Christmas Markets in Raleigh: Festive Pop-Up Shops with Holiday Cheer in 2026

The festive season is upon us, and it can only mean one thing: time to start thinking about Christmas shopping. Instead of your traditional shopping malls and chain-clad boulevards, why not look for unique gifts at one of the holiday markets in Raleigh?

More and more holiday markets are popping up each year as the popularity of them grows. They are not just a place to shop, but a hub of festive cheer, where Southern artisans can share their unique offerings under a blanket of twinkling lights and to the sounds of Christmas carols and laughter.

They also feature craft stations, games, photo ops with Santa, and sometimes even live music and entertainment. They make shopping less of a chore and more of an experience. So, if you’re wondering what Holiday markets in the Triangle you should visit, then here are a handful of options that pop up each year and are known for their Southern holiday magic.

Every Christmas market in and around Raleigh is listed below in date order.

Last updated: October 2026

What Christmas markets are on in Raleigh in 2026?

The season opens with Vintage Market Days at the NC State Fairgrounds from November 13 to 15 and the Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s Tree Lighting and Holiday Market in Moore Square on Friday, November 20. Thanksgiving weekend carries the two biggest: the Christmas Carousel Holiday Gift Market from November 27 to 29 at the Fairgrounds with over 250 exhibitors, then MAKRS Holiday Fest on Fayetteville Street on Saturday, November 28 with more than 200 makers, which is the largest Christmas market in Raleigh by vendor count. December’s best-attended is Moore Square Winterfaire from December 11 to 13, a three-day European-style market that drew around 12,000 people in its first year. Saturday, December 12 is the busiest single day, with the Holiday Market at Raleigh Iron Works, the International Holiday Market in City Plaza and Merry and Bright at Mordecai Historic Park all running. Most of these are free to walk into.

Confirmed 2026 market dates at a glance

Every date below was checked on the organizer’s own site. Everything else in this guide is carrying last year’s date and says so.

• Nov 13 to 15: Vintage Market Days of NC Triangle, NC State Fairgrounds
• Nov 20: Raleigh Tree Lighting and Holiday Market, Moore Square
• Nov 21: Light the Square at Fenton, Cary
• Nov 21: Winter Market at Red Bird, Downtown Raleigh
• Nov 21: Christmas at North Hills Holiday Market, North Hills
• Nov 27 to 29: Christmas Carousel Holiday Gift Market, NC State Fairgrounds
• Nov 28: MAKRS Holiday Fest, Fayetteville Street
• Dec 5: Jolly Raleigh Holiday Market, The Exchange Raleigh
• Dec 5: The Holiday Market at NCMA, North Carolina Museum of Art
• Dec 6: Boylan Heights Art Walk, Boylan Heights
• Dec 6: Holiday Artist Market at Theatre Raleigh, North Raleigh
• Dec 6: Holiday Pop-Up Market, AC Hotel North Hills
• Dec 11 to 13: Moore Square Winterfaire, Moore Square
• Dec 12: The Holiday Market at Raleigh Iron Works, Raleigh
• Dec 12: International Holiday Market, City Plaza
• Dec 12: Merry and Bright, A North Pole Market, Mordecai Historic Park
• Dec 19: Fenton Holiday Maker’s Market, Cary
• Dec 19 and 20: Handcrafted Holiday Market, NC State Fairgrounds

They also feature craft stations, games, photo ops with Santa, and sometimes even live music and entertainment. They make shopping less of a chore and more of an experience. So, if you’re wondering what Holiday markets in the Triangle you should visit, then here are a handful of options that pop up each year and are known for their Southern holiday magic.

Vintage Market Days of NC Triangle, the holiday market

• When: Friday, Nov 13 to Sunday, Nov 15
• Where: Jim Graham Building, NC State Fairgrounds, 4285 Trinity Rd, Raleigh
• Cost: Ticketed, tiered by day. In 2026 single-day tickets ran about $5 for Sunday, $11 for Saturday and $16 for Friday, with VIP early access higher. Check the ticket page for the current prices
• Website: vintagemarketdays.com

Vintage Market Days is the vintage-and-antiques end of the Christmas market spectrum, with repurposed furniture, home decor and jewelry across three days at the Fairgrounds. It’s the only market on this list where you’d want to measure a wall before you go.

Two things changed for 2026. The dates moved a day earlier in the week, and this market has run under a different holiday theme name each year, so search the organizer’s own page rather than last year’s event title. Note it is a separate event from Candy Cane Lane in Downtown Zebulon, which is a free street festival and not a market.

