Best Small Town Christmas Market

Last year, my husband and I visited over 20 markets in and around Frankfurt, Cologne, Strasbourg, Colmar and surrounding villages. I really liked Gengenbach, Germany. Small town and small market. But the town is ridiculously cute. We were there around 4:30 on a weekday and it wasn’t crowded. The stalls are along a wide street, and all around the central square. So they are not crowded together as in some places with tons of stalls. There were unique items for sale - both food and crafts.

The main difference at this market was the space and lack of crowds, in comparison to places like Strasbourg which was packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the evenings. But the buildings were just as charming.

We are researching smaller towns around Stuttgart for a trip in 2025. We just stumbled upon Ludwigsburg. You might check out some videos. The markets appear to sell more handcrafted items, and there seem to be many, many stalls. We’re also looking at Esslingen and Heidelberg, along with Tubingen’s chocolate festival.

I have several small towns that I like to visit for their Christmas markets, but you have to plan accordingly as some of them are just on one weekend in Advent.
Büdingen (4-8.12) is my favorite, followed by Idstein. (6-8.12)
Bad Homburg has a great market with more hand made items then you usually see at the markets, but it is only on weekends. Marburg, Limburg, and Seligenstadt have markets all of Advent and they are charming. Michelstadt is great too, but they are closed Mon. and Tues.
These are all towns within 1 hour by train from Frankfurt.

Jo wrote what I was thinking - Büdingen! A medieval Christmas market, foods, stalls, games, clothes and handicrafts. Lots of fun. Stay for late afternoon, when there's almost no electricity and every stall is lit by candles and lanterns. Magical.

It's commuting distance from Stuttgart.

Good question as it reminded me of a favorite stop many years ago. The Christmas market in Sibiu, Romania. Always going to be special to me. Of the larger small towns, the one in Salzburg is supposed to be pretty nice.

Of course you have to do more than just the little ones, and which of the little ones is going to be good is more subjective than which of the larger ones is good or the best.

So why don’t you pick a really, really great big city first. Just google something like “Best Christmas Markets in Europe” and if you pick one that shows up on multiple lists or scores first the most often you will have a great base. Then look for surrounding towns and villages with markets.

I am fortunate as I live in a city with one of the markets that shows up on all of the lists. https://youtu.be/Z2LUUXfIPnQ?si=rIZ9xRLi4eg-hg37 So, from here the great smaller town markets would be:

Day Trips:
Szentendre,
Vác,
Esztergom,
Székesfehérvár,
Győr,
Obuda

Overnight Trips
Eger,
Pécs

travel4fun, Ms. Jo, Chani, and Mr E,

Thank you all so much for posting. This is exactly the information and personal insights I knew this board would provide. The Google lists are very informative, but typically cover all of Europe (great info, but I'm not flying from Barcelona to Helsinki) and focus mainly on the larger cities.

I usually fly in/out of Frankfut and love to visit Stuttgart during their volksfest. I visited Bad Homberg last year (for the Roman fort at Saalberg) and found it to be an interesting town. So, it looks like something around a Frankfurt and Stuttgart coridor. With maybe a trip over to Strasbourg? And, we might throw in a short Rhine cruise to simlify travel logistics for a few days.

Maybe Vienna and Budapest in 2026?

St. Wolfgang / St. Gilgen / Strobl (the latter being my favourite and definitely small town). Strobl is probably my favourite of all time and is truly special. I cannot say enough good things about this one.

Lübeck and Bremen aren't small, but they are not huge cities . . . . and they are big favourites of mine and rarely show up on the lists.

Ludwigsburg Baroque market was good, and the quality of the Glühwein in Baden-Würtemberg is generally better anyway.

If you want a VERY different experience and aren't too puritanical, Santa Pauli in Hamburg. Chocolate "gendered anatomical features" on a stick, but also new takes on Glühwein with glittery pink ones with ridiculous names, hand made ornaments next to hand made adult toys, some real gems of local and unique and homemade pieces next to novelty store or Spencer's gifts type items, lively music . . . it is a true Reeperbahn Christmas market. Don't worry, Hamburg has more traditional markets, though I find them a bit meh compared to, say, Lübeck and Bremen (which are easy day trips). And yes, it feels like a Christmas market.

I'm happy it helps.

Esslingen right outside of Stuttgart is a total experience of a Middle Ages Xmas market. Entertainment, parades, children's area, street theater - it was incredible. I thought Ludwigsburg paled by comparison. And the Stuttgart markets with the elaborate decorations on the roofs of the vendor huts was also a great experience. Have a magical time.

Another vote for Gengenbach! It is magical at Christmas time. And they transform their former city hall into a life-sized advent calendar. A new window is open every night with a really charming program that preceeds the opening.

If you have 2-3 days, I highly recommend going to Alsace from Stuttgart. I spent most of a day in Strasbourg, then 2 nights in Colmar, which I liked much better. The Alsace markets are significantly different from the German-Austrian ones. Colmar was my favorite after Büdingen

I'm a beer guy and struggle with the phrase

quality of the Glühwein

In wine country (Stuttgart, Strasbourg . . . ) the vintners try to outdo each other with their Glühwein by using their own wines produced for the task, while in other places the Glühwein sold tends to be the mass-produced generic stuff--great for a warm, spiced drink, but unoriginal in flavour. And don't worry--you can get Glühbier in many places, and it is surprisingly good according to my beer snob partner.

I'm a wine drinker and it seems to me that after they dump in sugar and fruit and then heat the whole thing up, the quality of the wine is probably lost, no matter what they start with. My guess is it's a marketing gimmick. Honestly the best part of the mulled wine is warming your hands on the hot mug. And if you don't want the alcohol, kinderpunsch and hot chocolate work just as well.

Well, in Hessen you may see hot applewine with a lemon slice in it. Add your own sugar.
You might see Feuerzange Bowle. This gets made 2 different ways. They have a huge pot of Glühwein, with a rack above it a a large cone of sugar. They drench this is rum, then light it. The other way is when they have a special Feuerzange cup, with wine in it and a small rack on the cup for a rum soaked sugar cube that they light so it drips into your cup. You may find Glühwein sold with a Schuss - that means that they pour a shot of something in your wine, rum, etc. There is a Schneeman, which I sadly forget what it is, but it has whipped cream on top and is very boozy.
There are different flavors of Glühwein too, blueberry, red, white, raspberry, etc.

Not really small towns, but Speyer and Neustadt (Winestrasse) have nice Christmas markets. Bad Homburg is good also, as Ms. Jo recommends. When over by Nuremberg I always liked Amberg, which is easy to get to by train and not on many tourist lists. Ansbach used to have a nice market, but I have not been there in many years.

Wissembourg, France is nice, and a couple of the chocolate makers have some holiday stuff I've not seen elsewhere (they also make fantastic custom bunny at Easter.)

The Christmas market at Koblenz is pretty average, but the Winter Garden in the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein is fantastic.