a programme set by the guide.

Katowice Christmas market 2026: dates and location

The main market on the Rynek is run by the company Jarmarki Śląskie. According to its official announcement, it opens on Friday 20 November 2026 and closes on Sunday 10 January 2027, a week before the first Sunday of Advent (29 November) and several days after Epiphany. Watch out for websites quoting 28 November to 23 December: the organiser’s official dates are longer. Besides the Rynek, the Jarmark na Nikiszu takes place on one weekend in December in the historic mining district of Nikiszowiec.

Katowice Christmas market opening hours

The organiser has not yet published the opening hours for 2026; we will add them here as soon as they are out. As a rule, the stalls open every day from late morning until the evening, for longer at weekends, and the hours change around the holidays, especially on Christmas Eve, which falls on a Thursday this year, and on New Year’s Eve. If you are visiting on those days, check the hours on the Jarmarki Śląskie Facebook page.

The Christmas tree lighting

The giant tree stands in the middle of the Rynek next to the Ferris wheel. Nobody has officially announced the date and time of the 2026 lighting ceremony yet; we will add them once the city or the organiser publishes them. Expect the tree to be lit at the start of the season or around the first weekend of Advent, and expect the biggest crowd of the whole season on the Rynek that evening.

Katowice Christmas market 2026: programme

The detailed programme for 2026 has not been released yet; we will add it here. So far the organiser has confirmed what is coming back, which is enough to plan your weekend around.

The Rynek: Ferris wheel, little train and over a hundred stalls

The landmark of the market is the 33-metre Mega Młyn Ferris wheel, with views over the whole centre, including the Spodek and the towers of the Strefa Kultury. For children there is an electric train and a Victorian carousel with Silesian motifs. The organiser promises more than 100 wooden stalls with handicrafts, art and regional products, glass baubles and hand-decorated ornaments. The square usually also has lit-up little houses with moving figures and fairy-tale scenes that every child stops at, and a central bar with a Christmas pyramid, where people stand at high tables with their mulled wine. Prices for the wheel and the other rides in 2026 are not out yet; we will add them.

Every weekend, according to the organiser, there is a programme on the Rynek: live music, singing and dancing. Friday and Saturday evenings are the liveliest, but that is also when the queue for the wheel is longest.

Barbórka, St Nicholas and the Santa parade

According to the organiser, the programme includes a visit from St Nicholas (Santa) and the Santa parade (Parada Mikołajkowa), date not yet announced. St Nicholas’ Day (Mikołajki) falls on Sunday 6 December this year, and two days earlier, on Friday 4 December, the whole of Upper Silesia celebrates Barbórka, the feast of St Barbara, patron saint of miners. That makes the weekend of 4–6 December especially festive in Katowice. If your dates allow, go then, just book your hotel well in advance.

Jarmark na Nikiszu in the miners’ estate

A completely different experience from the Rynek. The Jarmark na Nikiszu runs on just one weekend in December, from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, and is organised by the local association Fabryka Inicjatyw Lokalnych together with the city. The stalls stand in the streets and on plac Wyzwolenia between the miners’ brick houses, overlooked by the tower of St Anne’s Church. Most of what is sold here is made by local craftspeople, along with home-cooked food. In 2026 it runs from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 December, and the organiser promises nearly 200 stalls. The opening hours have not been published yet; we will add them, and until then keep an eye on the Jarmark na Nikiszu Facebook page.

Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve

Unlike many markets in the region, the Katowice market does not end on Christmas Eve; it runs until 10 January 2027. The market organiser has not announced the programme for the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve yet; we will add it. What is certain is that, according to Polish public broadcaster TVP, its New Year’s Eve concert Sylwester z Dwójką will once again take place right in front of the Spodek, a few minutes’ walk from the Rynek. For us this is the best reason to visit Katowice between Christmas and New Year: hotels have more availability, the city is calm and the stalls still smell of mulled wine.

What to eat and drink

The Katowice market is international, with Belgian fries, lángos and chimney cakes. We would go for the Silesian and Polish food, though:

• Grzaniec (grzane wino): Polish mulled wine, often with orange and cloves, plus hot mead (miód pitny), which Poland makes in many varieties.
• Oscypek with cranberries: smoked sheep’s cheese from the Tatra Mountains, grilled and served with cranberry sauce. A fixture at every Polish Christmas market.
• Krupniok: Silesian black pudding with barley groats, grilled at the market.
• Silesian tiramisu: despite the name, not a dessert. Layers of sauerkraut, pork brawn and toasted mashed potato. A speciality you will not find anywhere else.
• Pierogi, bigos and żurek: dumplings with cabbage and mushrooms, a hunter’s stew of sauerkraut, meat and sausage, and sour rye soup, ideally served in a bread bowl.
• Kołocz śląski: Silesian cake with curd cheese and poppy seeds, good for taking home.

Nobody has published food and drink prices for 2026 yet; we will add them here. In general, Polish Christmas markets are a little cheaper than Vienna or Dresden. You can have your drink poured into a Christmas mug and take it home as a souvenir.

