Short answer: Devon's Christmas season runs from late November lights switch-ons through to New Year's Day swims. The Santa trains on the steam railways are the biggest draw, Exeter has the largest Christmas market, and the coast is at its best on Boxing Day.
2026 dates: confirmed dates are added here as organisers publish them. Always check with the organiser before travelling — times and road closures change late.
It starts in late November with the town lights switch-ons, most of which are small local events with a parade, a stall or two and something for children. December is the markets and the Santa trains. Then Christmas Day and Boxing Day, when most of the county closes and the beaches fill with walkers. New Year's Day is the swims.
Every town does its own, usually on a Friday or Saturday evening in the last week of November or the first of December. They are worth going to if you are staying nearby — they are genuinely local rather than commercial — but they are not worth a long drive.
For a proper display, Exeter and Plymouth are the two cities with the scale to do it well, and the harbour towns look best because the lights carry across the water.
Exeter's Christmas market in the Cathedral Green is the largest in the county and the one people travel for — wooden chalets in front of a Gothic cathedral, which is the setting doing half the work. Plymouth, Barnstaple and Tavistock all run markets in their existing market halls, which means they are weatherproof.
Tavistock's Pannier Market and Barnstaple's are both Victorian covered halls running Tuesday to Saturday year-round, and both put on Christmas events on top.
These sell out. Book in November rather than December, and check each railway's own dates.
Almost everything closes on Christmas Day. Boxing Day is when Devon comes back to life — the beaches are busy with walkers, a good number of pubs open, and several towns hold swims. Woolacombe's three miles of sand on Boxing Day is one of the better experiences this coast offers, and it is free.
New Year's Eve is a town-by-town affair, with the harbour towns doing it best. New Year's Day is the swims — see the separate guide for how those work and where.
If Christmas in Devon appeals precisely because it is not busy, go inland. Dartmoor in low winter light is extraordinary, Chagford and Tavistock both do December well without the crowds, and Exmoor's dark skies need exactly the long nights this time of year provides.
Pick a town and plan the day around who's with you.
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