Twinkling lights, carol singers, mulled wine – and lots of beautiful Christmas goodies. Christmas markets at home and abroad are about so much more than the shopping. Whether you’re keeping it local or treating yourself to trip abroad, we’ve got the low-down on the very best markets across the UK and Europe. And, once you’ve packed your bags with handmade decorations and festive foods, check out our list of top British shopping destinations to bag even more Christmas bargains.
Frankfurt
26 November to 22 December
The Frankfurt Christmas Market is one of the largest and oldest in Germany and has been running since the 14th century in the scenic surrounds of the Römerberg. Fill your bags with its traditional wooden toys, giant sugar-coated biscuits, German sausages and the miniature candy figures called Brenten, Bethmaennchen and Quetschemaennchen. And don’t forget to take time to admire the huge Christmas tree outside the town hall, one of the largest in the country.
Cologne
26 November to 23 December
Cologne has no less than seven Christmas markets – but not only that. One of its biggest takes place beside the city’s magnificent cathedral, where the bodies of the three wise men are said to be buried, pictured above. You’ll find arts and crafts and lots of delicious food across the city and, down in front of the medieval gate, a whole village dedicated to St Nicholas. There’s a maritime themed Harbour market, a romantic Christmas village, an LGBT celebration market and, at the oldest market of all in Neumarkt, a flock of wandering angels.
Nuremberg
30 November to 24 December
Christkindlemarkt in this medieval Bavarian city has a long tradition, running in the central square since the 17th century. No mass-produced tat here, only fine handicrafts and designs. Pick up a traditional ‘prune man’ to take home – but don’t eat him, he is purely for decoration and believed to bring good fortune to the home that displays him. There’s a ‘Kinderweihnacht’ children’s market with merry-go-round and steam railway and the ‘Christkind’, the young child that takes the place of Santa to bestow gifts in this region.
Salzburg
22 November to 26 December
One of the oldest Christmas markets in the world, the Salzburg Christkindlmarkt is held in the heart of Salzburg’s World Heritage-listed Old City, with its backdrop of snow-covered mountains. After you’ve shopped for traditional Christmas decorations and gifts, check out the carol concerts, readings and parades taking place around the squares. Sample a spicy Bosna sandwich and wash down with some gluhwein – pay a few euros extra to keep the mug it is served in for a festive memento of your visit.
Paris
November to January
Enjoy three Christmas markets in this atmospheric city this year. Over 70 chalets make up the Christmas Village in Les Halles, selling traditional gifts, decorations and food, as well as an Enchanted Forest and Santa’s House for the kids (27 November to 31 December). Over at Champ de Mars you’ll find festive stalls and a skating rink underneath the Eiffel Tower from December until January, while the traditional Christmas market at Notre Dame Cathedral runs from December 15 until Christmas Eve.
Lille
17 November to 27 December
An easy trip from London – just an hour and a half on Eurostar – Lille’s Christmas market is located in the centre of town, just 10 minutes’ walk from the station. There are 80 stalls on the Place Rihour and a huge Christmas tree and Ferris wheel on nearby Grand Place.
Dubrovnik
2 December to 6 January
Unlike the centuries-old festive celebrations in Germany and Austria, the Winter Festival in this atmospheric medieval walled city is just four years old, but none the less beautiful for it. The main street, Stradun, is transformed into a twinkling marketplace selling gifts and festive foods, there’s snow at the bell tower and regular carol concerts in front of the magnificent St Blaise’s Church.
Our favourite Christmas markets in the UK
London
November to January
From festive chalets at the Southbank to Winter Wonderland at Hyde and Christmas By the River close to Tower Bridge, the capital city will be fully festived up this Christmas. And if that wasn’t enough, Leicester Square is also joining the fun – decking itself out in full seasonal marketplace splendour from November 9 to January 5. See more magical things to do in London for Christmas.
Winter Wonderland Hyde Park
November 22 to January 6
The Hyde Park extravaganza returns for its 12th year and its huge Christmas market features over 200 Bavarian style wooden chalets, packed with festive gifts, designer arts and crafts and traditional Christmas food and drink. Afterwards you could go skating on the UK’s biggest ice rink, visit the Magical Ice Kingdom, the Enchanted Forest and Santa Land, sample not one but two circuses or hang out in one of the themed bars, including a fabulously freezing Ice Bar.
