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Candle dipping in Switzerland 2026: 25 verified runs from A to Z — opening hours, prices and the densest day of the season

Candle dipping is not an evening, it is a window: it opens, it closes, and almost every venue has its own. Between the first and the last dipping day of this season lie 63 calendar days — and not one venue is open throughout. We read 38 Swiss offerings one by one at the organiser: run, opening hours, wax price, minimum age, school-class blackout slots.

Key takeaway
The Swiss candle-dipping season 2026 runs from 2 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. During that time 25 verified offerings are open across 7 cantons — 460 opening days in total. The densest day is 29 November 2026: 17 of the 25 offerings are open at the same time. There is no nationwide date; every association, community centre and parish sets its own run.
·Every date checked individually at the source
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Candle dipping in Switzerland 2026: 25 verified runs from A to Z — opening hours, prices and the densest day of the season
25
verified runs
across 7 cantons, 17 places
29 November 2026
densest day
17 offerings open at once
460
opening days in total
spread over 63 calendar days
13
still without a date
honestly listed as open
🇬🇧

This article will soon be available in English.

Translation coming soon

🇨🇭 Read in German

When can you dip candles in Switzerland in 2026?

The verified Swiss offerings for 2026 run from 2 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. There is no common start or end date — the span is 63 calendar days.

«Candle dipping is in Advent» is the convenient half-truth that ruins most family outings. In fact the first wax vat in this survey is already warm on 2 November 2026, at the Veltheim community centre in Winterthur — a good three weeks before the first Sunday of Advent, and before a single Swiss Christmas market has been built. The last one goes out on 3 January 2027, on top of the Uetliberg, in the middle of the New Year days. In between lie 63 calendar days on which something is constantly starting and ending. Anyone planning with children therefore needs not a date but a run — plus the opening hours for the chosen weekday, because most venues open only a few days a week. That is exactly what we read at each organiser. The rest of the dark season sits alongside: before it, the turnip lantern parades; at the same time, the Christmas markets.

The number no other directory has

For every calendar day of the season we counted how many of the recorded offerings run at the same time. The result is the ConvivaPlus wax window: on 29 November 2026, 17 of 25 verified offerings are open simultaneously — more than on any other day of the season. On the first day of the season it was exactly one. This curve can only be computed if you hold the start AND the end for every venue; a directory of single dates cannot produce it. And it destroys the most comfortable error in Advent planning, namely that choice grows as Christmas approaches: Kerzenziehen auf dem Uetliberg (UTO KULM) in Zürich does run for 58 days — but the majority has gone cold well before Christmas.

The ConvivaPlus candle-dipping calendar

Every recorded offering in one list — with a run instead of a single date, filterable by canton, weekday and verification status.

Exactly what a search engine cannot deliver in its results: not one venue, but all of them side by side — with start and end, published opening hours, wax prices, age limits and the link to the page on which we read the run.

Evidence status
38 of 38 events
verified · ConvivaPlus
📊
Quick poll34 votes

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Fits your Advent planning
Christmas markets in Switzerland 2026 →
Turnip lantern parades 2026 →
50+ outings under 20 francs →

Where the wax vats stand

7 cantons and 17 places are recorded. Candle dipping is a largely German-speaking Swiss tradition — in French-speaking Switzerland we found no verifiable offering for 2026 at all.

The map shows how many offerings we hold per canton. It therefore also shows where our data is thin: a pale canton does not mean nobody dips candles there — it means nothing verifiable was published there for 2026.

Where the turnips burn across the country

…
124

Source: ConvivaPlus candle-dipping calendar, Switzerland 2026

CantonEventsof which confirmedFirst date
ZürichZH2416Mon 2 Nov
Basel-StadtBS53Mon 23 Nov
AargauAG33Wed 18 Nov
BernBE32Fri 20 Nov
Basel-LandschaftBL10–
LuzernLU11Wed 18 Nov
St. GallenSG10–

The five planning traps that cost you the afternoon

The venue is not the problem — the conditions around it are. Five patterns recur throughout the verified data, and none of them appears in an ordinary list of places.

