Pembrokeshire’s Christmas season opens all at once, in the last two weekends of November, and most of it is free. Four Christmas markets run across the county within eight days, two harbour towns light up on those same two Saturdays, and every one of them is a working community event rather than a commercial fair. This guide sets out the 2026 dates, times and booking rules for each, checked against the organisers’ own pages in late October. Where an admission price or a smaller market’s details could not be confirmed, the article says so and points you at the organiser rather than guessing.
The season is short and front-loaded. Picton Castle opens the run on 21–22 November, the same Saturday Saundersfoot switches on its lights. A week later, on 27–29 November, Pembroke Castle and Narberth’s Queens Hall hold their markets over the same weekend, while St Davids and Tenby run their events on Saturday 28 November. If you can manage only one weekend, the last one in November packs the most in: two markets a short drive apart, plus two switch-ons on the Saturday. Everything below is indoors or under cover enough to survive a wet Welsh weekend, which matters in late November.
Each market has a different character, and choosing between them is easier once you know what you are after. Pembroke Castle is the big one: a broad stall fair under the castle walls, with a grotto and live music, suited to a full morning or afternoon. Narberth’s is an indoor hall market spread over three floors, compact enough to do in an hour, with a free Santa that costs nothing to visit. St Davids is the craft fair in miniature, all handmade and local, and its letter post box gives children a reason to come back three days later. Picton Castle is the only one where you pay to get in, and its draw is the castle dressed for Christmas as much as the stalls. None of the four needs more than a couple of hours, and two of them sit a short drive apart, which is what makes the final weekend of November the one most people pick.
The biggest of the four is the castle’s, held in the Outer Ward of Pembroke Castle from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November 2026. More than 80 stalls sell gifts, toys, local produce, clothing and jewellery, and entry itself is free. The catch is that every visitor must book a free ticket online in advance — the organisers say walk-ups are not guaranteed. Hours run Friday 10am to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm. Santa arrives at 6:30pm on the Friday, and his grotto runs on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30am to 3:30pm at £3 per child, with the money going to charity. School carol singers and musicians perform in a marquee through the weekend. Dogs are allowed on a short lead but not inside the marquee. The market has run since 2012 and is supported by Valero and Pembroke Town Council.
Narberth’s market shares the same weekend, Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November, inside the Queens Hall on High Street. Entry is free, and the stalls spread over three floors — a new lift now serves the upper floors, which makes the whole market reachable with a pushchair or a wheelchair. There is a free drop-in Santa with no booking needed, and a licensed bar selling mulled wine and mince pies. Dogs are welcome. Hours are Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday 10am to 4pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm. Parking is at the Townsmoor Council Car Park in the town, a pay-and-display site.
St Davids runs a smaller, craft-focused market on Saturday 28 November, from 10am to 3pm at Oriel y Parc, the gallery and visitor centre on the edge of the city. Entry and parking are both free. Local makers sell handmade gifts, live music plays through the day and there are seasonal treats. The detail families tend to remember is the bilingual Santa letter post box: children post a letter and come back three days later to collect Santa’s reply, written in Welsh or English. For the city around it, the St Davids guide covers the cathedral and the peninsula.
Picton Castle Gardens runs its own market on the earlier weekend, Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November. The castle itself is decorated for Christmas, and stalls sell handmade crafts and food from local vendors. This is the one event where admission is not free, and the organisers had not published the price when this was written — check the Picton Castle website before you go rather than turning up expecting a fixed figure.
Tenby combines its lights switch-on with a charity Santa Run on Saturday 28 November. Santa arrives in Tudor Square by RNLI all-weather lifeboat and is escorted through town by the fire crew — a properly local arrival rather than a sleigh ride. The Tenby Round Table Santa Run follows from 11am to 12:30pm: a charity 3k with a Santa suit and medal included, and shorter routes for children. Registration runs at St Mary’s Church Hall from 10am to 10:45am, so anyone running needs to be in town well before the start. For the season around it, the winter guide covers Tenby’s Christmas market and the rest of the county’s winter offer.
Saundersfoot goes a week earlier, on Saturday 21 November, with the lights going on at 5pm. The evening includes Santa’s sleigh, a lantern parade, festive singing and a Children’s Elf Fun Run. Puffin Cottage Holidays funded 75 Christmas trees for local businesses this year, which is why the village’s display stretches well beyond the harbour. The Saundersfoot guide covers the village and harbour behind the lights.
Beyond the four headline markets, several smaller community events appear in local listings, but their details had not been confirmed against an organiser’s page when this was written. Lamphey’s market at the Village Hall is reported for Saturday 21 November, and Harbwr in Tenby and the Saundersfoot Harbour market are both reported for the weekend of 5–6 December, the latter at the Marine Centre. Treat those dates as leads rather than plans, and check the organiser before you travel. Makers’ markets at Great Wedlock Farm & Deer Park and the Scolton Manor, Withybush and Haverfordwest events had no published dates yet.
Parking is straightforward at the two venues that publish it. Narberth directs visitors to the Townsmoor Council Car Park, a pay-and-display site in the town, and Oriel y Parc in St Davids has free on-site parking. Pembroke Castle and Picton Castle both have their own approach routes, and the parking guide explains the county’s systems if you are planning to visit more than one event in a day. November is past the end of the summer shuttle season, so the coastal buses guide is the place to check what is still running before you rely on public transport between towns.
A few practical points close it out. The two big markets, Pembroke and Narberth, fall on the same weekend and sit a short drive apart, so a single Saturday can do both if you start at Pembroke’s 10am opening and finish with Narberth’s 4pm close. Booking is only required at Pembroke Castle; everywhere else in this guide is free to enter or, in Picton’s case, priced but not yet published. Take both card and cash, since stall-holders at community markets vary in what they accept. Late November weather on this coast is wet, windy and dark by late afternoon, so layers and a torch for the walk back to the car are not over-preparation. And because every date here belongs to a small local team, check the organiser’s page the day before; a change of venue or a cancelled stall list is more likely than any of these events being guaranteed in advance.