Southbank Centre’s Winter Market
November 9 to December 27
With Alpine-style huts by the river, brightly lit up with fairy lights and showcasing the wares of 29 traders from around the world, the Southbank Winter Market is one of the most popular in the capital. This year it’s featuring two new pop-up bars, Bar Under the Bridge and The Circus Bar, offering tastebud-tingling cocktails and festive food in cosy hideaways by the river.
Christmas by the River
November 29 to January 2
With stunning views of the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the iconic City of London skyline, this is one of most scenic Christmas market under the stars. Browse fabulously festive finds, as well as traditional food and drink and try one of the free workshops running in December.
Bath
22 November 22 to 9 December
A magical market in one of the UK’s most beautiful cities, it’s not hard to see why Bath remains one of the best loved Christmas destinations in the country. Over 200 twinkling chalets line the atmospheric Georgian streets around the picturesque Roman Baths and the Abbey. Snap up handmade and locally-produced buys, including festive food, gifts and decorations.
York
15 November to 23 December
Equally atmospheric, the medieval laneways and cobbled streets of York make a wonderful backdrop to the city’s annual Christmas market. You’ll find chalet market stalls at St Nicholas Fair and local food and drink finds at Yorkshire Barn.
Birmingham
15 November to 23 December
If you can’t make it to Frankfurt, head for Birmingham instead. The city’s Frankfurt Christmas Market is the UK’s largest German market, featuring over 200 stalls. It’s also the largest German market held outside Germany and Austria and attracts over 3 million visitors to the city every year. From German food and drink to traditional decorations and gifts in Victoria Square, local craftspeople and artists sell their festive wares in the Christmas Craft Fair next door.
Edinburgh
16 November to 5 January
The Scottish capital is sporting two festive markets this year, with the traditional East Princes Street Gardens market offering Christmas shopping in the heart of the city, as well as a big wheel and fairground rides. It runs until January 5. Meanwhile the George St Christmas market runs until Christmas Eve, with festive stalls, Santa’s grotto and ice skating.
Winchester
17 November to 20 December
One of the largest Christmas markets in the south of England, Winchester also enjoys one of the most spectacular backdrops, with its 100 wooden chalets ranged around its stunning medieval cathedral. As well as arts, crafts, decorations and food, visitors to the festive celebration can also enjoy an open-air ice rink in Cathedral Close.
Other cathedral city Christmas markets this year include Salisbury, from November 29 to December 23 in Guildhall Square, Canterbury market at Whitefriars Square and the wonderfully original Dickens Christmas Festival in Rochester on December 1 and 2, featuring festive street entertainment, famous literary characters and a 2-day Christmas market.
Leeds
9 November to 22 December
Promising a continental-style festive shopping experience and offering German festive delicacies, Millennium Square in Leeds will play host to over 40 traditional wooden chalets as it transforms into a winter village for Christmas this year. Other attractions include the popular Christmas carousel, the indoor Frankfurter Scheune meeting hall and Alp Chalet Bavarian eatery.
Cardiff
15 November to 23 December
Taking place across the pedestrianised shopping area in the city centre, the Cardiff Christmas market this year promises an eclectic mix of new stalls and old favourites offering original and handmade buys and festive food and drink.
Getting there: travel to Europe
Interrail One Country Passes let you start your journey from your local station and get in to the heart of the country you’re travelling to from just £47; visit MyInterrail.co.uk for more information.
Getting there: fly from UK
Flybmi is offering special deal ‘Christmas market flights’ from Bristol, East Midlands, Aberdeen and Newcastle to 10 European cities including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Paris, with prices starting from £75 and including 23kg checked baggage (to bring all your goodies home!), complimentary in-flight drinks and snacks and allocated leather seating. For more information visit Flybmi
Getting there: travelling in the UK
Invest in a railcard to help you save one third off most rail fares and 60% off kids’ fares when using a Family & Friends railcard. Railcards can save you an average of £152 per year and cost just £30 – a cost which you can make back in just one trip! Visit Railcard.co.uk to find out more.
Christmas packages
For travel and accommodation in the UK and abroad, SuperBreak has a variety of packages to choose from for destinations including Edinburgh, York, Liverpool, Paris, Bruges and more, from £110 per person. Visit the website for more information.
Christmas shopping: bag a bargain
Where the savvy shoppers go for great Christmas bargains right across the UK
Bicester Village, Oxfordshire
Over 160 outlets offering savings up to 60% on standard retail prices, from brands including Prada, Gucci, Armani and Versace, Superdry, The White Company and the Cosmetics Company Store. Just one hour away from London with regular bus and train services.
