The Best Christmas Markets in Europe, and How Cheaply You Can Fly to Them from the UK

The main market sits right below Cologne Cathedral, under its two great spires, with a giant tree in the middle and a roof of fairy lights over the stalls.

The cathedral took more than 600 years to finish, and the market at its feet is one of the busiest in Germany. Several more are a short walk away, through the old town and down to the Rhine.

🍴 Try: Reibekuchen, crispy potato pancakes with apple sauce, and a Glühwein in the market's own mug. Keep the mug or hand it back for your deposit.

The Christkindlesmarkt is one of Germany's oldest and best-known markets, on the Hauptmarkt below the old town's churches. Records of it go back to the 1600s.

Each year it's opened by the Christkind, a golden-haired Christmas angel, who reads a prologue from the balcony of the Frauenkirche to the crowd below.

🌭 Eat: Nürnberger Rostbratwürste, the little Nuremberg sausages, three to a roll. Take home Lebkuchen, the city's gingerbread, and look for the prune men, little figures made of dried fruit.

Berlin has dozens of markets. Start with the Weihnachtszauber on the Gendarmenmarkt, a grand square framed by two domed churches and the concert hall.

Its white tents are full of craftspeople at work: glassblowers, woodcarvers and potters. There's food from all over Germany, and singers on the stage most evenings.

🎄 More markets: by Charlottenburg Palace, along Unter den Linden, and the old-fashioned one in the Spandau old town.

The Christkindlmarkt fills Marienplatz, in front of the grand New Town Hall, and spills into the streets around it. Munich has held a Christmas market since the 14th century.

At the Rindermarkt end, the Kripperlmarkt sells nothing but nativity scenes and figures, from tiny carved shepherds to whole Bavarian villages.

🎁 Look for: wooden toys and nativity figures. Then have a mulled wine, served in the city's own mugs, with a bag of hot sugared almonds.

Vienna's biggest market fills Rathausplatz, in front of the Gothic-style City Hall, with the park around it strung with lights and a carousel for the children.

The city has had a December market since the Middle Ages. Today there are more at Schönbrunn Palace, the Belvedere and in the little lanes of Spittelberg.

☕ Try: a cup of Punsch, the city's hot fruit punch, and a bag of roast chestnuts. Then warm up in a coffee house with a slice of Sachertorte.

The Christkindlmarkt sits on two squares, Domplatz and Residenzplatz, between the cathedral and the old palace, with the fortress looking down from above. Its roots go back to the 15th century.

There's carol singing most evenings, and the town's Advent concerts are some of the most famous in Austria.

🎶 Fun fact: the carol Silent Night was first sung in 1818 in Oberndorf, a short trip north of the city.

🌭 Eat: a Bosna, Salzburg's own spiced sausage in a bun, with onions and mustard.

The market on Old Town Square sits between the twin towers of the Týn Church and the Astronomical Clock, which has been telling the time since 1410. A giant tree stands in the middle, and there's a stage for carols.

There's a second market along Wenceslas Square, a short walk away.

🍴 Try: trdelník, a sugared pastry cooked on a spit, a Prague ham carved off the bone, and svařák, Czech mulled wine.

The market is on Rynek Główny, one of Europe's largest medieval squares, around the Cloth Hall and below St Mary's Basilica. Listen for the trumpet call played from its tower every hour.

✨ Look for: the szopki, Kraków's glittering nativity scenes, built like little palaces of the city's towers. The city has held a contest for them since 1937, and UNESCO lists the tradition as living cultural heritage.

🍴 Eat: oscypek, smoked mountain cheese grilled and served with cranberry, and a plate of pierogi.

The main market is on Vörösmarty Square, beside the grand old Gerbeaud café, and its stalls are picked for Hungarian crafts: leather, lace, ceramics and painted wood.

A second market stands in front of St Stephen's Basilica, with lights played across its front in the evenings.

🍴 Eat: lángos, fried bread with sour cream and cheese. Then try kürtőskalács, a chimney cake turned over hot coals, and a glass of forralt bor, Hungarian mulled wine.

The market fills the Rynek, the city's huge market square, around the Gothic town hall. It's one of the biggest in Poland, with a fairy-tale corner for children and a giant tree.

🔍 While you're there: count the little bronze dwarfs hidden all over the old town. There are hundreds of them.

🍷 Drink: grzaniec, Polish mulled wine, served here in a mug shaped like a boot.

The market is on Targ Węglowy, at the top of the old town, among the tall merchants' houses of an old Hanseatic trading port. Walk on down the Long Market to the Artus Court and Neptune's Fountain.

🎁 Look for: amber, which washes up on the Baltic shore. Gdańsk has sold it for centuries.

🥃 Try: Goldwasser, the herbal liqueur with flakes of gold in it, first made in Gdańsk.

Strasbourg calls itself the Capital of Christmas. Its Christkindelsmärik has been held since the 16th century, which makes it one of the oldest in Europe.

It isn't one market but a dozen, spread across the island old town, from the cathedral square to Place Broglie, with a giant tree on Place Kléber.

🍪 Try: bredele, the little Alsatian Christmas biscuits, and a cup of white mulled wine, the Alsace way.

The market is on two squares, Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz, beside the red sandstone cathedral above the Rhine. It's one of the biggest in Switzerland, with trees hung with lights over the stalls.

🍪 Try: Basler Läckerli, the city's spiced honey biscuits, and a raclette scraped hot onto bread.

🎄 While you're there: the old Christmas shops in the lanes up from the market sell decorations all year round.

Winter Wonders centres on the Grand-Place, with a Christmas tree in the middle and a light show on the old guildhalls in the evenings.

It runs on through the streets to Sainte-Catherine, past the old Bourse, with a big wheel and an ice rink along the way.

🧇 Eat: a hot waffle, a cone of frites, and a few Belgian chocolates to take home.

Tivoli Gardens, a pleasure garden in the middle of the city since 1843, turns into a Christmas market, with lights, stalls and the rides still running.

There's another along the canal at Nyhavn, among the painted houses and old wooden ships.

🍷 Drink: gløgg, Danish mulled wine, with almonds and raisins in the cup. Have it with æbleskiver, little round pancakes with jam and icing sugar.

The market fills Stortorget, the oldest square in Gamla Stan, with tall painted houses all around and red wooden huts selling crafts and food.

For a second one, take the ferry to Skansen, the open-air museum, whose Christmas market has run for more than a century.

🍴 Try: glögg and pepparkakor, thin ginger biscuits, smoked reindeer, and a saffron bun.

The market is on Raekoja plats, the Town Hall Square, at the heart of a walled medieval old town that's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tallinn says the first public Christmas tree in Europe stood on this square, back in 1441. Riga, across the border, says it was first. Visit both and decide.

🍴 Eat: blood sausage with sauerkraut, the Estonian Christmas dinner, then a glass of Vana Tallinn, the local rum liqueur.

The Fira de Santa Llúcia, in front of the cathedral, has been held since 1786. It sells nativity figures, and moss, bark and greenery to build the scene.

😄 Look out for: the caganer, a Catalan Christmas figure you'll have to see for yourself, and the caga tió, a smiling log that children feed and then beat with a stick until it gives presents.

🍫 Try: turrón, Spanish almond nougat, and a thick hot chocolate with churros in the old town nearby.