  1. 1
    The most famous venue is no longer where everyone looks for itThe Zürcher Kerzenziehen — Switzerland's first public candle dipping in 1969, in its 58th edition in 2026 — takes place on Hechtplatz, not on Bürkliplatz. The foundation says so on its own homepage. Anyone travelling to the old address finds an empty square off Bahnhofstrasse.
  2. 2
    Opening time is not dipping timeOn Bern's Waisenhausplatz the last admission is one hour before closing, and on the final Sunday as early as 2 p.m. A beeswax candle 5 cm in diameter takes two to three hours according to the organiser. Arrive at 6 p.m. and the thick candle is off the table.
  3. 3
    The run has holes in itAt the St. Franziskus parish centre in Zurich-Wollishofen roughly four weeks separate the first and last dipping day, but the workshop opens on only 18 of them — closed, among others, on the weekend of the local Christmas market. In Uster it is nine opening days spread across two weeks. Such gaps cannot be read from a run; with us they sit in the entry's notes.
  4. 4
    Small children are not admitted everywhereAt GZ Bachwiesen children under 5 are explicitly not admitted for safety reasons and those under 7 only when accompanied; for the youngest there are two separate mornings in December instead. At the Lettenkirche the limit is 4 years. Anyone travelling with a three-year-old should know beforehand — it is on the organisers' pages, but right at the bottom.
  5. 5
    The morning belongs to school classesAt the Zürcher Kerzenziehen the 8 to 10 a.m. slot is reserved for schools, the Oerlikon workshop reports its class slots as fully booked, and in Winterthur-Veltheim the last advertised day is for schools only — for the public the offering ends a day earlier than the run suggests.

Where the custom comes from — and why in Switzerland it is almost always a charity event

Public candle dipping is not a medieval tradition but a recent Swiss invention: the first event of its kind was held in Zurich in 1969. What defines it today is not the wax but who runs it — almost everywhere associations, parishes and community centres, with earmarked proceeds.

The data shows this directly. In Zurich the event supplied the seed capital for founding the Zürcher Eingliederung. The Luzerner Kerzenziehen has been running at the Vögeligärtli since 1978 and works through more than 1500 kg of beeswax in eight vats over five weeks; the proceeds go to projects for people with disabilities. The Baden association has raised more than two million francs in over fifty years — including CHF 700,000 for the new zeka centre in Baden-Dättwil. In Aarau, insieme Aarau-Lenzburg is running the 50th edition in 2026 and funds holiday and leisure programmes with it. And in Bern the tent on Waisenhausplatz is carried by an association founded in 2002, whose event has run since 1991. That is the real difference from the cliché of «cosy crafting»: in Switzerland, candle dipping is a funding model that smells of wax. It nevertheless remains one of the cheapest family afternoons of the year — published wax prices range from CHF 3.– to CHF 5.50 per 100 grams, which puts it in the same bracket as our 50+ outings under 20 francs.

What we do not yet know — and why it is written here

Of 38 recorded offerings, 13 have no confirmed run for 2026 yet. We list them anyway — as open, not as a date.

It would be easy to fill the gaps with last year's data. The list would look more complete and nobody would notice — until a family stands in front of a dark parish hall. So we distinguish three visible states: confirmed means the organiser published this run for 2026 themselves. Rule means there is a published recurrence rule — in Allschwil, «the weekend of the first Sunday of Advent» — but no year date; the derived date is our derivation and is explicitly not confirmed. Open means the event takes place by experience but nothing is published for 2026. Three findings we name explicitly, because they would make any list without source work wrong. First: in Thalwil the 2026 candle dipping is cancelled — the parish writes that it must sadly be dropped because of renovation work on the parish hall; the event is only held every two years anyway. It therefore appears in none of our listings. Second: in St. Gallen the Cevi handed over the dipping tent after 35 years; it is now run by the Catholic Dom Zentrum together with the youth work and the Reformed city ministry, on Gallusstrasse instead of near the station — the 2026 date is still open. Third: in French-speaking Switzerland and in Ticino we found no verifiable offering for 2026; we do not build pages there on suspicion. If you know a run: send us the link, not the date.

