Christmas Markets

Edinburgh is the nearest to a German market in the UK. We found Birmingham too busy (dangerously so), Manchester is good, Leeds not worth the effort unless you live nearby. The Dickensian Fayre in Grassington is good too. Best continental market visited is Cologne, Prague very good, Aachen is good too, this year visiting Bruges and next year Wolfgangsee. And given my wife is from Germany I accept I may be biased! 

We prefer Christmas markets that have truly special crafts at their core, and have found a really nice one in Hexham. Lots of local foods, drinks, handmade gifts, that are decently priced. It’s not very large, but the quality of what’s there is excellent, and includes stalls inside the Abbey. A very nice day out. We used Durham Grange site as a base first time, it wasn’t far to drive up.

We have a damn good butcher and an artisan baker in town, fresh fish from local boats,  easy access to Waitrose and M&S Foods, and delivery vans from all the other supermarkets cruising the lanes. Do I need go to a market? 

I liked the market in Delft which I visited whilst staying at The Hague.

We’ve visit Koln twice, plenty of beer and Brattie stands, great atmosphere and not a lot of tat Don’t bother in the U.K.

We've visited Cologne a few times, there are markets in 7 areas. Also Munster and Aachen, both good markets.  Some of the smaller towns we've visited include Hameln (Pied Piper), Soest and Erlangen, near Nurnberg.  Nurnberg itself also has a good Xmas market.

Soest, lived there for 3 years. 

At this time of year they have the Dom fest on, always a good day/night out. This is closely followed by the Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarket) 

Bremen used to be a good one to go to and I have heard Colmar is good too.

Edinburgh for us is the nearest and best. 

Would like some suggestions for England though so will be following this.

Lincoln was very good when we went some years ago.

Lincoln is absolutely huge. They operate a one way system to keep pedestrians flowing it’s so busy, so you either buy or you don’t, not easy to nip back for bargains.

We did Skipton Xmas Market last year, very good, although there’s a degree of tat in with the good stuff, MH parking is easy, up in Bailey car park. We saw lots of stressed out dogs there, way too busy for most pets. We gave ours a good walk, and they had a snooze in MH while we hunted for bargains! 

Moreton in Marsh has a really nice Christmas Market, which includes the Christmas Lights switch on in the evening. We went for the day last year, but this year we have treated ourselves to a weekend stay at the Moreton site.