Cambridge Christmas market 2026: Parker's Piece, 13 November to 3 January, open from 10am or 11.30am until 10pm or 11pm. Free entry, skating from £14.

The dates are out. Christmas in Cambridge opens on Parker’s Piece on Friday 13 November 2026 and runs until Sunday 3 January 2027.

Updated Sunday 4 October 2026. The opening hours are now out, on the organiser’s homepage, and the ice rink has moved to a new page with higher prices and an offers calendar that fits 2026. The dates first appeared some time between our 16 and 24 September checks. Santa’s dates, the market traders and the rink’s schools offer are still to come.

What is confirmed for the 2026 season

  • 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. The Christmas in Cambridge homepage now states, in terms, “Opening 13th November 2026 until 3rd January 2027”, at Parker’s Piece, CB1 1NA. Read on 24 September 2026.
  • That is a longer season than last year. The pattern the site’s own FAQ describes for the previous season ran 13 November to 31 December. Opening on the same date and closing on 3 January adds three days at the end, over the first weekend of 2027.
  • Free to get in. The homepage repeats it: “Christmas in Cambridge is completely FREE to enter.” You pay for the rink, the curling, the big wheel, the maze and Santa, and the operator advises booking those in advance because they sell out.
  • Booking is live. The homepage carries working booking links for the curling lanes, ice skating, the Alpine Lodge, the market, the tipi, Santa visits, the big wheel, the Apres Hutte and the rides, and it is taking retail and catering trader applications.
  • Opening hours, published by 4 October. Two timetables, one before and one after 19 December, set out in the next section.
  • Skating from £14 for a child and £16.50 for an adult, on the rink’s new page. See the prices section below for why we read these as 2026 prices.
  • Still not confirmed: Santa’s visiting dates (“every weekend”, times to follow), the list of market traders (“2026 Christmas Market Traders Coming Soon!”), and whether the site closes on Christmas Day, which the new timetable does not say.

Cambridge Christmas market 2026 opening hours

Read from the Christmas in Cambridge homepage on 4 October 2026:

Day 13 November to 18 December 19 December to 3 January
Monday to Thursday 11.30am to 10pm 10am to 10pm
Friday 11.30am to 11pm 10am to 11pm
Saturday 10am to 11pm 10am to 11pm
Sunday 10am to 10pm 10am to 10pm

The practical difference is the weekday morning. Until the schools break up, Monday to Friday opening is 11.30am, so a 10am weekday visit in late November finds the gates shut. From Saturday 19 December every day opens at 10am. Late nights are Fridays and Saturdays throughout, to 11pm.

The timetable carries no Christmas Day line. Last season the site was closed all day on 25 December and had two part-day closures; the organiser has not yet said whether 2026 follows that pattern, so check before planning a Christmas Day walk across Parker’s Piece.

How big it got last season, on the council’s figures

Cambridge City Council published the numbers on 28 January 2026, and they are the operator’s own reporting to the council rather than a press estimate:

  • About 400,000 visits to the attraction as a whole, up around 25% on the previous year.
  • About 55,000 people skated on the ice rink.
  • The build was dismantled and removed by 14 January, as required by the operator’s agreement with the council.
  • The council does the grass restoration, at the operator’s cost: chain harrowing first, then aeration and reseeding once the ground dries, with the aim of returning that part of Parker’s Piece to public use in the spring.

Cllr Martin Smart, the council’s Cabinet Member for Nature, Open Space and City Services, said it was “a real privilege” for the council to be able to provide “large-scale free-to-enter attractions like this”, and that the visitor numbers “will have provided a seasonal boost to other shops, restaurants and visitor attractions in the city centre”.

One naming point worth knowing if you are chasing this down: the council names the operator as Seventa Ltd, while the build itself is marketed by Alpine Christmas Markets, which describes itself as Seventa’s sister company. Same event, two names.

Where the dates came from, and what is still missing

christmasincambridge.co.uk carries the season in a single line at the end of its welcome paragraph: “Opening 13th November 2026 until 3rd January 2027.” There is no separate dates page and no announcement post, which is why the change is easy to miss.

The hours followed on the same homepage by 4 October. The site’s older FAQ page still answers “what are your opening hours?” with “New Dates for 2026 coming soon!”, so trust the homepage over the FAQ.

The rink’s own site, skatecambridge.co.uk, has also moved on. In September it said “SKATE CAMBRIDGE has ended for 2025-26”; on 4 October it reads “We’re back this Christmas! 13th November 2026 till 3rd January 2027” and sends bookings to Christmas in Cambridge.

Who runs it and what is on the site

The event is built and run by Alpine Christmas Markets, a commercial operator that describes itself as the sister company to Seventa Events UK and lists Christmas in Cambridge among its own builds, alongside Christmas in Bournemouth. The contact address for the Cambridge site is cambridge@alpinechristmasmarkets.co.uk.

