Fukuoka Christmas Market 2026: Every Venue, Dates, Hours and Mugs

The Fukuoka Christmas market is not one market. It’s eleven venues under one banner, Christmas Advent, spread from Hakata Station to Fukuoka Tower, each with its own dates and its own opening hour. That’s the part that catches people out: Hakata opens at 16:00 on weekdays, Tenjin at 17:00, the Passage market shuts at 21:00, and the season starts on four different days in four different places. This page puts the 2026 dates and hours in one table, read from the organiser’s own venue pages, and adds what those pages leave out: how the mug works, what you can and can’t carry in, which cards work, and a timed evening that gets you to three markets before last orders at 22:45.

Everything below was checked against christmas-advent.jp and the organiser’s 2026 press release on 29 October 2026. The Fukuoka events hub and the events calendar list what else is on this winter.

2026 dates and hours by venue

Last orders are 15 minutes before closing at the market venues (22:45 at Hakata and City Hall, 21:45 at Central Park and Kihinkan, 20:45 at Passage). Opening day at Hakata, Saturday 7 November, starts at 16:00, not 12:00. On 24 and 25 December, Hakata and City Hall open at 12:00 whatever the weekday. City Hall also runs 12:00 to 21:30 on 21 November and shares its plaza with another event on 14 and 15 November. The ICE WORLD note: the organiser’s 2026 press release gives the market as 20 November to 25 December, while the prefecture’s event listing has the Momochihama venue open to 6 January 2027, so check before a late trip. AEON Mall Kashiihama has a similar gap: the press release says to 25 December, the prefecture’s listing to 20 December on weekends and holidays. Sources: the organiser’s Hakata, Tenjin, Central Park, Kihinkan, Daimyo and Passage pages, its 2026 press release, and the prefecture’s listing for the lights-only venues.

Hakata: the flagship market under Hikari no Machi

The market in the plaza outside the Hakata exit of JR Hakata Station is where the whole thing started, and it is still the one to see first. The organiser’s 2026 release counts more than 170 Hütte, the wooden stalls, across its venues, and the Hakata plaza is the densest of them: hot wine and food stalls packed around a stage whose performances are free to watch (organiser FAQ).

The lights around it belong to a separate show, Hikari no Machi Hakata (Light City Hakata), run by the station’s own JR Hakata City. It is older than the market and runs longer: this is the 15th anniversary edition, lit from 3 November 2026 to 11 January 2027, 17:00 to 23:00, with 800,000 bulbs and a new centrepiece called the Hakatarium, a blend of aquarium and planetarium in light. The lighting ceremony is on 3 November from 18:15, with the switch-on at 18:30, four days before the stalls open (JR Hakata City). So from 3 to 6 November you get the lights without the market, and from 26 December to 11 January you get them again, with far fewer people.

The story in one paragraph: it began in this plaza in the winter of 2013 as the Fukuoka Christmas Market, with eight stalls and about 1.3 million visitors in that first season (data-max interview with the founder, 2024). It grew every year, spread to Tenjin and beyond, and now runs under the name Christmas Advent. It is run by the Fukuoka company Saeki Japan, whose founder Saeki is the producer; the organiser says about 3 million people came through its venues in 2025, and the cumulative count has passed 12 million, which is how it earns its billing as Japan’s biggest Christmas market (data-max, October 2025; Walkerplus; 2026 press release). Kokura has its own castle edition, and Tokyo’s Ueno Park joined in 2025. For 2026 the organiser has made Kis-My-Ft2’s new single the official song (organiser news).

Tenjin: City Hall plaza, Central Park, Kihinkan, Daimyo and Passage

Tenjin has five venues within a fifteen-minute walk of each other, which is why the Tenjin Christmas market feels bigger than Hakata even though no single site is.

