European Christmas Markets 2025

The European Christmas markets are something we have really become interested in experiencing over the past few years.  With our current travels running into late November and early December this seemed like the perfect time to get to see some of these markets.  In previous years we had been in Spain and Italy during the month of December but the experience in these places is completely different.  Spain had some very pretty lights but the markets had little to no food and the stalls were almost exclusively selling figurines for nativity scenes.  In Italy we never saw anything that resembled a Christmas market.  When you think European Christmas market I think the places to be are northern and central Europe.  Places that have true winters.

I put together an itinerary that called for stops at five popular Christmas markets in Austria, Germany, France and Belgium.  Some were in large cities, others were in smaller cities.  Despite travel fatigue really starting to set in we were excited to be seeing the lights, eating the different market foods, and drinking the mulled wine.  Let the great Christmas market tour of 2025 begin!

Market #1 – Vienna, Austria

We kicked off the Christmas market tour with our first ever visit to Vienna, the capital city of Austria.  Once again I leveraged my status and points with Hyatt to score us a comfortable (and free) suite at the Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere, by Hyatt.  The downside of this hotel is that it is not central but the walk to the center of the city is a manageable 30 minutes or you can take a quick tram ride or taxi if you prefer.  

Our first Christmas market experience came on our day of arrival.  After checking in to the hotel we made the short walk over to the Belvedere Palace where there is a small market just outside the front of the palace. We quickly discovered that Christmas markets are not a great place to bring a food obsessed dog such as Maverick. With all the food stalls there is bound to be spilled food on the ground and Mav was in 7th heaven trying to snag every crumb he could sniff out. Wrestling with a 70 pound dog while trying to navigate crowds of people can be just a tad challenging.

Mav posing in front of the Belvedere Palace and the small Christmas market in front of it.

After a quick in and out at the Belvedere market we stopped into the nearby Stöckl im Park which was recommended by our hotel as a great place for beer and traditional Austrian food.  They welcomed Maverick and squeezed us in before the evening reservations.  The restaurant was immaculately decorated which would be an ongoing theme of many of the places we visited in Europe during the holiday season.  The food and beer did not disappoint and after our meal we headed outside into their outdoor space which was also beautifully decorated and offered mulled wine (Glühwein).  Even though this wasn’t an actual Christmas market it was an amazing place to sip our first glühwein and take in the atmosphere.

From left to right, 1) my first wiener schnitzel in Vienna at Stöckl im Park, 2) our first glühwein of the trip in the outdoor area at Stöckl im Park, 3) Mav posing in front of some of the decorations at Stöckl im Park.

On our first full day in Vienna we ventured away from the city center to  Schönbrunn Palace with the thought that the main market in the city would be busier on the opening Saturday night.  We visited the palace first which rivals Versailles as possibly the most impressive in Europe.  We would like to go back in the future to see the grounds and gardens because they look quite impressive, but are far from at their peak in late November.  

Entrance to the Schönbrunn Palace Christmas market.

The facade of the palace serves as a magical backdrop for the market sprawled out in front of it.  We had so much fun exploring all the different booths tasting different foods and of course sipping a few glühwein to stay warm.  Some of the foods we sampled included cheese spaetzle (egg noodles), Vienna sausage, and krapfen (austrian donuts).  This was a really nice market and a great alternative to the main market if you are in Vienna during this time of year.

Clockwise from top left at Schönbrunn Palace Christmas market, 1) krapfen (austrian donut), 2) cheese spaetzle (egg noodles), 3) Vienna sausage, 4) glühwein, 5) the main Christmas tree in front of the palace at night.

Day 2 in Vienna was a day without Christmas markets.  This was our first visit to Vienna so we took Maverick on a self guided walking tour of the center of the city so we could see the outsides of most of the main sites.  I think a lot of people were in the city for the opening weekend of the markets because things were quite busy.  We did manage to stop by the Vienna State Opera, Imperial Crypt, Hofburg, St. Peter’s Church and St. Stephen’s Cathedral.  There are smaller markets by St. Stephen’s and Mariensäule but they were extremely crowded and Mav’s appetite for “street food” had not waned so we skipped them.  We finished off the day with a meal at the cozy and dog friendly  Brezl Gwölb restaurant which serves excellent traditional Austrian food (and damn good glühwein).

