Christmas Markets - I am here

So thankful for this report as we have these markets on our bucket list! We are trying to decide between 2 options…..let Viking do the work and take one of their Christmas market cruises…..or plan the trip ourselves, as we usually do when we travel to Europe, and go through Frankfurt, Regensberg, Nurenberg, Strasbourg and then back to Frankfurt and home. We are both 70 but VERY active and are do-it-yourselfers……if we do the trip ourselves it would be all trains, which we have never done as we usually rent a car…..would not want to face the weather at this time of year so the trains sound good to us. We have also been advised to make certain that we visit towns that have attractions beside the market so that we would have other things to do if the markets get repetitive to us. Any advice on this? Thank you!

Please give details, Charles. Your experience sounds exciting. What makes them "amazing"?!

We fly out Friday morning for Munich and Salzburg for the markets. Can't wait! We are toying with going to Nuremberg for a day. What would you suggest there if we go?

My son used to work in Bavaria and he liked the Regensberg Christmas market a lot but his favorite was Augsburg, which is not far from Munich and might be on your travel route. Have you had snow? The markets lit up at night with their colored lights, delicious smells and falling snow are just so picturesque. Enjoy your trip.

I have just returned from the Thurs and Taxis market in Regensburg, fantastic! It opens at 3 pm and costs 11 euros. I was surprised they didn’t take credit cards, in fact I have been surprised this year at markets in Saxony as well as Bavaria not taxing credit cards. I guess last year with Covid they were convinced it was the way to go, not this year. Oh by the way the only time you see anyone wearing a mask is on public transit.

Am having fun at the markets too! So far have been to Frankfurt of course, Büdingen (only open for 5 days) Rüdesheim, Koblenz and the Koblenz Christmas Garden (wrote a trip report), Frankfurt Höchst (was only open last weekend) and Offenbach.

Heading for Ravenna Gorge tomorrow and doing a torch tour. On Sunday, going to Idstein (only this weekend) Next week planning on Mainz, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Seligenstadt, Gelnhausen (only next weekend) and maybe Ronneburg. The week after, Bad Homburg, Worms, and the Winter Lights in the Frankfurt Palmengarten and perhaps the Christmas Garden in Frankfurt.

Can never get enough!

Just visited in Munich the Haidhausen Christkindlmarket at Weißenburger Platz yesterday evening and seems to be no insider tip anymore :-) Still nice but next week we will definatley go to Tollwood Winter Festival.

When you are in Munich I would suggest to put Tollwood Winter Festival definately on your agenda - best time is the evening. What it is like check out in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1hz2kU5Mc

Jane- doing this trip on your own without a car has been very easy for us. We are home basing in Nuremberg, seeing a sight or two here in the morning/early afternoon and then taking the train to another town to see the market there.

Lindy- each one is amazing to us in a different way. The ambiance of each town is unique and seeing the building facades all lit up as a backdrop to the markets is just perfect!! Each market has similarities but each one has a uniqueness to it that we like.

Mikliz97- Nuremberg has several museums and WW2 sites listed in the RS book that we have been doing. The market itself has not been our favorite surprisingly. It is the largest but lacks the charm of Frankfurt and some of the smaller towns towns. Those have more space between the rows and more room to eat and drink.

Pat- we have not had snow yet. Temps have been in the upper 30’s and we have not been uncomfortable.

One other side note…we went to Bamberg last night. We loved the town and the market. However one of the things we were looking forward to were all the nativities. On the website was listed about 30 places around town to see them. I mapped out about 20 to go see. Unfortunately, several of the churches or places that were supposed to have them either did not or were closed or had pieces missing. That was a disappointment for us and after 5-6 of those we broke off of that walk and got back to the market so I would not recommend chasing down all those nativities. We actually saw more of them in the market than on our walk.

Mignon--That video is great, thank you! I am going to rewatch it and take notes:)

Charles…..can you tell us which markets you are training to from Nurenberg? I have heard that the best ones are in Germany because that is where they all started….thank you!

@mikliz97
In case you are visiting the Haidhauser Christkindlmarket at Weißenburger Platz (mentioned in the video as well) make sure you walk to Pariser Platz. It is a short walk along Weißenburger Straße. During the day you could take a break at the French bakery 'Les Deux Messieurs' at Pariser Platz. A nice warm café au lait with some delicious French croissant or brioche and the world is ok :-) Almost a must I would say in this area becasue you are in the middle of Munich's French quarter.