The attractions listed for 2026: an open air ice rink, the Christmas Market chalets in the Alpine Village, the Alpine Lodge bar, the Après Terrace with curling lanes and shuffleboard, the Christmas Tipi, the Big Wheel, Santa visits, and a funfair whose page now names a Carousel, Helter Skelter, Dodgems, a Christmas Tree Ride, the Snow Blizzard and game stalls. The Christmas Tree Maze page that used to sit on the site returned “We couldn’t find the page” on 4 October, so do not count on the maze this year.

Two useful things the operator does confirm year to year:

  • Getting in is free. The FAQ states “The site is free of charge, and no entry ticket is required.” You pay for the rink, the curling, the big wheel, the rides and the Santa visits, and it advises booking those in advance.
  • It is close to cashless. Bars and attractions take Maestro, Mastercard, Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Vpay and Apple Pay. Market traders set their own payment methods, so some may differ.

There are male, female and accessible toilets on site. Dogs are discouraged because of the crowds but are allowed in outdoor areas, and assistance dogs are welcome throughout. Challenge 25 operates on every bar.

Cambridge ice rink prices for 2026

The old ice skating page that carried leftovers from two seasons now returns “We couldn’t find the page you were looking for”. The rink has a new page, ice-skating-cambridge, and its prices are up on what the old page showed:

Ticket New page, read 4 October 2026 Old page, September 2026
Child, under 12 £14.00 £13.50
Concession, 13 to 17 and seniors £15.50 £15.00
Adult, 18 and over £16.50 £16.00
Family, 2 adults + 2 under-18s or 1 adult + 3 under-18s £53.50 £50.50
Toddler time, 1 adult, 1 child and a skate aid £24.50 not shown

The page does not put a year on those prices, but its offers calendar is the giveaway. The student nights run on “the first three Tuesday’s of the season (17th November, 24th November and the 1st December)”, and in 2026 all three of those dates are Tuesdays, the first one four days after opening. The unlimited skating nights, one session’s ticket skating on until closing from 6pm, are Monday 16, Tuesday 24 and Monday 30 November. Toddler time runs on selected weekdays from 16 November to 11 December, at 11.45am and 1pm.

Two lines on the same page are still old: the schools offer, £13 a student with teachers free, and the toddler time small print both say “up until 11th December 2024”. Treat those two as unconfirmed for 2026.

Sessions are an hour on the ice. Socks are £1 and gloves £3 at the rink, the sled skate aid is £5 a session and comes only with a child or family ticket, and lockers are £1. Groups of ten or more booking online get 10% off automatically, family tickets excluded. The rink’s smallest skate is a child’s size 7, so about two is the youngest age that can skate, and under-12s need an adult on the ice with them.

What the dates mean for planning a visit

Opening day, Friday 13 November, lands two days before the city centre Big Switch On on Sunday 15 November, so the first weekend of the season is also the weekend the rest of Cambridge turns festive. Expect that to be the busiest weekend of the run.

At the other end, closing on Sunday 3 January 2027 keeps the rink open through the whole of the first weekend of the new year, which the previous season’s 31 December finish did not. If you want the quietest skate of the season, the first days of January are usually it.

The operator asks people to sign up on its site for early booking access, and it is taking retail and catering trader applications for the market.

Cam News will add Santa’s dates, the trader list and the Christmas Day position when the organiser publishes them.

Parking, and why Parker’s Piece is the easy one

Of all the big Cambridge events, this is the one with a car park attached to it. Queen Anne Terrace, Gonville Place, CB1 1ND, is on the edge of Parker’s Piece, and it is the council’s cheapest multi-storey for a long stay at £24 for over six hours. It is also the only multi-storey where evening and overnight parking is free, which matters at a site that stays open until 10pm or 11pm every night. Grand Arcade is closer to the shops and £9.50 dearer for the same day. Blue Badge holders get three hours free in any of the five multi-storeys. Full rates on our parking in Cambridge page.

Park and ride remains the cheapest way in: the parking is free for up to 18 hours and you pay only the bus fare.

For anything dug up on the way in, check our Cambridge roadworks and travel page before you set off.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Cambridge Christmas market 2026?

From Friday 13 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, on Parker’s Piece, CB1 1NA. That is three days longer than last season, which ended on 31 December.

What time does the Cambridge Christmas market open?

Until 18 December it opens at 11.30am Monday to Friday and 10am at weekends. From 19 December it opens at 10am every day. It closes at 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Do you need tickets for the Cambridge Christmas market?

No. Entry to Parker’s Piece is free and needs no ticket. The ice rink, curling, Big Wheel, funfair rides and Santa visits are paid, and the organiser says the popular ones sell out, especially skating at weekends.

How much is ice skating at the Cambridge Christmas market?

£14 for a child under 12, £15.50 for 13 to 17s and seniors, £16.50 for an adult and £53.50 for a family ticket, for a one hour session, on the rink’s page read 4 October 2026.

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