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While the hustle and bustle of department stores can make Christmas shopping a bore, traditional markets are a very different story.
Weaving through wooden cabins, while sipping a glass of mulled wine, the experience is about much more than buying gifts.
These festive trips promise a fun, thrilling and novel shopping experience.
Toulouse, France
The town hall provides a backdrop for a Christmas village and chalets with 100 stalls selling local crafts, foods, pottery, jewellery, candles, clothing and leather goods. In between bouts of shopping, skate on a 200sq metre ice rink, and warm up with local dish aligot aveyronnais, a cheese and potato puree.
The four-star Le Grand Balcon Hotel (grandbalconhotel.com) offers doubles from £95 per night with breakfast.
Salzburg, Austria
Markets are held in villages on the shores of Wolfgangsee. In St Gilgen, the theme is Baroque-style art; in St Wolfgang there’s a focus on lanterns; while Strobl takes great pride in its old-fashioned stalls. Don’t forget to head to Salzburg’s famous market.
The four-star Hotel Seerose has views across Lake Fuschl. Inntravel (inntravel.co.uk) offers three nights’ half board from £585pp including flights and transfers.
Krakow, Poland
Spread across the Rynek Glowny central square, Krakow’s Christmas market is the oldest in Poland. If you’ve never tasted pierogi (a type of fried dumpling) before, this is the place to do it – along with sweet treats such as colourfully decorated piernik gingerbreads.
The Metropolitan Boutique Hotel (hotelmetropolitan.pl) is between the Old Town Square and the trendy Kazimierz district. Doubles from £53 per night. WizzAir (wizzair. com) fly from London Luton, from £26.
Lisbon, Portugal
Wooden chalets are dotted around Rossio Square selling gifts and Portuguese seasonal treats, including salt cod, rabanadas (similar to French toast), porco preto (black pig) sandwiches, dried fruit and mulled wine.
Find Avani Avenida Liberdade (avanihotels. com/en/lisbon) on Lisbon’s main shopping street. Doubles from £82 per night with breakfast. Flights with easyjet (easyjet.com) from Gatwick start from around £66 one way.