Enjoying Europe’s Christmas Markets and 19 Helpful tips to help with planning
The Vilnius tree theme Presents
Are you planning on visiting the Christmas Markets of Europe? Yes, planning is just the beginning of the process. Then comes the Where do we go, when do we want to travel, and when do the markets open are just a few of the questions you will find yourself asking, and that is before you think about where to stay, what to wear and how you will get around. When you think about Europe’s Christmas Markets, most people picture places like Strasbourg, Vienna, or major German markets, but there are markets everywhere. In this blog, I will give 19 tips to help you plan your next trip to the European Christmas Markets.
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 Tips from our trip to 23 Markets in 32 days
Market Stall at Maria-Theresien-Platz
When to Go
Everyone who dreams of visiting Christmas Markets has to plan and allocate time, but when is the best time for you to go? How long will you go for, and how many cities or Markets will you aim to visit?
Below, we will look at a few factors to help you decide the best time for your visit.
1. Best time to go
Looking over the Old Town Square with Christmas Markets – So busy on a Sunday
Most Christmas Markets open mid to late November and run until Christmas Day. Some places like Prague don’t open until the first weekend in December; opening dates for various destinations vary, so always check the destination and markets for opening dates. You can expect most big markets will be open by early December. Travelling to multiple Christmas markets will be easier now, but remember that these routes will be busier, especially in popular areas like Germany, France, and Austria. During this time, your choice of places to visit is extensive, and you could plan a multi-city itinerary without too much thought.
It is worth keeping in mind that you may face limitations when thinking about going early in the season.
2. Busiest time
Everywhere we visited, we found that weekends and evenings were much busier than daytime and midweek—the bigger and more famous the Christmas Market, the more extensive the crowds. We saw a significant increase in people after 1st December, even in some less visited regions.
In the week leading up to Christmas, we were in the Baltics, and there was an actual increase in numbers. We chose to celebrate Christmas in Tallinn, which was very popular. It was hectic but lovely over our three nights there, and we highly recommend it.
3. Extended Christmas Market Dates
As stated, some Christmas Markets open as early as mid-November, and a few last until the beginning of January. This information alone broadens your opportunities and timing, especially if you want to avoid the massive crowds.
For example, two markets in Vienna, Stephenplatz and Schonnbun, are scheduled to open on 8th November 2024. A couple open until early January are Schonnbun, Prague, and Tallinn. When doing a quick search, I saw quite a few Christmas Markets open after Christmas Day.
4. Daily Operating times
Most markets open around noon and close between 9 and 10 p.m. Of course, check with the specific markets you want to visit for the correct times.
Where to go
Glogi Stand Tallinn
Most significant cities have Christmas Markets, which vary in popularity; I will not mention them all, but below are a few markets that make many lists or get our vote.
5. Most Popular Christmas Markets
Here is a list of some popular Destinations for their Christmas Markets in no particular order.
Vienna Austria, Salzburg Austria, Strasbourg France, Prague Czech Republic, Krakow Poland, Basel Switzerland, Copenhagen Sweden, Tallinn Estonia, Budapest Hungry, Rovaniemi Finland, Edinburgh Scotland, Munich Germany, Zürich Switzerland, Helsinki Finland, Numemburg Germany and Cologne Germany.
We visited Vienna, Prague, Krakow, and Tallinn as part of our trip. Check out the links to see these markets through our experiences. As you can see from this incomplete list, not all popular markets are in Germany, France, or Austria.
6. Underrated Markets
While many of the famous Christmas Markets might make your list, there are always some that are just as good or even better that fly under the radar, and here are a few of those cities.
Bruges Belgium, Colmar France, Gdansk Poland, Wroclaw Poland, Riga Latvia, Ljubljana Slovenia, Vilnius Lithuania, Zagreb Croatia; Cesky Krumlov Czech Republic, Innsbruck Austria, York UK, Barcelona Spain, Frankfurt Germany; and Brno Czech Republic.
From this list, we visited Brno, Wroclaw, Riga, and Vilnius as part of our trip, and we agree they all deserve mention. The only one I added was Brno. Check out the blue links to see how we enjoyed the markets. We also visited Warsaw.
