Germany Christmas Markets 2024

Perhaps contact the Tourist Information Centers in each of your intended cities. You are going early in the season. Good luck!

6 markets opening with opening dates within your time frame and reachable across 7 days with access from FRA airport:

Rüdesheim, 21 Nov: https://www.ruedesheimer-weihnachtsmarkt.de/
Speyer, 25 Nov: https://www.speyer.de/de/tourismus/service/prospektmaterial/2024-veranstaltungsbroschuere-de-en.pdf?cid=3sfs
Aachen, 22 Nov: https://www.aachen.de/DE/kultur_freizeit/veranstaltungen/veranst_strassenraum/Liste-der-Veranstaltungen.pdf
Heidelberg, 25 Nov: https://www.heidelberg-marketing.de/event/heidelberger-weihnachtsmarkt
Mainz, 28 Nov: https://mainz.de/freizeit-und-sport/feste-und-veranstaltungen/weihnachtsmarkt.php
Wiesbaden, 26 Nov: https://mainz.de/freizeit-und-sport/feste-und-veranstaltungen/weihnachtsmarkt.php

Many Christmas markets are most likely to begin after Toten Sonntag which is on 24.11.2024.
The Frankfurt market will most likely begin on 25.11, even though they don't have the dates posted yet on their website. It just always begins after this.

I went to the Rüdesheim market this year on Toten Sonntag and it was considered to be a "Quiet Market" with no music. It was actually nice not to have those same songs playing everywhere.

I strongly suggest researching the dates for the Christmas markets you want to visit. I booked a flight to arrive in Munich November 28 this year and planned to visit Nuremberg, Strasbourg, Stuttgart/Esslingen, and Munich/Salzburg. I even bought some train tickets only to find I had to reverse the order to accomplish my plan. I hit Stuttgart on opening day and Nuremberg the second day. I lost a couple train tickets but had a great trip otherwise! Don't assume anything.

Hi,

You don’t say where you plan on visiting. Germany is a big country. IF you plan on the are south of Munich, well, many in Austria start a little after mid November. Salzburg and Innsbruck as examples.

Thank you all for the assistance as I am indeed attempting to do my due diligence before making any reservations.

The plan is to stay in Strasbourg (I know it is in France) and visit the Colmar, Freiburg and Heidelberg Christkindelmarkts.

If anyone has additional suggestions or information please add on.

I did take the advice to contact the tourism office of some of the cities. In case anyone is interested here is what has been definitively been set.

Stuttgart - opens on the 27th of November
Colmar (in France) - opens on the 28th of November
Strasbourg (in France) - probably the 29th of November, but it is still to be determined so not exactly definitive

May I also recommend near Freiburg, is a highly unusual market in the Ravenna Gorge. Locals rave about this market. I was in Strasbourg and Freight this year and heard about Ravenna, but did not get there.

Thank you for the suggestion but I am taking my 80 year old mom and dad on this trip and I do not think that the Ravenna Christmas Market is possible. I looked into the Ravenna Gorge, it looks amazing but unfortunately is not in the cards for this trip.

Just a note re. Strasbourg; if you're driving a German rental car you won't have the proper French Emissions sticker to get anywhere near Strasbourg. And with a French car, the sticker is wrong for Stuttgart and Freiberg! That's a whole other can of worms!

Individual markets vary, even within a city. For example, Hamburg's Santa Pauli usually opens mid November, a week ahead of the other markets. Some places are only open on weekends. I would look into the places you want to go and research individual opening dates.

Good advice on the car rental, however we are doing train travel only. Thank you though for the heads up, I can see how that could definitely ruin a day out.

I also appreciate the heads up regarding markets opening. I have been reading about the various markets in some of the bigger cities, I did not realize there were as many as 8 markets in a city.

I attended college in Vienna back in 1993, I was too young to realize how various the markets were at the time, it all just seemed the same to me.

I traveled by train this past year from Strasbourg to freiburg. Easy. Just get to the station and purchase this ticket for next train at the kiosks. I used the DB app while in Germany.

Big believer in train travel when visiting Europe, especially the trains in Germany and Austria. I am always a little leery of the Italian trains but still use them. Life/travel is so much easier with efficient train travel.

Thank you for your input but you are preaching to the choir.

In most towns, the Tourist Info Centers, usually close to the train stations, have hard copy maps pointing out the various Xmas markets. They usually also have wooden holiday sign posts in the main plaza pointing to the directions of the specific markets. Have a magical time!

Thank you for the insight, I appreciate it since I am normally exiting a train station as fast as I can so I can start exploring.

Have been to Strasbourg, Colman and Heidelberg Markets - they are wonderful. So assuming they are open, and I believe they will be at least near the end of your time, you will have a grand time. Bring bubble wrap to wrap those beautiful gluhwein mugs you get at each market - very special mementoes!

I think I may be most excited about visiting Colmar, it seems like a really charming little city to visit. Thank you for the advice about bubble wrap, that is a great idea and not one I have thought of in the past.

We had a German rental car and no problem driving into Strasbourg. Emission sticker was not an issue