Best Christmas Markets

I visited the market in Nuremberg and thought it too big, too crowded, too commercial. By accident, I stumbled upon the one in Bamberg and thought it was great. More local and folksy and more enjoyable!

Best ones in Vienna, in case you’ve missed some - Karlsplatz, Altes AKH, Spittelberg, Belvedere.

Outside of Vienna, definitely Wolfgangsee.

Colmar for the atmosphere. Esslingen for its unique medieval market.

Budapest.

http://budapestchristmas.com

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/travel/2016/nov/27/budapest-hungary-christmas-markets-cakes-cocktails-hot-springs

I took a gate 1 tour a few years ago to the Christmas markets and we went to 5 of them - a bus was our transportation and we stayed in hotels near each market.
Here is a link with info on some of the markets, days they are open, etc.
I can't find the link I used which showed each market and many of the vendors. They even had live videos online... I"ll agree that Vienna was my favorite...
I'll keep looking
Christmas Markets

We loved the Salzburg market(s). Based around the Dom it is well designed to leave room for the crowds to move and still enjoy the stalls. Wandering around in the evening was really enjoyable. The items we mostly higher quality than we've seen at some other markets, too. The Innsbruck market is small, but very nice. We enjoyed it more in the day time than the evening.

I am with James on this. A couple years ago we spent Christmas in Budapest. We traveled to Budapest via Prague. The Christmas markets in Prague were pretty tourist trappey with stuff from Japan. The Christmas market in Budapest had “real” stuff and were thronged with locals.

I am ready to visit Budapest again!

Opening night of the Christmas markets in Rattenberg, Austria. Local feeling, atmosphere is incredible, fires to warm up by, being poured a Gluhwein from a caldron with a fire under it. A white light in every single window in town. White bags with a candle in it line every street. A live musical performance at the end. Perfect in every way.

https://www.alpbachtal.at/en/news/more-events-alpbachtal/rattenberger-advent_event_1861

WOW! This community is amazing! Thank you for all your great suggestions. I will start to map out my journey. Does anyone know if the Dresden market is worth adding? I have friends there, but they could come to me too :)

michaeltipton, i am sure other markets do this too, but there is an organization that decides what can and can not be sold in the Budapest markets. The quality is always good, and local, as a result.

sdaley97, will you be traveling after Christmas day? The Budapest markets go on to 1 January (but without the food stalls) and if you are still in Europe on 1 January then head further east where Christmas day is on January 7th (orthodox)

Here is a great link to info on the markets.
Lots of photos and good info.
Link to Christmas Markets - Europe

I will have 12 days, some of which need to be in Vienna, to do a
'market tour'. If you have been to a Christmas Market that felt
'magic', not for the stuff, but for the "Gemütlichkeit", which one
would it be? Dresden? Prague? A small village?

The best Christmas markets have a long tradition (which means they are part of the local culture), they are mostly visited by locals, and they are staged in cities not leveled in WW2. Vienna ticks all these boxes.
Most of the Christmas markets outside of the German- speaking world on the other hand are less than 20 years old, and many of them were just established to promote tourism (that's why they often don't close before Christmas but in early January). Prague is such a case. There are better times to visit the city.
Dresden however is highly recommended. Of course the centre of the city was completely destroyed in WW2, and only a part was reconstructed in the last 50 years, but the Christmas market (which is just one of many in the city) is one of Germanys oldest, and, more importantly, Dresden is the capital of Saxony, which is Germanys Christmas country. Many of the products sold on Germanys Christmas markets are made in this region, and many traditions come from there.

Here is a introduction:
The Ore Mountains sparkle at Christmas
More in depth:
Longing for light - Germany's Ore Mountains influence Christmas worldwide
Trip reports to Seiffen:
Christmas 365 Days A Year
Girls trip to Seiffen, Germany
Other places in Eastern Germany:
Germany's Christmas toy towns

These articles are about the Ore Mountains to the south of Dresden... it doesn't get more Christmassy than this. But Dresden is also a good base to nearby medieval towns like Meissen, Görlitz or Bautzen (Christmas market since 1384), or to Saxon Switzerland.

