Christmas is long past, but much like the cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies filling our Netflix feed all year long, I am here to write about the Christmas markets I visited in December 2022.
History
European Christmas markets first began in the 13th century in Vienna, as fairs for local enjoyment or as a market for local meat and baked goods. They soon grew all across Germany and Austria, with the ones at Dresden and Nuremberg said to be the oldest and the most popular. These two markets started as early as the 15th century and till today scholars argue that perhaps these had begun much earlier.
Germany had a count of more than 3,000 Christmas markets in 2019. The markets did not take place at all during the pandemic over the last two years and 2022 was seen by many cities as a revival of the good old days. The markets generally start in the last week of November (around 21st or 23rd of November) and end in the 2nd week of January (around 11th - 13th January) every year.
Reasons to visit Christmas markets
Imagine a cosy, snowy, well-lit evening. Imagine a 90-foot Christmas tree with immense Nativity displays, a giant carousel and beautiful old-fashioned huts selling Christmas goodies. If you’ve seen the aforementioned cheesy Christmas movies, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
People are usually in a great mood all around; everyone has a mug of wine and something sweet to munch on. If you live in Germany, be prepared to be asked out by everyone you know to visit the local Christmas market. Friends, colleagues, families, potential dates will all go out to the nearby Christmas market and it becomes a large part of one’s social life from late November onwards.
Most markets are set against very dramatic backdrops of local cathedrals, churches or castles and usually have fun themes such as Middle Ages, elves or colour-based themes.
Since it’s ice-cold in Germany by the time the markets open in November, Glühwein or mulled wine is the beloved drink at all markets. Each market also has its own version of a Glühwein mug, designed with the city name and a famous landmark. You can keep this mug for a few Euros and it can be a great memento of the city and location you visited. Other unique goodies to look forward to are freshly-made cinnamon flavoured popcorn, ginormous pretzels and heart-shaped gingerbread cookies with pretty messages on them. Handmade art and craftworks, wooden and ceramic pottery, tiny enamel sculptures and kitchen instruments are present on all stalls and can be great souvenirs.
Christmas markets I visited in 2022
This year, I visited a lot of markets across Germany and thought I would share a small guide with you all, so you would have it handy for your next visit.
Pforzheim Christmas market
Pforzheim is a small town close to the Black Forest, about 30 minutes from Stuttgart by train. The Christmas market here is based on the Middle Ages and has fire eaters, court jesters, medieval swords and ancient silver mugs.
If you take a trip to Pforzheim, you can also explore the Black Forest, which can be directly accessed from the town and also visit more popular cities like Baden-Baden or Freiburg. You can also reach the French border in about 2 hours and Paris in 3 hours.
I love visiting Pforzheim for more reason than that - it’s where I went to university and I love the forest and the beautiful sunshine in that part of Germany; I just love Pforzheim and it was my home away from home for quite a long time.
Römerberg at Frankfurt
Frankfurt has about 7 or 8 different markets (I’m guessing new markets keep cropping up every year) and I got to visit 6 of them this Christmas.
Frankfurt’s city center is called the New Old Town. Not kidding; it’s called Neue Altstadt in German. The reason for that is a wonderful reconstruction project taken up by the Frankfurt government from 2012 to 2018 to rebuild the entire old city center, which was bombed in the second world war. Each and every building was rebuilt. The city center is really beautiful with old cobblestones and pink-and-white gingerbread houses and gorgeous fountains. I’ll write another piece on it for sure, because as an architecture buff, I love the reconstruction story. This is also where Frankfurt’s most popular Christmas market takes place.
Roßmarkt and Hauptwache in Frankfurt
Moving on from the city center into the shopping streets of Frankfurt we reach 3 markets all at once, only a little away from each other. The traditional one at Roßmarkt (Rossmarkt; pronounced Roh-sss-mark’t) is set up right underneath some modern skyscrapers and the one at Hauptwache is in the middle of a huge city square with multiple options for eating, drinking and buying souvenirs.
Pink Christmas market in Frankfurt
The one I loved the most was a little further down from the Hauptwache, called the Pink Christmas market. It was very crowded with small trestle tables set up together in open-ended tents and had COMPLETELY PINK DECORATIONS EVERYWHERE!!! 🎀 It was a joy to see!! This one’s a bit of an insider’s market; known to you only if you live in the city and a bit harder to find if you're a tourist.
Thurn und Taxis Palais in Frankfurt
If you start walking from the Pink market towards Frankfurt’s old Opera House, you reach the market at Thurn und Taxis Palais. This palace was once a residence for a Grand Duke, then a post office and then a museum of Ethnology. It was refurbished completely after being bombed in the second world war, as part of a redevelopment of the Palais Quartier (Palace Quarter). It is now a small shopping complex. The old palatial colonnades make it a really stunning venue for all festivities. Round the corner from Thurn und Taxis Palais, we reach Frankfurt’s Old Opera House, where the Gibson & City Xmas market takes place. It’s basically a small square in the middle of downtown Frankfurt and you have the chance to sip wine or hot chocolate surrounded by the city’s skyscrapers. The opera house is also decorated beautifully for Christmas and is definitely worth visiting.
Fairytale Christmas market in Cologne
Heinzels Wintermärchen or Heinzel’s winter fairytale is the largest Christmas market in Cologne. It is based on the old story of the little gnomes or elves (known as “Heinzelmännchen”) who work all night while humans are in bed to complete the tasks or housework the humans left behind. A bit like the story of the elves and the shoemaker by the Grimm Brothers. The idea behind this fairytale market is that these little elves set up their own stalls here and have opened up the Christmas market for us humans to visit. This idea and the small gnome-like figures everywhere make it a very cheery place to visit.
Cologne has other beautifully themed markets too; a pirate-themed one close to the docks and a market of angels with real, life-size angels floating around, but unfortunately I couldn’t visit all of them this year. I did visit one more Christmas market in Cologne, located on a rooftop with a direct view of the famous Cologne cathedral, but the view was a bit dulled this year, since the cathedral (called Kölner Dom) was not lit up as usual because of the energy crisis in Europe.
Christmas market in Stuttgart
Stuttgart’s market this year was pretty standard, but what made my day was the model village they had set up right at the front of the main market, complete with a miniature train running through it. I love tiny details like this and it was one of the best things I saw across all the markets.
So this was my little tour for you through some of the Christmas markets in Germany.
Are you ready for Christmas again already? Or would you like to visit Germany next year to make a round of its many, many markets? Let me know if you’re here!
Your friend,
Ajita