Ten Christmas market huts filled Henley's Market Place from 4 to 14 December 2025. The 2026 dates are not out yet; here is every festive market already dated.

Henley’s Christmas market has not been dated for 2026 yet. Henley Town Council, which ran it in 2024 and 2025, has no market on its events calendar for this December, though that calendar already carries the Christmas Festival, Shop Under the Stars, the Living Advent Calendar and the Mayor’s Christmas Party. Last year’s market was announced on 11 November, so the 2026 dates may not appear until the middle of next month. This page will be updated when they do.

What is certain is the pattern: a two-year run of wooden huts around the town Christmas tree in the Market Place, open in the daytime, free to walk round.

Is there a Christmas market in Henley this year?

Not confirmed. The council’s own listing for “Henley’s Christmas Market” is still the undated 2025 entry, promising that the market “returns to Market Place this December, bringing 10 days of twinkling lights, artisan gifts, delicious seasonal food, and community cheer”, with free entry. (Henley Town Council events) It has not been edited since May 2025, while the council’s other Christmas listings were re-dated for 2026 in June. Read that as “not decided or not yet published”, not as a cancellation.

What happened in 2025 and 2024

2025: ten huts, 4 to 14 December. The council’s festive programme, published on 11 November 2025, said: “Ten Christmas Market Huts will appear in the Market Place from 4th to 14th December, offering locally made gifts, crafts, and seasonal treats.” The same announcement put Santa on the Run on 14 December, starting from Leander Club, and a visit from the Grinch on 20 December from 11am to 1pm. (Henley Town Council, 11 November 2025)

2024: the first year, 10 to 22 December. Visit Henley, the town’s visitor site, described it as Henley’s first Alpine Christmas Market, with ten Alpine-style chalets hosting more than 50 artisans and makers. Father Christmas appeared on 11 and 12 December from 2pm to 6pm, the Grinch on 21 December from 11am to 1pm, and there was carol singing on 15 and 22 December. (Visit Henley, 20 November 2024)

So the market has shrunk from thirteen days to eleven and moved earlier in December. If 2026 follows 2025, expect it to open in the first week of December. That is a pattern, not a date.

Already dated for 2026

Two Henley evenings with Christmas stalls and late shopping are confirmed by the town council.

  • Henley Christmas Festival and light switch-on, Friday 27 November, 5pm to 9pm. “The town centre will be closed to traffic and filled with stalls and rides to entertain the whole family.” The council’s calendar spans the entry 27 to 28 November without explaining the Saturday. Full detail on our Christmas lights switch-on page.
  • Shop Under the Stars, Thursday 3 December. The council’s late-night shopping evening, with “over 25 shops open late” and festive music in the Market Place. Its calendar gives 5pm to 8pm. (Henley Town Council events)

The Living Advent Calendar runs every evening from 1 to 24 December at 6.15pm, in a different venue each night, free. It is not a market, but it is the other nightly reason to be in town.

Henley’s regular markets in December

The town’s three standing markets carry on through Christmas, on the council’s published pattern. (Henley Town Council markets)

  • Charter Market, every Thursday in the Market Place, including 3 December, the day of Shop Under the Stars.
  • Farmers’ Market, second Saturday and fourth Thursday, 8am to 2.30pm. In December that means Saturday 12 December and Thursday 24 December, Christmas Eve. The council has not said whether the Christmas Eve market goes ahead; check before you go.
  • Craft Market, fourth Sunday, 9am to 3pm, moving to the third Sunday when the month ends in a bank holiday Monday. Monday 28 December 2026 is the Boxing Day bank holiday, so on the council’s own rule December’s craft market falls on Sunday 20 December. The council has not published that date itself. November’s is Sunday 22 November.

Thame, Wallingford and Greys Court

  • Thame switches on its lights on Friday 27 November 2026, the same evening as Henley, and the town council is taking applications for Christmas stalls for that night now. Times are not published. (Thame Town Council: Christmas) Thame’s festivals calendar also lists a Christmas Green Fayre on Saturday 21 November. (Thame Town Council: festivals and events)
  • Wallingford has no Christmas market on the town council’s events list yet; its December calendar holds only a councillors’ surgery on 12 December. (Wallingford Town Council events)
  • Greys Court, the National Trust house two miles from the town centre, is dressed for Christmas from 21 November; see our Greys Court Christmas page.

Getting there and parking

The market huts sit in the Market Place itself, so on a normal December weekday the town’s car parks work as usual. Kings Road and Greys Road are the closest large car parks, both with a three-hour limit; prices and stay limits are on our parking in Henley page. On the Christmas Festival evening the town centre is shut to cars, and any road closure will show up on our Henley roadworks and travel page first. Henley station is a short walk from the Market Place.

For the Kenton’s pantomime and the other Christmas shows, see Henley pantomime and Christmas shows; for Father Christmas, see Santa trains and grottos near Henley.

Checked against Henley Town Council’s, Thame Town Council’s and Wallingford Town Council’s own pages on 6 October 2026. This page will be updated when the 2026 Christmas market dates are published.