The rink's own site now confirms Christmas in Cambridge returns to Parker's Piece in November 2026. Exact dates unannounced; 400,000 came last season.

The Christmas market and outdoor ice rink are coming back to Parker’s Piece. The dates are not out.

Updated Wednesday 16 September 2026. The main site still says “Dates for 2026 will be released soon”, but the rink’s own site has now committed to a month, and Cambridge City Council has published what last season actually drew.

What is confirmed for the 2026 season

  • November 2026. The ice rink’s own site, skatecambridge.co.uk, now reads: “SKATE CAMBRIDGE has ended for 2025-26. See you next year! Returning November 2026.” It gives the location as Parker’s Piece, CB1 1NA. That is the first first-party commitment to a month for this year, and it is not on the main Christmas in Cambridge site.
  • It is coming back to Parker’s Piece. Cambridge City Council’s own January statement ends by saying the attraction “has departed Parker’s Piece until next Christmas”, so the council is planning on its return too.
  • Booking is already plumbed in. As of 16 September the Christmas in Cambridge homepage carries live “Book skating” and curling booking links into its FareHarbor system, and it is taking retail and catering trader applications. Both usually run ahead of the public date announcement.
  • Still not confirmed: the opening and closing dates, this year’s prices, and the opening hours. Anything you see quoted for those today is last season’s, or older. See below.

How big it got last season, on the council’s figures

Cambridge City Council published the numbers on 28 January 2026, and they are the operator’s own reporting to the council rather than a press estimate:

  • About 400,000 visits to the attraction as a whole, up around 25% on the previous year.
  • About 55,000 people skated on the ice rink.
  • The build was dismantled and removed by 14 January, as required by the operator’s agreement with the council.
  • The council does the grass restoration, at the operator’s cost: chain harrowing first, then aeration and reseeding once the ground dries, with the aim of returning that part of Parker’s Piece to public use in the spring.

Cllr Martin Smart, the council’s Cabinet Member for Nature, Open Space and City Services, said it was “a real privilege” for the council to be able to provide “large-scale free-to-enter attractions like this”, and that the visitor numbers “will have provided a seasonal boost to other shops, restaurants and visitor attractions in the city centre”.

One naming point worth knowing if you are chasing this down: the council names the operator as Seventa Ltd, while the build itself is marketed by Alpine Christmas Markets, which describes itself as Seventa’s sister company. Same event, two names.

Where the “no dates” position comes from

That is the state of play on the organiser’s own site: christmasincambridge.co.uk says “Christmas in Cambridge returns to Parker’s Piece” and then, two sentences later, “Dates for 2026 will be released soon.”

Who runs it and what is on the site

The event is built and run by Alpine Christmas Markets, a commercial operator that describes itself as the sister company to Seventa Events UK and lists Christmas in Cambridge among its own builds, alongside Christmas in Bournemouth. The contact address for the Cambridge site is cambridge@alpinechristmasmarkets.co.uk.

The attractions listed for 2026 are the ones the site has carried before: an open air ice rink, the Christmas Market chalets in the Alpine Village, the Alpine Lodge bar, the Après Terrace with curling lanes and shuffleboard, the Christmas Tree Maze, the Christmas Tipi, the Big Wheel, Santa visits, and rides and games.

Two useful things the operator does confirm year to year:

  • Getting in is free. The FAQ states “The site is free of charge, and no entry ticket is required.” You pay for the rink, the curling, the big wheel, the maze and the Santa visits, and it advises booking those in advance.
  • It is close to cashless. Bars and attractions take Maestro, Mastercard, Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Vpay and Apple Pay. Market traders set their own payment methods, so some may differ.

There are male, female and accessible toilets on site. Dogs are discouraged because of the crowds but are allowed in outdoor areas, and assistance dogs are welcome throughout. Challenge 25 operates on every bar.

Careful with the prices you can see on the site

The ice skating and FAQ pages currently show a full set of prices and opening hours. They are not this year’s, and re-reading them on 16 September shows something worse than stale: the page is carrying leftovers from two different seasons at once.

  • The schools offer advertises a discount running “up until 12th December 2024”, and toddler time “up until 13th December 2024”. Two Christmases ago.
  • The student nights offer names “the first three Tuesday’s of the season (18th November, 25th November and the 2nd December)”. Those three dates were Tuesdays in 2025, not 2024 and not 2026. In 2026, 18 and 25 November and 2 December are all Wednesdays.

So a single page is quoting a 2024 deadline next to a 2025 offer calendar. Nothing on it can be read as a 2026 date.

Treat the following as a guide to what it cost, not as this year’s price list:

Ice skating, as displayed Price
Child, under 12 £13.50
Concession, 13 to 17 and seniors £15.00
Adult, 18 and over £16.00
Family, 2 adults + 2 under-18s or 1 adult + 3 under-18s £50.50

Sessions run for an hour on the ice. Socks are £1 and gloves £3 at the rink. Sled skate aids for younger or less confident skaters come only with a child or family ticket and should be pre-booked. Groups of ten or more booking online got 10% off automatically, with family tickets excluded.

The opening hours block on the FAQ page describes a season running 13 November to 31 December, with the rink and village open seven days a week, longer hours from 20 December, and closed all day on Christmas Day. It also listed two part-day closures. All of that is last season’s pattern. None of it is confirmed for 2026.

When to expect the announcement

The season the site describes opened on 13 November, a Thursday, in the same week as that year’s city centre Christmas lights switch-on. This year’s Big Switch On is Sunday 15 November, which is the weekend the city centre turns festive, so a mid-November opening is the sensible planning assumption until the operator says otherwise.

The operator asks people to sign up on its site for early booking access, and it is already taking retail and catering trader applications for the market, which is usually the first sign that a build is going ahead.

Cam News will update this page with the confirmed dates, opening hours and prices as soon as they are published.

Parking, and why Parker’s Piece is the easy one

Of all the big Cambridge events, this is the one with a car park attached to it. Queen Anne Terrace, Gonville Place, CB1 1ND, is on the edge of Parker’s Piece, and it is the council’s cheapest multi-storey for a long stay at £24 for over six hours. It is also the only multi-storey where evening and overnight parking is free, which matters at a site whose published hours last season ran to 10pm and 11pm. Grand Arcade is closer to the shops and £9.50 dearer for the same day. Blue Badge holders get three hours free in any of the five multi-storeys. Full rates on our parking in Cambridge page.

Park and ride remains the cheapest way in: the parking is free for up to 18 hours and you pay only the bus fare.

For anything dug up on the way in, check our Cambridge roadworks and travel page before you set off.

Sources