Christmas Markets are a centuries-old tradition in Germany, taking over town squares with colorful booths filled with handmade gifts, holiday decorations, food and entertainment that includes concerts and puppet shows.
After a two-year Pandemic pause, the festive outdoor markets are back, including some that are bigger and better than before.
Here are some of the best Christmas Markets in Germany, most of which are daily through Christmas Eve.
In alphabetical order, since that’s the only fair way –
Dresden Christmas Market
This is the 588th Striezelmarkt in Dresden, Germany’s oldest Christmas market! Visitors will see a gigantic candle arch made from wood, a prime example of craftmanship from the nearby Ore Mountains
Another highlight is the Dresden Stollen, traditional German Christmas fruitcake.
Frankfurt Christmas Market
The traditional Frankfurt Christmas Market is one of the oldest in Germany. It has been documented since 1393 and attracts around three million visitors every year.
One of the market’s main specialties are Frankfurt “Bethmännchen”, a sweet marzipan (almond paste) pastry that was apparently a favorite with the poet Johann-Wolfgang von Goethe.
Frankfurt’s Christmas Market is in the city’s Alte Stadt (Old Town).
Read more about the Frankfurt Christmas Market in my article for the Everett Potter Travel Report.
Gorlitz Christmas Market
The Silesian Christmas Market in this city in Saxony features special church services including traditional Christmas carols. Local choirs perform both indoor and outdoors.
The market features more than 100 booths of merchants and artisans, surrounded by Renaissance and Baroque trading houses.
Ludwigsburg Baroque Christmas Market
This city just one hour from Stuttgart is home to one of the most beautiful Baroque palaces and gardens in Europe, so its Christmas Market has a Baroque theme, including concerts of Baroque music.
In addition to the traditional Christmas Market food, there are also Swabian specialties, such as Schupfnudeln (potato noodles) and “Holzofendinnede” – a delicacy similar to tarte flambée, baked in a wood-fired oven. Gingerbread also is served fresh from the oven.
Rostock Christmas Market
During the season of Advent, the Rostock city center is transformed into the largest Christmas market in Northern Germany.
Stalls and rides are lined up along a three-kilometer stroll filled with all kinds of specialties, handicrafts, and a breeze of sea air, because the Baltic Sea is not too far away.
Rothenburg on Tauber
It is Christmas year-round at the town’s German Christmas Museum and attached shop of Kathe Wohlfahrt decorations and decor, and during Advent the annual “Reiterlesmarkt” takes over most of the historic town square.
Be sure to sample the local Flammkuchen, a flatbread topped with sour cream or crème fraiche, bacon and caramelized onions that’s sometimes described as a German pizza.
My favorite confection any time of year is a Schneeball, which is strips of dough wrapped into a ball, deep-fried, then covered with confectioners sugar or chocolate. Whenever my Bavarian-born mother made them at home when I was growing up in NYC, I could barely wait for the strips to cool off before devouring them.
In Rothenburg, you can walk it off with a memorable stroll around the two-mile town Medieval wall, one of the longest surviving town walls in Europe.
Rothenburg is about 90 minutes north of Munich by train or car.
Stuttgart Christmas Market
The city that is home to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche and their fabulous museums also has one of the best Christmas Markets in Germany, including a contest for the best stalls.
Traditional Swabian specialties and delicacies, include a “Springerle” stall selling not only the carved wooden molds needed to produce this traditional cookie, but also the aniseed-flavored biscuits themselves. And “Hutzelbrot” – a sweet fruit loaf made of dark yeast dough — is an absolute ‘must’ when strolling round the Christmas market.
Children get their own special activities at the Children’s Christmas market with hands-on activities, a genuine miniature steam engine, and the live animals in the Nativity scene.
And even though it’s not a traditional market, the Christmas Garden in the Wilhelma Zoological and Botanical Gardens transforms the grounds into a romantic fairy-tale wonderland with glittering light installations and audio-visual effects.
Trier Christmas Market
The oldest city in Germany, Trier also has one of the country’s most spectacular Christmas markets, with daily activities ranging from historical pupper theater to star tenors or figureheads of the regional music scene.
The market is where the “Mulled Wine Queen” resides, and takes the throne yearly for the holiday season, which is in Trier’s Old City, with its stunning cathedral. Trier is in the Rhineland.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter updated portions of Fodor’s Essential Germany 2022 edition,
including the chapters for Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg, Frankfurt and Heidelberg,
all of which I have visited repeatedly at various times of the year.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as 1st VP of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA) and is a former Board Member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW).
Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.
Also follow my NYC website, NYC Travel Guru
Copyright (C) Evelyn Kanter
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