Jane - We flew in and out of Frankfurt and stayed there the first and last night. For the five nights in-between we home based in Nuremberg. From there we trained to Regensberg, Wurzburg, Bamberg, and Rothenberg. All were about an hour train ride away. We also saw the Frankfurt market on the first night and the last night went to Mainz, just outside of Frankfurt.

For what it's worth, this was our impression of the markets based entirely on our opinion. We placed emphasis on ambience, how festive it was, layout of the market stalls, music and just how much of impression the market made on us.

Tier 1 -
Regenberg - Thurn & Taxi market was by far the best of them all plus others in the town were amazing
Rothenberg - anyone who has been to this town will know what I mean, the setting here is unbeatable
Frankfurt - just an overall great market that checked all of our boxes (wished we had not gone on the weekend though because it was a little crowded)
Mainz - maybe it was because it was our last night or maybe it was because all of the lights strung up all over the place but this market just has a very nice feel to it and we loved it.

Tier 2 -
Wurzburg - nice town, nice market with musical programs
Bamberg - market was great but as I mentioned earlier, I wished we had skipped all the nativities that were spread out all around the town and just focused on the market and historical core
Nuremberg- interestingly, this was our least favorite which surprised us because it is the top of most rankings. For us it was just too crowded. They bill themselves as the largest market and it showed. The stalls were packed (close together), there was no room to eat or drink like all the other markets, and other than the huge market in the middle of town, there was not much more like the other ones had. Plus, unlike Frankfurt and most other towns, the Hauptmart building facades were not illuminated at night which we really liked in the other towns. We still loved the town and it gave us plenty to do during the day (sights to see) before heading off to other markets.

I would be happy to answer any other questions for anyone planning a trip to any of these towns. We loved it and hope to return again someday!!

Charles, thank you for your writeup and impressions! I leave in 2 days for Frankfurt to visit Christmas Markets there and nearby. I appreciate hearing that you loved the market in Mainz, which confirms my interest in going there. Can't wait!

I am on a FB page for Christmas Markets and Nuremburg comes up consistently as the least favorite market. Perhaps Rick should stop promoting it or at least visit some other, more unique markets?

Esslingen, Stuttgart, Regensburg Thurn & Taxis, Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne and Mainz are all popular.

Went to Ravenna Gorge on Friday night! What an experience. It goes to the top of my list for Christmas markets. Did a torch tour that walked there from Hinterzarten. Truly a fun evening.

We have been to Aschaffenburg, Rothenburg and Würzburg so far. We enjoyed each city. Würzburg was our favorite for the walk up to the castle. The markets are still pretty much the same. Many more stalls devoted to food and drink than we remember from past years. For us the towns themselves are the best reasons for the visits, not the markets.

@Ms.Jo
In October is was hiking the Ravennaschlucht. I was sure that Christkindl Market there will be amazing. Thanks for info.

EDIT: Funny 'Near From Home' just shared a video about this market :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEDGSseqtCc

From a German perspective Christmas Markets are very much a place where you meet up with friends and get a bite to eat and drink.

And yes, there are better markets than the big ones Rick's promotes. Berlin has some nice neighborhood ones but they are not probably the "quaint German" markets that Americans want to see. It's best to ask the locals.

Perfect Charles….thanks so much! We still are seeing pictures of Strasbourg and Colmar and their markets but wonder if that is something to do later!

Agree that bigger is not always better. One of our favorite Christmas markets was a very small, whimsical one in Cologne called the Harbour Christmas Market. Why? Because it had a giant pirate ship that served glühwein. It was just fun and silly. Or the Medieval Christmas Market outside Bonn in Siegburg, which was part Christmas market, part Renaissance Fair. Sometimes the smaller markets are the more charming and more memorable.

For those of you doing this by train, are you using rail passes? Thank you!

For those of you doing this by train, are you using rail passes

Just got back last Saturday from a 12-day trip, used the DB 7-day Flexi Pass ... no issues at all ... on the days where we stayed in the same area, we purchased additional regional passes so as to use our flexi days on longer distance, higher value trips, again no issues ...

