Pop-up Raclette melted cheese igloo experience part of Canberra's Xmas in July Festival

The scene is otherworldly, wood smoke curling up into the night sky, the igloos gleaming and the sound of Nat King Cole crooning Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. And what's inside the igloos, by all accounts, is delicious.

A handful of lucky Canberrans became the first on Thursday evening to try the delights of the "pop-up Raclette melted cheese igloo experience" - where "melted cheese from France, Raclette, meets the Canberra winter".

Think cosy igloo, personal fire pit, cheese stretching out of the pot with tummy-warming mulled wine bubbling away.

The igloos are just the entree to the wider Xmas in July Festival which will be opening next week in the Parliamentary Triangle.

Theresa Hall, of Kingston, was celebrating her birthday with her family in one of the igloos on Thursday night. She knows cheese. Her parents Norma and Gil used to have the Cheeseboard shops in the city and Belconnen.

"As a teenager I used to get little balls of mashed potato and drizzle them with Raclette. This is bringing back a lot of memories," she said.

Across the way in a neighbouring igloo was Member for Bean David Smith and his wife Liesl Centenera enjoying the meats and melted cheese. "It's not a place for vegetarians," she said.

And the igloos, really plastic domes, got the thumbs up. "They're much warmer than you think," Ms Centenera said.

The Xmas in July Festival will run from Thursday, June 30 to Monday, July 3 at Parks Place West Lawns, off King Edward Terrace. Entry is free.

It's a French-inspired food, wine and winter market, with 60 exhibitors operating out of wood chalets from Europe. There will be food from macarons to a beef truffle slider to French crepes. And multiple bars offering mulled wine to spiced chocolate and craft beers.

And snow will be falling, the markets' founder Vincent Hernandez promises.

On snow lane, two giant nutcrackers will welcome visitors along an avenue of real Christmas trees, machines firing out man-made snow. There will also be fire pits which visitors can hire for $19 per person, with a glass of alcoholic or non-alcoholic mulled wine and unlimited marshmallows to roast.

The market had its beginnings five years ago when Mr Hernandez wanted to import the feel of the "most beautiful Christmas market" in the French city of Strasbourg to Australia. He started first at The Rocks in Sydney and it was a hit. Now, after some COVID interruptions, it is Canberra's turn.