Cheshire Oaks, Chester
Close to both Manchester and Liverpool, over 145 designer outlets include Burberry, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Cath Kidston, All Saints and Hobbs to name just a few, with play areas for kids, a leisure park and regular entertainment.
Birmingham
The Bullring is the city’s biggest shopping centre and there’s also the canalside Mailbox with its mix of designer shops, restaurants and bars.
Bluewater, Kent
The third largest shopping centre in the UK has over 330 stores and over 167,000 square metres of retail space centrally located close to London.
Looking for more festive fun? See our round-up of magical things to do in London for Christmas
More great shopping ideas
My ‘healing’ weekend in Austria starts with the crashing sound of the Ryanair bugle announcing ‘another on-time Ryanair flight’ as we touch down at Salzburg airport. Why do they do this?
I mentally replace it with ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ as my taxi winds its way high into the mountains skirting the city. Everywhere is covered with a light dusting of snow and as we climb higher, the landscape becomes even more stunning, soaring high peaks dropping to deep valleys with winding valleys and occasional waterfalls.
It’s a healing in itself to look out at the snow-covered rooftops of the beautiful Alpine houses. All around there are fir trees covered in snow. I think of the pictures on Christmas cards from my childhood and feel happy, remembering all that excitement and wonder.
An hour into the mountains and we reach our destination. I chortle with delight. I appear to have stepped INTO a Christmas card from my childhood. The Hotel Grüner Baum is set deep in the Kotschachal valley of Bad Gastein, 1,000 metres above sea level. It’s a collection of traditional timbered buildings set across 70 acres on the edge of Hohe Tauren National Park and has been owned and run by the Blumschein family for four generations. Each one has added a new building to their inheritance, the great-grandparents having the good sense to buy the entire valley as well as the small hunting lodge that is now the main hotel building.
I’m here for the thermal springs of Bad Gastein.
The springs have attracted a whole host of celebrities since their discovery in the 19th century – emperors and kings, politicians and artists, actors and writers have all made their way here. I read through the hotel guest book and see they’re still coming – among the recent entries are Jude Law, Liza Minnelli, King Hassan of Morocco and the entire Dutch royal family.
Healing caves in the mountain
I’m also here for the Heilstollen galleries – the ‘healing caves’ of Bad Gastein. Thousands of people flock here every year looking for relief from arthritis and other bone and joint disorders. Back in the 1940s, miners drilling for gold realised that joint pains miraculously vanished once they were deep inside the mountain caves. Word spread and the first visitors arrived to experience the ‘cure’ in 1952. They’ve been coming ever since.
How does it work?
Apparently it’s all down to the rare radon gas in the caves, drawn from deep inside the earth, which has been shown to ease joint and bone pain.
I’m especially interested in the caves, as I’ve been walking on crutches since last May, following a medical problem with my hip and surgery to regulate it. The surgery appears not to have worked, instead of spending six weeks on crutches I’ve now been on them for six months, and doctors just shake their head whenever I ask how much longer the pain will last for.
I was a bit worried though when I heard the word ‘caves’ – would I be scrabbling around rock pools and lurching down dark passageways on my sticks? But the set-up turns up to be the height of sophistication. After my first night at the hotel, I’m driven to a modern light-filled clinic that seems to be partly built into the mountainside. I have an interview with a doctor, my blood pressure is taken and then I change into the swimwear they’ve advised me to bring.
The journey into the mountain
I’m given a robe and slippers and then taken to the train – oh yes (!), a small train is going to drive us deep into the mountain, starting from an underground platform in the basement of the clinic. There’s a large group of us and we squeeze into the small carriages; there are special carriages at the back with stretchers for those who are unable to sit and need to lie down.
Then we’re off, winding our way into the darkness, but as we journey the chill snowy air starts to turn warmer. And even warmer. We get off at one point to take off our robes, then back into the train where now the temperature is soaring as we go deeper into the mountain. 20-minutes driving later and we stop, the temperature in the high 40s and the humidity hitting a sweaty 100%. A few seasoned cavers – the ones who’ve been here before – get off; the rest of us continue on until the temperature falls to 37 degrees – phew – and humidity is a mere 40%.