My wife and I are leaving tomorrow for Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna for the Christmas Market tour! We can't wait! Thank you all for your hints, I'm writing them all down!

Got back last Saturday from our 12-day Christmas Market trip ... will try to do a trip report with more details this weekend, but here's a quick summary of where we went, what we liked (and didn't like) and other thoughts ... remember these are from my experiences, so while you may/may not agree with everything (or anything), maybe someone can learn something new to enhance their experience or prevent/be prepared for something less thrilling ...

• Went to 14 markets (some cities had more than one (e.g. Cologne) that we visited but only counting as 1) and 1 chocolate festival ... in order of visit: Munich, Augsburg, Cologne, Aachen, Duisburg, Dortmund, Essen, Dusseldorf, Koblenz, Nuremburg, Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart, Esslingen, Tubingen and Karlsruhe

• My wife and I have some minor difference of opinion but in general our favorites included (not in any order) Augsburg, Cologne's Angels Market, Aachen, Essen, Koblenz, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe (of course my #1 was the Tubingen chocolate festival ... several stalls had all kinds of chocolate-shaped items such as wrenches, cars, hammers, you name it ... one place also had chocolate AR-15s)

• Some places only take cash

• Standing where Hitler stood at the Zeppelin Field gave me the chills

• Weather was cold, damp and gloomy ... not much rain, just misty with light showers, but not as cold as I expected ... several times I opened my coat since I was getting too warm ... only saw the sun on day 1 in Munich

• Be prepared to walk ... a lot ... half of those 12 days we walked over 7 miles ... but all that good exercise gets offset by ...

• German food and beer (sooooo good) ... I declared victory at every meal except one (that pre-dinner brat looked so tempting I couldn't resist)

• I was surprised how (comparatively speaking) cheap the meals were ... most would have been easily 25-50% higher here ... and it was nice not to see an additional 8+% tax and feeling like I had to tip 15%-20% (I left a euro or 2 tip most of the time)

• I didn't meet a German bakery I didn't like

• I was under-whelmed by the highly praised Nuremburg sausages ... they looked and tasted just like the breakfast sausage I get at my nearest supermarket ... they were good (had them twice), just not great ... I guess my expectation was too high

• The stalls serving gluhwein were packed at night everywhere we went

• I really like the DB app ... easy to use (once you figure a few things out) and provides a current status to help you reroute your trip when needed

• DB trains were pretty punctual (give or take a few minutes sometimes) ... the ICE / IC trains had some 'challenges' so a few times we were staring at 'Cancelled' but we quickly re-figured a new route ... it did cost us some time but nothing major ... only once did we mess up where the train blew through the stop we wanted but since is was an S-Bahn, we got off a few minutes later at the next stop, waited about 5-10 minutes for the train to go back to a closer stop to our destination ... cost us about 15 minutes

• Got reservations once and only because it was a 5 hour trip on 2 ICE trains, wanted to be sure I got the seats I wanted (2 across next to the window with a table) ... don't bother with reservations if the expected demand (you can get this info on the DB app) is low or medium ... when it's high demand, unless you're getting on at the start, don't bother with reservations either ... there will always be someone sitting in your seat and they may not want to get up ... only recourse is to find a conductor but good luck with that ... people are standing in the aisles, trying to navigate their way to their seats and, once there, trying to put oversized bags above on a small rack (several times saw bags come crashing down on some poor unsuspecting person's head) ... and the bags that are too big or heavy to go up block the aisle since the few bag storage areas are already packed

• Would I go again? ... he!! YES

Here are a few more thoughts on my trip that echo the previous recap from DQ....

1. I also used a 7 day consecutive rail pass and had no issues at all
2. I too noticed the "High/Med/Low Demand" on the DB app and liked that feature as we were able to avoid the "High Demand Expected" trains.
   
