We arrived in Montpellier on 31 December 2025, straight from Marseille, and found the Christmas market still up. We stayed three nights, until 3 January, with Damian (12) and Marc (9), my sister’s family and my parents, and Montpellier turned out to be the stop of our southern France road trip that surprised us most.
One warning before you plan around our experience: in 2026 the Christmas market closes on 30 December, a day earlier than when we were there. If you arrive on New Year’s Eve like we did, you’ll miss it. The details are below.
Quick answers: Montpellier with kids in winter
- Christmas market 2026: Les Hivernales, Promenade du Peyrou, 27 November – 30 December. Free entry. It closes at 18:00 on 24 and 30 December and is shut on Christmas Day.
- New Year’s Eve was busy but not chaotic: pedestrianised streets and a cheerful crowd, fine with children.
- How long: two full days for the city, three nights if you add an evening in Sète.
- Where to stay: the centre. We stayed at the Hotel Belaroïa, a few minutes’ walk from the station.
- Getting around: everything central is walkable, and the tram covers the rest.
Where to stay in Montpellier with kids: our top 3
Hotel Belaroïa – a 4-minute walk from Saint-Roch station. Our Junior Suite fitted four, with a king bed and a sofa bed.
Campanile Montpellier Saint-Roch – in the same building as the Belaroïa, for less money. The same location by the station.
Hôtel Richer de Belleval – a mansion on Place de la Canourgue, in the heart of the Écusson.
Montpellier Christmas market 2026: dates and opening hours
Montpellier’s Christmas market is called Les Hivernales, and it fills the Promenade du Peyrou, the grand terraced promenade at the top of the old town, with nearly 90 wooden chalets: food and drink, crafts, decorations and regional produce. There are also children’s activities: Santa on some days, rides and craft workshops.
| Les Hivernales 2026 | Hours |
|---|---|
| Dates | 27 November – 30 December 2026 |
| Sunday–Thursday | 10:30 – 21:30 |
| Friday–Saturday | 10:30 – 22:30 |
| 24 December | closes 18:00 |
| 25 December | closed |
| 30 December (last day) | closes 18:00 |
Entry is free. Place de la Comédie and the Esplanade Charles de Gaulle carry the lights and the fairground rides.
Coming from Spain? Barcelona’s Christmas markets close on 23 December, so Montpellier’s runs a week longer. If your kids missed the markets at home, this is where you catch one. Just arrive by the 30th this year.
Dates move a little every year, so check the city’s site, montpellier.fr, before you go.
New Year’s Eve in Montpellier with kids
We arrived on the busiest day of the year and it was still pleasant, which isn’t true of every city. The centre was full of people finishing the year, with music, lights and a cheerful rather than rowdy crowd. The historic streets are pedestrianised, which is what makes it work with children: no traffic, no kerbs to police, room to walk.
- A lively but relaxed atmosphere rather than a crush.
- Restaurants for every budget, and enough of them that we still got a table.
- Student energy, which keeps it cheerful without tipping into aggressive.
It was festive without being chaotic, which is exactly what we want as a family.
Day 1: Place de la Comédie, the Écusson and the market
Montpellier’s old town is called the Écusson, the shield, because of the shape it makes on a map: narrow medieval streets, hidden squares and elegant stone buildings, small enough that getting lost is a feature rather than a problem. Walking it with children works because there’s no through traffic and the scale is human. You turn a corner and there’s a square; you turn another and there’s a bakery.
The order I’d follow for an afternoon:
- Place de la Comédie: the huge central square, the obvious starting point, and where the festive lights are.
- Into the Écusson: an hour of wandering. You don’t need a route.
- Up to the Promenade du Peyrou for Les Hivernales. In 2026, go by the 30th, and by mid-afternoon on the 24th or 30th, when it closes at 18:00.
- Back down for dinner.
Day 2: parks, the Faculty of Medicine and the centre
The second day, 1 January, showed us a calmer Montpellier: green, academic, and much quieter than the New Year crowds.
The parks
We spent a good part of the morning letting the boys run around after the late night, which is the right move on 1 January with children.
- Esplanade Charles de Gaulle: the long tree-lined stretch running off Place de la Comédie.
