Røros Christmas Market 2026: Dates, Hours, Trains and Sleigh Rides

Updated 5 November 2026. Dates, hours, program and travel times come from the organizer, Julemarked Røros (Opplev Røros AS); history from UNESCO.

Most Christmas markets set up stalls in a square. In Røros the whole old town is the market. Stalls line the two main streets, the wooden houses are hung with greenery and lights, there are bonfires in the courtyards, and horses pull sleighs through the snow. It’s a small mountain town, which is a big part of the charm, but it also means rooms go fast.

I haven’t been to the Røros market myself yet. This guide is how I’d plan it, built from the organizer’s 2026 pages, checked today. The program keeps growing in the weeks before the market, so I tell you where to check for updates.

Why Røros is special

Røros sits in the mountains of central Norway. Copper was mined here for 333 years, from the 17th century until 1977. After Swedish troops destroyed the town in 1679 it was rebuilt, and UNESCO says it still has about 2,000 wooden one- and two-story houses and a smelting house. Many have kept their dark, weathered timber walls. Røros Mining Town and the Circumference has been on the World Heritage list since 1980.

The Christmas market is held on the second weekend of Advent every year, over four days. The organizer has already set the next dates too: 3 to 6 December 2026 and 2 to 5 December 2027.

Opening hours 2026

The market streets are Bergmannsgata and Kjerkgata, which run side by side up the hill. Kjerkgata is the shopping street. The stage, called Snøscena, is at the bottom of Bergmannsgata, and the Røros Museum and the square in front of it, Malmplassen, are at the top.

What’s on at the market

The opening on Thursday

On Thursday 3 December, children, elves and drummers from the local music school march through the streets at 12:45. The parade ends at Snøscena, where the market officially opens at 13:00 with songs and speeches.

Horse and sleigh rides

This is the thing people remember, and it’s the one you need to sort out first. Rides start and end at Malmplassen by the museum and last an hour or half an hour. They’re pre-booked only, through Røros Kjørelag (roros.kjorelag@roros.net, +47 920 12 647), at least the day before. On the organizer’s program, several Saturday rides were already marked fully booked. The Trondheim travel page says there were still rides on the opening Thursday, Friday morning and Sunday.

Food and warm drinks

Expect gløgg, gingerbread and local food from the region; the organizer puts a lot of weight on produce from the area. Some of the old wooden courtyards open as cafés during the market:

• Thomasgården on Kjerkgata: waffles, homemade cakes, rice porridge and Røroshakk.
• Skjerdingstadgården: a barn café with coffee, waffles and soup.
• Sangerhuset, the green house at the top of Bergmannsgata: a café up the creaky stairs with cocoa, cakes and waffles, including gluten- and lactose-free options.
• Aspås-stallen: kolbullar (a kind of thick pancake) and stories from the old horse haulers’ union, around a fire pan.

Bonfires, elves and theater

In Kurantgården, next to the museum, there’s a bonfire with reindeer skins on the benches, an outdoor cinema, games and stalls with hot drinks from 11:00 to 16:00. Elves and Father Christmas wander the streets in the afternoons, and a musical theater show for families, “Nissen som mista trua på seg selv” (the elf who lost faith in himself), plays in Rasmusgården on several days. It’s ticketed.

Museum, mine and dairy

• Røros Museum (Smelthytta): exhibitions, a café and a Christmas workshop for kids, 10:00 to 15:00. Children under 16 get in free with an adult. There are guided tours of the smelting house and guided town walks too.
• Olavsgruva: an hour-long guided tour through the old Nyberget mine and the newer Olav’s Mine, 50 meters down and 500 meters into the rock. Book ahead.
• Rørosmeieriet, the local dairy: morning tours with tastings, and a free puzzle trail outdoors for kids.

Concerts

Røros Church hosts the big concerts, and most need tickets. The 2026 program includes Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (cantatas 1 to 3) on Thursday 3 December at 18:00, a concert with Violet Road the evening before, and “Bergfolkets julefred”, a Christmas concert by musicians from the Røros area. Check the program for the full list and ticket links, as the Norwegian and English versions don’t match perfectly yet.

