Step into Constitution Square on the morning of 26 December
It is the day after the feast, and Constitution Square has not gone quiet. In front of the Palace of Parliament stands a Christmas tree thirty metres tall, carrying roughly 70,000 lights, 6,000 baubles, 240 stars and 800 metres of golden tinsel, and a new canopy of lights runs out across the square beneath it. Around you, more than 120 wooden chalets are open and trading: handmade crafts and ornaments on one side, traditional food, mulled wine and hot chocolate on the other, with a Food Truck Festival area alongside. The market keeps weekday hours on 26 December, so plan to arrive from 12:00, and stay until the lights at 22:00. This is the country's biggest Christmas market, run by the Capital City Hall, and the second day of Christmas is one of the better days to see it without the Christmas Eve crush.
Ride the Ferris wheel and let the children write to Santa
The market is built to be used, not just walked through. Pick your way through it on foot and stop where the crowds gather.
- Ride the 36-metre Ferris wheel for the view over the chalets and the Palace of Parliament, then take the Christmas train.
- Take younger children to Santa's House, a hand-painted construction of over 100 square metres open daily, where elves help children write their letters. Santa himself is present daily from 13 to 24 December, so on the 26th the house is the draw rather than the man; the free instant photo with Santa belongs to those earlier dates.
- Look for the Christmas Pyramid, ten metres high and seven metres wide and built in the German market style, the first of its kind in Romania.
- Work through the children's rides: the Venetian Carousel, Santa's Express mini roller-coaster, the Flying Sleigh, the Snow Globe Box and the interactive elves.
- Head to the Lantern Stage, the area for younger visitors with DJs, and catch the theatre shows and street artists working the square.
- Spend time at the crafts fair, where artisans designated "Living Human Treasures" give live demonstrations.
Story Time with the Elves, and the evening on the square
For the second day of Christmas specifically, the reliable fixture is Story Time with the Elves, which runs 25–28 December from 12:00 to 20:00. Mascots and stilt-walking entertainers have been listed for 18:00–20:00 across 20–25 December; if they appear on the 26th, treat it as a bonus rather than a fixed appointment. The main stage programme for 26 December is published closer to the season, so check the day's schedule when you arrive rather than planning around a headline act. After dark, watch the Palace of Parliament: festive projections are mapped onto its facade, a first for the market.
Mulled wine, grilled food and the city's other markets
Eat your way along the chalets: traditional Romanian food, mulled wine and hot chocolate are the staples, and the Food Truck Festival area gives you a second run at a hot meal. The market is the best single place in the city for locally made gifts. If you want a quieter version of the same ritual, Bucharest runs a network of smaller and themed markets near the Opera, in Drumul Taberei, at Băneasa, at Romexpo and in Parcul Lumea Copiilor. The wider season runs from the last week of November to just after Christmas, with some markets north and east of the city staying open to New Year's Eve or early January; peak season is 1 December, Romania's National Day, through New Year's Eve.
Make a city break of it
Two or three days is the right shape for this: one for the big market in Constitution Square, one for a smaller neighbourhood market and the streets around it, and one spare for whatever the main stage announces. Book a stay that puts you within walking distance of Piața Constituției so you can come back after dark for the projections, and keep the 26th loose enough to follow the square where it leads.