Warsaw’s Old Town is the perfect place to host a Christmas market. It has those beautiful old buildings and everything is adorned with Christmas lights. Picture this: a tall Christmas tree, beautiful Christmas decorations, traditional Polish food, ice skating, and plenty of market stalls selling unique gifts. What an amazing way to celebrate the holiday season! In this blog post I will share everything about the Warsaw Christmas market so you can enjoy the magic of Christmas in the Polish capital. This post contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Find out more here.
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What to see at the Warsaw Christmas market
The Christmas Tree
I love Christmas time so much! I will never get tired at admiring Christmas trees in new destinations. Each city looks so beautiful when it’s all decorated.
The Christmas tree in Warsaw is located in the Royal Castle square right opposite to the castle. It’s adorned with colorful lights and a star topper. The decorative lights change their colors every few seconds, so the tree looks different depending on when you look at it.
Heads up: Warsaw gets really cold during winter, so make sure you pack warm sweaters, a warm coat and boots. You’ll spend a lot of time outside, so you need to be bundled up.
Christmas lights labyrinth
As you walk along the Royal Route from Nowy Swiat to the Royal Castle, you will find a Christmas lights labyrinth before you get to the Christmas tree.
It is made of oversized Christmas lights, and Christmas tree decorations. It’s the ideal place for photos. It looks so beautiful during the night when it’s all lit up.
The Warszawa sign
Right next to the Christmas tree labyrinth you can find a huge Warsaw sign. Even this sign looks like a Christmas tree, so you know it’s the festive season.
Every tourist, and maybe even locals, stop by the sign to take a picture.
Ice skating rink
The ice skating rink is located in the Old Town, but in a different square than the Christmas tree. There is another tree where the ice skating rink is located, but this one is smaller.
The rink gets really busy during the weekend, so if this is an experience you want to have in Warsaw you need to be patient or visit during the week.
Wooden houses that sell food and gifts
The actual Christmas market is located along the old city wall, which is to the side of the main square. I was expecting to find all the wooden houses in the main square next to the tree, but they put them to the side. I think it’s a good idea since they are able to spread the crowds a bit.
There are a lot of stalls on each side of the street. At the beginning you will find mostly food and drinks. And as you continue walking you will find the booths that sell gifts.
This area gets a bit crowded during the weekend. If you don’t like crowds, try to visit during the week. It’s a more pleasant experience and you can actually browse everything these stalls are offering instead of feeling rushed because of the crowds.
Traditional food to try at the Warsaw Christmas market
There is plenty of delicious food in Warsaw: pierogis, bigos (stew and cabbage in a bread bowl), sour rye soup, pork knuckle, potato pancakes. However, there are some food items you can only find at the Christmas market.
I recommend one night you eat dinner at the market to be able to sample all the traditional Polish treats.
Polish cheese
There were so many stands in the Old Town Square cooking these small oval things on the grill. Some of them were even wrapped in bacon. They smelled delicious.
At first I thought it was some kind of savory pastry. But when I asked at one of the stands what it was they told me it was cheese. That’s it. Simple. Just cheese warmed on the grill.
I love cheese, so I had to try it. The cheese was delicious and a little smoky. And it came with cranberry sauce which complemented it perfectly.
I only saw this treat at the Old Town Market Square, so it might be available only during the Christmas season. Or maybe they have it during other holidays as well.
In any case, if you’re in Warsaw while the Christmas market is up and you like cheese, you should try it.
Kielbasa sausage
Kielbasa is a traditional Polish sausage. You can get just the sausage at the Christmas market, or you can opt for a slice of bread with lard or butter, topped with sausage and caramelized onion.
The stands that sell Kielbasa also offer 3 free toppings: pickles, fried onion, and spring onion.
I thought mixing sausage, onion, bread and butter would be too heavy of a combination, but I enjoyed it a lot. I shared a slice of bread with my friend and half the portion was enough for me.
It’s a hearty, but delicious meal.
Chimney cake
Chimney cake is a dessert original to Hungarians from Transylvania, but all countries in Eastern and Central Europe serve this delicacy at Christmas fairs. It’s very popular in Romania too.
It’s a yeasty dough, slightly sweet, that’s cooked on a truncated cone-shaped baking spit. It’s usually cooked over a coal fire, but in Warsaw they cooked it in an oven.
Once it’s cooked they roll it in the topping of your choice: walnuts, cocoa, cinnamon, and so on. I usually get mine with walnuts. It’d delicious.
Chestnuts
I was a bit surprised to see chestnuts at the market. In Romania we eat them during the fall, but we can’t find them during winter. Not sure what magic they do to have them available for this time of year.
I feel like roasted chestnuts are a staple of most fairs, so if you like them make sure to get a few to enjoy them on the beautiful streets of the Old Town.
Hot drinks
There are plenty of stalls where you can buy mulled wine or a cup of hot chocolate so you can warm up after exploring the winter wonderland in the Old Town of Warsaw.
While these drinks are not traditional to Poland they are staples of all the best Christmas markets and they contribute to the festive spirit.
What to buy at the Warsaw Christmas market
The market is one of the best places to do some Christmas shopping. If you’re visiting from a different country you can buy unique Christmas gifts here that you can’t find at home.
There are plenty of small wooden houses selling gifts. Most of them (if not all) accept credit cards. You can find Christmas decorations, scarves and hats, handmade soaps, jewelry, wooden toys, rolling pins for baking, and many other hand-made items. So many options!
Just take some time to walk through the market and see everything the vendors offer. Then you can decide on the perfect souvenir or gift for your friends and family.
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Ioana was born and raised in Romania, lived in NYC for 14 years, and is now back in Romania. She fell in love with traveling when she was little and used to visit her aunt in Vienna. Then in high school she was able to visit Siberia, Turkmenistan, Istanbul, and Tokyo through chemistry competitions. As an adult she started to travel solo once she turned 30 and visited 20+ countries so far. Ioana is a full time travel blogger and content creator with an audience of 75K+ people on Instagram. She loves to share travel recommendation and tips.