Getting to Røros

By train from Trondheim

This is the easy option. The organizer lists a train from Trondheim S at 09:34, arriving in Røros at 12:10, every day of the market. The station is a short walk from the market streets. SJ, which runs the line, is putting on trains with extra capacity on all four days.

That gives you three and a half to four hours at the market, enough for lunch, a sleigh ride and a walk around. AtB also runs several buses a day between Trondheim and Røros. On Saturday 5 December, the company Din Busstur offers a guided day trip from Trondheim, 08:00 to 19:00.

From Oslo

The Røros Line links Røros with Hamar and Oslo to the south and Trondheim to the north, with several departures a day; book on SJ’s site. On Thursday 3 and Saturday 5 December there’s also a nostalgic day trip on the old steel-carriage train (Stålvogntoget) from Hamar, with stops in Elverum and Koppang. There are daily flights from Oslo Gardermoen to Røros, except on Saturdays. The flight takes under an hour and the airport is about five minutes from the market.

By car

From Trondheim it’s a bit over two hours on the E6 and RV30. From Oslo, plan about five hours via Elverum. Mountain roads are plowed, but it’s still winter driving. Extra parking is set up at Øra Stadion and Røros Tweed, and you pay with the EasyPark app. Disabled parking is along Hans Aasens gate by the Domus center.

Where to stay

Demand for rooms during the market is high, and the organizer says so plainly. If the town is full, its travel page lists places to stay up to an hour or so away. When I checked, it included Vauldalen Fjellhotell (about 40 minutes east), Nordpå Fjellhotell in Haltdalen (a bit over an hour north) and apartments in Tänndalen across the border in Sweden. Some of those offer transport to the market. There’s also an extra camp for motorhomes and caravans, ten minutes’ walk from the center by the Verket Røros sports hall.

How I’d plan it

• Day trip: the 09:34 train from Trondheim on Thursday, the opening parade and ceremony at 12:45 and 13:00, a pre-booked sleigh ride, then the 15:44 train back.
• Overnight: arrive Friday, stay for the blue hour in the late afternoon, catch a concert in the church, and spend Saturday at the museum or Olavsgruva before the crowds peak.
• With kids: Sunday has the kids’ games around the Christmas tree in Kurantgården, the elf theater and the dairy puzzle trail, and the market closes earlier at 16:00.

For photos, the organizer recommends Sleggveien, one of the most photographed streets in Røros, during the blue hour at dusk.

Trondheim’s own market on Torvet opens the same week, so you can do both. Dates and hours for that one, and for Oslo and Bergen, are in my guide to Christmas in Norway 2026. If you’re heading on to Bergen, see Norway in a Nutshell, DIY for the train over the mountains, and the Bergen Gingerbread Town.

If you love old wooden towns at Christmas, Germany has its own version. Here near the Austrian border we’re close to several historic markets, and I cover the best of them in my guide to medieval Christmas markets in Germany.

Read next

• Christmas in Norway 2026: markets, dates and hours
• Where to go in Norway
• Bergen Gingerbread Town 2026
• Sledding in Oslo on Korketrekkeren

Ha det (bye for now),
Brian

Sources (checked 5 November 2026)

• Dates, hours, 2027 dates, parking, museum and mine background: julemarkedroros.no (Om Julemarked Røros) and The Christmas Market (English)
• Program, sleigh ride booking, shop hours, concerts: julemarkedroros.no/program (updated 5 November 2026)
• Trains and buses from Trondheim: Fra Trondheim til Julemarked Røros
• Trains from Oslo, flights, driving, places to stay, motorhome camp: julemarkedroros.no/reise-og-bo (updated 2 November 2026)
• Steel-carriage train from Hamar: Dagstur fra Hamar med Stålvogntoget
• History and World Heritage listing: UNESCO, Røros Mining Town and the Circumference

Photo: Kjerkgata in Røros in winter by Henrik Dvergsdal, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), cropped.