Noël des Montagnes: nine days, nine opening times – and four of them do not start until five
Plan the Wednesday like the Saturday and you are seven hours early on an empty square. This market does not have an opening time. It has nine.
📅 Dates 2026 and evidence status
Every run below is the one the organiser published for 2026 — nothing is carried over from last year. Where nothing has been published yet, it says so.
Noël des Montagnes
confirmedSaturday, 12 December 2026 – Sunday, 20 December 2026 · 9 days
- Organiser
- Noël des Montagnes
Nine days in a row, and on five of them the market opens only at 17:00. Anyone planning the weekdays like a weekend stands six hours early on an empty square – which is why the organiser lists every single day with its own hours.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 15 September 2026
🕐 Opening hours 2026
In the organiser's own wording, not averaged into one convenient time. Where stalls, food and bars close at different times, each window is listed separately.
Sat 12.12 10:00–21:00 · Sun 13.12 11:00–18:00 · Mon 14.12 17:00–21:00 · Tue 15.12 17:00–21:00 · Wed 16.12 14:00–21:00 · Thu 17.12 17:00–21:00 · Fri 18.12 17:00–21:00 · Sat 19.12 10:00–21:00 · Sun 20.12 11:00–18:00
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📅 Visit-day check
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| Session | Run | Opening hours | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noël des Montagnes | Sat 12 Dec – Sun 20 Dec9 days | Sat 12.12 10:00–21:00 · Sun 13.12 11:00–18:00 · Mon 14.12 17:00–21:00 · Tue 15.12 17:00–21:00 · Wed 16.12 14:00–21:00 · Thu 17.12 17:00–21:00 · Fri 18.12 17:00–21:00 · Sat 19.12 10:00–21:00 · Sun 20.12 11:00–18:00 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
📍 Location & access
- Meeting point
- Place du Marché, La Chaux-de-Fonds
✨ Highlights of this market
What sets this market apart from every other one is not in its run dates.
Most Christmas markets have one opening time and one exception. This one has nine times for nine days, and the gap between the earliest and the latest start is seven hours: Saturday 10:00, Monday 17:00.
The reason is a daily rhythm a market plan knows nothing about. On weekdays nobody comes before the end of work; on Wednesday afternoon the children have no school and the market opens at 14:00; at weekends it runs from the morning. The organiser does not smooth this over — every day is written out separately. We reproduce it exactly, instead of turning it into one convenient average: with four different start times, any simplification would be wrong on at least five of the nine days.
In practice: Saturday is the only day with a morning. With small children exactly two of the nine days are usable. In the evening you have all nine — but four of them only begin when elsewhere half the evening is already over.
Nine days, four start times – when would you go?
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🎯 Practical tips for your visit
In La Chaux-de-Fonds it is not the date that decides the visit but the weekday — the nine days carry four different start times.
- 1Saturday: the only day with a morning (from 10:00)Both Saturdays open at 10:00 and run until 21:00 — eleven hours, the longest of the nine days. With small children it is the only day on which a morning visit is possible at all.
- 2Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: only from 17:00Four of the nine days are pure evening slots, each until 21:00. Arrive in the afternoon and you face an empty square — and that is what the organiser says, so it is no surprise.
- 3Wednesday from 14:00 — the exception within the exceptionWednesday starts three hours earlier than the other weekdays but four hours later than Saturday. Plan the week as one block and this is exactly the day you get wrong.
- 4Sunday: 11:00–18:00, early finishBoth Sundays end at 18:00 rather than 21:00 — three hours earlier than any other day. Sunday evening does not exist here.
📊 Season comparison with nearby markets
Where this market sits in the season — and which neighbour has already closed when it opens.
Each bar is a documented run. Dark = this market, pale = the nearest ones. Read only a single date and you miss that a neighbouring market has already closed when this one opens.
🗺️ Nearby markets
The ConvivaPlus Christmas market overview lists 39 markets with a documented run; the season goes from 18 November 2026 to 6 January 2027. The Noël des Montagnes takes nine days in December and is the only entry from the canton of Neuchâtel.
In French-speaking Switzerland the large neighbours sit on the lake: Bô Noël in Lausanne and Montreux Noël run for weeks, as does Noël au Quai in Geneva. In the Jura we record two markets, both still without a published date for 2026.
Markets nearby
❓ FAQ about this market
Answers from the verified dataset – nothing carried over from last year.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
Because they adapt to daily life rather than the other way round: on weekdays nobody comes before the end of work, on the school-free Wednesday afternoon they do, at weekends from the morning. The Noël des Montagnes therefore publishes nine separate times for nine days.
Every verified Christmas market →The town's central market square, which gives the Christmas market its location. La Chaux-de-Fonds is laid out on a grid — so the square is equally reachable from every side.
In this overview: Lausanne, Montreux, Geneva, Monthey, Sion and La Chaux-de-Fonds; Delémont and Bure in the Jura are added, both still without a published date for 2026.
Christmas markets across Switzerland →The ConvivaPlus verdict
For an evening visit this is one of the most dependable addresses in French-speaking Switzerland: nine days in a row, each until 21:00 except Sundays. And you know exactly where you stand, because the organiser publishes each day separately rather than one time for all.
With small children the market shrinks to two usable days: the two Saturdays with a morning. If you are aiming for a weekday afternoon, take the Wednesday — on the other weekdays you will face an empty square.
Freshness note: Run and the nine daily times come from noeldesmontagnes.ch, read on 15 September 2026. ⛔ The organiser publishes neither a street address nor a postcode; both are absent here. The claim «only recorded market in the canton of Neuchâtel» is counted in our own survey and says nothing about every market in the canton.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Christmas market dataset 2026 – La Chaux-de-Fonds · Place du Marché →
- ◆Nine times are more honest than one: an organiser who writes «daily from 17:00» makes life easier for everyone — except the visitors on the four days when that is untrue. The Noël des Montagnes publishes nine separate times instead. It looks untidy, and it is the only version in which nobody ends up on an empty square.
- ◆The Wednesday gives away the calendar behind it: it opens at 14:00, three hours earlier than the other weekdays. That is not chance, it is the region's school-free afternoon. Read opening hours like a timetable and you miss that they are a statement about the audience — and about which days this market exists for families at all.
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Nine days, four different start times: between the earliest (Saturday 10:00) and the latest opening (Monday 17:00) lie seven hours — at the same market.
Discussion
4 voices from the community
Le lundi à 16h la place est vide et les gens croient que c'est annulé. Ça ouvre à 17h, c'est écrit partout, mais personne ne lit les horaires jour par jour.
Neun Tage am Stück ist für unsere Gegend schon viel. Aber man muss wirklich schauen, welcher Tag – der Mittwoch geht um zwei auf, der Donnerstag erst um fünf. Das ist kein Zufall, das ist wegen der Schule.
Danke — wir geben die Zeiten deshalb Tag für Tag im Wortlaut des Veranstalters wieder, statt sie zu einer Durchschnittszeit zu verrechnen. Bei neun Tagen mit vier verschiedenen Startzeiten wäre jede Vereinfachung an mindestens fünf Tagen falsch.
On monte depuis le bas pour le samedi, parce que c'est le seul jour qui commence à dix heures. Avec les enfants, une ouverture à 17h ne sert à rien.
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✨ Christmas markets · 15 September 2026