Our 3rd and final full day in Vienna was earmarked for our visit to the main Christmas market in Vienna.  The thinking was that Monday would be less crowded than the weekend.  Prior to visiting the main market which is located in the Rathausplatz in front of city hall, we made a quick stop at the Imperial Treasury.  The treasury has an impressive collection of impressive artifacts and is definitely worth a visit.

Clockwise from top left at Vienna main Christmas market, 1) us in front of the main entrance, 2) our Kaiserschmarrn, 3) the main tree in front of town hall, 4) a section of the skating trail, 5) us enjoying a glühwein.

The main market is another beautiful setting with the massive town hall lit up in the background.  It really isn’t much bigger than the Schönbrunn Palace market.  Probably the biggest difference is the unique skating rink which is more of a skating track that winds its way around a rather large area, sort of like those lazy rafting rivers you find at water parks.  Besides sampling some more glühwein, we tried our first Kaiserschmarrn which is kind of like a torn up pancake with toppings.  In our case we had it with some chocolate syrup and powdered sugar.  It was a tasty treat that is worth a try if you are ever in this part of the world.

Market #2 – Salzburg, Austria

The second stop on our great Christmas market tour took us back into the mountains to the Austrian city of Salzburg.  Nestled in the foothills of the Alps on the banks of the Salzach river, it is a picturesque city that would be a great place to visit anytime of the year.  I had always wanted to see Salzburg since seeing the film “The Sound of Music” as a child but I had yet to make it there until this trip.

Our hotel for this stay was the Sheraton Grand Salzburg just across the river from the old town. I had not been able to find any hotels bookable with points that were a good value and met our standards so I ended up booking this stay with cash.  It wasn’t cheap, with the parking and pet fees our total bill was about $1,100. During the Christmas market season the prices spike and this was a much nicer Sheraton than the typical one you would see in the US.  

I did have over $1,000 in Marriott gift cards I had bought during the pandemic at a 20% discount and discovered that they would work internationally even though they were in USD.  Also, I made sure they did not have an awful currency conversion rate.  My experiences with hotel gift cards have mostly been negative in the past.  Many hotels don’t seem to know how to process them despite the fact they are readily available for purchase.  It’s mystifying and can be a huge hassle.  In this case the hotel knew exactly what to do and our bill after applying the gift cards was a measly $13.  That felt like a free stay to me since I had bought the cards so long ago!  My advice if you ever have a hotel gift card is to talk to the front desk at check-in and make sure they know how to process the cards.  If they don’t, they will eventually figure it out.  It’s best to arrange a time to come to the front desk at a non-busy time on a day prior to the day you are checking out so you aren’t the person holding up the front desk staff.

On our first night in Salzburg we wandered about a block up the street from our hotel to a small Christmas market in Mirabellplatz.  It’s only a few stalls but a great place to park yourself for a few glühweins without the crowds.  It started to rain while we were there but luckily they had some canopies over the table we were at so we had a nice little shelter.  

Making the best of the rain with some glühwein at the small market in Mirabellplatz

After a good night’s sleep we were ready to tackle Salzburg’s main attractions so we headed to the heart of the old town and spent the day following a self guided walking tour that visited all the main sites such as Mozartplatz, Salzburg Cathedral, Mozart’s Birthplace, Getreidegasse, St. Peter’s Church, and Friedhof St. Peter (Petersfriedhof).  Salzburg’s sites did not disappoint.  It really is a beautiful city that deserves another visit.  Unfortunately for most of our stay the surrounding mountains were obscured by clouds and fog so the views were limited.  On our last day it started to clear out and the mountain peaks were covered with snow which was a wonderful backdrop for Christmas market touring.

As we wound our way through the old town we got our first opportunity to visit the main markets which reside in the Residenzplatz and the connected Domplatz in front of the magnificent Salzburg Cathedral.  This was a much smaller and more intimate market experience than the larger city of Vienna.  It was busy but not overwhelmingly so.  The food looked great but we only had some glühwein because we needed a little break from Christmas market food and we didn’t see anything unique that we hadn’t already sampled in Vienna.  There are also plenty of shopping stalls if you are looking for gifts or merchandise.  We visited during the day and again in the evening.  During the evening it was pretty magical with all the lights on and musicians taking turns playing music from way up in the tower of the Salzburg Carillon and on top of the arched walkway connecting the Salzburg Residence with the Salzburg Cathedral.

