Best European Xmas Market with high chance of snow

[FABrick]

Any recommendations please?
Will be parents plus a two year old and a seven year old.

Hotel recommendations appreciated as well, ideally not expensive.

[BritInUS1]

I love Vienna, Cologne is also lovely

Not sure how suitable they are for small children though

x

[FABrick]

Hm, you might be right! They have merry go rounds etc though, yes?

[NightmareMonkey]

Oooh good questions! Sounds lovely

[FABrick]

It did, but I forgot dragging a toddler around a town in the cold isn't as idyllic as it sounds!

[toffee1000]

Berlin is bloody freezing in December if you're going then.
I imagine many big cities in Germany/Austria (even smaller ones) will have a good market though.

[BritInUS1]

Yes they have the odd merry go round, but the places are very busy, it is very cold and there is a lot of walking x

[TractorTedTed]

Salzburg, Innsbruck - somewhere like that is more likely to have snow. Not guaranteed though based on recent winters.

Thermals make all the difference!

[Longdistance]

Try any Swiss city.

Prague or Vienna maybe good. Haven't been in years, but don't remember snow. However, possibly Stockholm may have snow that time of year iirc.

Copenhagen is great at Tivoli gardens, I'd assume they'd have a Xmas market. I can't remember as I haven't been for years.

I can highly recommend Nice. No snow, but massively child friendly. Everywhere we went, people were friendly to dd's. Xmas market with rides was great. The year after we went to Toulouse. No snow, was cold, and loads of things for kids to do.

[MountainDweller]

Cologne is good and also Aachen, and they are reasonably close together so you could do both in a weekend maybe? Düsseldorf also in that region and not bad - is a nice town but it used to have lots of little markets spread around town rather than one big one. Not sure if that's still the case. Not much chance of snow though.

More likelihood of snow in Switzerland though not in in Geneva area. Geneva is not up to much anyway but I've heard Montreux is good.

[swimster01]

Vienna's Christmas markets are very nice and Vienna is a lovely city. The only thing though is that the markets can get very busy so may be a little too much for a two year old?? Have been to Prague but not at Christmas but can imagine it is equally lovely there too.

[FABrick]

Thanks for feedback. I'll come back to the idea maybe in a few years I think. Unless people have gone with toddlers and would recommend.

[tshirtsuntan]

Klagenfurt is lovely, smaller than Vienna, great lake just outside the town, lots of little rides and fab markets.

[keepmoving]

www.croatiaweek.com/zagreb-wins-best-european-christmas-market-title/

Zagreb, Croatia is worth a look...

[keepmoving]

Also flights only about 2 hrs away, direct from London or Manchester.

[GlowWine]

As an aside, we've done Christmas markets with a nearly-toddler (18 months but not walking) by taking her in a backpack child carrier thing. Total success. She could see everything and crowds were not so much an issue.
Hope you have a nice time, I love German Christmas markets

[AndNoneForGretchenWieners]

Cologne is my favourite but you are pretty much guaranteed snow in Garmisch Partenkirchen. And it's fab.

[Nazdarovye]

Bruges in Belgium.

[Nazdarovye]

Not sure about the snow though. But nowadays snow is not guaranteed in lots of places in Europe.

[JaneEyre70]

We did Prague last year and I hated it. It was pretty, don't get me wrong, with the castle lit up and lots of little wooden huts but it was all made for tourists heinously priced tat, and so many hawkers everywhere. I actually wanted to punch the people selling Segway tours in the end. It felt very inauthentic, and the stench of the cheap meat cooking was enough to make you gag. Didn't enjoy it at all, and wished we'd gone for Salzburg or Vienna.

[SunSeptember]

Op we did the brilliant longleat Christmas once, then decided to do bath's Christmas market after. It was nightmarish. Couldn't even get near the stalls. Didn't enjoy it at all. Older dd was ok but younger..