European Christmas Markets

Salzburg, Austria and its Christmas market.

We took a Christmas Market River Cruise on the Danube last year & visited many markets. Nurnberg Germany was the largest & our favorite (and so fun with amazing crafters and delish food, plus gorgeous churches to explore). Nurnberg was so easy to get around in with the Market, regular shops, churches, restaurants, etc all so close. Salzburg Austria, Cologne Germany . . . any of the cities along the Danube and Rhine Rivers have amazing markets. TripAdvisor has great info on all the markets too - we learned lots on TripAdvisor before we left. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them - Strasbourg, Passau, Regensburg - we LOVED them ALL . . . but if we had to choose, we liked the German Markets slightly better than the Austrian ones. Double check on the dates though . . . seems some closed early. I'm glad to show you photos or more info . . . feel free to private message me if you need more info. Enjoy the Gluwein & Gingerbread!!

I would suggest the Christmas markets of Berlin and Munich in Germany, Salzburg, Vienna and Innsbruck, Austria, Strasbourg, France, and Brussels and Bruges, Belgium. It's all so magical.

Has anyone been to Prague's xmas market? we have no plans at all, so we are pretty open to researching lots of places before picking one!

Christmas markets are not a Europe-wide cultural phenomenon, but only really exist in German-speaking countries. Anywhere else they're really just a pseudo-German money-making phenomenon. (Note that Strasbourg is authentic due to the traditional French-German cultural hybridisation in Alsace.)

Birmingham's Christmas market is largely stallholders originating from its twin city of Frankfurt.

Hi Nicole,

Innsbruck and Salzburg. Yes, we liked being in Innsbruck at this time of year a bit more than Salzburg.

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Paul

If you're looking for more affordable but still lovely trip, try Krakow. I don't believe Christmas markets are only relegated to Germany. You may have a great experience at lesser known markets (with lesser crowds as well). Each country will have its own atmosphere. Lots has already been written about Christmas markets on this forum - just do a search to see old threads.

My husband and I went last year - it was our first time visiting the Christmas Markets. Before we left, I remember someone on this website commenting - don't just go for the Christmas markets because they are all so similar. After the first two, we started finding this to be somewhat true. But - we still loved the trip. All the towns/villages were beautifully decorated and it really put us in the Christmas spirit.

I think Prague, Strasbourg and Colmar were our favorites. We also went to Munich, Dijon and Salzburg. Munich was very, very crowded. We were there on a weekend and the crowds at the booths made it almost impossible to even get close. But the decorations were really beautiful!!

When I think back, I think we made maybe one or two purchases at the actual markets. Lots of trinkets.

Please don't misunderstand, we had a wonderful time and are really, really happy we went! It was a great experience, but we wouldn't go again just for the markets.

Have a great time!

Paris has a wonderful market... while not the same as in Germany they actually still had sausage! It was beautiful and lots of fun. I also loved the market in Brugges, as well as many of the German markets... Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl (tiny local ) Heidelburg, and one of my very favorite is Salzburg. It is a wonderful time to be in Europe. Just check the dates of the markets and be sure they are going on when you are there. I think they all pretty much end on Christmas.

My must see places may not be your must see places. I like big cities for their museums and the various themed markets spread around the city, but I also like small, one weekend markets that wind through quaint towns filled with half-timbered houses.

For big markets, Stuttgart has been my favorite as well as Strausberg. Might try and make Dusseldorf and Cologne this year as both look wonderful. Husband hit Nuremberg one weekend and said he would never, ever do that again. Way too crowded. I like the Frankfurt market late afternoons when all the people get off work and come to party. The laughter makes me laugh. The brass band playing from the Alte Nikolai in the town square on Wed. and Sat. is special, but the most unique is the Pealing of the Bells on the 1st Advent Sat. at 16:30. It pays to wander around the stands by the Paulskirche as this is where the handcrafted items are sold. Puppets, nativity items, pottery, doll house articles, jewelry, etc.

Mainz is lovely, as is Heidelberg. (shhh, don't tell Rick though, as he thinks these 2 places aren't worth visiting)

Small towns with pretty markets on one weekend would be Idstein, Eltville, Büdingen, Frankfurt Höchst, and the Abbey in Seligenstadt has the best handcrafted items you will find at a Christmas Market.

Small to medium sized towns with longer markets that I enjoy, would be the medieval market in Esslingen, and the ones in Limburg & Marburg.

Most markets close on the 22nd or 23rd, with a very few open past that. Speyer and Limburg are 2 that are open later. One trend I noticed this year were that many of the larger markets were opening earlier, around 21 Nov.

Italy also has some very good ones. Bolzano and Trento are good because they were part of Austria 100 years ago and people in Bolzano (Bozen) still consider themselves to be Tyrolean. But Verona has a great market as well.

Hi Nicole,

In northern Italy, besides Bozen/Bolzano, the charming old towns of Brixen/Bressanone and Sterzing/Vipiteno have daily Christmas Markets plus they are open into early January.