3. We paid cash for almost everything. The stalls selling the more expensive items did take card but the rest were all cash
4. We walked an average of 7 miles a day but it hardly seemed like that. Mostly just from the train station into town and between the various markets in that town.
5. Nice to see someone else agreed with us on not only the Nuremberg market but also the "Nuremberger" sandwich which I also found to be very underwhelming. Someone else said it but I think Rick needs to pick a different market and different sandwich to praise so highly!!
6. To further elaborate on why we did not like Nuremberg market, all the other markets had designated areas to drink and eat and some had a fire going and it was just so relaxing and charming to see locals talking and to be able to mix and mingle with them. Nurbemberg did not have that because every single square meter of space was jammed with more stalls. If you want more selection of stalls then Nuremberg is the place but if you want charm and space to spread out and relax it is not the place.

My wife and I are leaving tomorrow for Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna

The market inside one of the Residenz courtyards was one of the better Munich markets (in our opinion) ... and try to make one of the glockenspiel performances in the Marienplatz at 11am or noon ... we both really liked Salzburg's markets when we went pre-covid ... have a great trip!

but his favorite was Augsburg

We went there on opening night mainly to see the Angels Performance (other than opening night they only perform once a night on weekends) ... was super packed but still a fun time ... of course the local dignitaries made their speeches (which were probably the same speeches that would be made here but better since I didn't understand a word they said ... I just applauded when the tree lit up, the vendors were allowed to open up and the gluhwein started flowing).

Charles, thank you for your tips, musings, favorites, etc. Sounds like an amazing trip. I'm leaving tomorrow for a week. 3 days in Nuremberg and 3 in Munich. Since the Nuremberg market sounds a little disappointing, I'm wondering if anyone knows of some quaint towns/markets nearby? I don't want to spend too much time traveling since our trip is short, but would love a few ideas.
Aileen

Aileen - the four towns we visited from our home base in Nuremberg I would all highly recommend in the following order: 1- Regensburg (Thurn & Taxis market); 2- Rothenberg; 3- Bamberg; 4- Wurzburg

At the moment we are having snow in Munich. The right time to visit Christkindlmarkt at the Chinese Tower in the English Garden.
Wait until it is dark an walk from Odeonsplatz through the park :-) Very nice.

Julie wrote, "For those of you doing this by train, are you using rail passes?"

Multi-day rail pass vs. normal tickets: the choice depends largely on your destinations and how you structure your visits. DQ's trip and Charles' trip are instructive.

DQ traveled around half of Germany's land mass, passing through at least 5 different German States and at times traveling long distances that would be undoable or inconvenient on "regional" trains. A rail pass can make very good sense when multiple longer trips like DQ's are involved and "long-distance" trains" like the ICE are needed.

Charles wisely chose to stay in Nuremberg, a major rail hub, which provides convenient daytrip options to Bamberg, Rothenburg, Regensburg, and Würzburg. Nuremberg and the 4 destinations all lie within the state of Bavaria, and all 4 are easily reached by regional train. Round trips like these are normally done on inexpensive day passes that can be bought as you go on the day of travel.

The 2 round-trip journeys to Bamberg and Rothenburg not only took place within Bavaria, but within the VGN zone. Locals day-tripping from Nuremberg would normally buy the VGN day pass (€21.50 / couple.)

For the day trips to Würzburg and Regensburg, the Bavaria ticket at €34 is the "normal" ticketing option.

So local couples (or Charles + 1, or anyone else for that matter) would normally pay €111 for those 4 days.

DQ visited 6 different Christmas Market towns in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen. Like Bavaria, NRW and local transport offers similar day passes for purchase at the station. You just walk up to a machine and buy one.

Charles of course had 2 additional longer journeys between Frankfurt and Nuremberg on separate days. Locals would normally pre-purchase tickets for use with long-distance trains (like ICE) online. If bought early, this rail segment might price out at around €36/ couple for point-to-point tickets at DB.

Altogether, 7-day trip like Charles + 1 made could possibly price out at around less than €200/ couple without railpasses. With a 7-day rail pass, DQ probably needed to purchase normal tickets of some type in addition to the 7 day rail pass. A rail pass + local day passes can often make for a sound ticketing strategy in lieu of a 14-day rail pass.

Anyway, Julie, it's good IMHO to figure out how German locals would get around before choosing the rail pass option. The rail pass can often be overkill.

I agree with the comments about Nuremberg's Christmas market being over-visited. Try to visit on a workday if possible. Even if you don't visit the market, Nuremberg is a great city to visit on its own merits - and it's an ideal base town for outings by train to other terrific towns and Christmas Markets.