TENJIN CHRISTMAS ADVENT at the City Hall west plaza (Tenjin 1-8-1) is the market proper: stalls, a stage, and an entrance under a light arch modelled on the German Schwibbogen candle arch. It runs 14 November to 26 December, a day longer than Hakata, but note the two closed days on 28 and 29 November. Weekdays open at 17:00, an hour after Hakata. It is 3 to 4 minutes on foot from Tenjin Station on the subway and from Nishitetsu Fukuoka (Tenjin) Station (organiser page).

Hikari no Forest in Tenjin Central Park, across the road, is the photo venue: lit trees, a giant heart, a Santa train and nutcracker figures, with a shop area for food and the park’s own mug. It opens 12 November and closes at 22:00. New for 2026 is a Christmas circus, “REVERIE”, staged in the park from 17 November to 19 December (press release).

FESTA de SANTA fills the plaza in front of the Kihinkan, the Meiji-era former prefectural guest hall at the Nakasu end of the park, with more than a hundred Santa figures of every size, live music and its own mug. 11 November to 25 December, closing 22:00 (organiser page).

Christmas Gate Park at Fukuoka Daimyo Garden City (Daimyo 2-6-50) is the newest market, four minutes from Akasaka Station or eight from Tenjin. 13 November to 25 December, 17:00 to 22:00 on weekdays. Its 2026 mug is the yellow one (organiser page).

Christmas Market in Passage, in the Elgala Passage plaza beside Daimaru (Tenjin 1-4-1), is the small, early one: 13 November to 25 December, open from 16:00 on weekdays but closed at 21:00, one minute from Tenjin-Minami Station on the Nanakuma Line (organiser page). Go here first if you start in Tenjin after work.

The light trail: Nakasu, Watanabe-dori and ICE WORLD at Fukuoka Tower

Three venues have no stalls, or only a few, and exist to be walked through.

• Nakasu Hikari no Advent lights the Fukuoka Deai Bridge, the footbridge between Nakasu and Central Park, from 2 November to 12 January 2027, 17:00 to 1:00. It opens first and closes last among the central venues, and it’s the natural link between the Kihinkan and the Nakasu yatai stalls.
• The Watanabe-dori illumination runs down the avenue south of Tenjin from 12 November to 31 January 2027, 17:00 to midnight. If you’re in Fukuoka in late January, this is what’s left.
• Christmas Market ICE WORLD in Momochihama sits on the green promenade in front of Fukuoka Tower, 17:00 to 21:00 on weekdays and 12:00 to 21:00 on weekends from 20 November. It’s a bus ride from Tenjin rather than a walk, so pair it with the tower’s own night view instead of squeezing it into the city-centre route.

The weekend-only market at AEON Mall Kashiihama (14 November to 20 December, 12:00 to 19:00) and the airport photo spot (dates still being set) round out the eleven (prefecture listing).

Mugs, food and paying

The mug is the souvenir people come for, and it has rules. Every venue has its own design for the year: the City Hall plaza’s 2026 mug is pink, the Kihinkan’s deep green with gold bells, Daimyo’s yellow. The organiser’s FAQ is explicit that the mug is sold only together with a drink, never on its own, so your first hot wine or cocoa comes in the mug and you keep it (Hakata FAQ). The 2026 price hadn’t been published when this guide was checked; an English guide updated in December 2025 put last season’s mug at about ¥1,500 (Fukuoka Now), so budget that plus the drink.

The stalls follow the German template, hot wine first (the Tenjin page leads with it), with sausages, pretzels, raclette and stollen the staples of past seasons; the exact lineup changes each year and isn’t published in advance. Three rules from the organiser’s FAQ:

• No carry-in, no carry-out. Food and drink from outside can’t be brought in, and market food can’t be taken away, a rule set by the public health centre. Eat at the standing tables.
• Pets only in a carrier, cart or cage.
• Paying: credit cards are accepted, and so are QUICPay, au PAY, d-barai, Rakuten Pay, SUGOCA and nimoca. That list has no PayPay and no mention of cash, so carry a card.

Entry is free at every venue, the stage shows are free, and the toilets at Hakata are the station’s and the neighbouring mall’s.