Pictures from the Salzburg main markets at night. Top left are the musicians playing in the tower of the Salzburg Carillon.

That evening we grabbed dinner and a few too many beers at the massive Augustiner Bräu Mülln beer hall.  This is a storied, classic Austrian brewery and beer hall dating back to 1621.  We stopped in for a single Maß (liter of beer) and some food, but we ended up staying for three Maß because we shared a table with a nice group of guys from Colorado that were fun to chat with.  I highly recommend this beer hall.  The food and beer operates much like a biergarten where it is self service.  It’s kind of pricey and I’d say the food was just ok, but the atmosphere more than makes up for it.

Augustiner Bräu Mülln beer hall

The next day brought better weather.  The sun was out and we were starting to get glimpses of the nearby snow covered mountains so we decided to take a walk up to Mönchsberg, the rocky plateau above Salzburg.  We walked down to Kirche Maria Himmelfahrt and from there followed the stairs up to the walking paths that criss-cross the top of the plateau.  This whole area offers beautiful views of the surrounding area as well as the mighty Fortress Hohensalzburg.  I’d say you must take a walk up here if you visit Salzburg.  I’m sure it’s much busier in the summer, but in late November/early December it was quite peaceful.  

Posing in front of the Fortress Hohensalzburg and in front of the Christmas tree in the small market inside the fortress.

After walking most of the length of the Mönchsberg we found our way to Fortress Hohensalzburg.  Towering over the city it’s hard to miss.  You can take a funicular up to the fortress from the old town but we walked.  I wouldn’t consider it particularly difficult if you like to walk.  The fortress grounds allow dogs but the inside parts do not.  It’s really not that exciting on the inside, it’s much more impressive to look at it from the city below but it’s hard not to visit if you are here.  I wouldn’t sweat it if you miss it though.  During the Christmas market season there is a small market inside the grounds of the fortress but it is only open on the weekends.  We were there on a weekday so I can’t report back on whether it is worth a visit.

That pretty much sums up our time in Salzburg, now it’s time to head north to Nuremberg, Germany!

Market #3 – Nuremberg, Germany

Frauenkirche decked out with Christmas trees and musicians stage.

Our drive to Nuremberg hit some major traffic so it ended up taking a lot of the day to get up there.  Our AirBnB was just outside of Nuremberg in a town called Wendelstein.  Ideally we would have been in the city but we needed an AirBnB for laundry and the ones in the city were really expensive due to the Christmas market.  

At this point we were pretty exhausted from the last few weeks of constant action so after settling in we walked to a nearby market and grabbed some groceries to cook what would be our last home cooked meal of the entire trip.  From here on out it would be nothing but restaurant and street food.  We heard no complaints from Mavi.

One night’s rest was not nearly enough to recharge our batteries and we had a special guest inbound from Italy to join us for our remaining Christmas markets so we decided to relax at the AirBnB for the entire next day.  Later in the evening we drove over to the airport to pick up our good friend Kasia fresh off a Mediterranean cruise.  Unfortunately she got sick during the last part of her cruise so we now had two weary travelers and one sick traveler.  We did not let that discourage us and the next day after taking it easy in the morning we finally headed into the city for some Christmas market action.

Day two in Nuremberg was chilly, gray and drizzly.  Some sunshine would have really helped considering our overall state of fatigue and illness but while traveling you have no choice but to make the best of the weather.  Prior to heading into the center of the city for the Christmas market I wanted to make a couple of historical stops on the outskirts.  The first stop was at the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds located in the massive Congress Hall.  If you aren’t a World War II buff like me then you might not know that Nuremberg was an important city for the German Nazi party during the 1930s.  This is where they held their massive propaganda rallies.  The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle in German) was designed to seat 50,000 people but was never fully completed. The documentation center within is a museum focused on the history of Nazi Germany and the rallies that happened here.  Unfortunately it was being redesigned during our visit and there was only a small temporary exhibit open.  I’d say until the full permanent exhibit reopens it’s not worth paying the entry fee.