My first visit to Nuremberg was 49 years ago just before Christmes, about the same time Rick was making his first visits, I imagine. N'berg was absolutely magical then, and the market completely charming and accessible without stepping on others' toes. Have to agree - Rick's market advice probably needs revamping.

Russ, gee you gave me such excellent information, thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

I will follow your advice and use Nuremburg as a base on a future trip, as it sounds amazing.

Charles, did you notice any lessening of the lights on display, due to the desire to reduce power usage?

Julie - with the exception of Nuremberg all other cities and markets were 100% bright. Well, at least in the market areas. I did notice some church's and other big buildings in the horizon not lit up but by the markets towns like Frankfurt, Rothenberg, etc. all had their main squares where the markets were all lit up. Only one that did not was Nuremberg.

Russ - thanks for the compliment about my home base choice. However, I sorta wished I had your analysis prior to me buying the rail pass. Although, one of my primary factors was flexibility. My wife and I returned back to Nuremberg each night "when we were done" in the city market we were visiting so it was nice not being locked into certain times. As you noted, most of our options included Regional trains which left usually 3-4 times per hour so it was nice to just show up at the station and get on the next train.

Just going to point out that while the big cities may have their lights on this year, many of Germany's smaller cities are not turning on their lights. I follow a few Germans on YouTube who have gone back for the holidays and the smaller towns are having a harder time this winter.

"Although, one of my primary factors was flexibility. My wife and I returned back to Nuremberg each night 'when we were done' in the city market we were visiting so it was nice not being locked into certain times."

Well stated, Charles - Yes, that's a great way to handle your travel days indeed, precisely the tactic my wife and I routinely employ.

Here's the lead sentence from Rick's advice page on rail passes in Germany:

"Rail passes are usually a great value in Germany, often saving money while allowing you to hop trains at your convenience."

Flexibility does matter. And it's true that rail passes allow flexibility to "hop on" and off as you please. But this sentence also implies that actual train tickets bought on the day of travel do NOT permit hopping, when in fact they very often DO.

See the map with travel segment pricing at the above link? You are encouraged to compare rail pass prices with those full-fare prices as you make choices about your rail pass. But there's nothing on that page that tells you that those full-fare prices - the Nuremberg > Würzburg fare of $25, for example - area ALSO fully flexible for the travel date in question (and unlike the railpass day, fully refundable as well if bought in advance.) You do NOT have to keep a schedule.

So a reasonable person like you looks at the data and figures that a round-trip for two adults to W'burg and back on normal tickets will cost €100 for a single day - and that travel will not be fully flexible. The rail pass OTOH - let's say the same round-trip journey, on a 2nd class twin pass for 7 days at €499, will cost this couple only €71. The rail pass wins every time with flawed comparisons like this which place the rail pass in competition only with full-fare tickets. IMHO, the philosophy that visitors should do as the locals do should logically be extended to train tickets. And every local knows they can get to W'burg and back with a companion for €34 under most circumstances, coming back to Nuremberg at any hour of their choice, just like the rail pass folks do. This shouldn't be a well-kept secret.

And prior to getting into any of the details, Rick ends his 2nd sentence like this: "...a rail pass still makes sense for most visitors traveling by train in Germany."

"Some" I could agree with. A rail pass makes very good sense in certain situations. But "most" is a major exaggeration. And it's not "most" people's itinerary anyway that is in question - it's the individual traveler's.

Unfortunately, the "on-the-ground choices" in Germany remain mostly unknown and/or misrepresented by the travel industry; many journeys are likely to be saver-fare eligible, day-pass eligible, or even free of charge. To be fair, Rick mentions some of these briefly. But his labeling of the day passes as "slow-train deals" - which makes regional trains sound like a poor choice (which they're not) - is objectionable. Who wants to ride a "slow" train? Well, most railpass users will in fact have no other choice than to ride the regional trains in order to get to many popular destinations that Rick recommends, including Rothenburg, Füssen, Berchtesgaden, Bacharach, and others, because regional trains are the ONLY option. A German Rail Pass won't change that.

