Can we have a Christmas Market thread? Where are you going?

[MissAmbrosia]

After avoiding them since before Covid/lots of cancellations I am planning a mammoth Xmas market season this year. Planned so far - Aachen, Lille and Arras, and Lyon, with the obligatory trip to the Brussels market and probably Leuven. Possibly Maastricht also.

Where have you been / are you going? Maybe we can share recommendations?

I've enjoyed in previous years:

Monschau,
Valkenburg (in the caves)
Bruges - small market but the city is always lovely to visit
Ghent - prefer to Bruges
Strasbourg - surprisingly lovely and very christmassy.
Cologne - lots of different markets. Very pretty. The main market near the Dom was packed though to the extent it frightened me.

Just Manchester Xmas markets this year.

Live in London but tend to avoid Winter Wonderland.

Previous years I’ve loved Prague and Vienna Xmas markets.

Don’t think I’ll make any this year. Where are you flying to for Aachen? That’s one I would like to visit.
Ive been to:
Cologne - there are a few there, I liked them all
Vienna
Munich
Augsburg
Liverpool

I liked them all, love the smells in Germany at Christmas.

Vienna for us this year.

Had Valkenburg booked a couple of years back (or whenever it would have been) but cancelled due to Covid - might go back to that next year, it looks great.

Hamburg is lovely, been a couple of times.

Bruges is dire - anyone considering it should go in the summer and go somewhere nicer for Christmas markets.

Edinburgh markets are an horrendous bunfight and full of tat, but love the city.

Can't think where else I've been ...

Should have said in OP that I live in Belgium so I'm very lucky that there are lots within 2 hours of travelling time.

We are going to Salzburg this year

Cologne is the best we have been to

Cologne was lovely but SO busy - hard to find places to sit down. Interested to see what Aachen will be like in comparison.

We have been to Hamburg several times as. DH is from there. Lovely and also lots. of other things to. do.

We look into Munich for next year.

Nürnberg is. great but really busy at the weekends, even when we lived just 30 minutes away, we avoided the weekends at all costs.

I'd like to go to Nuremburg

Munich this year
Been to Koln, Munich, Frieburg, Nuremberg previously.
Dont bother in The UK any more as they are a bit crap

Pre covid I went to Berlin. Loved it there.

What's Freiburg like?

We’re off to Berlin. Any top tips?

Bath, because I'm singing there. Wouldn't go otherwise

Depends what kind of Christmas market you’re after really - Berlin has them all, and each of them has a slightly different character.
To state the bleeding obvious, they’re generally most overcrowded on the Advent Sundays just after it gets dark, late afternoon to early evening.
Gendarmenmarkt is probably a good one to start off at - it’s one of the few to ask a few euros entrance fee, but you do get free music for that and it’s definitely got the swankiest artisanal stuff in the city. No cheap tat here. We often combine that one with the nearby Staatsoper one around Unter den Linden, which is a nice-but-not-tatty kinda place. Then walk across to Alexanderplatz to get the full-on cheapy effect, they have this huge outdoor Glühwein bar in the shape of a wooden Christmas decoration, it’s quite astonishing. Alex also has a skating rink, as well as about 300 stalls selling the same cheap winter gloves and hats.
Moving on to Potsdamer Platz, there’s always the big tyre slide ride thing there, and an indoor Stiegl Austrian beer hut (my fave Austrian beer which is tricky to find in Berlin usually). We often meet up at Potsdamer after work because it’s just so central.
In the ‚cool‘ district of Prenzlauer Berg there’s a hipster market at the weekends, can’t remember what it’s called but it’s some Scandi girl‘s name. It’s just painfully cool all round.
Europa Center is still very popular, but I find it the tackiest of all markets (with a fairground feeling) and just can’t forget that was the scene of the terrorist attack some years back. Bad vibes.
a few outliers that are worth considering: Potsdam is cute as heck when decorated, so well worth an excursion if you want that small-town feeling. Some people would say the same about Spandau, but I think it lacks class.
That‘s probably enough for you to be getting on with, but it’s still nowhere near ALL the markets. Have fun!

Just to add: the hipster one is called Lucia, and it’s Scandi themed, in a place called the Kulturbrauerei.

It’s lovely, the town is too.
Its a manageable size. You can also do a day trip by coach into France for a French market.
The only problem is that there isn’t a very nearby airport, we flew to Basle and got the train, which wasn’t too difficult. You can also go up into the mountains in search of snow to Titisee, which is beautiful but a bit more touristy
We have been 3 or 4 times, it was the first one we took the DC to

Strasbourg for us.

We’re going to Rouen this year.
Been to Cologne and Nuremberg. Loved Nuremberg so much. Can’t wait to take DC one day.

Ive only been to Edinburgh xmas Market and as you say its full of tat.
I always thought the obes abroad would be the same on a bigger scale. Whats the difference in a good one abroad as opposed to the Edinburgh one?

For me, Edinburgh is just so 'hemmed in'. The ones I've been to abroad tend to be a bit more spread out on a wider scale across the cities, rather than all funnelled in to one place and follow an up and down route - and just better organised somehow. Less repetitive on what's for sale too, although there is always some of that.

Add to that often better weather - bright and crisp cold, rather than often dull and wet.

I love Edinburgh, but would definitely never go at Christmas market time again.

We're going to Budapest. Not going predominately for the Xmas markets but will be having a browse.

Only overseas one I’ve ever been to is Olomouç in the Czech Republic. It was gorgeous. Less manic than Prague but still loads there.
This year it’ll be the local one only!

Thanks @Whitney168

Ooohhh following with interest.

Does anyone know if you can take dogs in the European ones?