If it's a Christmas Market trip you want, you'd be remiss to skip the best Germany has to offer. It would like being on an opera tour and skipping Italy. If you travel to a place like Budapest, it would have to be for more than market history; it would have to be for the unique food, market products, or the sheer beauty of the place.

This history I found interesting: http://budapestchristmas.com/tag/history-of-hungarian-christmas

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/travel/2016/nov/27/budapest-hungary-christmas-markets-cakes-cocktails-hot-springs

We did a Christmas market trip in 2014. SO hard for me to say which was my favorite as we really enjoyed ALL of the markets we went to. A few that stick out to me are - the mideval market in Munich, Salzburg, Basel, Rothenburg and Erfurt. Unlike others we really enjoyed the festive atmosphere in Nurenburg. Even though the market is big - it didn't seem that much bigger than markets in other large towns / cities. There was often live music of some sort which I really enjoyed.

Have posted a lot on here about my favorite Christmas markets.
For big cities, I enjoyed Stuttgart the most, followed by Mainz. Both cities ignored by Rick.

For smaller cities and more unique markets, I enjoyed Esslingen, Ronneburg Castle, Idstein, Michelstadt, Büdingen, Gelnhausen, the Abby in Seligenstadt (indoors and with very high quality items) and Bad Homburg. Many of these markets are held on just one weekend or on weekends only.

This year we are planning on visiting Marburg, Limburg, Fulda, and hopefully Trier or Erfurt if time allows.

We did a number of them last year. The order in which we did them were:
Heidelberg: small but a good first stop after landing in Frankfurt
Stasbourg France: Our favorite. We happened to hit it on the day of the opening festivities. Large and on an island. Many buildings decorated too. There is no vehicular traffic allowed.
Rothenburg: I insisted on this one. Very small and we should have passed it up. Plus, access by train requires a stop & change trains in Ansbach.
Nurnberg: Yes it was large however we enjoyed it.
Prague: Our first visit to the Czech Republic so we combined sightseeing with our Christmas Market visit. Enjoyed its own spin on the festivities.
Vienna: Large and spread out as was Strasbourg, Prague, & Budapest. Worth a visit.
Budapest: Large and worth seeing. It is on the Pest side so it is very easy to walk around since it is not hilly like the Buda side.
We enjoyed looking at the decorations and light treatments of the different areas that we went to. Strasbourg was a feast for the eyes as was Vienna.
If we were to do it again I would pass on Heidelberg & Rothenburg. We originally thought of attending just German Christmas Markets but decided on visiting the other countries to get their spin on them. I am glad we did. Every one that we visited was accessible by train. However, last year there was not direct train service from Nurnberg to Prague. We had to take a bus that we caught at the main train station. If you wanted to take the train you had to go to Munich then to Prague.
Good luck!

Thank you, everyone! I have many wonderful suggestions and will need to plan trips from 2018 - 25 to visit the hit parade of Christmas Markets! I am very grateful for the thoughtful suggestions and references. I will check them all
. Sue

I liked regensburg, Linz, and Budapest. I did a Danube Christmas market cruise in 2015

Four examples from Poland:
1. Cracow
http://travel.cnn.com/christmas-krakow-polands-most-festive-city-006581/
https://www.christmasmarkets.com/individual-christmas-market/krakow-christmas-market/
https://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/Christmas-in-Krakow_70200f
http://www.krakow-info.com/Christmas-market.htm
2. Zakopane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakopane_Style
3. Poznań
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozna%C5%84_Old_Town
4. Warsaw
https://www.christmasmarkets.com/individual-christmas-market/warsaw-christmas-market/

If you like YouTube, these presentations could be interesting for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghZtwnS38lA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faXeCDOULo0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGu866shbEo