Wake Forest Cares Holiday Kick off

• When: Saturday, Nov 21, from 12pm to 4pm.
• Where: East Jones Street, Downtown Wake Forest
• Cost: Free
• Website: wakeforestnc.gov

The Town describes it this way: free and open to everyone, the Holiday Kick-Off offers a slew of activities including ice sculpting, caroling, winter games like curling, and vendors. There are performances onstage, including a visit from Santa Claus. The Town also launches its annual donation drive on the day, raising funds for Town-sponsored initiatives.

Downtown Wake Forest is small enough that you can do the whole thing in two hours and still get lunch. It runs weeks ahead of the town’s tree lighting, so they’re two separate trips. Note the street moved from White Street to East Jones Street, so check which block before you park.

Holiday Market and Lighting of the Trees at Lafayette Village

• When: Expected mid-November. The 2025 market was Saturday, Nov 15, 2025, from 3pm to 6pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: Lafayette Village, 8450 Honeycutt Rd, North Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: lafayettevillageraleigh.com

A holiday market fills Lafayette Village’s courtyards on the same afternoon the village lights its trees, which makes it the prettiest market setting in Raleigh. The operator has varied year to year, and Lafayette Village had not posted a 2026 market when we updated this guide, so treat this one as unconfirmed. The shops and restaurants stay open late, so you can shop, eat and watch the lighting without moving your car. Get there before 4pm if you want parking.

Rosé Holiday Market at Pinup Studio

• When: Expected mid-November. The 2025 market was Saturday, Nov 15, 2025, from 6pm to 9pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: Pinup Studio, 13600 Falls of Neuse Rd, North Raleigh
• Cost: $10, which included a cocktail and three raffle tickets in 2025
• Website: none found. Pinup Studio has only promoted this through social and Eventbrite listings. Search the studio’s own accounts closer to the date

The Rosé Holiday Market is a ticketed evening market aimed at adults, with a drink in your hand and no strollers to navigate. Pinup Studio is a hair salon, so the vendor list skews toward beauty, jewelry and small-batch gifts. We could not find a 2026 listing or confirm it ran in 2024, so check whether it’s happening at all before you plan around it.

Light the Square at Fenton

• When: Saturday, Nov 21, from 2pm to 8pm
• Where: Fenton, 201 Fenton Gateway Dr, Cary
• Cost: Free to walk in, with paid add-ons
• Website: trianglepopup.com

Light the Square is Fenton’s tree lighting and Triangle Pop-Up runs a maker’s market alongside it, which makes it the only event on this list where you can shop, skate and watch a tree go on in the same visit. Six hours is a long run, so you can arrive late and still catch the lighting.

Our Fenton guide covers where to eat afterward, and the lighting itself is in our Triangle tree lighting guide.

Christmas at North Hills Holiday Market

• When: Saturday, Nov 21, from 4pm to 7pm
• Where: North Hills Commons, 4191 Main at North Hills St, Midtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: visitnorthhills.com

To coincide with the annual lighting of the Christmas Tree, there will be a Holiday market featuring stalls by local vendors. In past years there has also been a spend-and-get promotion on North Hills gift cards. It is not on the Christmas at North Hills page for 2026, so check at the concierge rather than counting on it. We love the Holiday experience in North Hills, markets, live music, buzzing atmosphere, stunning sunsets, and great restaurants and bars if you want a snack and bevvy break!

The North Hills holiday market sets up a vendor village on the Commons for three hours before Santa lights the 41-foot tree, so you shop first and watch the lighting last. North Hills also runs a Holiday Shop and Stroll with extended hours across the whole center that evening. There’s more on the season here in our guide to the holiday season at North Hills.

Raleigh Tree Lighting and Holiday Market

• When: Friday, Nov 20, from 5:30pm to 8pm
• Where: Moore Square, 201 S Blount St, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: downtownraleigh.org

The Downtown Raleigh Alliance pairs the city’s tree lighting with a holiday vendor market in Moore Square, so there are vendors, food and local performers across two and a half hours. The Alliance expects more than 4,000 people through the market side of it.

The event moved to Moore Square from outside the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, due to the construction of the Omni Hotel. Full details on the lighting are in our Triangle tree lighting guide.

Winter Market at Red Bird

• When: Saturday, Nov 21, from 9am to 3pm
• Where: Red Bird, 612 S Salisbury St, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: redbirdraleigh.com

Red Bird’s Winter Market is the earliest start on this list at 9am, which makes it the one to hit if you want to shop before the crowds and still have your Saturday. It’s a smaller, design-led vendor list in a warehouse space near the Warehouse District. Coffee and pastries are on site, so breakfast is handled.

