Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market 2026 in The Black Forest

A 40-metre railway viaduct arching over a steep Black Forest valley isn’t the usual backdrop for a Glühwein stall. The Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market sets its huts directly beneath the Ravennaviadukt, nine sandstone arches carrying the Höllentalbahn across the gorge, and lights the whole thing up once the valley goes dark.

Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market 2026

Dates

Status: Confirmed
Ravenna Gorge dates: 26th November to 20th December 2026
Last checked: August 2026

Update: Dates were announced in June. Sign up for our newsletter for future updates

Source: Verified by Ultimate Christmas Markets via Hoch Schwarzwald.

Plan Your Visit

Location and Times

Location: Ravenna Gorge, Breitnau, near Freiburg.
Opening times:
Thursday: 4pm to 9pm.
Friday to Sunday: 2pm to 9pm.

Travel and Accommodation

Public transport: Free shuttle buses from Hinterzarten and Himmelreich train stations. Some Christmas market tickets include the shuttle bus from Freiburg.
Parking: Limited spaces and a €7 fee. Parking tickets must be bought in advance online or at a tourist information centre, and the printed permit displayed behind the windscreen. Taking the train is easier and recommended.
Where to stay: Hotel Hofgut Sternen is 3 minutes from the viaduct.

Amenities and Attractions

Admission: Tickets sell out fast and must be booked in advance. Book online.
Tickets: On sale from 14th October (don’t wait until later).
Payment: There is no cash machine onsite.
Santa: No.
Ice skating: No.
Reason to visit: Scenic gorge location.

Dietary Options

Vegetarian: Plenty of options.
Vegan: Some options.
Gluten free: Limited options.
Food specialties: Organic chocolate fruit, handcrafted gin, Nikolausi, Black Forest specialties.

Accessibility

Accessible: Yes.
Pet-friendly: No.

Where to Stay

Staying near the viaduct is ideal for being near the festivities. Hotel Hofgut Sternen is a good choice as it’s a short walk from the market, interesting sights and a few shops. However, many visitors prefer to stay in Freiburg. In this case, Hotel Rappen is an excellent option.

Read our complete German Christmas Market guide.

In this region, you might also like to visit the Freiburg Christmas Market.

Visitor Feedback

What Visitors Loved

• The lighting does the heavy lifting. The arches cycle through colours after dark, and the moment they come into view through the trees gets mentioned more than anything else.
• The setting beats the shopping. Steep forested walls, the Ravenna stream and open fires draw far more praise than the stalls themselves.
• Trains crossing the viaduct mid-visit are a repeated highlight, especially for anyone with children.
• The climb to the viewpoint above the gorge is worth the effort, and it delivers the photo most people came for.

Common Complaints

• It gets crowded even with capped numbers. Timed entry keeps the queues down, but the market floor still packs out once the lights come on.
• Tickets are the single biggest frustration. Last year, the full allocation was gone within a day, the booking site buckled under the load, and there were no sales at the gate.
• The entry window feels tight to some and generous to others. Opinions split fairly evenly between people who wanted longer and those who had seen enough after an hour.
• A few visitors felt the ticket price plus the travel didn’t match the scale. It is a compact market with around 40 huts, roughly half of which sell food and drink.

The Bottom Line

You come here for the setting rather than the shopping, and on that measure it beats almost anything else in Germany. Book the moment tickets open, pick a slot that starts in daylight so you see the gorge before the illumination takes over, and take the shuttle instead of gambling on a parking space.

Event Location

What to Expect

The market fills the valley floor below Hofgut Sternen, with around 40 wooden huts strung along the gorge and the nine arches of the Ravennaviadukt lit overhead in slowly shifting colour. Trains still cross it during the market, which is a small thrill the first time one rumbles past overhead.

Crafts here are genuinely regional rather than imported souvenir stock, and the fires burning between the huts do as much for the atmosphere as the lighting rig does. A steep path climbs the side of the gorge to a viewpoint looking down over the whole site, and it’s worth the effort even though everyone else has had the same idea.

In recent years a guided torchlight walk (Fackelwanderung) has run from Hinterzarten through the Löffeltal to the market, arriving on foot through the forest rather than by shuttle.

Food Specialties

• Nikolausi: hot baked apple liqueur served with cream, and the drink most people come away talking about
• Feuerzangenbowle: mulled wine poured over a burning rum-soaked sugarloaf
• Bärentraum: mulled wine lifted with blueberry liqueur
• Schwarzwaldmarie and Adventshugo: regional takes on the usual punch, served alongside Eierlikör punch
• Flammkuchen: Black Forest tarte flambée in both hearty and sweet versions
• Farmhouse raclette: Black Forest cheese melted to order, from dairies in the surrounding valleys
• Mountain farm flatbread roll: grilled to order in hearty, vegetarian or sweet variations, an Upper Black Forest speciality
• Black Forest specialties: Schwarzwälder Schinken, smoked trout and regional Schnaps
• Freiburg spreads: tapenades, fruit spreads, seasoning sauces and pastes, all jarred and sold by the glass
• Wild distillery spirits: small-batch gin and whisky from local distillers
• Organic fruit and chocolate: from producers committed to organic farming
• Homemade apple punch: made entirely from regional apple varieties
• Goulash soup: the practical choice when the temperature drops in the gorge
• La Provence: the market’s odd one out, pouring Crémant d’Alsace and Provençal whites, rosés and reds

Gifts and Stocking Fillers

• Black Forest salt: sourced in the region and one of the easiest things to fit in hand luggage
• Homemade liqueurs and brandy: the Black Forest’s distilling tradition in bottle form
• Wood carvings and masks: the Titisee station shop brings carvings, wooden toys and Fasnacht-style masks
• Wooden lanterns and old-wood decor: lanterns, bottle lamps, hand-painted cards and decorative pendants made from reclaimed timber
• Driftwood and wood art: driftwood fir trees, Black Forest guardian angels, animal carvings and nativity figures
• Sewn and embroidered gifts: made locally, with region-specific patterns
• Sustainable hair brushes: produced in the Black Forest, and a genuinely unusual find
• Stoneware and sculpture: soap dishes, knife sharpening stones and sinks cut from local stone
• Provence honey, wine and soap: the French stall that has become a fixture here

Sustainability

The market holds Green Event BW certification, and the commitment behind it is more concrete than most. All electricity comes from hydropower, drawn from plants on the High Rhine and smaller units within the Black Forest, and the viaduct illumination runs on LEDs switched on only during opening hours.

• Waste: single-use plastic tableware has been eliminated, replaced by cardboard, bamboo and wood, with drinks served in reusable cups or glass bottles under a deposit system.
• Local vendors: every food and drink trader is from the Black Forest, and the musicians performing at the market are regional artists who use traditional instruments.
• Craft: stall space is prioritised for regional artisans making their own work by hand.
• Print: entry tickets are digital, and the event flyer is printed on fully sustainable paper by a Freiburg printer running on green electricity.
• Transport: shuttle buses serve Himmelreich and Hinterzarten stations, and parking is deliberately limited to encourage visitors to take the train.