Hello fellow travelers!
I have personally gone to a few Christmas Markets but I wanted to see what others thought was a festive and interesting market or festival. Planning a trip for December of 2019 with my sister who wants to experience the holiday season in Europe.
Hoping people that are celebrating now will respond to this post.
Any Christmas market or festival that are happening in Germany or any place in Europe would be helpful.
Thank you in advance for your replies.
There is a lot of good info on this recent post. People are still responding.
The markets are pretty much the same in different locations.
Normally (4 trips) we picked the cities that we want to see and took their markets as frosting on the cake. Regensburg was probably our favorite and does has a "Romantic Market" at the palace, but the goods are the same as elsewhere.
https://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Advent-2010/Regensburg/
https://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Advent-2010/Thurn-and-Taxis-Palace-Market/
Munich has multiple markets but the crowds were overwhelming.
Our most atmospheric stop (2 times) was Rothenburg.
https://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Advent-2010/Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber/
We have also been to medieval themed markets in Munich, Esslingen on the Neckar and Würzburg. They were a bit unusual.
Have been to 7 markets so far this year (none of them new) - Frankfurt, Frankfurt Höchst, Mainz, Weisbaden, Rüdesheim, Idstein, and Büdingen. These are all easy day trips from Frankfurt, so you don't have to move around.
Other markets I have visited over the years are Heidelberg, Bad Homburg, Ronneburg Castle, Eppstein, Stuttgart, Colmar, Strasbourg, Munich, Gelnhausen, Asschaffenburg, Seligenstadt, and Eltville. Some of these are also easy to reach from Frankfurt in an hour or less. Asschaffenburg and Heidelberg are a bit farther, but still good day trips.
The small ones held on just one weekend are usually the most charming ones and offer lots of handmade items from locals. Large ones can be charming too, if they are spread out around the city and offer different markets. Stuttgart does this extremely well. Strasbourg too.
The rain is not helping with the atmosphere, but once it gets dark it all looks pretty.