Red Bird sits at the finish line of the Raleigh Christmas Parade, so if the parade falls on the same morning you can watch it come in and then walk straight into the market.

Christmas Carousel Holiday Gift Market

• When: Friday, Nov 27 to Sunday, Nov 29. Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm, Sunday 11am to 5pm
• Where: Jim Graham Building, NC State Fairgrounds, 4285 Trinity Rd, Raleigh
• Cost: $12 adults, $10 seniors and military, $5 children aged 6 to 12, under 6 free
• Website: christmascarousel.com

The Christmas Carousel is the big one, with more than 250 exhibitors under one roof over the long Thanksgiving weekend. It’s the market where you can realistically finish your list in a single visit, and the Jim Graham Building at the NC State Fairgrounds means no weather risk. Buy tickets ahead and go Friday morning if you can, because Saturday afternoon is shoulder to shoulder.

MAKRS Holiday Fest

• When: Saturday, Nov 28, from 11am to 6pm
• Where: Fayetteville Street, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: makrs.com

MAKRS Holiday Fest closes Fayetteville Street for the biggest holiday market in Raleigh by vendor count, with more than 200 local makers across seven hours on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. The MAKRS Society runs it, and it is a different event from their Moore Square Winterfaire in December, not a replacement for it.

Downtown is quiet that weekend and parking is easy, which makes this the least stressful of the big markets. Fayetteville Street restaurants are right there when you need to sit down.

Small Business Saturday Market and Tree Sale at Hartwell

• When: Expected Small Business Saturday. The 2025 market was Saturday, Nov 29, 2025, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: Hartwell, 620 W South St, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: downtownraleigh.org

Hartwell pairs a Small Business Saturday market with a Christmas tree sale, which is a sensible combination if you were going to do both errands anyway. It lands on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, when downtown is quiet and parking is easy. Hartwell is on West South Street in the Warehouse District, not on Hargett Street. Confirm the date before you go, because the Downtown Raleigh Alliance holiday pages have been slow to refresh.

Handcrafted DURM Holiday Market

• When: Nov 28, 2026, from 2pm to 6pm
• Where: Durty Bull Brewing Company, 206 Broadway St, Durham
• Cost: Free
• Website: Facebook.

The Handcrafted DURM Holiday Market is a brewery market, which means the vendor list is sharp and the atmosphere is more afternoon-out than errand. Durty Bull’s taproom is the venue, so this is an adults-first option. It’s a 25-minute drive from Raleigh and usually worth it.

Jolly Raleigh Holiday Market

• When: Saturday, Dec 5, from 11am to 5pm
• Where: The Exchange Raleigh, 1000 Social St, Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: shoplocalraleigh.org

Shop Local Raleigh’s Jolly Raleigh Market has moved to The Exchange Raleigh off Six Forks Road, with handcrafted vendors, artisanal food, kids activities and local beer. Six hours is a long run for a market this size, so it never feels packed.

If you went when it was at Raleigh Iron Works, note the venue has changed. Triangle Pop-Up still runs a separate holiday market at Raleigh Iron Works on Dec 12, which is listed below.

The Holiday Market at NCMA

• When: Saturday, Dec 5, from 11am to 4pm
• Where: North Carolina Museum of Art plaza, 2110 Blue Ridge Rd, Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: trianglepopup.com

The Market at NCMA runs on the first Saturday of every month, and the December edition is the holiday one, with a rotating list of regional artists on the plaza and live music. The museum’s galleries and the Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park are free too, so you can turn a 40-minute shop into a half day. More on the museum in our NCMA guide.

Christmas Kickoff and Holiday Market, Smithfield

• When: Expected early December. No 2026 date was posted when we updated this guide
• Where: 350 East Market Street, Downtown Smithfield
• Cost: Free
• Website: smithfield-nc.com

Smithfield’s Christmas Kickoff is a five-hour holiday market that ends with the town tree lighting, so it’s two events for one trip. The town does not publish the tree-lighting time, so arrive in the last hour if that’s what you came for. Downtown Smithfield then keeps going for weeks with carriage rides, Santa’s Hut and outdoor movie nights. There’s more in our Johnston County Christmas trip guide.

