Warm string lights strung above a dark cobbled lane, candles burning behind a ground-floor window.

The Netherlands in December

Markets in caves, a floating market on the water, and the shortest days of the year.

WinterBusy crowdsDear prices

Last updated September 4, 2026

Short and warm-feeling in the way only a well-lit northern city can be. This is the darkest stretch of the year — the sun is up for under eight hours mid-month and gone before half past four — and the country has spent centuries getting good at compensating. Lights over shopping streets, candles in café windows, glühwein in a paper cup, and a general national agreement that the answer to darkness is more lamps. Temperatures rarely fall far below freezing. It is not a cold month by continental standards; it is a dark and wet one.

December at a glance

Average high and low: 6.9°C / 1.5°C; Schiphol long-run normals
Sunshine: 58 hours across the month
Daylight: 08:41 to 16:29, 7h 47m; Amsterdam, on the fifteenth
Crowds: Busy
Prices: Dear
Season: Winter

Christmas marketsCity breaksFoodNew Year

How busy, and what it costs

The two things that change most across the Dutch year, and the two most people plan around.

Crowds: Busy

A tale of two halves of the week. Weekdays in December are pleasant and manageable almost everywhere, including at the markets. Weekends in the market cities are a crush, and the days between Christmas and New Year fill the capital completely. The advice from Maastricht applies nationally: one day is not enough during market season, because the shopping streets and the sights each eat most of one.

Prices: Dear

Expensive in the market cities and around New Year, cheap in the first week. The southern fair city fills months out — in one recorded year around three quarters of December-weekend accommodation had gone by early September — and Amsterdam room rates spike for New Year's Eve the same way they do for the October dance event.

What is on in December

Dates that move year to year are marked as such. Check the organiser before you book flights around one.

Christmas markets in caves

December

Valkenburg, fifteen minutes by train from Maastricht

Two markets held inside the marl caves under the town, which is why this small place is repeatedly rated the country's best Christmas town. Touristy and worth half a day anyway; the caves make it genuinely unlike anywhere else.

The floating Christmas market

Roughly twelve days before Christmas; dates vary

Nieuwe Rijn, Leiden

The only floating Christmas market in the country, held on pontoons in the canal by the Waag. A short season and a small city, which makes it a much calmer afternoon than the big southern fair.

Royal Christmas Fair

Roughly a week in December

Lange Voorhout, The Hague

Chalets along the grandest tree-lined avenue in the city, in the diplomatic quarter rather than a shopping street. Short, central and easy to combine with the museums that make The Hague a year-round destination.

New Year on the beach

31 December and 1 January

Scheveningen and the coast

Bonfires on the sand on the last night of the year, followed by the mass sea plunge the next morning. A pairing that treats the coldest water of the year as a public celebration rather than an ordeal.

What to skip in December

Things that are worth the trip in another month and are not worth it in this one.

Market cities at the weekend, if a crush is not what you came for. The same fair on a Tuesday is a pleasant evening and on a Saturday is a slow shuffle between stalls.
Christmas Day itself for sightseeing. The mills near Rotterdam close outright and much else runs a holiday timetable or nothing at all, so treat it as a day for a long lunch.
Turning up at a market stall with only cash or only a card. The southern fair sells drinks against tickets bought at separate booths, which catches out everybody on their first evening.

What to pack, and the verdict

Packing

Warm, waterproof and layered, with gloves you can hold a hot cup in. Boots rather than trainers if you plan to stand around outdoors in the evening. A scarf earns its place here more than anywhere else on this list, because the market squares are open and the wind crosses them unimpeded.

Should you come in December?

December is the one winter month with a genuine reason to visit beyond price, and the reason is the markets — particularly the ones in the caves, which have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe. Go midweek, base yourself in a city that has one, and accept that the sightseeing day is short and mostly indoors. It is a poor month for a first tour of the country and an excellent one for a three-night city break with food, lights and a train ride in the middle of it.

Frequently asked questions

+How short are the days, really?

Under eight hours of sun above the horizon in the middle of the month, with sunrise around twenty to nine and sunset around half past four. In practice, under heavy cloud, useful daylight is shorter still. Plan one outdoor thing per day, in the morning, and let the evening belong to the lights.

+Which market is worth travelling for?

The cave markets in Valkenburg, which is fifteen minutes by train from Maastricht and repeatedly voted the country's best Christmas town. The floating market in Leiden is the quieter alternative, and the fair on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague is the easiest to combine with a museum day.

+How far ahead do I need to book?

For a December weekend in the southern fair city, several months — in one recorded year roughly three quarters of that stock was gone by early September. For New Year in Amsterdam, similar. For a midweek trip anywhere else in the first fortnight, a couple of weeks is usually enough.

Next steps

You have a month. Now pick a length and who is coming.

Every plan on the site carries a winter version covering what opens, what to wear and what to book differently in December. Start with the twelve day-by-day plans, or compare December against the rest of the year on the month-by-month table.