Christmas Markets in Scotland

Christmas markets to get you in the festive spirit this winter.

As the nights draw in, Christmas markets pop up in towns, cities and castles across Scotland. These are the ones that come back every winter, from big city markets that run for weeks to one-weekend fairs in castle ballrooms. Dates move a little from year to year, so check each one’s own website before you set off.

From mid-November to the first days of January, East Princes Street Gardens fills with Edinburgh’s traditional Christmas market, with the big wheel turning above the stalls and the castle on its rock behind. Santa Land and the family funfair are across in West Princes Street Gardens, and there’s an ice rink on George Street. The market is free to wander.

Exclusively Highlands brings its Christmas fair to Blair Castle in Perthshire for a weekend in the second half of November. Scottish makers and food and drink producers fill the castle’s ballroom and Banvie Hall, with a tented Christmas village set up on the forecourt outside.

Every year in mid-November, Exclusively Highlands sets up a tented village on the lawns by the horse mill at Crathes Castle, near Banchory, and fills the horse mill itself with stalls. Expect Scottish crafts and plenty of local food and drink.

Exclusively Highlands – Eden Court, Inverness

In Inverness, the same team holds two fairs at Eden Court on weekends in November, with makers’ stalls spread through the theatre alongside gin, rum, whisky and craft beer producers.

On a Sunday in late November, the Glen Tanar Estate near Aboyne opens its ballroom to more than thirty local makers for its Christmas fair. Out in the walled garden there’s a market of real Christmas trees, and the whole day is relaxed, family friendly and happy to see your dog.

Bowhouse, the farm near St Monans in Fife, holds a market on the second weekend of every month, and the December one is its Christmas market, running over three days with a late opening on the Friday evening. Under cover in the farm buildings you’ll find Fife food and drink, street food, Tea Green’s craft makers and wreath-making workshops.

Each November, Tea Green brings its festive market to Aberdeen Art Gallery for a weekend, with independent Scottish makers selling right through the building. The gallery is free to visit, so it’s an easy way to tick off a few presents and see some art at the same time.

Tea Green’s Winter Design Market takes over V&A Dundee for a weekend at the end of November, with independent Scottish designers and makers spread through the museum, among them graduates of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. Look for handmade ceramics, prints, clothes and accessories.

Tea Green’s Glasgow winter market, once held in the Kibble Palace, now takes place at the Burrell Collection in Pollok Country Park on a weekend in early November. In the city centre, the Winter Wonderland in St Enoch Square runs from early November to Christmas Eve, with an observation wheel, a carousel and a festive bar.

Aberdeen Christmas Village

From mid-November to the new year, Aberdeen Christmas Village fills Broad Street, Upperkirkgate and Marischal Square with Codona’s fairground rides and festive food, right in front of Marischal College. Charlie House, the North East children’s charity, is its charity partner.

Oban’s Winter Festival has been held every year since 2011 and runs from mid-November until just before Christmas. Its busiest stretch follows the lights switch-on, when a reindeer parade led by a pipe band makes its way through the town, and there’s a Victorian market, an ice rink and craft markets to keep you busy.

Around the start of December, Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire holds its Christmas fair, with a market of stalls, an elf trail through the grounds and Santa’s Grotto for the children.