Forget your local high street this Christmas and make your way to one of Europe’s fabulous Christmas markets. Mingle with the locals and meander through the festive stalls, tippling on mulled wine while Christmas carols singers serenade you.
So squeeze in a festive mini-break now and come home with some unusual goodies and prezzies.
Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park, London
Hyde park winter wonderland
This is not just a Christmas market. This is the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland with shows such as Justin Fletcher’s singalong, Zippo’s Christmas circus, a themed ice kingdom, an ice bar and the world’s tallest observation wheel (70 metres high).
But you can tone down with excitement and just relax strolling around the Christmassy huts sipping a mulled cider and nibbling on a fudge treat.
When: 27th November 2023 – 1st January 2024
Montepulciano Christmas Market, Tuscany, Italy
Festive sweet treats at Montepulciano Christmas Market (c) Pug Girl
The Medieval hilltop town of Montepulciano in Tuscany hosts a free-to-enter Christmas Market every year starting in November. Located in the Piazza Grande and the neighbouring streets, there are more than 70 wooden huts selling traditional crafts, sweet treats, leather goods and Christmas decorations. making it the largest Christmas market in Central Itlay. The market, which overlooks the cultivated hills of Val D’Orcia, also has a carousel and mini ranch with ponies.
Nearby the Poliziana Fortress has been transformed into the Castle of Santa Claus. Children can visit Santa and participate in activities and interactive shows. There is also an ice skating rink in the fortress garden.
When: On certain dates in December (for a full list of dates click here).
Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market, UK
(c) Visit Winchester
Winchester Christmas Market attracts more than 400,000 visitors a year and is brimming with festive cheer. Overlooking Winchester Cathedral, the market has more than 100 chalets selling such festive delights as mulled wine, bratwurst, mince pies and stolen. The cathedral is lit up after twilight and casts a beautiful glow over the market. There will also be an open-air ice rink with a huge Christmas tree in the centre.
Be sure to check out the Christmas events in the cathedral including a Christmas Lantern Parade and carol concert.
When: 17th November to 21st December 2023
Tallinn Christmas Market, Estonia
Tallinn Christmas Market (c) Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar
The historic Old Town transforms into a shopping haven where you can buy traditional Estonian food and handicrafts, toys and hand-made jumpers, sheepskins and felt hats. Choirs and musicians fill the air with music, and carol singers entertain throughout the duration.
Temperatures barely hit zero at this time of year, and the tall city’s spires and colourful medieval houses create a frosty, white-tinged setting. Amid this backdrop, stallholders sell felt hats, slippers, buckwheat pillows, wooden bowls and artefacts, wickerwork, beautiful hand-sewn quilts, ceramics and glassware, sea-grass animals, home-made candles, Christmas wreaths, knitted hats, scarves and traditional cardigans.
The scent of hot mulled wine fills the air, along with the delicious aromas of Estonian holiday foods that include pork, sauerkraut, blood sausages, hot soups, gingerbread, marzipan, honey, cookies, nuts and sweets.
When: from 1st December 2023 to 7th January 2024
Striezelmarkt, Dresden, Germany
Striezelmarkt in Dresden (c) Torsten Hufsky
The Striezelmarkt is probably the oldest Christmas Market in Germany and this year (2023) it will take place for the 589th time. The Striezelmarkt (from the word Striezel meaning long, plaited bun), is famous for its Stollenfest – a Stollen is the German version of Christmas cake made with fruit and marzipan. Bakers set about baking the world’s biggest Christmas cake, which ends up weighing around four tonnes and is served to the public on December 5th, but not before hundreds of pastry chefs carry the cake through the old town.
Things to buy include nutcrackers, glass art from Thuringia (you may catch glassblowers and woodcarvers doing their thing) and ceramic from Upper Lusatia.
When: 11th to 30th December 2023
Tuomaan Markkinat, Helsinki, Finland
Helsinki Christmas Market (c) Aarni Heiskanen
Finns love to celebrate Christmas, and Tuomaan Markkinat is the oldest and largest event of its kind in Helsinki. There is also a very good chance the whole of the city will be covered in a thick blanket of snow while twinkling lights float above Aleksanterinkatu, Helsinki’s official Christmas street.
The lights are a long-standing tradition that first began in 1949 to signify hope after World War Two. The market is located in Senate Square and is a place to purchase beautifully crafted gifts as well as locally-grown produce, fish, meats and prepared foods. There is also a traditional merry-go-round that provides free rides for children.
When: From 1st December to 22nd December 2023
Vienna Christmas Market, Austria
Christmas decorations at the Rathausplatz Christmas Market in Vienna (c) Cha già José
With over a million visitors a year Vienna Christmas Market on Rathausplatz is probably the most popular Christmas market in Europe. More than 100 stalls make up a motley mix of gift ideas from candied fruit, arts and crafts, scented beeswax candles. In Austria, it’s all about baked apples and roasted chestnuts. Nosh these down with a mug of Gluhwein while listening to the chorus of trumpeters to get into the mood.
When: From 18th November 2023 to 7th January 2024
Lille Christmas Market, France
The Ferris wheel at Lille Christmas Market (c) Maurits Verbiest
In the run-up to Christmas, Lille dazzles with colours and lights. Ninety wooden chalet-style stalls grace Place Rihour, roasting chestnuts and selling jewellery, toys and gifts. Don’t go home without trying the waffles and gingerbread.
Just a short walk away in the Grand’Place, offering all the fun of the fair, is a big Ferris wheel that gives a birds’ eye view over the city and there’s always a merry-go-round dancing to the sounds of Noel.
Explore the Old City where each street is decorated with many evergreen garlands embellished with red and gold ribbons (rue de la Grande Chaussée and rue de la Monnaie, for example).
When: 17th November to 30th December 2023
Brussels Christmas Market
Brussels Christmas Market (c) Ben Kerckx
If you love Belgian chocolate and are up for trying regional goodies such as ‘klaasjes’ – flat hard cakes – and ‘speculoos’, a hard gingerbread moulded in the form of St Nicholas, then nip over to Brussels for your festive shopping.
Plates of moules or steamed snails are everywhere in case you get peckish. Also, you can get your skates on and enjoy gliding around the ice rink located on the Place de la Monnaie. There will also be a Christmas tree and light and sound show on the Grand-Place.
When: 24 November 2023 to 31 December 2023
Tivoli Christmas Market, Copenhagen
Tivoli Christmas Market (c) Maria Eklind
Tivoli Gardens is turned into a Christmas wonderland full of Christmas trees, gorgeous lighting, Christmas shows and colourful stalls. Treat yourself or someone else to some Copenhagen porcelain or wooden dolls. But don’t go home without trying the traditional glögg – a Danish mulled wine mixed with liquor and spices.
There are also various amusements like a skating rink, pony rides and a cosy Christmas bazaar complete with a smiley Father Christmas.
When: From 19th November to 31st December 2023.
