The iconic Manchester Christmas Markets return to the city centre on Friday 10 November for their 25th anniversary year. There will be 225 stalls across nine sites of:

• Piccadilly Gardens (Winter Gardens)
• St Ann’s Square and Exchange Street
• Market Street
• King Street
• New Cathedral Street
• Exchange Square
• The Corn Exchange
• Cathedral Gardens

Cathedral Gardens is also the site of Skate Manchester’s huge, covered ice rink. For more information on all the sights and sounds of the Christmas Markets, Visit Manchester has all the information that you may need.

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Our advice

By tram

Tram will be the best way to travel to and from the shops and the Christmas Markets this festive season. There are eight city centre tram stops serving all lines, with frequent services seven days a week.

On Fridays and Saturdays, there will be trams on the network until 1am. For live departure times from your stop, visit the dedicated stop webpages, which are linked below.

Not sure of which stop you need for each Christmas Market site? We’ve got you with our handy list below:

At busy times, you may find it easier to board a tram at one of the other stops in the city centre such as Piccadilly, Deansgate-Castlefield or Shudehill.

By bus

• Piccadilly Gardens and Shudehill bus stations are right in the heart of the action, where services will connect you to all four corners of Greater Manchester. You can visit the dedicated webpages for the latest live departure information.
• At busy times, city centre road congestion may also impact buses. Make sure that you allow extra time for your journey if you’re going to be travelling on an evening or a weekend as the big day gets closer.
• Get on board with low-cost fares. Any single bus trip in Greater Manchester remains £2 for adults and £1 for children. For more information, you can visit our fares webpage.

By road

• From 2pm driving in the city centre on a weekend is likely to be as busy as a weekday evening rush hour. If you have to drive into the city centre, make sure you allow for extra time and congestion on your journey. For quicker journeys avoid the period between 4pm and 7pm. If you are intending to travel along Trinity Way, you may want to check if there’s an event on at the Arena. There’s a lot going on at the Arena before Christmas, and journey times by road can increase by at least 10 minutes on event days. Visit our dedicated AO Arena webpage for more information.
• Roads around the city centre and key car parks become congestion hotspots on the run up to Christmas. If your route includes areas around the Manchester Arndale, Printworks, Victoria Station, AO Arena, The Great Northern Warehouse, The Opera House, Deansgate, Blackfriars or Chapel Street (Salford), congestion is likely. On weekends, evenings and key event dates, allow extra time for entering and exiting car parks in the city centre – especially if they are around the Christmas markets it may be busier than normal.
• If you have no choice other than to drive, do your bit for city centre congestion and plan where you intend to park in advance, and park on the side of the city that your route home is on. There are 24 tram park and ride locations on the tram network where you will be able to park for free and travel into the city centre by tram with ease.
• If you need to park at key city centre locations (eg. the Arndale centre or Harvey Nichols car parks) on a weekend and on key event days in the run up to Christmas, please allow extra time for exiting the car parks
• We will continually update this webpage with the latest insight as we receive it. Stay up to date with disruptions on your route with the Bee Network travel alerts hub.

Walking

You may find that the quickest way for local trips and to get between shops and Christmas Market sites is by walking. Stay safe this winter and use well-lit routes through the city.