Planning Tips For Visiting Christmas Markets
Stall holders bring a smile to my face – Tallinn.
Planning a trip to the Christmas Markets can be overwhelming, but taking the time to talk with those travelling with you can help you narrow down your itinerary and the number of markets you can visit.
7. Questions to get you on the same page
How many days of holiday do we have in total?
What do we want to focus on (e.g. gifts, decorations, food, or Fun)?
Is there a market or city that you have to see?
If you include multiple cities, how do you want to get between them, and how many nights would you like to stay?
How much travel do you want to include?
Is there anything else besides Christmas markets you want to include in your trip?
Taking the time to include those you are travelling with is essential on many levels; it lets them know you want them to have a good time and gives them an open invitation to share their hopes. The total of their input may be, I want to sleep in one morning, but at least you know that going in. Even if they don’t give a lot of input, offer to keep them in the loop and ask their opinion about things, even if they say whatever.
8. Deciding on the Christmas Market must-visits
Although there are many similarities between markets, they can also have a stronger focus on different things, and these changes can be as subtle as the location. But if food is your focus, maybe focus your research on markets with a food focus. If it is local arts and crafts, then direct your research there.
We enjoyed most of the markets and cities we visited. Vienna has over 20 markets, and the nine we visited each had a distinct vibe and a specific theme or focus. Phil and I looked forward to every experience, but we loved some smaller markets.
We have a post on how we planned our trip to nine cities to highlight some of the differences with a Treasure Hunt. This was an excellent way to help us see beyond the same stuff and be frustrated.
9. Know your budget
The word budget can be the seed of nightmares, but having an agreed-upon budget will help you enjoy your time away. When planning any trip, you have the budget essentials to consider, and when visiting the markets, you will have food, gluhwein, souvenirs, and gifts to consider. Discussing this will help your trip go smoothly, and if done well, you may arrive home without extra debt.
10. Consider your flights and travel time.
We travel to Europe from the East Coast of Australia, meaning it takes us at least 24 hours without big stopovers. After seven trips to Europe and enjoying flying direct, we have decided that 14 days is the absolute minimum required for a trip for us. Each of us responds to travel differently, and travel time varies. Jet lag is a real thing, and knowing how it affects you can impact the front end of your trip. Do you need to factor this into the itinerary?
11. Travelling Between Destinations
LUX Bus from Riga to Tallinn
When evaluating your time, you must consider the speed at which you want to travel. You can fill your trip with many one-day visits to see as much as possible or take it slower and enjoy more of the destination. With a faster-paced itinerary and all the travel and changes, will you have a good time, and will you even have time to enjoy the markets? If you have not visited a destination before, will you have enough time to do some sightseeing?
If you are doing a lot of Christmas Market hopping, can you take a day trip to some places from a base so you don’t have to change hotels daily? This could be a good option if your base is under 1.30 hours from other destinations; the lunch opening times give you time to make your way to the destination and enjoy the new location. I know people who do more extensive day trips to keep a home base; that could be a good talking point with your travel partner.
Our trip started in Vienna and ended in Helsinki, with, in most cases, two – three stays at each destination. We took one train, eight buses, and a ferry, so we had a lot of things to discuss regarding travel. We would have liked to do more trains, but booking so far out, we just went with the buses for fear of not being able to get on trains. As it was, most places we visited, trains would have had space, and we could have even booked on the day of travel.
Packing tips
This is what I ended up with after sending stuff home.
You are going to a shoppers’ paradise, so keep that in mind as you pack. Know the sorts of things you will want to bring home and how much you want to buy. Also keep in mind how you will transport them. On forums and even in some videos I have watched, people love to collect mugs and cups from each market and believe me, I see why. But if you plan to do that, know how to bring them home. We went with the restrained plan of getting two mugs in Vienna, but we ended up with three and a couple of cups for other markets we visited. Thankfully, we sent some of our overpacking home from Warsaw, so I had room for the extra cups :).
Posting stuff home can be possible, but be aware it may not be cheap.
 12. Travel Light
If you are looking at doing multiple stops, I would encourage you to pack light. We tried to pack light but still over-packed because we second-guessed ourselves as we were coming from Australia.