A little history

By Central European standards, Katowice is a young city. As late as the mid-19th century it was a village that grew thanks to coal mines and ironworks, and it only received town rights in 1865. The Rynek was laid out as a market square to a plan from 1856, and the buildings around it were completed by 1875. Back then it was called Friedrichsplatz and was the largest marketplace in town; the building of today’s Silesian Theatre has stood on it since 1906–1907. After the Second World War some of the old houses disappeared, and in the 1960s and 1970s they were replaced by modernist department stores such as Zenit and Skarbek. For a while the square turned into a traffic roundabout.

The Rynek got its present form in a redevelopment that started in March 2012 and finished in 2016. The new pedestrian square now hosts the Christmas market, the Easter market and a fair for the city’s birthday, all run by the same company, Jarmarki Śląskie. The mining tradition has not gone away, though. Barbórka on 4 December is celebrated in Katowice more than St Nicholas’ Day is in many places, and the Nikiszowiec district, built in 1908–1919 for the miners of the Giesche mine to a design by the architects Emil and Georg Zillmann, has been a Polish Historic Monument (Pomnik historii), the country’s highest heritage category, since 2011.

Where to warm up after the market

• Restauracja Tatiana (Staromiejska 5): a few steps from the Rynek, open Monday to Saturday from 13:00. For Silesian żurek and a warm dinner when you have had enough of standing at the stalls.
• KAKTUSY Kato Koncept Kulinarny in the Hotel Diament Plaza (Dworcowa 9): a hotel restaurant with Polish and regional cooking, five minutes from the market.
• Moodro in the Silesian Museum (Dobrowolskiego 1): a bistro and café for breakfast, lunch and desserts, the perfect break between exhibitions.
• Śląska Prohibicja (Krawczyka 1, Nikiszowiec): a restaurant with Silesian food right in the miners’ estate, for beef roulades, żur or pork knuckle after a walk around Nikiszowiec.
• Mariacka Street: a pedestrian street close to the Rynek, full of bars and pubs. This is where people go when the stalls close and nobody wants to go back to the hotel yet.

What to watch out for

• Trams across the square. Trams cross the Rynek in several directions. With children and a mug of mulled wine in hand, watch where you step.
• Low-emission zone. Since summer 2026 the centre has had a low-emission zone (SCT), and older diesels (up to Euro 4) are not allowed in. The details are above in how to get to Katowice.
• Weekends and parking. On an Advent Saturday afternoon both the Rynek and the garages in the centre are full. The nicest time at the market is a weekday evening, Friday early evening or Sunday morning.
• Cash. Most stalls take cards, but cash is handy for small purchases and mug deposits. Withdraw złoty from a bank ATM rather than a Euronet machine, and when paying by card always choose to be charged in złoty, not in your home currency.
• Toilets. There are few on the Rynek itself; the nearest are in the Galeria Katowicka and Supersam shopping centres close to the square.
• Pickpockets and queues. In the queue for the wheel and at the central bar, keep your wallet and phone in an inside pocket, as at any big Christmas market.
• Mondays. The Silesian Museum and the museum in Nikiszowiec are closed on Mondays, so plan your trips for other days.

10 things to do in Katowice in winter

Katowice is not a city where there is nothing to do once you have seen the market. Quite the opposite: most of the best things are indoors or even underground, which is handy in December. We only give opening hours and prices where we checked them on the operator’s website as of October 2026.

1. Nikiszowiec: a red-brick miners’ estate

If you only have time for one thing in Katowice besides the Rynek, make it this. Nine brick blocks with inner courtyards, decorated windows and St Anne’s Church in the middle were built in 1908–1919 for the miners of the Giesche mine. The former laundry and mangle house is home to a branch of the Museum of the History of Katowice (Rymarska 4), with an exhibition on life in the estate. It is open Tuesday to Friday 10:00–18:00, Saturday 10:00–16:00 and Sunday 11:00–15:00, closed on Mondays. Admission is 25 zł (about €6 / £5), reduced 15 zł and family ticket 40 zł (about €9 / £8). A city bus runs here from the centre in roughly a quarter of an hour. We like it best at dusk, when the street lamps come on and the bricks glow red.

2. The Silesian Museum, 14 metres underground

The Silesian Museum (Muzeum Śląskie) stands on the site of the former Katowice coal mine, and most of its exhibitions are hidden 14 metres below ground. On the surface you only see the glass boxes that let light into the galleries and the old Warszawa II shaft tower with a viewing platform. Inside are Silesian art, the history of the region and a huge central hall 12.5 metres high. Address: Dobrowolskiego 1, open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00–20:00, closed on Mondays. The museum recommends allowing two and a half to three and a half hours. Ticket prices are on the museum’s website. If you come by car, the first three hours in the museum car park are free.

3. The Strefa Kultury and a concert at NOSPR

Right next to the museum stands the home of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR), and a little further on the International Congress Centre with a green roof you can walk up onto. The whole area is called the Strefa Kultury (Culture Zone), and in winter it is the nicest place for an early-evening walk after the market. For something extra, buy tickets for a concert. NOSPR plays classical music, jazz and film music almost every week; the Advent programme is on nospr.org.pl.

