The Valley Gardens market opens on 26 November, Santa is at the Royal Pavilion from 4 December and Pavilion carols are on 16 December. Updated November 2026.

Christmas in Brighton 2026 starts in earnest on Thursday 26 November, when the city’s first Christmas market since 2024 opens at Valley Gardens, and runs to a New Year’s Eve with no public fireworks. In between, Father Christmas is at the Royal Pavilion from 4 December and the Pavilion’s carol concert is on 16 December. Every Christmas page we have for the city is linked below, grouped by what you want to do.

The three dates to know

  • Christmas market, Valley Gardens: Thursday 26 November to Sunday 27 December, 12 noon to 9pm every day. The council calls it “a small traditional Christmas market”, in front of the Royal Pavilion, with craft stalls, live music on selected dates, mulled wine, a Bavarian grill and cheese and dessert cabins (council). There was no main market in 2025.
  • Father Christmas at the Royal Pavilion: from Friday 4 December. He is in the Adelaide Suite on 4 to 6 and 11 to 13 December, then every day from 18 to 24 December. £21 for one child, £7 an adult, Pavilion entry included (Brighton & Hove Museums).
  • Carol Concert at the Royal Pavilion: Wednesday 16 December, doors 7pm, 7.30pm to 9.30pm with an interval, £38 (Brighton & Hove Museums).

The Pavilion’s winter exhibition, A Fairytale of Frost and Fire, runs from 21 November 2026 to 10 January 2027 (Brighton & Hove Museums).

See

  • The Christmas lights: a brand new gold scheme comes on on Thursday 19 November, with no switch-on ceremony. Its free Festive Afternoon of choirs and a brass band is on Saturday 5 December, 2pm to 6pm.
  • Christmas at the Royal Pavilion: the winter exhibition, the grotto, storytime and the carol concert in one place.
  • Christmas concerts and carols: from Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols on 29 November to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 13 December and the Pavilion carols on 16 December.
  • Pantomime and Christmas shows: Brighton’s only panto is Aladdin at the Metropole hotel, 22 to 30 December. The Theatre Royal has Legally Blonde from 15 December.
  • Burning the Clocks: the winter solstice lantern parade on Madeira Drive is listed for Monday 21 December.

Do

Eat

Shop

  • The Valley Gardens Christmas market: what the council has said about the stalls and what is still unknown.
  • Christmas fairs: the Grand Winter Makers Fair in Hove on 21 and 22 November, the Brighton Etsy Christmas Fair at the Dome on 5 December and the Festive Makers Fair at Wagner Hall on 12 and 13 December, all free.
  • Christmas shopping: 14 independent shops from North Laine to Hove.
  • Christmas trees: seven sellers, from a farm at Devil’s Dyke to free delivery in the city.

Travel and bins

  • Christmas trains: no trains on Christmas Day and one Southern train an hour to Victoria on Boxing Day, with every day of the holiday listed.
  • Christmas bin collections: the council usually publishes the revised days in mid December. Last year the Christmas week rounds ran a day early.
  • Driving in: December weekends are the busiest of the year for the central car parks. The parking page has every car park and its charges, and the roadworks page has what is shut.

Still to be announced

The exact night the lights come on, the market’s operator and its live music dates, Burning the Clocks’ times, and the council’s Christmas bin days. Each page above will be updated when they are published.