Is your municipality's parade missing?
We invent no dates – we only list what is documented. Send us the link to the organiser's page, we check it and add the event. Report a date

Frequently asked questions about candle dipping in Switzerland in 2026

Short and sourced — every answer rests on the organisers' own information.

🔍

People also ask

Related questions from our magazine

The places in detail

For 18 places we keep a page of their own: with the full period, the prices, the gaps in the calendar and what the organiser has actually published.

BL
Allschwil →1 event
AG
Baden · Bahnhofplatz →1 event
BS
Basel →5 events
BE
Bern →3 events
ZH
Bülach →1 event
ZH
Dietikon →1 event
ZH
Gossau →1 event
ZH
Kloten →1 event
AG
Lenzburg →1 event
LU
Luzern · Vögeligärtli →1 event
SG
St. Gallen · Gallusstrasse →1 event
ZH
Stäfa →1 event
ZH
Uster →2 events
ZH
Wetzikon →1 event
ZH
Winterthur · Veltheim →1 event
ZH
Zürich →13 events
ZH
Zürich · Uetliberg →1 event
ZH
Zürich · Hechtplatz →1 event

By canton

Canton pages exist only where enough verified offerings come together. All remaining cantons appear in full in the table above — we do not build empty pages.

ZH
Candle dipping in the canton of Zürich 2026 →24 · Mon 2 Nov
BS
Candle dipping in the canton of Basel-Stadt 2026 →5 · Mon 23 Nov
AG
Candle dipping in the canton of Aargau 2026 →3 · Wed 18 Nov
BE
Candle dipping in the canton of Bern 2026 →3 · Fri 20 Nov

Cantons without their own page currently carry too few verified offerings. As soon as enough accumulate, the page appears automatically.

Related

Excursions
Christmas markets in Switzerland 2026 →Verified runs, opening hours and closing days — instead of bare place names.
Family
Turnip lantern parades 2026 →The verified parade dates — the opening act of the dark season.
Excursions
50+ outings under 20 francs →Free experiences and cheap outings across Switzerland.
🏆 The ConvivaPlus verdict

The ConvivaPlus verdict on the 2026 season

25 verified runsWax window 29 November 202663-day span13 still open

Candle dipping is sold as an atmosphere and fails on logistics. Three quantities decide whether the afternoon works, and none of them is the place name: the run of the specific offering, the opening hours on the chosen weekday — most venues open only a few days a week — and the time left before last admission, measured against the thickness of the candle you want to make. Plan by place alone and you will very likely stand in front of a building that is closed that day, or arrive too late for the candle you drove out for.

Freshness note: This analysis rests on the 38 offerings for which we found a verifiable organiser source by 8 September 2026. It is not a complete survey of Switzerland and does not claim to be; in French-speaking Switzerland and in Ticino nothing verifiable had been published for 2026, and several community centres had not yet put their programme online.

