The Paris Christmas markets open at the Tuileries Garden on Saturday 14 November 2026, when La Magie de Noel returns to the garden between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. It runs every day to Sunday 3 January 2027, and the City of Paris market calendar confirms the dates. It is part Christmas market, part funfair, the first big center market of the season.
Because the market sits in the city center, the trip works best when the arrival is sorted: land, ride in, drop your bags, and you can be walking the chalets the same evening. This post covers what is on, the ride in, where the guide sends you to sleep, and the first hour.
What is happening
La Magie de Noel fills the Tuileries Garden from Saturday 14 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. The market is open every day from 11 in the morning to 11:45 at night, with earlier closing on 24 and 31 December. About 95 wooden chalets line the garden, selling food, gifts and French seasonal staples.
This is the Paris market with a funfair attached. Alongside them sit about a dozen rides, an ice rink and the big wheel: the market calendar calls it the best city center market for children. The setting does the rest: the Louvre at one end, Place de la Concorde at the other.
It opens early in the season: the Champs-Elysees market follows on 22 November, a five minute walk away, so a December trip can cover both.
Go on a weekday or early in the day if you can: a market open to near midnight rewards an early start, and the run to 3 January means there is no need to squeeze it into Christmas week. If your stay runs to 31 December, our New Year’s Eve in Paris post covers the celebration at the Arc de Triomphe.
Getting there after you land
Fly into Charles de Gaulle, CDG, about 25 km northeast of the center. The airport has three terminals, 1, 2 and 3, and Terminal 2 is split into 2A to 2G, so check yours first. RER B trains leave from the Terminal 2 station. From Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, ride the free CDGVAL shuttle there first. Its central stops, Gare du Nord, Chatelet Les Halles and Saint-Michel, put you in the center for the garden.
RER B trainCheapest
The default for most arrivals, with no traffic to sit in.
Taxi, flat rate
One flat price to any Paris address from the official rank outside arrivals.
Pre-booked transfer
A driver waits in arrivals with your name on a sign.
The RER B normally runs roughly 5 am to midnight, with night buses N143 and N144 after that, and the taxi flat fare applies day and night. At four people the Right Bank taxi matches the train fare per head, with your door at the end of it. Once you are in town, the Tuileries and Concorde metro stations serve the garden itself. See our CDG to Paris transfer guide for every option priced and compared side by side.
The full first hour: Paris guide
The ride in, the first ticket and the first meal, plus where to stay for your first nights in Paris.
Where to stay, and getting back
For a Splurge, Hotel Lutetia on the Left Bank is Saint-Germain’s most storied address, with a jazz bar, a spa, and rooms over the rooftops of the 6th. From CDG the Left Bank flat fare of €65 applies, and Saint-Michel is its RER B arrival stop.
For the Sweet spot, Hotel Malte Astotel sits a short walk from the Opera and the Louvre on the Right Bank, so the €56 flat fare applies, with the Louvre end of the garden a short walk away. For Budget, Grand Hotel Leveque sits on the Rue Cler market street, four minutes from the Champ de Mars and six from Les Invalides, with cafes and food shops on your doorstep.
The first hour, sorted
A single t+ ticket is €2.50, valid on metro, bus and tram. Load tickets onto a rechargeable Navigo Easy card, which costs €2 at any station machine, or straight into your phone. The metro runs about 5:30 am to 12:45 am, later on Fridays and Saturdays, with night buses after that.
The guide names Airalo for an eSIM, so you are online as the plane taxis in, and cards work almost everywhere, including the metro gates. Keep €20 to €30 in cash for markets and small boulangeries: a chalet stall is exactly where the cash earns its place.
For a first meal, keep it Parisian: a still warm croissant and a cafe creme at a cafe terrace, standing at the counter for the local price. Breakfast is the cheapest way to eat well in Paris. Book Louvre and Eiffel Tower timed entries before you fly, as the guide advises. The Musee de l’Orangerie sits in the Tuileries, next to the market.
Browse the events calendar for what else is on while you are in town, and use plan your trip to line up the days around it.
Versailles, Disneyland Paris in its Christmas season and a neighborhood cafe street, for the days around the market.
Get the Paris first hour checklist by email
The ride in, the first ticket and the first meal, in the Paris guide PDF you can read on the plane.
The checklist, free, from After You Land.
What else is on
The events calendar tracks every guided city, strikes and stoppages included.
Events calendarLine up the rest
Plan your trip pulls the guide, the stays and the bookings for this trip into one place.
Plan your trip