Strasbourg has held its Christkindelsmärik since 1570, which makes it the oldest Christmas market in France and among the oldest anywhere. It is not a single market but a dozen of them across the Grande Île, with the great tree on the Place Kléber, and a programme that has turned the whole historic centre — a UNESCO site — into the self-declared Capitale de Noël.
The city reported 3,050,000 visitors for the 2025 season. It is a footfall figure across five weeks rather than a count of individuals, and a large share are day visitors from Germany, half an hour away; no formal origin survey is published.
The market runs from late November to 24 December. Because it is five weeks long, the pressure is not confined to weekends, and Strasbourg's hotels price accordingly from the end of November. Kehl, across the Rhine in Germany, is a tram ride away and is where a good many visitors sleep.
PlanningA five-week window to Christmas Eve; the city is at capacity for all of it, not just the weekends.
Where visitors come from
Ranking only — no percentages published
The city states it has no settled, precise data on the tourist share of 2025 attendance and publishes no percentages. Residents of the city and Eurométropole are put at close to half, described by the city as imprecise. The German day-visitor share that the border invites as an inference is not published.