At Swords Castle · Swords Castle, Swords, Co. Dublin
Only the published dates are confirmed for this programme.
Swords Castle gets dressed up for Christmas across two weekends at the end of November and start of December, with festive stalls set against the medieval walls of one of the largest surviving Anglo-Norman castles in Ireland. Fingal County Council’s Events Unit runs it as the county’s answer to the bigger city-centre Christmas markets, on a smaller scale and with a distinctly different backdrop. It suits anyone looking for Christmas shopping with a bit more atmosphere than a shopping centre, without the crowds of Dublin city centre’s markets.
The fair spans two weekends rather than running solid through the fortnight, opening on the Friday afternoon of the first weekend before switching to daytime hours for the two Saturday and Sunday stretches either side of it. Stalls cover the usual Christmas market mix of gifts, crafts, decorations and food, set up within the castle grounds themselves rather than just outside them, which gives the fair a different backdrop to a standard town-centre market. Fingal County Council opens trader applications in October 2026, so the exact final stall line-up is not confirmed yet, but the venue, dates and daily opening hours are all set.
Swords Castle itself, one of the largest surviving Anglo-Norman castles in Ireland, is normally open for visitors to explore on market days, so the fair is as much a chance to see inside the grounds as it is a shopping trip. It is a smaller, more contained event than the big Dublin city-centre Christmas markets, which tends to suit families with young children better than a crowded city-centre stall run.
Swords Castle is in Swords town centre, close to the Swords Central bus corridor served by frequent Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead routes from the city centre and from Dublin Airport a few kilometres away. There is parking in the town centre a short walk from the castle grounds.
Heading to Swords Castle in Swords? Dublin has plenty more to see. Read the Swords area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
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