What German city? (Christmas markets)

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Family of 4 (kids 14 and 11) weekend in December, what German city would be the best weekend break with a good Christmas market? I wanted to do Berlin as I assumed they'd have interesting museums, but just read a rather scathing review which has put me off! It's only 2 nights, so looking for a good Christmas market and some interesting culture to soak up for a day or so!

My parents have been going every year for years and years. They love Frankfurt and Cologne.

Also, I love Munich for culture/city break, but I don't know how the markets are.

You'd have to hurry up as they typically close on January 6th!

But Nürnberg has one of the nicest Christmas markets.

@cameliasun sorry should have said it's for next year!

Munich. They also have a great indoor water park/spa. I forget the same. But it’s really good

Lübeck is lovely and traditional, but Berlin is great . If the scathing review was about the people then I totally get it but otherwise it’s good at Christmas. There’s also Heidelberg. Aim for somewhere that despite being bombed was rebuilt ‚traditionally‘

There are definitely good museums in Berlin! But I would go somewhere in the south for a market by choice.

DH is from Hamburg and we have been there several times. Easy to get from the airport to the city center. You can do Lübeck by direct train also.

There is a big market directly at the Town Hall and several small ones dotted around the center.

Nürnberg - lovely. We lived nearby for sevaral years and it is heaving at the weekend. But the town itself is also nice, very walkable and there is public transport from the airport. Or you can fly to Frankfurt and take a train but that's a good 2 hours.

Berlin - we did it this year. First time in over 30 years for me. We flew late Friday and left for the airport on Sunday at 4pm, so not that much time.
Several markets, the best we went to is at the Red Town Hall (Rotes Rathaus) and Gendarmenmarkt.
We walked around the parliament buildings (Reichstag) and the Holocaust memorial plus the East Side Gallery where there kept a large portion of the Wall. There wasn't anymore time for museums but obviously there are plenty.

We have been to several other markets but none of them is near an airport so for just a Friday - Sunday trip it takes quite some time to travel.

If you have time, then look at Rothenburg maybe. Other towns with easier access are Cologne (via Düsseldorf and a train) or Munich.

We went to Munich last year, it was lovely. There were lots of different markets, often with a theme, including a medieval one, a fairytale one, a large market on the sight of the Oktoberfest, there's even one at the airport! We also did a night at Erding, to visit the amazing spa there.

I'd definitely recommend it, although I haven't been to any of the other German ones, so can't really compare!

Travel YouTubers Kara and Nate have just done a video series '9 Christmas markets in 9 countries in 9 days' - this is part one:

Just in case you were assuming German Christmas Markets could only be found in Germany (we have one in Leeds most years!).

I think their favourite one was actually Strasbourg.

Thanks everyone, going to look into Munich more I think. @tribpot I've never been to Germany before so keen to visit, but will take a look at that video!

The Prague Christmas market is absolutely beautiful and the the town so pretty (and relatively cheap)!

I took DD to Berlin in 2019. There are a lot of small Xmas markets, we did them in the late afternoon/ evening and saw the sights during the day. We had an amazing few days. Would definitely recommend

We really liked Nuremberg

This is a beautiful town and an easy train ride from Stuttgart. Looks the market is quite short though.

https://christmasmarkets.io/germany/tuebingen-christmas-market/

It's not Germany, but Wroclaw Xmas market was pretty good last year, and there's the added bonus that it's half the price of Krakow, with far fewer foreign tourists.

I'm Celle born and lived for many years interspersed with UK living. My favourite Christmas Market us Cologne.

We went in summer but Nurnberg is just lovely and we heard all about the markets when we were there. There are traditional dec shops there all year round.

best of all it was super convenient as plane to train at the airport took about 10 minutes and then just another 15 minutes into town. Half an hour airplane to hotel. Amazing.

Aachen. It is a beautiful little city, with a fantastic cathedral which is a UNESCO World heritage site, the christmas market is spread through the city, but the whole place is very compact.

And you can get there by Train from London (with a change in Brussels which, if you pick the Eurostar for both parts of the journey, is usually a walk across a platform)

Bigger places with nice Christmas markets would be Cologne (the fantastic art gallery the Ludwig Museum is a bonus but it is a lot bigger than Aachen and VERY crowded) or Düsseldorf (ditto very crowded)

Further afield places like Regensburg and Freiburg are also pretty full but very pretty and not as crowded as Nürnburg.

Or up north Lüneburg and Celle are beautiful.

That's not actually a Christmas market, just a crafts fair happening several times a year. There's also a week-long chocolate fair in mid-December which is wildly popular with tourists.

You can visit Bonn markets too if you are staying in Cologne, so 2 cities at once. You can get the train or number 16 or 18 tram between the 2.

Aachen is fairly close too.

We did Vienna this year for 3 nights 2 days with our kids which was amazing - not Germany but close enough! Great markets