Check the latest: ConvivaPlus candle-dipping calendar, Switzerland 2026 →

💎 Golden nuggets
The non-obvious — researched, not copied
  • ◆The Zürcher Kerzenziehen is no longer on Bürkliplatz. It takes place on Hechtplatz — the 58th edition since 1969, Switzerland's very first public candle dipping. The name «Bürkliplatz» survived the move; the event did not.
  • ◆The densest day of the season is 29 November 2026. 17 of the 25 verified offerings run simultaneously that day. On the first day of the season it was exactly one. That curve appears in no list of venues — it can only be computed with a start AND an end for every offering.
  • ◆In Thalwil the 2026 candle dipping is cancelled. The Reformed parish writes it themselves: because of renovation work on the parish hall. The event is only held every two years anyway — yet on lists that copy last year forward, Thalwil is still there.
  • ◆A kilo of wax per visitor? Nearly. The Luzerner Kerzenziehen works through more than 1500 kg of beeswax in eight vats inside three joined containers over five weeks. The entire proceeds go to projects for people with disabilities.
  • ◆In Switzerland this is a charity event that smells of wax. The Baden association has raised more than two million francs in over fifty years, including CHF 700,000 for the new zeka centre in Baden-Dättwil. In Aarau, insieme Aarau-Lenzburg is running the 50th edition in 2026.
  • ◆The wax price varies by almost a factor of two. From CHF 3.– per 100 grams at the Marien parish hall in Bern up to CHF 5.50 on the Uetliberg — for the same candle, a noticeable difference that no directory places side by side. Some venues charge the wick on top.
  • ◆The last wax vat burns into the new year. Kerzenziehen auf dem Uetliberg (UTO KULM) runs for 58 days and is the only one in this survey open on Christmas Eve — with its own hours on 24, 25 and 31 December and on 1 January.
Written by
Jana Meier
Jana Meier

ConvivaPlus Editor · Family & Day Trips

Writes about day trips, family and local life – honestly assessing what's worth it.

  • Day trips
  • Family
  • Local
  • Cities & regions
Researched & sourced · for Switzerland
Profile & all articles →Our editorial teamUpdated
Sources & methodology42
Researched & source-checked · for Switzerland
As of: As at 8 September 2026 — every run read individually at the organiser's source.
Zürich (24)
01
02
Kerzenziehen im Kerzenwerk (Exagon) — Exagon AG / Kerzenwerk →Zürich · Binz · checked on 8 September 2026
03
Kerzenziehen auf dem Uetliberg (UTO KULM) — UTO KULM AG →Zürich · Uetliberg · checked on 8 September 2026
04
Gossauer Kerzenziehen — Viva Kirche Gossau →Gossau · checked on 8 September 2026
05
Kerzenziehen in der Kirche Neuwies — Kirche Neuwies Uster →Uster · Neuwies · checked on 8 September 2026
06
Kerzenziehen im Jugendraum Guthirt — Pfarrei Guthirt Zürich →Zürich · Wipkingen · checked on 8 September 2026
07
08
09
10
11
Kerzenziehen im GZ Bachwiesen — GZ Bachwiesen, Atelier →Zürich · Bachwiesen · checked on 8 September 2026
12
13
14
15
Kerzenziehen im GZ Heuried — GZ Heuried →Zürich · Heuried · checked on 8 September 2026
16
Kerzenziehen Wetzikon — Kerzenziehen Wetzikon →Wetzikon · checked on 8 September 2026
17
18
Kerzenziehen im Kirchgemeindehaus Zentralstrasse — Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche Uster →Uster · Kirchgemeindehaus Zentralstrasse · checked on 8 September 2026
19
Kerzenziehen im GZ Affoltern — GZ Affoltern →Zürich · Affoltern · checked on 8 September 2026
20
Kerzenziehen im GZ Leimbach — GZ Leimbach →Zürich · Leimbach · checked on 8 September 2026
21
Kerzenziehen im GZ Loogarten — GZ Loogarten →Zürich · Loogarten · checked on 8 September 2026
22
Kerzenziehen im GZ Riesbach — GZ Riesbach →Zürich · Riesbach · checked on 8 September 2026
23
Kerzenziehen im GZ Witikon — GZ Witikon →Zürich · Witikon · checked on 8 September 2026
24
Kerzenziehen im GZ Hottingen — GZ Hottingen →Zürich · Hottingen · checked on 8 September 2026
Basel-Stadt (5)
25
Kerzenziehen im Gemeindehaus Stephanus — Reformierte Kirchgemeinde Basel West →Basel · Gemeindehaus Stephanus · checked on 8 September 2026
26
27
28
29
Aargau (3)
30
Kerzenziehen im Tommasini — Elternverein Lenzburg →Lenzburg · checked on 8 September 2026
31
Badener Kerzenziehen in der Jurte — Verein Kerzenziehen Baden →Baden · Bahnhofplatz · checked on 8 September 2026
32
Bern (3)
33
34
35
Basel-Landschaft (1)
36
Luzern (1)
37
Luzerner Kerzenziehen im Vögeligärtli — Verein Luzerner Kerzenziehen →Luzern · Vögeligärtli · checked on 8 September 2026
St. Gallen (1)
38
Context & tradition
39
Stiftung Zürcher Kerzenziehen →Run, opening hours and change of location for the 58th edition on Hechtplatz.
40
Verein Luzerner Kerzenziehen →Run and opening hours at the Vögeligärtli, including the shortened final day.
41
Verein Kerzenziehen für Jung und Alt, Bern →Opening hours with last admission, wax prices and time needed per candle thickness.
42
Zürcher Gemeinschaftszentren →Day-by-day opening calendars, prices and age limits for the city's offerings.

