Every year I trie to visit a Christmas Market in Germany. There have their own special atmosphere, that really fits to this time of the year. All those tiny wooden houses, with the shops with all those typical German things. Wooden Christmas decorations, the nativity scenes and the Christmas ornaments. But also really nice handcrafted shawls and sweaters and all kinds of other stuff. I love to walk around and enjoy this and all of the lights. Because it is winter time and we need a lot of light to get us through this dark december month. Plus I’m just a fan of light!!
And than all the special Christmas market food. All german style like; pfannkuchen, reibekuchen, crepes, bratkartoffeln and of course the bratwurst or a curry wurst. But my personal favorite today was the cheese spätzle!
And you can’t leave the Christmas Market without drinking a Glühwein or a hot chocolate in those special mugs they make every year for every market!
The top 5 Christmas Markets to visit for me are:
Berlin: so many markets. You can spend a weekend their and not visit every market they have. My personal favorites where the one at Potsdammerplatz and the ‘Spandauer Weihnachtsmarkt’ in the old city centre of Spandau.
Düsseldorf: this city in ‘das Ruhrgebiet’ has several markets all just next to each other. To make your visit extra special you can take a city tour where they tell you all the Christmas highlights of the city.
Oberhausen: this is the one I visited this year. It is really nice because there are a lot of handcrafted traditional things you can buy. And so many nice food. Also the lights are amazing. And I didn’t do it, but if your sick of the Christmas shopping you can just hit the mall. (Centro)
Valkenburg: not in Germany but also really nice is the market in Valkenburg, which is in ‘de fluweelgrot’. This market is in a cave and that makes it really special. There are 50 shops and the atmosphere is amazing.
Aachen: This is the first Christmas market I visited. Really nice on both of the squares. And last year they were voted third best Christmas Market of Europe!!