31 Comments

  1. Milena Yordanova
    August 18, 2014 @ 3:07 pm

    Great informative post! I’m planning a trip to Berlin for the Christmas markets this year. I can’t wait to try all these delicious things. 🙂

  2. Linda Bibb
    February 21, 2014 @ 8:42 pm

    Having grown up outside New York and visited the city every December, I’ve always associated the fragrance of roasting chestnuts with Christmas. Those Christmas Markets sound like a great way to experience a special part of German culture. I’d love to go and have the chance to have glühwein and appelwein warm me up while I’m walking around the market. 🙂

  3. Larry
    February 8, 2014 @ 8:15 pm

    This is why I have to experience Xmas in Europe one of these years … can you say mulled wine?!

    • Andrew
      March 13, 2014 @ 12:56 pm

      Yeah, definitely if you haven’t been to Europe, Christmas is an interesting time to visit. Definitely cold and often snowy, but plenty of markets in Germany to explore.

  4. Alfredo Begazo
    January 8, 2014 @ 8:18 pm

    I would love to taste every little pastry and piece of chocolate at this fair. Never been to Germany yet.

    • Andrew
      January 19, 2014 @ 7:27 am

      If this kind of thing is for you, try to schedule a trip to Germany during Advent. Just be aware that it can be cold and blustery here at that time of year.

  5. Patti
    November 19, 2013 @ 4:09 am

    Thanks for sharing this post. We are giving thought to going to Germany and Austria for the Christmas Markets in 2014, this was great information for me to tuck away.

    • Andrew
      November 21, 2013 @ 9:30 pm

      Sounds good. Glad you enjoyed it.

  6. Jeff
    November 19, 2013 @ 12:22 am

    The apple wine sounds delicious.

    • Andrew
      November 21, 2013 @ 9:30 pm

      It really is.

  7. Nicole | The Wondernuts
    November 6, 2013 @ 11:11 pm

    My goodness. Well, Germany for Christmas it is! That looks just amazing! =D

    • Andrew
      November 8, 2013 @ 8:14 pm

      Yup, totally. Come come.

  8. Anna
    November 6, 2013 @ 11:39 am

    I am feeling happiness overload! The closest I’ve come to a German Christmas Market is a Belgian one, in Brugges, and it was DELIGHTFUL. I feel like I’d abstain from food for a week in advance and then try EVERYTHING.

    Also, I hadn’t heard about the PFAND before. Very useful info!

    • Andrew
      November 8, 2013 @ 8:14 pm

      Pfand is SO the German thing. It is on bottles and such normally. 8 cents for a beer bottle or 25 cents on a can or big coke bottle. There are machines in the grocery store. At festival time they just go the extra mile for the deposits on the plates. The upside is that you get real dishes and they don’t get thrown away (Germans like the environment a lot), downside is having to fight back through the crowd to get your 2E back.
      I bet Belgian markets are fun too. Good tasty beer. We didn’t get to Brugge at all this summer, but it always sounded pretty.

  9. Susan Nelson
    November 6, 2013 @ 1:45 am

    I think it’s the Christmas markets that help us get through the grey days of Winter. Cheery photos, bright colors, very festive. Thank you!

    • Andrew
      November 8, 2013 @ 8:11 pm

      Oh indeed. It is also what makes Jan and Feb so unbearable. December has all the shiny lights and nice drinks and Jan and Feb have gray nothing with the flash of Fasching.

  10. Cathy Sweeney
    November 6, 2013 @ 1:34 am

    Nice guide. I am a total Christmas market addict. Still hoping for a way to get to Europe for them this year. Cheryl mentioned the one at Schloss Charlottenberg — that was my very first German Christmas market. It was great. Love Glühwein and bratwurst sandwiches!

    • Andrew
      November 8, 2013 @ 8:10 pm

      Wow, your very first one was in Berlin. Very cool. Hope you make it back this year.

  11. Rina Engel
    November 5, 2013 @ 12:37 pm

    Welcome to Berlin for X-Mas season. You should definitely visit the christmas fair at Charlottenburger Schloss. But do not miss the christmas market in Böhmischen Dorf in Neukölln. It is open only from friday to sunday on 2nd Advent. But you will find all kinds of crafts (and of course food and beverages) made by charity organisations. It is the most wonderful christmas market Berlin has to offer. Underground station will be Karl-Marx-Straße. Just follow the stream of visitors.
    Another really lovely christmas market is not in Berlin but in Potsdam in the Holländisches Viertel (Dutch Quarter). It will be on 2nd Advent weekend only, too. Because Potsdam is just southwest of Berlin we even have the S-Bahn going there.
    Have fun and enjoy your stayin Berlin.