Christmas Holiday Shoppe Craft Show

• When: Expected the first Saturday in December. The 2025 show was Saturday, Dec 6, 2025, from 9am to 3pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 940 Carmichael St, Chapel Hill
• Cost: Free
• Website: stmchapelhill.org

The Christmas Holiday Shoppe is a traditional church craft show, which means handmade quilts, baked goods, ornaments and prices that haven’t caught up with the rest of the market scene. It’s the opposite of a curated maker market and that’s the appeal. Bring cash.

Boylan Heights Art Walk

• When: Sunday, Dec 6, from 12pm to 5pm
• Where: Boylan Heights neighborhood, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: boylanheightsartwalk.com

While not a specific Christmas market in Raleigh, the Boylan Heights Art Walk is a fantastic opportunity to buy thoughtful, locally made gifts, which is embraced by hundreds of Raleigh locals. It’s one of my favorite things to do during Christmas time in Raleigh.  It’s where I found my favorite local artist, Amy Friend, and her red thread drawings

The Boylan Heights Art Walk is a Raleigh institution, with residents opening their porches and front rooms as galleries for local artists across one afternoon. It’s less a Christmas market than a neighborhood art fair that happens in December, but it’s the best place in the city to buy a real piece of art as a gift. Park outside the neighborhood and walk in.

Holiday Artist Market at Theatre Raleigh

• When: Sunday, Dec 6, from 10am to 2pm
• Where: Theatre Raleigh, 6628 Old Wake Forest Rd, Raleigh, and The Green Room, 3043 Barrow Dr, Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: theatreraleigh.com

Theatre Raleigh turns its lobby and studio into an artist market for a morning, with a vendor list drawn from the theater’s own community. It runs across two nearby buildings now, Theatre Raleigh and The Green Room, so check which one your vendor is in. It’s small, indoors, and done by lunchtime.

Holiday Pop-Up Market at AC Hotel North Hills

• When: Sunday, Dec 6, from 11am to 4pm
• Where: Level 7 Rooftop Lounge, AC Hotel Raleigh North Hills
• Cost: Free. No admission or early bird ticket is listed for 2026
• Website: popupraleigh.com

Pop Up Raleigh’s holiday market has moved. For years it filled a ballroom at the Sheraton Imperial in Research Triangle Park. For 2026 it is on the rooftop lounge at the AC Hotel in North Hills, which means a much smaller vendor list and a much better view.

If you went to the RTP version and are expecting a hundred-plus vendors and free parking, adjust. This is a five-hour rooftop market in Midtown, not a convention-hotel one.

Handmade Hanukkah Market

• When: Expected early December. The 2025 market was Sunday, Dec 7, 2025, from 11am to 3pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: Temple Beth Or, 5315 Creedmoor Rd, Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: tboraleigh.org

Hanukkah is the eight-night Jewish Festival of Lights, marked by lighting one more candle on the menorah each night. It follows the Hebrew calendar, so it lands on different dates each year on the Gregorian one. In 2026 it runs from the evening of Friday, December 4 through Saturday, December 12, which is more than a week earlier than 2025.

The Handmade Hanukkah Market at Temple Beth Or is the only market in the region built around Hanukkah gifts, with menorahs, Judaica and work from local Jewish artists. It’s a four-hour Sunday market and the community runs food alongside it. Temple Beth Or’s page says the market is December 7 but gives no year, and Dec 7 is a Monday in 2026, so that is last year’s listing. Hanukkah 2026 runs December 4 to 12, which means a market on the first or second Sunday of December would fall inside the festival. Ask the temple rather than waiting for the page to change.

Jingle Paws Market

• When: Expected early December. The 2025 market was Sunday, Dec 7, 2025, from 12pm to 4pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: Fred Fletcher Park, 820 Clay St, Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: oakandbullcollective.com

Jingle Paws is a dog-friendly market run by the Oak and Bull Collective, with pet vendors alongside the usual makers and plenty of dogs in sweaters. Fred Fletcher Park is a good venue for it because there’s room to let dogs off the path. Bring a leash and low expectations about how much shopping you’ll actually do.

Holiday Market at The Durham

• When: Expected the second week of December. No 2026 date was posted when we updated this guide
• Where: The Durham Hotel lobby and mezzanine, 315 E Chapel Hill St, Durham
• Cost: Ticketed, with Early Arrival tickets for 6pm to 7:30pm and Late Arrival from 7:30pm. No price was shown when we checked
• Website: thedurham.com

The Durham Hotel runs a ticketed evening market with Vert & Vogue in its lobby and mezzanine, which is about as good as a December night out gets. The vendor list is tight and design-led rather than comprehensive. Book ahead, because the two arrival windows sell separately.