A Christmas-market evening, timed

This is the weekday route I’d give a friend with one evening. It uses the hour gap between Hakata and Tenjin instead of fighting it.

1. 16:00, Hakata. Be at the plaza when the stalls open. The first hour is the quietest the Hakata market ever gets, and you can buy the mug without a queue. The illumination switches on at 17:00; stay for it.
2. 17:30, subway to Nakasu. From Hakata take the Kuko Line one stop to Nakasu-Kawabata Station (¥210), walk through Nakasu to the Deai Bridge for the lights, and cross into Central Park.
3. 18:00, Kihinkan and Central Park. Santa figures, then the Hikari no Forest. Both are lit by now and open until 22:00.
4. 19:00, City Hall plaza. Tenjin Christmas Advent has been open since 17:00 and is filling up; this is the dinner stop.
5. 20:30, Passage. Catch the Passage market before its 21:00 close, then Watanabe-dori’s lights on the way back to the subway, or Daimyo Garden City if you still have legs.

On a weekend everything opens at 12:00, the afternoon is calm, and the crush comes after dark, so reverse the logic: do Tenjin by daylight, and arrive at Hakata for the lights.

Getting there and where to stay

• Hakata Station is the natural base. The market is outside the Hakata exit, the Shinkansen is upstairs, and Fukuoka Airport is two subway stops away (about 5 minutes, ¥260). Tenjin is three stops the other way (about 5 minutes, ¥210).
• Arriving from Korea by ferry: the Busan ferries dock at Hakata Port International Terminal, a short bus or taxi ride from Hakata Station; see our Busan to Kitakyushu and Fukuoka guide. Get data sorted before you land with the Japan eSIM guide.
• Staying near Hakata puts you a lift ride from the flagship market and the first train out. Compare Hakata Station hotels on Booking.com or Agoda; for the Tenjin side, which has more bars after the markets close, search Tenjin on Booking.com.
• Make it a night: Klook’s Fukuoka night tour with a Nakagawa river cruise and yatai dinner starts at Hakata Station and covers the river, the yatai and Fukuoka Tower’s night view in one guided evening, and the Fukuoka Open Top Bus (¥2,000 adult) is the easy way to Momochi and the tower. More on the tours hub.

Also in Kitakyushu: Kokura’s castle market

The same organiser runs KOKURA CHRISTMAS MARKET & CASTLE on the Murasaki River waterside plaza below Kokura Castle, 20 November to 25 December (press release). It’s 16 minutes from Hakata by Shinkansen (how to get there), smaller and calmer than Fukuoka’s eleven, with a castle keep behind the stalls. Our full Kokura guide is coming to the Kitakyushu events hub.

FAQ

When does the Fukuoka Christmas market end? The Hakata and most Tenjin markets end on 25 December; City Hall runs to 26 December. The lights go on longer: Hakata Station to 11 January, Nakasu to 12 January, Watanabe-dori to 31 January 2027.

Which venue is best? Hakata for the stalls and the illumination together; the City Hall plaza for the biggest Tenjin market; Central Park and Kihinkan for photos. If you have one evening, do Hakata at 16:00 and Tenjin after dark.

Is it crowded? Weekend evenings in December are the peak. Weekday opening hour at Hakata (16:00) and weekend afternoons in Tenjin are the calm windows.

Do I need cash? The organiser lists cards and six e-money brands; carry a card and some yen in case a stall differs.

Is there an entrance fee? No. Every venue is free, including the stage shows.

Eleven venues, one mug per venue, and a timetable that rewards reading it first. Start at Hakata at 16:00, cross the Deai Bridge at dusk, and let Tenjin have you until last orders.

Booking through this link supports KitaQ.Travel’s research and photography at no extra cost to you.

Every Fukuoka and Kitakyushu tour we’ve covered is on the tours hub, and the Fukuoka foodie and culture day tour fills the daylight hours before the markets open.