- Promenade du Peyrou: the terraced promenade at the top of the old town, with the view of the aqueduct. It’s also where the Christmas market sets up.
- Jardin des Plantes: France’s oldest botanical garden, founded in 1593.
The Faculty of Medicine
Montpellier’s Faculty of Medicine was founded by a charter dated 17 August 1220, and the university describes it as the oldest medical school in the world still in operation. It celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2020. You can’t wander inside, but the building and the quarter around it are worth walking through, and it’s a good five minutes of story for kids old enough to be impressed that doctors have been trained on this exact spot for eight hundred years.
The centre
The main squares and shopping streets were lively but not crowded on 1 January: easy to explore, easy to stop, and easy to find a bakery when someone needed one.
An evening in Sète
On our second evening we drove out to Sète, the canal town on the coast, about half an hour away. It deserved its own post: Sète, an evening from Montpellier.
Where we stayed in Montpellier
We stayed three nights at the Hotel Belaroïa, in the centre and a few minutes’ walk from Saint-Roch station, in a Junior Suite that fitted all four of us. Full review: Hotel Belaroïa Montpellier: our Junior Suite with 2 kids.
Stay central here. Everything in this guide except Sète is walkable from the Écusson. Staying out by the ring road to save twenty euros costs you the evenings.
Getting around Montpellier
- On foot: the Écusson, Place de la Comédie, the Peyrou and the Esplanade are all within about fifteen minutes of each other.
- By tram: clean, frequent and easy with children. The trams are part of the fun: lines 3 and 4 were designed by Christian Lacroix.
- By car: we arrived by car from Marseille. Park once and walk; the Écusson is largely pedestrianised, and driving into it isn’t the plan.
Is Montpellier worth visiting with kids in winter?
Yes, and I’d put it above Marseille for a family, which surprised me. It’s walkable and pedestrianised, the students keep prices sensible and the atmosphere young, and the Christmas market runs a week longer than the Spanish ones. Winter is mild, the crowds are gone, and two days is enough to feel you’ve seen it.
Who I’d send: families on a southern France road trip who want a city stop that isn’t hard work; anyone who wants a Christmas market after Christmas; families with children of roughly 4 to 12.
Who I’d send elsewhere: if you want beaches, come in summer or go to Sète. And if you’re after big-ticket attractions, Montpellier is a walking-and-eating city, not a museums-and-queues one.
The rest of our southern France trip
- Southern France road trip with kids: our full itinerary
- Marseille in winter with kids
- Martigues, the Venice of Provence
- Campanile St Antoine, Marseille: our family stay
More winter with kids: Christmas in Barcelona with kids, Barcelona’s Christmas markets, Three Kings in Barcelona with kids and Annecy with kids in winter.
Planning Montpellier at Christmas? Compare family rooms in central Montpellier →
Montpellier with kids: FAQ
When is the Montpellier Christmas market in 2026?
Les Hivernales runs from 27 November to 30 December 2026 on the Promenade du Peyrou. It’s open 10:30–21:30 Sunday to Thursday and 10:30–22:30 on Fridays and Saturdays, closes at 18:00 on 24 and 30 December, and is closed on 25 December. Entry is free.
Is the Montpellier Christmas market open on New Year’s Eve?
Not in 2026: the last day is 30 December, closing at 18:00. When we arrived on 31 December 2025 the market was still open, so the closing date changes from year to year. Check montpellier.fr before you travel.
Is New Year’s Eve in Montpellier suitable for families?
It was for us. The centre was busy on 31 December, but the crowd was cheerful rather than rowdy, and the pedestrianised historic streets were comfortable to walk with children.
Is Montpellier good to visit with kids?
Yes. The historic centre, the Écusson, is pedestrianised and compact, so everything is within about fifteen minutes on foot, and there are several parks for letting children run.
How many days do you need in Montpellier?
Two full days for the city: one for Place de la Comédie, the Écusson and the Christmas market, and one for the parks and the university quarter. We stayed three nights and added an evening in Sète, about half an hour away.
Where should you stay in Montpellier with kids?
In the centre, near Saint-Roch station or the Écusson, so you can walk everywhere. We stayed at the Hotel Belaroïa, a few minutes from the station, in a Junior Suite that fitted our family of four.
1 Comment