St. Nicholas European Christmas Market

• When: Expected mid-December. The 18th annual ran Friday, Dec 12, 2025 from 5pm to 9pm and Saturday, Dec 13, 2025 from 10am to 5pm, and the church hadn’t posted a 2026 date when we updated this guide
• Where: NC State Fairgrounds, 4285 Trinity Rd, Raleigh.
• Cost: Free, with donations appreciated
• Website: sscyrilmethodius.org

The St. Nicholas European Christmas Market is run by Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church, and it’s the most authentically European market in the region, with Central and Eastern European food, baked goods and imported gifts. Go hungry.

This one is worth a phone call. The parish moved the market off its own grounds to the Fairgrounds, and its website has been slow to update, so neither the date nor the building is settled for 2026.

Moore Square Winterfaire

• When: Friday, Dec 11 to Sunday, Dec 13. Friday 5pm to 9pm, Saturday 11am to 9pm, Sunday 10am to 5pm
• Where: Moore Square, 201 S Blount St, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: makrs.com

Moore Square Winterfaire is the biggest European-style holiday market in Raleigh, three days run by the MAKRS Society with 70-plus local vendors, food, decorations and activities. I attended last year with my mother-in-law and we really enjoyed browsing the stalls ad the festive vibes. It would be quite special in the evening hours. The first edition in 2025 drew around 12,000 people over the weekend, which makes it the best-attended market in this guide even though MAKRS Holiday Fest in November has more stalls. The two are separate events, both run by MAKRS.

The Holiday Market at Raleigh Iron Works

• When: Saturday, Dec 12, from 11am to 4pm
• Where: Raleigh Iron Works, 1101 E Whitaker Mill Rd, Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: trianglepopup.com

Triangle Pop-Up runs a market at Raleigh Iron Works on the second Saturday of most months, and December’s is the holiday edition. The Iron Works has parking, breweries and places to eat on site, which makes it one of the easier markets to do with family.

It falls on the same day as the International Holiday Market and Merry and Bright, and all three are a short drive apart, so this is the day to do a market crawl. We attended the Jolly Holiday market here last year (now moved to the Exchange) We really liked Raleigh Iron Works for this festive experience, wandering the stalls, and being able to pop into wine bars and breweries along the way.

International Holiday Market

• When: Saturday, Dec 12, from 10am to 6pm
• Where: City Plaza, 400 Fayetteville St, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free, RSVP requested
• Website: ncvibes.com/event/international-holiday-market-free-adm/

NC Vibes runs the International Holiday Market in City Plaza with gifts and food from around the world, plus hot chocolate, wine and beer, kids’ crafts and a letters-to-Santa station. Eight hours in the middle of Fayetteville Street makes it the easiest market to drop into if you’re already downtown. RSVP is requested rather than required.

Merry and Bright, A North Pole Market

• When: Saturday, Dec 12, from 10am to 2pm
• Where: Mordecai Historic Park, 1 Mimosa St, Raleigh
• Cost: Free, pre-registration requested
• Website: eventbrite.com

Merry and Bright is a children’s market, which means the kids do the shopping and the stalls are priced and staffed for them. Paper and Stars Studio runs it out of Mordecai Historic Park, and it’s one of the smartest holiday ideas in the region. Pre-register, because it fills.

Holidays on Hammell

• When: Expected mid-December. No 2026 date was posted when we updated this guide
• Where: The Weld, 1001 Hammell Dr, Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: shoplocalraleigh.org

Holidays on Hammell takes over The Weld, a converted industrial space off Capital Boulevard, for a four-hour market run by Shop Local Raleigh. The vendor list leans toward makers who don’t do many markets, so you’ll see things you haven’t seen at the bigger ones. Easy parking, which is rare in December.

Artspace Holiday Mini Mall

• When: Expected mid-December. The 2025 mini mall was Sunday, Dec 14, 2025, from 11am to 4pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: Artspace, 201 E Davie St, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: artspacenc.org

Artspace opens its studios and fills the galleries with work from its resident artists for the Holiday Mini Mall, which is the best place in Raleigh to buy original art at a gift price. You’re buying from the person who made it, in the room where they made it. It’s in the Warehouse District on Davie Street, five minutes from Moore Square.

