Winterthurer Wintermarkt: the first of the season — two weeks before Advent
✓ Checked at the source · as of 8 September 2026
On 18 November nobody in Switzerland is thinking about Christmas yet. The Winterthurer Wintermarkt on the Teuschelweiherplatz opens anyway — making it the earliest start of any market in this overview.
📅 Dates 2026 — when and where
36 days in a row, 5 weekends included.
Winterthurer Wintermarkt
✓Wednesday, 18 November 2026 – Wednesday, 23 December 2026 · 36 days
- Organiser
- Winterthurer Wintermarkt
It starts on 18 November, making it the earliest Christmas market on this list – more than two weeks before the first Sunday of Advent.
Source: winterthurerwintermarkt.ch · checked on 8 September 2026
🕐 Opening hours 2026
Where stalls, food and bars close at different times, each window is listed separately.
Market: Mon–Fri 16:00–22:00 · Sat 11:00–22:00 · Sun 11:00–20:00
🗓️ Open today?
36 days with something on, 10 of them on a Saturday or Sunday – enter your day and the check tells you what is open.
📅 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 | Date set? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winterthurer Wintermarkt | Wed 18 Nov – Wed 23 Dec36 days | Market: Mon–Fri 16:00–22:00 · Sat 11:00–22:00 · Sun 11:00–20:00 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
🚋 Transport & access with stop
- Meeting point
- Teuschelweiherplatz, Winterthur
📋 Good to know before you go
- Food and drink
- Fondue-Chalet mit Cheminée, Slalom-Bar, Kinderhütte
- More than 50 festively decorated huts.
✨ Highlights on site
What sets this market apart from every other one is not in its run dates.
We sorted all 67 pages with a documented date by their start day. At the very front stands the Teuschelweiherplatz with 18 November 2026 — alone. A day later 8 further markets follow; none begins earlier. The first Sunday of Advent is at that point still more than two weeks away.
Anyone who thinks that a detail should see the figures side by side. On 18 November 2026 the Teuschelweiherplatz is the only open market in this survey — one. A day later there are 9, on the first Advent weekend 32, and on the densest day of the season (5 December 2026) 41. There is exactly one day in this survey on which a Swiss Christmas market has no competition — and this is it.
Second, and this is the commonest misunderstanding: Winterthur has two markets, not one. The Wintermarkt stands on the Teuschelweiherplatz, the second on the Neumarkt — and that one only begins on 26 November. Different squares, different runs, different organisers. That is why this page names the square and not only the city.
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🎯 Practical tips for your visit
On the Teuschelweiherplatz, when you come decides it — in November you are nearly alone, in December you are not.
- 1The first two weeks are the empty onesThe market starts on 18 November 2026, two weeks before the first Sunday of Advent. During that period it is effectively the only one in our overview. If you want to avoid the crush, come then — later you share the crowd with 41 markets open at once.
- 2Weekdays only from 16:00Monday to Friday 16:00–22:00, that is six hours, all in the evening. At the weekend it is different: Saturday 11:00–22:00 (eleven hours), Sunday 11:00–20:00. If you want the afternoon, you need a weekend.
- 3Fondue chalet with an open fireAlongside the 50-plus huts there is a fondue chalet with an open fire, a Slalom bar and a children's hut. For a market already running in November, a heated indoor spot is no luxury.
- 4Do not confuse it with the NeumarktWinterthur has two markets in this overview. The Wintermarkt on the Teuschelweiherplatz runs from 18 November, the Neumarkt one from the 26th. Search for “Winterthur Christmas market” and you may well mean the other.
📊 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.
- Winterthur · TeuschelweiherplatzWinterthurer Wintermarkt
🗺️ Nearby markets
The ConvivaPlus Christmas market overview lists 69 markets with a documented run; the season goes from 18 November 2026 to 10 January 2027 — and it begins here. The densest day is 5 December 2026 with 41 markets open at once.
The canton of Zurich is the densest in the overview. Besides the Teuschelweiherplatz, Winterthur has the Neumarkt; in the city of Zurich there are the main station, the Sechseläutenplatz and the Werdmühleplatz. If you want early November, though, this is the only address — all the others open later.
More Christmas markets in the canton of Zurich
All of the canton of Zurich→❓ FAQ — answered
Answers from the verified dataset – nothing carried over from last year.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
In this survey on 18 November 2026, with the Winterthurer Wintermarkt. A day later 8 further markets follow, among them Zurich main station, Bern Kleine Schanze and Locarno. Until then the Teuschelweiherplatz is the only open market in our overview.
Two in this overview: the Wintermarkt on the Teuschelweiherplatz from 18 November and the Neumarkt market from 26 November. They are separate events with separate organisers.
Before the first Sunday of Advent. On 18 November 2026 exactly one market in this survey is open, the next day 9, and on the densest day of the season 41. If you want quiet, move the visit forward rather than back — provided a market opens that early at all.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
If you want to experience a Christmas market without the crush, this overview gives you exactly one day and one address for it: on 18 November the Teuschelweiherplatz is the only open market in the survey.
On weekdays it is an evening event: Monday to Friday only from 16:00. If you need the afternoon, plan a weekend. And if you have “Winterthur Christmas market” in mind, check whether you do not mean the Neumarkt — a different square, a different run.
Freshness note: Run, hours, venue, organiser, hut count and the details about the fondue chalet, Slalom bar and children's hut come from winterthurerwintermarkt.ch, source read on 8 September 2026. The claim “earliest start” is counted across the 67 pages in this overview with a documented date — it is not a statement about every Swiss Christmas market.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Christmas market dataset 2026 – Winterthur · Teuschelweiherplatz →
- ◆36 days of opening – the typical event this season lasts 18 days.
- ◆The period spans 5 weekends – miss one and there is still another.
How we check
Every date comes from the organiser's, the municipality's or the canton's own site — never from an aggregator, never copied over from last year. Next to each source is the date we last read it.
Something missing or changed? A note below is enough; we check it at the source.
ConvivaPlus Editor · Family & Day Trips
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For early planners: 68 of the season's 69 events start later than this one.
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✨ Christmas markets · 14 September 2026