Main grandstands of the Zeppelinfeld (left), Congress Hall with Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds located inside (right)

After leaving the documentation center we strolled to the nearby Zeppelinfeld.  This field and grandstands served as the main parade grounds for the rally and the podium was a place where Hiltler and many other prominent Nazi party members gave speeches.  Much of it seemed to be under renovation while we were there.  I’m not sure my travel companions found it very interesting, but for me it was a bit surreal to be in these places where I had seen so many grainy black and white films shot.  Knowing what happened here certainly sends a chill down your spine.

After all that dark history we were ready to move on to something more jolly, so we made our way to the city center for the Christmas market.  Because of factors like lack of time, fatigue and illness we only made it to the main market located in Hauptmarkt Nürnberg.  Based on my research there appears to be at least two other smaller markets in Handwerkerhof Nürnberg and Jakobsplatz.

I’ll start with the highlights of the market.  The setting in the main square Hauptmark backed by the Frauenkirche is beautiful.  This is something that you come to expect from almost any proper European Christmas market.  The sausages were really good, which is not a surprise in this city.  It took some searching but we finally tracked down some potato pancakes which were high on our list of foods to try here.  When we finally found them (hint, they are kind of down a side street from the main square) they were excellent.  Maybe a little greasy, but I like that.

Clockwise from top left, 1) Sausages!, 2) Amy all smiles with the gingerbread before it let her down, 3) crowds, 4) the gang posing in front of the Frauenkirche, 5) glühwein mugs, 6) one of the entrances.

Unfortunately there were some lowlights for us at this market.  It was extremely crowded and the spacing between the rows of booths was narrow so people were really packed in.  We also found less of a variety of food than we had hoped.  There is A LOT of sausage and it’s all kind of the same sausage.  There is also a lot of traditional gingerbread which we did try.  Opinions were mixed on that.  Outside of those two items we really had to hunt to find anything different.  

Another downside is that unlike the Austrian markets this one was primarily cash only.  As you can probably discern from my focus on credit card points I’m credit card first all the time when paying.  I loathe cash.  Beyond the obvious lack of rewards points there is nothing I hate more than carrying around a full heavy pocket of coins and trying to sort through a stack of bills in a crowded cold place like a Christmas market.  All the ATMs in the square were long since tapped out so if you didn’t have enough cash you had to go wandering to find an ATM that wasn’t empty.  I do think the weather and our general run down condition contributed to our mixed feelings about this market so I hope to someday give this one another chance.

Market #4 – Strasbourg, France

The next day we all piled into the car which made for tight quarters. Three adults, one labrador retriever, and all our luggage pushed the capacity of our small European SUV to its limits.  After some careful arranging of bags we did manage to fit and the three and a half hour drive to Strasbourg went smoothly.  

Our hotels were just outside the old town across the street from the train station.  The hotels in this area are a little more affordable.  There are not a lot of good points hotel options in Strasbourg so I had used my annual $300 Capital One travel credit I receive from my Venture X credit card plus 24,718 Capital One miles to book a room at Hotel Tandem through the Capital One travel portal.  

After parking the car and checking into our hotels we made the short walk into the old town to get our first taste of the Strasbourg Christmas markets.  I knew next to nothing about this city in France until I saw some content about its Christmas markets.  They like to call themselves the “Capitale de Noël”, or capital of Christmas. Needless to say there was a lot of hype to live up to. The city sits very close to the German border so it is a unique blend of Germanic and French culture.  I was really looking forward to tasting some of the culinary combinations that this unlikely marriage created.

A taste of the atmosphere in Petite France

On that first day we decided to start exploring at the Petite France quarter which is touted as a must see part of the city.  Within the district the river Ill splits up into a number of channels that cascade through the area.  The structures are mostly traditional timber frames.  Add the layers of Christmas lighting and decorations on top of all of this and you get an idea why this area is popular.  We also found the first of many smaller satellite markets that are sprinkled around the city center.  This ended up being one of the greatest attributes of the Strasbourg markets.  There was a main market in Place Kléber that was more crowded, but there had to be at least a dozen other smaller markets to find and explore.  They all had unique offerings so it wasn’t as if we were seeing the same stalls over and over in different locations.

