Christmas markets by train
Bernadette Fallon takes us on a whistle stop tour of some of her favourite festive spots
With Christmas being one of my favourite times of the year and the train my favoured way to travel, the idea of taking a train trip around Europe to visit some of the best Christmas markets in the world left me weak with excitement. With Interrail tickets available these days for travellers of any age, high-speed comfortable trains and a simple online booking tool to plan your trip, it’s an easy call.
Plus, you can travel smugly looking out at snowy landscapes (instead of grey clouds) and think of all those emissions you’re saving (aviation is responsible for 13.2% of transport’s greenhouse gas emissions, travelling by road 71.8% and rail travel just 0.4%).
Even reading through the timetables was a dream. Would I go to Dresden and the oldest Christmas market in the world, Cologne with its magical cathedral market,
Nuremberg with its famous gingerbread or Munich, home to Germany’s largest Kripperlmarket (manger market)? Should I cross the border into glamorous Vienna or snowy Zurich, detour into Bruges for chocolate or Copenhagen to see the frozen lake ice rink?
In the end I settle on Dresden and Cologne, carrying on to Vienna and stopping o at Zurich before the journey back to the UK. I buy a monthly pass that allows me to travel on 7 days, with a choice of 33 European countries (from £160, visit Interrail.eu). Then I turn up at Eurostar in St Pancras International one December morning giddy with glee.
Cologne
I arrive in Cologne late afternoon. I’m staying at the Steigenberger Hotel (B&B from €125; Steigenberger.com), around the corner from St Nicholas Village at Rudolfplatz, which becomes my favourite market over the next few days with its Santa and reindeer, singing Rudolf and party vibe. Locals and tourists collect around tables at the gluhwein (mulled wine – they also mull rum and cider) stalls every evening, it’s all very compact and cosy and in complete contrast to the cathedral market, which is big, bright and packed from morning to night.
At the Market of Angels in Neumarket, angels beam down from stalls while glowing stars hang in trees. The nearby Heinzels Winter Fairytale in the Altstadt is one of the city’s oldest markets with a big ice skating circuit and ice curling, popular with locals. For something a bit di erent, there’s a new Harbour Market at the Severinsbrücke bridge, with illuminated views over the Rhine.
Cologne is fairly compact and easy to get around on foot; most of the markets are located around the Old Town, a 15-minute walk from the Steigenberger through streets that are largely pedestrianised.
2023 market dates: 17 November to 23 December
Dresden
There is a direct train from Dresden to Cologne, which takes seven and a half hours, but it’s quicker to change trains at Frankfurt and Leipzig for a six-hour journey. I’m staying at the Bilderberg Bellevue (rooms from €80; Bilderberg.nl), next door to the Augustusmarkt, which is where I spend my first evening. On the edge of the river, looking across to the Old Town, the market has an upbeat modern feel with a psychedelically colourful Ferris wheel.
The next morning, I head for the world’s oldest Christmas market, Dresden’s Striezelmarkt, which dates from 1434 and is in the heart of the old city, surrounded by theatres, galleries and the opera. It’s bustling and lively and I’m particularly
fond of the stalls selling lacework and paper decorations, but around the corner, the Frauenkirche market is more traditional in style with craft displays and antique stalls and a wonderful domed church as a backdrop. And the nearby medieval market in the Royal Palace stable yard is truly unique, with stallholders in medieval garb, medieval music performances, mulled mead and blacksmiths working forges, all lit medieval style by flaming torches.
The Prager Strasse market is in the city’s pedestrianised shopping area and the Alpine market at Postplatz is a big favourite with after-work parties. They are all central enough to be accessed on foot but on my last day I take the tram for 20-minutes to the Elbhangfest Christmas Market in the village-y suburb of Loschwitz, located on the banks of the Elbe, Here, I enjoy a festive hot chocolate at the Villa Maria next door, sitting in a fur-throw-covered sleigh in the garden – delighted with myself.
2023 market dates: 29 November to 7 January
Vienna
The direct train from Dresden to Vienna takes six and a half hours through snowcovered landscapes and I arrive while it’s still bright, eyes out on stalks at the beauty of the city. I’m staying at the chic boutique Hotel Motto (rooms from €180; Hotelmotto. at), from where it’s a 20-minute walk to the central markets. The biggest is at the Rathusplatz, outside Vienna’s Gothic Town Hall, but ‘we don’t recommend it,’ said the hotel receptionist sniffily, ‘it’s very touristy’. I’m a tourist so I went, and she was right.
More elegant and traditional are the 18th century Freyung and Am Hof markets, with festive handicrafts and vintage buys. For a hip hangout, head for Spittelberg to rub shoulders with locals through winding cobbled streets. Iconic locations including the Kunsthistorisches Museums, St Stephen’s Cathedral and the Belvedere and Hofburg Palaces all host their own markets and for an escape from angels and twinkly things, Art Advent at Karlsplatz is all about designer homewares, artwork and textiles.
Against a backdrop of ornate Baroque buildings, impressive regal squares and choirs popping up to sing carols under twinkling lights, Vienna’s Christmas markets are quite spectacularly beautiful. 2023 market dates: 18 November to 26 December
Zurich
After seven hours on the train from Vienna, I arrive at the biggest indoor Christmas market in Europe – handily located in the station. It’s bulging with stalls selling Christmas goods of every description, with plenty of food and drink stands too.
The central Münsterhof market at the iconic Fraumünster church is very stylish and there’s a small Christmas market at Frau Gerold’s Garden in Zurich West, the city’s cultural quarter – take tram no 4, the ‘cultural line’.
I loved the Singing Christmas Tree o the Bahnhofstrasse, a podium shaped tree where carollers perform concerts several times a day and I ate my body weight in fondue in several of the pop-up Christmas cabins. I stayed in 5-star luxury at Hotel Baur au Lac (rooms from €800; Bauraulac. ch), which has the tallest Christmas tree in Zurich and is located near the lake, very central for the markets. 2023 market dates: 23 November to
23 December
And then I packed up my sparkling Christmas tree decorations, souvenir gluhwein mugs, vintage Advent calendars and a lot of chocolate and took the train back to the
UK. European
Christmas markets – you rock!