    • Andrew
      November 8, 2013 @ 8:10 pm

      Hi Rina,

      thanks for the tips. We will definitely keep them in mind, but if I count the weekends right, that is likely the weekend we will be in Dresden.
      Charlottenburger Schloss sounds like something for high on the list. Any other favorites that will be open the entire season?

      • Rina Engel
        November 11, 2013 @ 8:34 am

        Unfortunately the most Berlin christmas markets are mostly fairs with cheap produced stuff. But try Sophienstraße, the Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg, Gendarmenmarkt and the foreign churches within Berlin. I remember that the Swedish and Danish church had their own christmas market on sundays.I haven’t visited them for years, but remember them in a positive way (no caroussels, but products from artists). I am not sure when this markets will be, but all new-papers and the magazin ZITTY will announce it somewhere around the end of November.

        Another tip, absolutely not christmas-marketish, is the Naschmarkt at Markthalle Neun, Eisenbahnstr. 42/43 in Kreuzberg. It will be on 1st of December only from 12-18 p.m.. At Naschmarkt a lot of chocolatiers are presenting and selling their products. Besides you will see a real market-hall. They had been the early supermarkets in the last century and we have only a few left in Berlin. Be there at 12 pm. Othervise you won’t have a chance to see anything. It’s always crowded.

        • Andrew
          November 21, 2013 @ 9:29 pm

          Thanks for the good tips. We will hunt out a few of these.
          That idea that they are mostly just fairs with cheap stuff, I understand. Commercialization strikes. Naschmarkt sounds awesome. Hope I remember it when time comes. Markthallen Neun is on my list for a lot of reasons.

      • Rina Engel
        November 11, 2013 @ 8:38 am

        oh, totally forgot. Have fun in Dresden. Beautiful city. Try to visit the Aisi-Panorama. It will give you the possibilty to see Dresden at the time of 1782.
        Eat Stollen. They do have the best Stollen ever!

  12. Henry | @fotoeins
    November 4, 2013 @ 9:34 pm

    Your story is making me weep with longing for the Weihnachtsmärkte. 😉 From the time I set foot in the D-land at the end of 2001, I got hooked. Even if it’s too crowded with a bit of jostling, I find that people are generally polite and in high-spirits. I seem to find myself in Heidelberg more often than not … Last fall, I finally visited the Weihnachtszauber at Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt with a number of people; while the 1Euro might put some people off, I think it’s worth a visit. Finally, I’ve got 3 words left: Fehlt mir sehr! Thanks for your post!

    • Andrew
      November 8, 2013 @ 8:09 pm

      Sorry to make you weep, though glad you enjoyed the post. I remember the night we hung out the three of us in Freiburg, eating Kartoffelpuffer. Thanks for the Gendarmenmarkt tip. Weird that they charge an entrance fee (that is what you mean right?), but only a euro isn’t so bad.

  13. Cheryl Howard
    November 2, 2013 @ 11:53 pm

    You def have to check out some of the markets in Berlin. The one at Schloss Charlottenberg is great! I’m going to miss them this year. 🙁

    • Andrew
      November 3, 2013 @ 12:01 pm

      We are here for the entire season and have a constant desire to be out of the apartment. I am sure we will go hunt down as many of the markets as we can. “Schloss” sounds good too. We like castles.

  14. Heidi
    November 2, 2013 @ 10:16 pm

    BTW I am going to share this article over at the Berthoud Oktoberfest Facebook page that I run. 🙂

    • Andrew
      November 3, 2013 @ 11:59 am

      Thank you. 🙂

  15. Heidi
    November 2, 2013 @ 10:15 pm

    I’d love to go to a real German Christmas Market one day. We are lucky to have a fairly authentic one here in Denver, but I’m sure it’s not the same. However, when it’s all you’ve got, it works out just fine.

    • Andrew
      November 3, 2013 @ 12:01 pm

      “The same” is a myth. I have been to a number across Germany. Each one has similar themes, but none is the same as any other. I expect as long as you have sausage and mulled wine at your market and you do it out in the cold, it is fairly close to authentic for some part of Germany.