We get off, men and women split up and we go our separate ways, arriving at the ‘women’s cave’ where we all strip off completely and lie down on thin mattresses on wooden beds that have been attached to the cave walls. The lighting is very dim and talking is not allowed so we all settle down pretty quickly in this hot humid environment to breathe in pure radon.
It’s a surreal version of a Malory Towers dormitory in an Enid Blyton storybook but I find it much easier than I thought to relax and I sense a gentle but powerful energy coming from the wall of the cave. The doctor comes round halfway through the session to check that everybody is OK and, in what seems like a very short time, the hour is up and the train is clanking back along the track to return us to the clinic.
How do I feel afterwards?
It feels strange emerging from the darkness to see bright sunshine reflecting off the snow, and to contrast us, still covered in sweat from the caves, with the chilly air outside. I’ve really enjoyed my experience in the Heilstollen galleries – and I know this might be completely psychological, but my hip isn’t painful at all when I get off the train.
Radon treatment back at the hotel
Back at the hotel, I go to the spa for a radon bath – just to up my quota of the mineral for today. The hotel runs two separate spring pipes into its buildings – one bringing radon-rich water to the swimming pools and spa baths, the other to every tap in the place. So yes, it is safe – and super healthy – to drink the tap water!
I also have a physiotherapy session, another healing option offered by the spa alongside its regular menu of facials and massages. And my hip is feeling blissfully pain-free. In fact I haven’t bothered walking with my crutch now for the past few hours.
What’s the hotel like?
Hotel Grüner Baum rates itself as ‘four/five star’ but the hotel is too cosy, too quirky to be a fully-fledged five-star. You won’t find any palatial acres of marble-clad foyer; this reception is home to rugs that look like they’ve been walked on, old-fashioned wooden furniture, a sledge, antique typewriters and a statue of St Anthony. There are blackened hearths with roaring fires, stacks of logs and mantelpieces piled with books.
The ‘Hofapotheke’ bar is kitted out with the original interior of the old Royal & Imperial pharmacy in Innsbruck, full of hundreds of tiny drawers and large glass jars dating from the 19th century.
My bedroom in the main building has two terraces with spectacular views of the mountains that rise steeply from the edge of the hotel gardens, behind the spa building. Its windows seem to be a magnet for the the hotel’s Chamois sheep, who take particular delight looking curiously in at me every morning.
An unseasonably early fall of snow when I arrive in early October – the snowy season and skiing don’t normally start until December – has covered everything in the grounds, from the playground and the swimming pool to the rabbit huts and the petting zoo, in a thick snowy blanket.
A taste of ‘healing’ food
Plate glass windows in the Panorama restaurant give stunning views of the valley outside. And in fact it’s in the restaurant where the hotel loses its ‘homely’ atmosphere and becomes the full five-star experience. Food is one of the keystones of the hotel offering – and with a large number of guests opting for half board, they need to be on their toes to keep each evening’s offering varied. They clearly are. Over my three-night stay, I’m treated in turn to a huge buffet spread, a seven-course tasting dinner and a table d’hôte menu with excellent choices; fresh produce given a light modern touch, beautifully presented. Each evening is a treat.
The evening’s menu is delivered every day to my breakfast table – guests occupy the same tables each day, another homely touch – along with information on that day’s activities, special outings, spa deals and the weather forecast!
What else is there to do?
Curl up with a book from the hotel’s collection in the lounge or surf the internet – there’s free wifi throughout the hotel and iPads available to borrow from reception. Swim in the indoor pool, or try the Finnish sauna and steam room. A kids’ lounge has board games, Wii and Playstation, and childcare is available six days a week.
Visit in summer for the outdoor pool, or to explore the many walking trails in the area, mountain bikes and Segways are also available to guests. The petting zoo has goats, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs, guests can go horse riding or camp at the converted silver fox farm nearby.
In winter the hotel runs a shuttle service to the ski lifts, plus there’s tobogganing and snowshoe hiking, with a cross-country track starting from the hotel door – people with walking poles crunch their way purposefully past me throughout the weekend. The hotel can book activities such as mountaineering, tandem paragliding, gold panning in the local rivers, hunting, archery and sleigh rides through the national park. The scenery here is beautiful – a horse and carriage took me for a half-hour tour and it was terribly romantic, despite the fact I was by myself!
Find out more
Standard doubles cost from 229 euros (£194); suites from 310 euros (£262); single rooms from 114 euros (£96) per night on a half-board basis. Contact the hotel on 00 43 6434 25160 or visit the website at www.hoteldorf.com