We just got home last night from a trip to Germany and Austria for the Christmas Markets. In Munich, we went to every one we could find. Heidhausen was our favorite there. We went to the Medieval one also, which was interesting, but not really our style. Still glad we went though. The market at the Chinese Tower in the English Garden is no operating this year. We wandered the garden and headed to the Chinese Tower anyway, and the only thing open there is the Gluhwein stand. The markets in Salzburg were our favorite.

We hoped to go to Nuremberg, but ran out of time. I would love to experience the markets in Dresden and Rothenburg on a future visit as well as I love both of those towns. My husband is not a market guy, but even he wants to go see those!

Oh boy how sad. I did not even check about the Chinese Tower because never thought that they are taking a break. Sorry.

Mignon—I have no idea what they are doing there, but it looks like a big construction project. It was so odd to be there with it being so quiet. The only other people we saw was a preschool group.

With a 7-day rail pass, DQ probably needed to purchase normal tickets of some type in addition to the 7 day rail pass.

@Russ ... I also purchased the Bavaria pass (2 people €34) and the Baden-Württemberg-Ticket (2 people €31) so I wouldn't have to use a day from my flexi pass on shorter, regional travel (used my 7 flexi days on the ICE / IC trains, including some regionals and S-Bahn on the same day) ... I practiced what I preach when I answer someone's train travel costs question ... I did the math and this was the most cost-effective for my trip ... it worked out great, I got the maximum value for our train travel needs ... next up is train travel in Spain using Renfe (which is turning out to be much more difficult, their website is brutal compared to DB).

mikliz97

I really feel guilty because I did not check the internet before .... if I would have done so I would have known that due to renovation of the Chines Tower no Christikindl Markt will take place this year. And bad luck that I thought the latest 'Near From Home' video all filmed this year.

At least I know now one should take nothing for granted.

I also purchased the Bavaria pass (2 people €34) and the
Baden-Württemberg-Ticket (2 people €31) so I wouldn't have to use a
day from my flexi pass on shorter, regional travel (used my 7 flexi
days on the ICE / IC trains, including some regionals and S-Bahn on
the same day)

EXACTLY. The day passes are often a great way to supplement a rail pass, and your strategy serves as a good model for others. A 7-day GRP becomes an 8-day-er (which DB does NOT sell) with a day pass, whether the 8th travel day is pre-planned or spontaneous. This strategy is usually cheaper than buying the rail pass at the next step up (10-day pass.) With current GRP twin pass prices and TWO day passes for the shorter regional journeys, one could secure 9 days of travel and save enough to pay for a nice dinner for two... or use THREE day passes to secure 10 days of travel and still save...

9 days or 10 days of travel on a 10-day GRP twin pass = €622

9 days of travel: 7-day GRP twin pass + (1) Bavaria Ticket plus (1) B-W Ticket = €499 + €34 + €31 = €564 (savings = €58)

10 days of travel: 7-day GRP twin pass + (3) Bavaria Tickets = €499 + €102 = €601 (savings = €21)

Of course, travel on day passes means that your journey(s) conform to the day-pass rules (like 9:00 and onward on weekdays, and staying within the eligible travel state boundaries for the Bavaria and B-W day passes.)

In your case, had you used one or more the 7-day GRP days on shorter trips alone - and had to pay walk-up prices for one of your longer journeys - that same dinner could have become hugely expensive.

You mention rail pass trips "...including some regionals and S-Bahn on the same day." The GRP is of course valid for any regional or S-Bahn trains you use, whether or not ICE or other trains are part of the point-to-point journey. But I think you might be saying that you sometimes used your railpass day not just for the long-distance journey itself, but also for an add-on outing to somewhere else on the regional/S-Bahn outings on the same day (for example... Nuremberg > Stuttgart plus Stuttgart > Ludwigsburg > Stuttgart, all on one day) or possibly for a detour on the way to your next base. This is a solid way of maximizing the value of the GRP and an inherent advantage of the GRP over the "saver-fares-only" ticketing strategy. It's also one of the reasons that when total saver fares vs. railpass prices are roughly comparable, going with the rail pass is almost a no-brainer.

Anyway, I hope your readers appreciate your examples and see the merits of your rail strategies!

Mignon— when I watched that video, I also read the comments and saw that the tower was closed so I knew ahead of time. Please don’t feel bad, it would normally be an excellent suggestion and a good idea for a return trip!