The Christmas market, with its 53 chalets at Place St-François, invites you to discover a festive village in the heart of the city, in a fairy-like atmosphere.

Dates and hours

• From Monday to Saturday from 11:30 to 20:00
• Sundays 29 November, 6, 13 and 20 December from 13:00 to 18:00
• During the evening shopping on Friday 18, Monday 21 and Wednesday 23 December until 22:00

Entertainments

As the centre of the Christmas festivities in Lausanne, the Market on Place St-François is punctuated during one month with activities for children as well as afterworks evenings where friends are meeting to relax and party!

A Christmas market full of music and funny surprises by the street artists.

See event calendar

• St. Nicolas Day
• Pony rides
• Afterworks jazzy
• Fun on the cobbles

Some history

The history of the Christmas Market goes back a long way. Background paper tells us that its ancestors originated in the 14th century as the St. Nicolas Day Markets. In Alsace, it was St. Nicolas - or Santa Claus - who was responsible for distributing gifts to deserving children. In his wake a certain "Bogeyman" who handed out some very different surprises...

In Munich, the first recorded St. Nicolas Day Market was in 1642. According to a chronicle of the time, Nuremberg gingerbreads, children's woollen and cotton garments, crib figurines and almond and prune chimney-sweeps were to be found there.

In 1806, the Market was first lit up and changed name to become the "Christmas Market".