Christmas Markets in Europe

From late November until Christmas Eve, the old squares of central Europe fill with wooden stalls, strings of lights, and the smell of mulled wine and roasting almonds. The Christmas market is a German-speaking tradition centuries deep, and its heartland remains Germany, Austria, and Alsace in France, where nearly every town from metropolis to village mounts its own, and where the season is a genuine part of local life rather than a show for visitors.

The classic circuit names are earned: Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt with its gingerbread and famous opening ceremony, Dresden's Striezelmarkt claiming the deepest history, Vienna's markets fanned across palace squares, Strasbourg styling itself the capital of Christmas with all of Alsace glittering around it, plus Munich, Salzburg, Cologne, and Colmar. Each has its own specialty foods, its own mug design for the gluhwein deposit system, and its own character.

The timing rule of thumb: most markets open in the last week of November and close on or just before Christmas Eve, since the markets exist to serve the run-up, not the holiday itself. A handful, especially in Vienna and some big cities, reopen or continue between Christmas and early January. Go in the first three weeks of December and every market on your list is open.