All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch

💡Did you know?

On 29 November 2026, 17 of the 25 verified Swiss candle-dipping offerings are open at the same time — the densest day of the season. On 2 November 2026 it was exactly one.

Source: ConvivaPlus candle-dipping calendar, Switzerland 2026

Discussion

8 voices from the community

D
Dorisfrom Zürich-Enge

Ich bin letztes Jahr mit de Chind am Bürkliplatz gschtande und han nüt gfunde. Han denn erscht dehei gläse, dass es zügled isch. Dass ihr das grad im erschte Abschnitt hinschribed – merci.

CP
ConvivaPlus Editorial

Das ist genau der Fall, für den wir jeden Eintrag einzeln beim Veranstalter nachlesen, Doris. Die Stiftung schreibt es selbst auf ihrer Startseite – aber wer sucht schon nach «Hechtplatz», wenn er seit dreissig Jahren «Bürkliplatz» sagt.

M
Marco B.from Winterthur

Der Hinweis auf die Altersgrenzen fehlt sonst wirklich überall. Wir sind mit einer Vierjährigen angereist und wurden freundlich, aber bestimmt weggeschickt – unter fünf ist aus Sicherheitsgründen gar nichts zu machen. Steht auf der GZ-Seite, aber halt ganz unten.

A
Anne-Sophiefrom Fribourg

J'ai grandi à Genève et je n'avais jamais entendu parler du «Kerzenziehen» avant de déménager à Berne. Merci de dire clairement que c'est une tradition surtout alémanique – je croyais avoir raté quelque chose.

CP
ConvivaPlus Editorial

Nichts verpasst, Anne-Sophie – in unserer Erhebung liegt kein einziger belegter Anlass in der Romandie. Wir erfinden dort auch keine Seiten; eine leere Kantonsseite wäre eine Behauptung.

R
Ruedifrom Luzern

1500 Kilo Wachs im Vögeligärtli – das han ich nöd gwüsst, obwohl ich sit Jahre dete verbi lauf. Und dass de Erlös a Projäkt für Mensche mit Behinderig gaht, isch au nöd allne klar.

S
Sabinefrom Thalwil

Danke, dass ihr die Absage bei uns überhaupt erwähnt. Auf jeder anderen Liste steht Thalwil einfach weiter drin, als wäre nichts. Das Kirchgemeindehaus wird saniert, es findet dieses Jahr schlicht nicht statt.

CP
ConvivaPlus Editorial

Eine Absage ist für uns kein Grund, einen Ort verschwinden zu lassen, Sabine – sie ist die wichtigste Information, die es zu diesem Ort gerade gibt. In der Terminliste steht Thalwil deshalb nicht, im Text schon.

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🕯️ Family · 8 September 2026