Between cobbled streets, different modes of transport, and changing locations regularly, you will be glad to have a lighter load. Another thing to remember is that some hotel rooms can be on the smaller side, and the more oversized luggage could be a problem to store; another thing to remember is that some hotels don’t have lifts or can be tiny. There are many logistics to consider when packing, including the practical: your clothes are hiding under your jacket and hats, scarves and gloves.
13. Pack layers
As I just said, your clothes will spend the most time at the Christmas Markets hidden under your top layer, and layers are so important; as soon as you enter 99% of the inside places, you will remove your outer layer, but at the markets and outside expect to have them hidden.
Phil found that his fleeced-line jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, jacket, hat, gloves, and scarf were all he needed most days. I wore thermals, pants, a jumper, a coat, a hat, a scarf, and gloves and never froze. The train and buses were very comfortable, and I always removed the top layers.
Good socks and waterproof shoes are also essential. If your feet get cold, your whole day could be ruined.
A good travel umbrella should also be close in case it rains, or you need a bit of a reprieve from heavier snowfall.
*Check out this post to read more about Packing for Winter, including the mistakes and how I would do it differently based on our experience.
 Tips from our trip to 23 Christmas Markets in 32 days
Phil is trying the chocolate-covered apple in Riga.
10. Visit big markets midweek
As I said above, weekends are busy, so if your itinerary allows, go midweek to the more significant markets. Even smaller markets got more hectic on weekends; the numbers may not have been as high, but there was a noticeable increase. Places like Vienna, Prague, and many German and French markets are busy, but you may find weekdays less busy.
14. Plan two visits, one early in the day, and explore and return in the evening for the atmosphere.
Christmas Markets start around noon in most places, but crowds don’t really swell until late afternoon. We found that if we went early, we had time to check out many more stalls, which was really relaxed. Returning after sunset, we found the atmosphere was more lively, and we could enjoy it without trying to look at everything we wanted to.
15. Make space for some sightseeing at the destination
Our trip only included Vienna as a revisit, so every other destination was new, and we wanted time to check out the places we were in. We arrived in Prague a few days before the markets opened, and this was great, as we did walking tours and so much more before we tried to see stuff around the markets. Check out this post to read about our time in Prague.
In many of the Destinations with smaller markets, it was easy to hit some of the city highlights or take a walking tour and still get our fill of the Markets in that destination.
16. Consider creating a list of local delicacies and crafts
There are some lovely local artisans in every market, and chatting with them and learning about their passion is so inspiring; we loved watching people at work and cooking up a storm, sharing what they have perfected.
We had made up a bit of a treasure hunt. It was hit and missed whether we could find items, but visiting so many markets gave us a fresh challenge at each new destination as we had something specific to look out for.
The treasure hunt was a great asset in helping us seek out local delicacies and crafts. Sometimes, it may not have been authentic, but it was fun and often pushed us to try new things.
17. Look at the local interpretation of typical food and drinks.
It’s winter in Europe, so you will find Hot Wine everywhere. Even though no hot wine is the same in flavour or name and will keep you busy, don’t forget to try other local hot drinks. We tried Hot Mead in Prague, Hot Berry Black Balasm in Riga, a hot jelly drink in Vilnuis we will never forget, and so much hot chocolate. Don’t worry if you don’t drink. You will find alcoholic options to try.
Sometimes, the new drinks were not to our liking, but other times, they were a lovely surprise that added another great memory for that destination, so keep an eye out for the unusual.
18. Don’t expect a lot of seating.
Krakow is one of the rare times we found a seat.
We noticed that you won’t find a lot of seating. Most markets only offer stand-up tables and benches. We did see some markets offering seating, but in our experience, these are the exceptions, not the rule, and if they do have some seating, it is limited.
19. Have Fun
There is something magical about being in Europe in winter and visiting the Christmas Markets; whether you are off to a place busting with other excited visitors or some underrated destination, include things in your itinerary that make it fun. There is a lot about visiting Christmas Markets we have no say in, but we have control over our mindset and what we plan to include.
I hope you found this post helpful. If you are heading to some Christmas Markets soon, I hope some of the lessons and tips we found helpful will help you.
Are you looking to binge a whole lot of Markets? Here is our Playlist of our Christmas Market Videos.
