Marché de Noël de Monthey: the market whose opening hours change almost daily
Monthey publishes its own hours for every single day — for twelve out of thirteen. One day is missing, and the organiser does not write “closed”. It says nothing. Anyone reading this page knows in advance which day.
📅 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.
Marché de Noël de Monthey
confirmedFriday, 11 December 2026 – Wednesday, 23 December 2026 · 13 days
- Organiser
- Ville de Monthey, Service Culture, Tourisme & Jumelage
Thirteen calendar days but twelve market days – and the hours change almost daily, from 11:00 at weekends to 15:00 on the weekdays in between. Anyone planning on "daily from 11:00" here arrives four hours too early to closed chalets.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 14 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.
11/12 December 11:00–22:00 · 13 December 11:00–21:00 · 14/15 December 15:00–21:00 · 17/18 December 15:00–22:00 · 19 December 11:00–22:00 · 20 December 11:00–21:00 · 21–23 December 15:00–21:00
🗓️ Open today?
Type in a date instead of comparing runs in your head.
📅 Visit-day check
Pick the day you are free — the answer comes from the verified ConvivaPlus dataset, not from a run you have to work out in your head.
| Session | Run | Opening hours | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marché de Noël de Monthey | Fri 11 Dec – Wed 23 Dec13 days | 11/12 December 11:00–22:00 · 13 December 11:00–21:00 · 14/15 December 15:00–21:00 · 17/18 December 15:00–22:00 · 19 December 11:00–22:00 · 20 December 11:00–21:00 · 21–23 December 15:00–21:00 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
📍 Location & access
- Meeting point
- Centre-ville Monthey
📋 Organiser notes
- For Wednesday 16 December the organiser publishes no opening hours – every other day is listed individually. It does not say "closed", it stays silent: anyone planning to come on that particular day should check first.
✨ Highlights of this market
What sets this market apart from every other one is not in its run dates.
Most Christmas markets publish a rule: “daily from X to Y”. Monthey publishes a timetable instead — day by day, with seven different windows across two weeks. 11/12 December 11:00–22:00, 13 December 11:00–21:00, 14/15 December 15:00–21:00, 17/18 December 15:00–22:00, 19 December 11:00–22:00, 20 December 11:00–21:00 and 21–23 December 15:00–21:00.
Turn that into “daily from 11:00” — as every overview forced to average must — and on a weekday you stand four hours early in front of closed chalets. That is no trifle but the commonest way to lose an afternoon. It is precisely why we list the windows individually instead of folding them into a convenient span.
And then there is 16 December. The organiser lists every single day — except that Wednesday. It does not write “closed”, it says nothing at all. We could turn that into a “closed” and deliver a tidy table; that would be a claim the source does not support. Instead, what stands here is what is actually the case: for this one day nothing is published. Anyone planning to travel exactly then should ask first.
How do you deal with changing opening hours?
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🎯 Practical tips for your visit
In Monthey the clock is the real information — and it is given separately for every single day.
- 1Weekends from 11:00, weekdays only from 15:00The difference is four hours. On 11, 12, 13, 19 and 20 December the market opens at 11:00; on 14, 15, 17, 18 and from 21 to 23 December only at 15:00.
- 216 December is unknown, not closedThe organiser lists every other day individually and omits this Wednesday without declaring it closed. We carry the gap as a gap. Anyone wanting to come that day should ask the Ville de Monthey. Status 14 September 2026.
- 3Closing between 21:00 and 22:00, depending on the dayOn 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 December until 22:00, on the other days until 21:00. If you are planning the last mulled wine, look at the specific day rather than the rule.
- 4The municipality is the sourceThe organiser is the Ville de Monthey; our details come from noelmonthey.ch, source read on 14 September 2026. That is an official first-hand source, not a tourism portal.
📊 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 34 markets with a documented run; the season goes from 18 November 2026 to 6 January 2027. Monthey belongs to the later half — it starts on the third Advent weekend and runs to the eve of Christmas Eve.
In the canton of Valais the overview lists two markets, and both are long: Sion starts earlier and runs to the same day, Monthey joins a week later. They are about half an hour apart and overlap for almost two weeks — which leaves the Lower Valais covered continuously in December. The same weekend as Monthey also sees Murten and Schaffhausen begin.
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
Exactly that — and no more. It does not mean “closed” and it does not mean “open”. In Monthey it affects precisely one day, and we carry the gap as a gap. A tidy table would be more comfortable and would assert what the source does not support.
Every verified Christmas market →Two in this overview: Monthey from 11 to 23 December and Sion from 5 to 23 December. Both are in the Lower Valais and overlap for almost two weeks.
Sion Christmas market →Because they follow their audience: at weekends families come during the day, on weekdays workers come in the evening. Monthey applies that consistently — and thereby makes every averaged figure in third-party listings wrong.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
For the Lower Valais, Monthey is the second long market alongside Sion — twelve days, a town-centre setting, and almost two weeks running in parallel with its neighbour. If you want to do both in one day, you can: half an hour separates them.
The caveat is the clock, and it is a serious one. Arrive on a weekday before 15:00 and you face closed chalets; plan for 16 December and you plan into the unknown. Both can be avoided — but only by reading the daily timetable instead of an averaged figure. For an earlier Valais market, Sion is the address.
Freshness note: Run, the seven time windows, venue and organiser come from noelmonthey.ch, the Ville de Monthey's site, source read on 14 September 2026. ⛔ For Wednesday 16 December no hours were published there; we record that day as unknown and NOT as closed — the source says nothing about it. The organiser gives no chalet count; we therefore quote none.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Christmas market dataset 2026 – Monthey →
- ◆A missing day is a statement, not a hole in the dataset: Monthey lists twelve of thirteen days individually with their hours — and omits 16 December without comment. The comfortable solution would be to enter it as “closed” and deliver a tidy table. That would be invented. We write instead that the source is silent — and what to do about it.
- ◆Four hours' difference, and no listing shows it: at weekends Monthey opens at 11:00, on weekdays at 15:00. Any overview that averages this into a span sends visitors out four hours early on a Tuesday. That is exactly why the seven windows appear individually here — less comfortable to read, but correct.
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Monthey publishes its own hours for every day — except 16 December. There it says neither “open” nor “closed”, but nothing at all.
Discussion
4 voices from the community
Les horaires changent presque tous les jours, et personne ne le dit jamais. En semaine c'est 15h, le week-end 11h. On finit par regarder le programme à chaque fois, comme un horaire de bus.
Der 16. fehlt einfach. Auf der Seite stehen alle Tage einzeln — nur der Mittwoch ist nicht da. Weder «offen» noch «geschlossen». Das ist doch komisch.
Wir haben es am 14. September genauso gelesen und im Datensatz festgehalten: Für Mittwoch, den 16. Dezember, publiziert der Veranstalter keine Öffnungszeiten, während er alle übrigen Tage einzeln aufführt. Er schreibt nicht «geschlossen». Wir schreiben deshalb auch nicht «geschlossen», sondern: unbekannt. Wer ausgerechnet an diesem Tag anreist, fragt besser vorher nach.
Treize jours de marché au centre-ville, ça fait du Bas-Valais le coin le mieux servi du canton en décembre. Avec Sion, on a deux marchés longs à une demi-heure l'un de l'autre.
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✨ Christmas markets · 14 September 2026