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With 'that day' being not all that far away, I have been pondering about taking my mum to a Christmas market somewhere in Europe.  Have any of you done any?  Or are there any fab ones here that you woudl heartily recommend?? 

My work are organising a trip to Bremen Christmas market in Germany. I am not going, but I have heard it is good.

Starts 26th November until 23rd December

The whole of Europe comes to Lincoln and gets in my bloody way - must be good for Kitty though.

let's see: for the kind of destinations you can fly to with the low cost airlines, you will probably like to see cologne, bremen, dresden - but the best of all, and the one that i will recommend because it's just magical, is nuernberg (air berlin from stansted)

have fun! :)

Hi E-J - I've been to Monschau, Aachen, Bonn, Cologne and Duisberg in Germany.    Monschau is very small and Aachen last year was very poor.   The Bonn market is good but not huge and there is a dpeartment srore on the same square which has a good display.

Cologne is the biggest and has an impressive setting but I was 8months pregnant at the time so sat and drank hot chocolate a lot and didn't get to see the whole thing.  My coach full of ladies had a good time though.   I was Tours leader for a women's club that year.

Duisberg is an industrial town in the Ruhr and I went a few years ago on a day out with other mums and no kids.  We had a brilliant time and it was a good market and there were also a couple of shops full of nothing but Xmassy stuff.   There were all the usual stalls plus chaps selling home made flavoured oils (truffle etc), jewellery and so on.   I got a gorgeous wreath for the front door for £5 which is still good today.

I happen to think good food is part of a good Xmas market so would recommend Cologne and Duisberg.   Didn't eat out in Bonn as we were invited to lunch at a friend's home.   

If you're not determined to do Germany, the Liège market in Belgium is good now and the food is brilliant.

I've been to Duisberg too Obby. Enjoyed it.

I liked the Christmas Markets in Holland but I need William to remind me where the one in the hillside is....how can I forget a mountainous area in the Netherlands???!!!  Do you know it?  It was a lovely place.

I love Lincoln Market even though like you say reclanger it does get a little mad!!!!!!!!

Went to Bremen, had a wonderful time!!!!!!

HI Heldi.  The Dutch 'Alps' are the bit round Maastricht where the border swoops a curve down into Belgium and back out again.

I've been going to Berlin's Christmas market with hubby since 1999; we've had a great time gradually exploring the city (only going for long weekends) and we're just about to start planning this year's trip.

We did go to Vienna one year and we haven't been back! Hideously expensive and not as good a variety of things as in Berlin.

There are now some really large Markets in Berlin; a huge area from Alexanderplatz (and the Fernsehturm) to the Opera in the old East with three separate markets, one around the top end of the Ku'damm and several smaller ones dotted about the suburbs.  There's also the advantage of a couple of huge department stores - the KaDeWe at the Ku'damm and the Galeria at Alexanderplatz.  We always stock up on huge amounts of chocolate and cheese and sausages at the Galeria at the last minute on the Monday, pack it and run for the airport!

If you're fed up of looking round the markets (or just plain freezing), then there's the Dom (a fantastic view from the top), the art galleries and the Pergamon museum (which also has the Ishtar Gate of old Babylon as well as the Pergamon Altar) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum  and then there's the castles - we went to Spandau where there's an amazing old fortress (the Zitadelle).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandau_Citadel

The really great thing about all of the Weihnachtsmarkts is that they really make you feel like it did when you were a kid...

moonbells

Myself, 18yr. old daughter and two friends are going to Germany's Christmas markets. Tour includes Trier and Bernkastel markets and a stop at a large hypermarket. never been before so hope it's good. £122 for 3 nights, 4 days including three 3 course meals

i still vote for nuernberg - does my vote count double? (i am from the christmas country myself ;D)
dresden would be the favourite but i dont think it is tat easy to get to.

It is Valkenburg in Holland. Got there in the end!  The Christmas market is held within some caves.  I pinched this picture from  Travelscope.co.uk (Don't know how to do links) It's a lovely place to visit.

Thanks for that info Moonbells.  Sounds brilliant and might just tempt OH to take us all there on the TGV from Brussels for a day or maybe two!.

Hi Ani - I've never been to Trier but it's on the regular list of the International Women's Club here in rotation with Aachen and Cologne.   have agreat time and let us know how you get on.

Quote from: Obbelix on October 19, 2005, 08:29:23
Thanks for that info Moonbells.  Sounds brilliant and might just tempt OH to take us all there on the TGV from Brussels for a day or maybe two!.

I forgot to review the food and drink!
Loads of stalls with huge cauldrons of food - mostly meaty (as you expect in Germany) but there were some lovely creamy broccoli and mushroom dishes too.  Sausage stalls all over the place (currywurst is still a favourite) though it's getting harder to find chips.  Sweet stalls everywhere - chocolate hearts, sugared nuts, chocolate fruits. Gluhwein everywhere. Kartoffelpuffer everywhere though I avoid these thanks to their massive fat content! Then there's quarkballs, and at the Ku'damm market there's a chap who sells hot mead! I recommend the dry mead - much nicer than the sweet IMO.

We have to ration our snacks!

moonbells

We're going on the 8th of December and I am planning on buying all my Christmas presents there, I hope this is feesable in that there will be something for everyone'. What do you think?

Ani - absolutely. There's always a lot of lovely handcrafted things that are fantastic pressies and stocking fillers.  The one we went to in Vienna had lots of glass bauble stalls too, and so I restocked those while I was there.   There's just so many Christmassy things...  it's the atmosphere really, that after-dark chilly walking round with Christmas music and candles and Gluhwein.

I love going over there! Doesn't hurt that my hubby is bilingual and so we don't have a language problem unless he decides it's time for me to practice...  shops and hotels are no problem, the older stallholders are often German-only.  Younger ones are invariably good English speakers. Makes me embarrassed sometimes. I only took up German 7 years ago and learned for 3 years: got a GCSE but never got around to the AS exam. For some reason a thing called an allotment got in the way of subsequent lessons!

mondglocke

ooooooooooo so tempting!  Moonbells and other market visitors....do you fly or go on a coach trip or drive yourself??

Thanks moonbells, obviously a large, hard, half empty suitcase is needed for the outward journey ;D

E J I'm going on a coach organised by a local company. Didn't take up their insurance of £80 for the four of us but got one exactly the same by googling, for £22 for four  :)
I'm really looking forward to it as it's something I've promised to do for the last 6 years but never got round to for one reason or another.