Edinburgh’s Christmas

Created and produced by Unique Assembly on behalf of The City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh’s Christmas attractions not only bring festive cheer to residents and visitors to the city from around the world, but also provide significant social, economic and community benefits which continue to impact positively year-round.

Edinburgh’s Christmas transforms the historic city centre into a festive wonderland with Christmas fun for all the family, including the hugely popular traditional Christmas Markets, Santa Storytelling experience, thrilling funfair rides, free live outdoor events, delicious food and drink, plus so much more. With a whole host of free and ticketed events, it’s the perfect day out for the whole family!

Providing a platform for local charities and community events is an important part of Edinburgh’s Christmas, with over 160 local community groups and charities engaged with through the Edinburgh’s Christmas Communities Initiative, benefitting from more than 8,000 free community tickets and ride tokens distributed. The Winter Windows Schools Competition, is an initiative which showcases young artistic talent with festive artwork from 24 schools throughout the city.

In 2024/25, Edinburgh’s Christmas directly raised funds for local charities One City Trust and Simon Community Scotland, supporting crucial work in fighting inequality and homelessness within Edinburgh. Furthermore, the festivals continued their support for Social Bite’s Festival of Kindness and When You Wish Upon a Star (Santa Run), confirming the commitment of both organisers and festival goers to giving back. In addition, 74% of market stall traders in the Christmas Market were Scottish, supporting our creative crafts, drinks, food and gifts industries both financially and through profile.

Operating for over 6-weeks each year from mid-November to early January, Edinburgh’s Christmas is a flagship winter attraction for the city, hospitality and retail sector and the local event supply chain, creating thousands of jobs in the city and generating over £148M for the local economy.

Details of Edinburgh’s Christmas 2025 event dates, on-sale and programme details will be announced later this year. To be the first to hear about this year’s exciting plans, subscribe to our newsletter.