Abingdon's Christmas market is on Bath Street from 9am on Saturday 28 November, then a craft market on 5 December. Plus Millets, Wantage and Oxford dates.

Abingdon’s Christmas market is on Bath Street on Saturday 28 November 2026, from 9am to 4pm, as part of the Christmas Extravaganza that ends with the lights switch-on in the Market Place at 6pm. A week later, on Saturday 5 December, the Christmas Craft Market fills the Market Place. Both are free to walk round.

That is the short answer. The longer one is that there is no single long-running Christmas market in Abingdon, the way there is in Oxford. The town has a run of one-day markets instead, and the nearest multi-week market is on Broad Street in Oxford from 21 November.

Christmas markets near Abingdon, at a glance

Date Market Where Status
Fri 23 to Sun 25 Oct Abingdon Craft Fair St Helen and St Katharine, Faringdon Road Confirmed; visitor hours not published
Wed 11 to Fri 13 Nov Christmas Craft and Gift Market Millets Farm, Frilford Confirmed, 10am to 4pm, free
Sat 21 Nov to Thu 31 Dec Christmas in Oxford Broad Street, Oxford Confirmed, free
Sat 28 Nov Bath Street Christmas Market Bath Street, Abingdon Confirmed, 9am to 4pm, free
Fri 4 Dec Dickensian Evening Wantage Confirmed, 4pm to 9pm, free
Sat 5 Dec Christmas Craft Market Abingdon Market Place Date confirmed; hours not published
Fri 18 Dec Thames Valley Farmers’ Market Abingdon Market Place Regular third Friday, 8.30am to 1.30pm

All dates were read on the organisers’ own websites on 6 October 2026.

Bath Street, Saturday 28 November

The biggest Christmas market in Abingdon is the one on Bath Street during the Christmas Extravaganza. Abingdon Events Partnership confirms that “the Christmas Extravaganza will be back on Saturday 28th November 2026” and that it runs “from 9AM in the town centre”, with “music, dancing, Christmas market, donkeys, street foods, mini funfair, street entertainers”.

The Extravaganza’s published programme gives the market’s hours:

  • 9am: the Bath Street Christmas Market opens, with craftworkers, charity stalls, artisan food and Christmas gifts.
  • 9am to 11.30am: Abbey Brass Band in the Bath Street performance area.
  • 4pm: the Bath Street market and performance area close.
  • 6.30pm: the stalls in the Market Place close, half an hour after the lights go on.

The programme carries its own warning that “all times listed below are subject to change”. The donkeys from Island Farm Donkey Sanctuary are at the end of Bath Street, and Father Christmas is in the Bury Street Shopping Centre from 12.30pm to 6pm. The parade at noon, the evening’s main act and the switch-on itself are on our Christmas lights page.

Go in the morning if you want to shop. The parade sets off at noon from the town centre and returns to the Market Place at about 12.20pm, and the evening crowd builds for the 6pm switch-on, by which time Bath Street has closed.

Christmas Craft Market, Saturday 5 December

The second Abingdon market is a week later. Abingdon Events Partnership lists “5th December Christmas Craft Market” among its upcoming Local Excellence markets in the Market Place. The town council describes the December craft market as the one “focusing on Christmas, one week after Christmas lights main switch on and celebration”, with local makers selling jewellery, woodturning, textiles, leather goods, preserves, cakes, photography and glass.

The Local Excellence markets take traders “located within a 30 mile radius of Abingdon Market Place”. Opening hours for 5 December had not been published when we checked on 6 October. We will add them when the partnership does.

Before then: the craft fair and Millets

Abingdon Craft Fair, Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October. The town’s long-running autumn craft fair has three trading days this year and has moved to St Helen and St Katharine on Faringdon Road (OX14 1BE), because the Abbey Buildings are being refurbished. The organiser’s page is written for stallholders, so visitor opening hours and any entry charge were not published when we checked.

Christmas Craft and Gift Market at Millets Farm, Wednesday 11 to Friday 13 November, 10am to 4pm. Millets Farm Centre, on Kingston Road at Frilford west of Abingdon (OX13 5HB), says the market is free to attend.

Wantage and Oxford

Wantage Dickensian Evening, Friday 4 December, 4pm to 9pm. Love Wantage lists stalls at the parish church from 6pm to 9pm, after festive singing at 5.30pm, with mulled wine, mince pies, crafts, gifts, books and hampers, and market stalls at the Vale and Downland Museum from 4pm to 9pm. Father Christmas visits at the museum cost £6 and must be booked. Vale car parks in Wantage are free from 6pm on the night.

Christmas in Oxford, Broad Street, Saturday 21 November to Thursday 31 December. The organiser lists the market as open daily except Christmas Day, with free admission:

  • Stalls: Sunday to Wednesday 10am to 6pm, Thursday to Saturday 10am to 8pm.
  • Bar, food and entertainment: Sunday and Monday 10am to 8pm, Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 10pm.
  • Christmas Eve: the market closes at 5.30pm.

The organiser’s own advice is that “parking in Oxford is limited; most visitors use the Park and Ride”.

Oxford Victorian Christmas Market, also on Broad Street. Oxford’s Christmas Light Festival lists it for Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 November 2026, free, closing at 7pm and at 5pm on the Sunday, though the same page also gives the dates as 13 to 15 November. The market’s own website still says “We will be back in 2026, check back for updates”, so treat the Light Festival dates as the best available until the market confirms them.

Also at Christmas: a drive-in show at the airfield

Not a market, but it has a Christmas fairground, street food and bars. Christmas in the Sky is a new drive-in drone and light show at Abingdon Airfield on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 December, listed on the town council’s calendar by Xplosive Events. Gates open at 4pm; the fairground, food and bars close at 6.30pm when the show begins, and the main production runs about 25 minutes. Tickets are per vehicle: £69 standard, £79 for large vehicles, £99 front row, with up to seven people a car. There is no pedestrian entry. Sunday 13 December is the weather back-up date (Christmas in the Sky).

Parking and getting there

For the Bath Street and Market Place markets, the town centre car parks are the nearest; tariffs are on our parking in Abingdon page. On 28 November expect the town centre to be busy from the noon parade onwards. No road closure order for the Extravaganza had been published by Oxfordshire County Council when we checked on 6 October; it will go on our roadworks and travel page and the lights page when it is.

Father Christmas grottos and Santa trains near town are on our Father Christmas page, and everything else on in the next six weeks is on What’s On in Abingdon this month.

Sources