The Acorn Holiday Market

• When: Expected mid to late December. The 2025 market was Tuesday, Dec 16, 2025, from 5pm to 8pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: The Acorn on Person Street, 422 S Person St, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: none found. Watch The Acorn on Person Street’s social accounts, because the link on this listing previously pointed to the wrong event

The Acorn Holiday Market is a weeknight evening market in an apartment building’s amenity space, which sounds unpromising and works better than it should. It’s three hours, it’s walkable from Person Street’s restaurants, and it’s the last-minute-gift option. Small vendor list, so treat it as a stop rather than a destination.

Black Farmers’ Market Holiday Pop-Up

• When: Expected mid to late December. The 2025 pop-up was Wednesday, Dec 17, 2025, from 6pm to 8:30pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: The Durham Hotel, 315 E Chapel Hill St, Durham
• Cost: Free
• Website: thedurham.com

The Black Farmers’ Market runs a holiday pop-up at The Durham with produce, prepared food and gifts from Black farmers and makers across the Triangle. It’s an evening event and the food side is the strongest part of it. Worth planning dinner around.

Fenton Holiday Maker’s Market

• When: Saturday, Dec 19, from 11am to 4pm
• Where: Fenton, 201 Fenton Gateway Dr, Cary
• Cost: Free
• Website: trianglepopup.com

The Fenton Holiday Maker’s Market is Triangle Pop-Up’s only holiday date at Fenton, and it is the one to use if you left things late. The ice rink is running and the square is fully decorated. The Saturday before Christmas is busy at Fenton, so park in the deck rather than circling.

It runs the same day as Triangle Pop-Up’s Handcrafted Holiday Market at the Fairgrounds, which is a different event at a different venue. If you are planning around one, check the address.

Handcrafted Holiday Market at the Fairgrounds

• When: Saturday, Dec 19, from 10am to 5pm and Sunday, Dec 20, from 10am to 3pm
• Where: 1025 Blue Ridge Rd, NC State Fairgrounds, Raleigh
• Cost: Ticketed. It was $5 for adults with children 16 and under free in 2025. We could not confirm the 2026 price
• Website: trianglepopup.com

The Handcrafted Holiday Market is Triangle Pop-Up’s indoor Fairgrounds market across the final weekend before Christmas, and it is the biggest thing they run all year. The Sunday is shorter and quieter than the Saturday.

It is a different event from the Fenton Holiday Maker’s Market on the same Saturday, even though the same organizer runs both. Check the address, not the name.

Holiday Market at The Mayton

• When: Expected the weekend before Christmas. The 2025 market was Sunday, Dec 21, 2025, from 3pm to 6pm, and the 2026 date hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: The Mayton, 301 S Academy St, Cary
• Cost: Free
• Website: themayton.com

Peck and Plume runs a short holiday market in The Mayton’s lobby and bar on the last Sunday before Christmas, which is exactly when you need one. It’s three hours, it’s indoors, and the hotel bar is right there.

Why not pop into the Downtown Cary Park after or explore the holiday lights in Downtown Cary? It made our magical Christmas towns in North Carolina list! It’s also included in our holiday lights in the Triangle guide.

Illuminate Art Walk

• When: Expected early December through early January. The 2025 edition ran Dec 5, 2025 to Jan 6, 2026, and the 2026 dates hadn’t been posted when we updated this guide
• Where: Fayetteville Street, Downtown Raleigh
• Cost: Free
• Website: downtownraleigh.org

The Illuminate Art Walk lines Fayetteville Street with lit art installations for a month, so it’s a free evening walk rather than a market. Pair it with the International Holiday Market or Moore Square Winterfaire, both of which are a few minutes away. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance holiday pages run behind, so confirm the dates.

More Christmas Guides in Raleigh

We have many more ideas for your holiday season in Raleigh.

• Best Things to do in Raleigh for the Holiday season
• Amazing North Carolina Holiday Experiences not to miss
• Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour
• Where to see Santa in the Triangle
• Where to Eat on Thanksgiving in Raleigh: Restaurants, Take out & Pies
• See these Christmas Light Displays in the Triangle
• Tree Lighting Ceremonies in The Triangle: Where to Kick Off the Holiday Season!
• Where to get your Christmas Trees in Raleigh: Choose & Cut Farms + Pop-up Shops
• Don’t miss the festive spirit at the ice skating rink in downtown Raleigh

Common questions about Christmas markets in Raleigh

We have a holiday bucket list with many more ideas for ways to enjoy the festive season in Raleigh. It’s available to all members of our email community. It’s free and I regularly share free checklists, guides, insider tips, personal stories, fun finds and the best events in Raleigh you don’t want to miss. Join below 👇