So here you go, after three previous posts on the Christmas Markets in Nuremberg, Dresden and Vienna I’m starting to suffer from Christmas Market blogging fatigue so this is the lucky last post on the smaller German Christmas Markets that we visited on our week long tour in Germany.
We started in Wiesbaden which is only a short drive or train journey from Frankurt and the market is definitely worth checking out. This will definitely have to be one of my favourite markets to visit at night time in Germany!
Wiesbaden Christmas Market offered a great selection of stores including a Kathe Wohlfahrt shop and many craft stores which were great for shopping…
and that meant nutcrackers, smokers, gingerbread and santa hat wearing christmas trees!
If I had to choose between the Wiesbaden and the Frankfurt Christmas Market – hands down Wiesbaden is the winner. While all the markets smell of gorgeous spices, Frankfurt smelt of wee, it was overpacked with people and just very very disappointing.
Frankfurt Christmas Market we found was very touristy (hordes and hordes of foreign tourists – I’m assuming it’s a starting point for many tours!) and food focused but it did look very pretty at night time.
I’d chosen the Bamberg Christmas Market as I had visited the town before during summer years ago and it was stunning however we found the market to be very underwhelming and selling junk – avoid if you’re short of time as we ended up cutting our losses and moving onto the next christmas market.
The Bamberg market is very driven towards the locals which is totally cool but we found it all a bit boring, maybe the Nuremberg Christmas Market had ruined us…
but I did fall in love with the shop that was an advent calendar!
This is what a make up free, cold and tired kiwi traveller looks like!
Cutting our losses we jumped in the car and drove to Coburg, not really knowing very much about this town I learnt that Queen Victoria had made six visits to the town and that it was stunning.
The Coburg Christmas Market is held in the square and while not big it did have the cuteness factor..
and we got down with the locals and had some rather nice chips with mayo – a first for Christine and Jonelle.
I love big furry hats and this market didn’t disappoint, I behaved and didn’t buy one!
The stalls had a good collection of local crafts and food and didn’t get packed to the brim once it got dark unlike all the other Christmas Markets that we had visited.
All the markets come alive when it gets dark and Coburg didn’t disappoint and how about that very authentic German Christmas Tree topper!
The lucky last Christmas Market that we visited was Rothenburg ob der Tauber and while the Market is only held during late November and December, the shops offer traditional German christmas souvenirs all year round.
You will find the Kathe Wohlfahrt flagship store in Rothenburg and it’s huge over a few levels along with a Christmas Museum – I may have earnt a few avios points using my BA credit card here!
If you want to visit a smaller Christmas Market then Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a perfect day trip from Nuremberg or Frankfurt but best visited during the weekday over Christmas as it’s very popular over the weekend (like all the Christmas Markets).
When I’m planning my visits to the Christmas Markets I find The Original German Christmas Market website as the best source of information.
So this is the lucky last German Christmas Market post – what is your favourite Christmas Market? What are your tips?
xx
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