The Ultimate Guide to Germany’s Best Christmas Markets

No one celebrates Christmas quite like the Germans, who gave us Christmas trees and Advent calendars. German Christmas markets are legendary, a concentrated dose of gemütlichkeit (coziness). They fill the air with the perfume of roasted chestnuts and grilled meats, brightening the season in November, December, and sometimes even January in villages, towns, and cities across the country.

Each Weihnachtsmarkt, aka Christkindlmarkt or Adventsmarkt, has unique qualities, from handcrafted regional toys to a special type of warmly spiced cookie dating back centuries; even shared traditions such as mulled wine are made with distinct recipes, so it pays to eat your way through as many markets as you can manage when you visit.

You can sail between festively lit waterfronts like Cologne’s and Düsseldorf’s along the Danube or Rhine with river cruise companies like Viking Cruises, AmaWaterways, A-Rosa, and Riverside Luxury Cruises. You can curate your own route affordably with a Deutschland Ticket, which covers all public transit and trains (except the fastest InterCity and InterCity Express trains for a calendar month). Ppurchase through the Rheinbahn mobile app if your credit card doesn’t have an IBAN code. You can attempt to experience all the markets in just a single major city — at latest count, Berlin has more than 80, including markets celebrating LGBTQIA, Scandinavian, and Japanese communities.

Whatever your speed, here are a few of Germany’s most joyous Christmas markets and what to taste at each.

Dresden

In the middle of Dresden’s gorgeous altstadt (old town), featuring the world’s largest rotating wooden Christmas pyramid, the Striezelmarkt has been an annual tradition since 1434 — it’s considered Germany’s oldest Christmas market. “Striezel” comes from an old-fashioned word for the dense, enriched, yeasted loaf we know as Stollen, suggesting how seriously this cultural hub takes its fruitcake. In fact, Dresdner Christstollen is a protected product, and in early December a massive version of the Christmas bread, weighing hundreds of pounds, gets paraded through the city before being ceremonially sliced during the Stollen Festival.

Pair a rich, almondy slice with Eierpunsch, a boozy eggnog concoction. This area also has many unique handicrafts, often inspired by the former mines of the nearby Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), from incense smokers to the candle arch called a Schwiboggen.

Nuremberg

Nuremberg spars with Dresden about whose Christmas market is older, but recently lost a similar battle against the state of Thuringia over the oldest bratwurst tradition, so lay your wagers carefully. Regardless, the famous Nuremberger Rostbratwurst here is the perfect snack to start with while you wander the stalls of handmade gifts at the Christkindlesmarkt, named for the Christkind (representing baby Jesus) who delivers a prologue from the balcony of the Frauenkirche to open the festivities.

While most German wurst is so large it hangs way out of the small brötchen it’s served in, Nuremberg’s pork wurst, grilled over beechwood and spiced with marjoram, is about the width and length of a finger so it usually comes three to a roll, slathered in sharp mustard. Follow it up with the city’s other renowned delicacy, Nürnberger Lebkuchen, a crunchy gingerbread cookie decorated elaborately and hung from the roofs of market stalls. The delicate yet complex flavor speaks to Nuremberg’s history as a crossroads of the spice trade, leading to the term pfeffersack (pepper sack) for a wealthy person.

Mainz

In this Rhine River gateway to Germany’s biggest wine region, sample a variety of wine-based drinks in the shadow of an imposing 1,000-year-old cathedral at Weihnachtsstadt Mainz. Glühwein, mulled wine redolent of cinnamon, cloves, and other spices, is served in decorative mugs that you can take home if you forfeit your deposit. Look out for Winzerglühwein, which indicates a locally produced version. To cut the sweetness, order it “mit schuss,” or with a shot of rum or brandy.

Mulled wine also forms the base of feuerzangenbowle, Germany’s most dramatic Christmas beverage. A favorite in cities with big universities like Mainz, you can’t miss it: Just look for the roaring blaze of a rum-soaked cone of sugar dripping into spiced wine below. Excitement seekers can also find personal feuerzangenbowle served in a mug with a special lip for a flaming sugar cube.

Pair these drinks with savories like flammkuchen (flame cake), a pizza as thin and crisp as a cracker from the Alsace wine region, topped with speck, onions, and cream sauce; grünkohl (sauteed kale); and spundekäs, a pretzel-friendly Mainz dip blending various soft cheeses flavored with raw onion and paprika, which gives it an orange color.