Photo: Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Seasonal
Gluhwein, twinkling old towns, and the markets that live up to the hype. A guide to Europe's Christmas market season, and how to do it right.
Every December, town squares across Europe transform into Christmas markets: wooden stalls, mulled wine, roasted nuts, and old towns lit up like snow globes. Some are magical; some are tourist traps selling the same mass-produced ornaments. This is how to tell the difference and pick the right one.
The season runs roughly late November through Christmas Eve, with most markets opening in the last week of November. Go on a weekday evening for the best atmosphere-to-crowd ratio.
Vienna's markets (especially the one at Rathausplatz) are the gold standard: huge, beautiful, and genuinely local. Munich's Marienplatz market pairs perfectly with the city's beer halls. Strasbourg calls itself the Capital of Christmas and backs it up with one of the oldest markets in Europe, in a half-timbered old town that looks built for December.
Photo: Jebulon · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt is the famous one: enormous, traditional, and the bratwurst alone justifies the trip. These are the markets worth planning a trip around, not just visiting if you happen to be there.
Stay near the old town; the markets are evening affairs and you'll want to walk back. Eat at the stalls (that's the point: sausages, roasted chestnuts, potato pancakes), drink the gluhwein from the collectible mugs, and bring cash; many stalls still don't take cards.
Photo: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Pair the market with the city's daytime sights. A Christmas market trip is really a city trip with a magical evening program: museums by day, mulled wine by night. Check our city pages for concerts and events during your dates; December calendars are packed.
The smaller markets are often better than the famous ones. Cologne has seven markets, each with its own character. Budapest's are beautiful and cheaper. And plenty of cities outside the German-speaking world do December brilliantly: London's Southbank, Prague's Old Town Square, Copenhagen's Tivoli.
The move: pick a city you'd enjoy in winter anyway, and let the market be the evening anchor. Our city pages track December events across Europe; the markets are just the start of what's on.
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