4. Ice skating at the Spodek

The Spodek, a flying-saucer-shaped arena from 1971, is the symbol of Katowice and has its own indoor ice rink (Korfantego 35). The 2026/2027 season started in September and runs until April 2027. Public skating is on seven days a week according to the schedule, at weekends usually at 17:00 and 19:00, unless there is a league match. You can hire skates on site in sizes 27–47 (EU), and helmets and skating aids for children are available too. The current schedule and prices are on the Spodek website. From the Rynek it is about a ten-minute walk along Korfantego.

5. An evening on Mariacka Street

Mariacka is a pedestrian street running from the centre to the neo-Gothic St Mary’s Church, and at night it becomes the liveliest street in Katowice. Bars, pubs and clubs stand side by side, and at weekends it stays busy long after the market has closed. For us it is the ideal end to a Friday evening, when after the mulled wine you start fancying a beer.

6. Barbórka and mining traditions

St Barbara’s Day on 4 December is a big deal in Upper Silesia. Miners parade in ceremonial uniforms with plumed caps, churches hold masses for miners and mines, and mining towns put on concerts and gatherings. In 2026 Barbórka falls on a Friday, so you can combine it with a weekend at the market. The specific programme in and around Katowice has not been released yet; keep an eye on the websites of the city and the museums, especially the Guido Mine in Zabrze.

7. The Guido Mine in Zabrze: 320 metres underground

About half an hour’s drive from Katowice, in Zabrze, an original miners’ cage takes you 320 metres down into the historic Guido Mine, one of the deepest tourist routes in Europe. Nearby is the Queen Louise Adit (Sztolnia Królowa Luiza) with an underground boat ride. Both are run by the Coal Mining Museum (Muzeum Górnictwa Węglowego), and tickets are bought online in advance. On 17 December 2026 the mine has a concert from its Muzyka na Poziomie series in the programme, in other words music underground. The temperature below ground is the same all year round, so it does not matter if it is freezing on the surface. Prices and tour times are on kopalniaguido.pl.

8. The silver mine in Tarnowskie Góry (UNESCO)

Some 40 minutes north of Katowice lies Tarnowskie Góry, with a silver, lead and zinc mine on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The two-hour tour of the Historic Silver Mine (Zabytkowa Kopalnia Srebra, ul. Szczęść Boże 81) costs 84 zł (about €20 / £17), reduced 73 zł, and includes a boat ride through an underground passage. The hour-long boat trip through the Black Trout Adit (Sztolnia Czarnego Pstrąga) costs 73 zł (about €17 / £14), reduced 62 zł, for children from 4 years. Hardy cold-water swimmers can even take an underground dip here. Prices according to kopalniasrebra.pl as of October 2026.

9. The Silesian Planetarium and Silesian Park in Chorzów

On the border of Katowice and Chorzów lies the vast Silesian Park (Park Śląski), and in it the Silesian Planetarium, the oldest and largest in Poland. Besides shows under the dome, some of them with English, it has astronomy and geophysics exhibitions and five space-flight simulators. A planetarium ticket gets you a discount on the Elka cable car that runs across the park. The park also has the Legendia amusement park, which often has its own winter programme; check its website for the 2026/2027 season dates. The planetarium’s programme is on planetarium.edu.pl.

10. A trip to the Kraków Christmas market

From Katowice to Kraków is about an hour by train, so you can add a second market to your long weekend. Kraków’s Rynek Główny is the complete opposite of Katowice: Gothic architecture, the Cloth Hall, the bugle call from the tower of St Mary’s Basilica and, a little further on, Wawel. The market there starts on 27 November this year. If you drive, mind the toll on the A4 motorway between Katowice and Kraków and Kraków’s low-emission zone, where cars registered abroad must be registered in advance. You will find everything you need in our guide to the Krakow Christmas market.

What we would do differently

Katowice tempts you to treat it as a market plus a shopping centre and be gone in six hours. That is what most tours do, and it is a shame. Next time we would spend less time queuing for the wheel and more time wandering. For example through the streets around the Rynek, where Art Nouveau apartment blocks that no guidebook mentions stand between the modernist department stores.

We would try more Silesian food. Krupniok, Silesian tiramisu, beef roulades with red cabbage and kołocz, even if it sounds strange and even if the Belgian fries stall makes our mouths water. And we would not try to squeeze the museum, Guido, Tarnowskie Góry and Kraków into one weekend. Better Nikiszowiec at a slow pace, with a coffee somewhere warm and a stroll through the courtyards, than three underground routes in a row. And on the Ferris wheel we would put the phone away for a while. You will remember the view of the lit-up city, the Spodek and the Strefa Kultury better without a screen anyway.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Where to go next

We cover other Polish markets in detail for Kraków and Wrocław, and you will find an overview of the fifteen best in our guide to Christmas markets in Poland. Just across the Czech border, the closest are the Ostrava Christmas markets and Opava, and further on Olomouc and Brno. The full overview is in our guide to the best Christmas markets in the Czech Republic. Heading south, Bratislava and Vienna are worth a trip. And if Poland wins you over beyond Advent, have a look at what to see in Poland.