Main market in Place Kléber with the big tree

We had eaten dinner at a restaurant before going out so we did not do much eating at the markets on that first night.  Instead we started scouting which food stalls we would come back to the next day.  We did try the glühwein because this is always a must try.  Strasbourg is better known for its white glühwein which is made with white wine instead of the more traditional red wine.  It was good, but red will always be my go to.  One negative about the glühwein in Strasbourg is that they use plastic cups instead of the unique ceramic mugs we got at other markets.  The plastic cups just aren’t as charming and take away from the experience a little bit.

We woke up to another fine early winter day the next morning and prepared for a full day of Christmas market exploration.  On this day we made a point to visit every market in the city.  In total in 2025 there were 11 markets.  Definitely make it a point to get out to the smaller markets.  The crowds are smaller and you can find some different foods and merchandise for sale if you are into shopping.  

Some more pictures around town, to say it was festive would be putting it mildly

On our full day of market eating and exploring we had some amazing food.  My favorite was probably the raclette sandwiches with the cheese heated and freshly scraped right off the wheel onto a sandwich made with ham and fresh baked french bread. You can’t beat that!  We also had some excellent tarte flambée (also known as Flammekueche) which is a kind of french pizza.  Bottom line, don’t sleep on the food in Strasbourg!

Clockwise from top left, 1) tarte flambée, 2) the raclette serving system, 3) the lame plastic glühwein glasses, 4) posing with our raclette sandwiches.

I felt like every little market in the city was worth visiting.  Strasbourg had quickly moved to the top of our market rankings.  But before we could crown a champion we still had one more left on the itinerary, the Belgian city of Brussels!

Market #5 – Brussels, Belgium

We rolled into Brussels in shambles.  At this point illness had spread throughout the whole group (except Mavi, he was still 100% healthy).  After the effort involved with packing all of our stuff up, piling into the car, driving, and then checking into a new hotel everyone’s energy level was nearly at zero.  In spite of this we decided to venture out and see as much of the markets as we could because rain was forecasted for the next day and we feared we would feel even worse.

Our hotel for this stay was the Steigenberger Wiltcher’s booked through American Express fine hotels so that I could use the $200 credit I had on my American Express Platinum card.  The American Express fine hotels program is a curated list of hotels worldwide that you can book through American Express travel and get free breakfast, some sort of property credit (usually $100), a room upgrade, and guaranteed 4pm late checkout.  This can be a good deal if you can find an affordable hotel, which can take some hunting.  There are plenty that top $1,000 a night.  I had been getting a $200 annual credit on my Amex Platinum.  Later in 2025 they revamped the card and boosted this to two $300 credits.  Our stay was $675 for 2 nights, so $475 out of pocket after the $200 credit was applied.  I thought this was reasonable for a really nice hotel at a busy time of year considering all of the extras included.  We ended up using the $100 credit to cover room service dinner on our second night because we were all too sick to go out and it was raining.

The hotel is a little ways outside of the city center, about a 25 minute walk.  We tend to prefer walking when the weather is cooperating and the distance is reasonable.  In this case we chose to walk, but in retrospect we probably should have taken a car or public transit to preserve our strength since we were all either sick or starting to get sick.  On the way back from the markets everyone started to feel worse due to all the walking in the cold.  Just navigating the markets was a lot of walking, we didn’t need to add the additional 50 minutes to/from the hotel.  Lesson learned.

The first place we visited was the Grand Place which doesn’t have any market stalls, instead it has the main Christmas tree and there is a light and music show that plays at regular intervals.  The square itself is what you would expect from a European city, few of them disappoint.  Adding in all the lighting and the accompanying show made it all the better.  Definitely stop here if you are in Brussels during the holidays.

The scene around Grand Place in Brussels

The next stop was Place de la Monnaie which is a smaller market but ended up being the least crowded place to get some food.  Here we tried some great food including real Belgian hot chocolate, pasta that they toss in a big wheel of cheese to make it extra cheesy (definitely get this if you see it, it was great), and some belgian waffles (also amazing).   

Clockwise from top left, 1) Belgian hot chocolate, 2) pasta being prepared in the cheese wheels, 3) enjoying my pasta, 4) Belgian waffles!

From there we moved on to De Brouckèreplein which had more stalls and was more crowded.  As we progressed through the markets in Brussels it became apparent that there was more of a party atmosphere in this city.  We saw a lot more younger people drinking and having a good time.  Normally we would have been jumping into the fray and maybe making some new friends along the way but our poor health was making it difficult to just brave the crowds and see the markets.

Next stop was Pl. Sainte-Catherine  which appeared to be the biggest of the markets in the city.  This square is long and narrow.  There were two rows of stands that extended the entire length of the square with a large ferris wheel at the end.  The entire area was absolutely mobbed, and this was on a Wednesday night!  We made the mistake of bringing Maverick as well and that was a full body workout wrestling him through the crowds and “street food.”

The atmosphere around the very crowded Pl. Sainte-Catherine

The last stop was the Brussels Stock Exchange which was thankfully a little less crazy than the two previous markets.  We didn’t spend much time here because everyone was really starting to wear down.  On the way back we made a quick stop at Pl. Poelaert near our hotel which had another small market and ferris wheel.  At this point of the night it was pretty much deserted.  

Quick Recap of The End

The next day Amy was too sick to get out of bed and Kasia and I were nowhere near 100%.  Unfortunately the Christmas market tour ended with a whimper as we settled for room service dinner and an early bedtime in preparation for the final push home.  Kasia flew home the next morning.  For us the next couple of days involved a vet appointment to get Mav dewormed to get back into the UK, dropping off our leased car, and grabbing the ferry back to the UK.  

The remainder of the trip was pretty uneventful.  We spent the last week in London which we just could not enjoy.  In retrospect we should have found a nice quiet place in the country to decompress.  Between being sick and fatigued and the city being absolutely mobbed for the holiday season we were struggling to enjoy ourselves.  Travel fatigue doesn’t seem like something real when you are daydreaming about travel, but it is a very real thing.  

Mavi posing with Big Ben

After our week in London we boarded the Queen Mary 2 for the return trip to the US.  It was windy and the weather was rough.  We didn’t have as much freedom on the decks due to the weather conditions.  Unlike the first crossing there was nothing new or novel about this trip which made it feel like a very long and rough ferry ride.  It was great to see the kennel master Oliver again.  He was so excited to see Maverick!  All in all the entire trip home went very smoothly which was great.  I plan to post a recap of our first long term travel experience in the future so stay tuned.

Rating the Christmas Markets

So which Christmas market is best?  That’s a hard question to answer and is highly subjective.  Based on my opinions along with input from Amy, Kasia, and Mav, here is how I would rank the markets.

Atmosphere – this was a no brainer win for Strasbourg.  We definitely prefer the markets in the smaller cities.

1. Strasbourg
2. Salzburg
3. Vienna
4. Nuremberg
5. Brussels

Food – another easy win for Strasbourg.  Nuremberg slots into #2 despite the difficulty in finding variety.  The sausages and potato pancakes were top notch.

1. Strasbourg
2. Nuremberg
3. Brussels
4. Vienna
5. Salzburg

Glühwein – this is a combination of flavor and the mugs. Brussels was not rated because we were not feeling well enough to have a drink, plus the lines were long.

1. Nuremberg
2. Vienna
3. Salzburg
4. Strasbourg

Overall – Strasbourg for the win with Salzburg taking second spot.  The atmosphere and smaller crowds is hard to beat in the smaller cities.  Nuremberg and Brussels might be tainted by a combination of weather, illness, and fatigue.

1. Strasbourg
2. Salzburg
3. Vienna
4. Nuremberg
5. Brussels

That’s it for the Christmas markets and our amazing trip! Thanks for joining us on this great adventure and hopefully we have inspired you to do something extraordinary. I know others have inspired me and this is how this trip came to fruition. In the coming weeks I will get back into the world of travel hacking and how you can go on amazing trips for a fraction of the actual cost. I hope you stick around!

Mavi yelling “land ahoy!, thank god!” after another week at sea