Plan a Family Trip to a German Christmas Market Now

Jump into the holiday spirit by planning your December family travels around one or more of Germany’s famous Christmas markets. These lively and colorful markets are free, and the larger ones have special activities and entertainment for children.

While you will find Christmas markets in towns all over Germany (with larger cities having multiple markets), two places stand out as favorites for travelers.

One of the oldest has filled Nuremberg’s wide Hauptmarkt each December since at least the 1500s. The setting is perfect, with the magnificent Gothic cathedral bathed in light and the square surrounded by medieval buildings.

Below is a maze of brightly lit booths selling every holiday treat your children could imagine. Brightly decorated gingerbread hearts frame displays of the city’s famous Nürnberger Lebkuchen, or spiced honey cakes. Other booths feature rows of star-shaped cookies and marzipan shaped like fruits and vegetables.

You won’t go far before being tempted by the sizzling grills lined with the local bratwurst. An entire area designed for kids features an old-fashioned carousel, a miniature train and a workshop where they can make Christmas gifts.

Stuttgart’s Christkindlesmarkt, one of Germany’s largest, stretches through the city, from the broad Schlossplatz and along the walls of the castle and into the Marktplatz, where the city hall windows have become a giant advent calendar.

All along the route are wooden cabins decorated in fragrant evergreens, with elaborate rooftop decorations (there’s a contest for the best, so be sure to look up from the tempting displays of sweets and crafts). The variety of Christmas tree ornaments is dazzling, and you’ll find handcrafted gifts in carved wood, ceramics, blown and molded glass and fabric arts.

A large area in the square is a children’s wonderland, set beneath a Ferris wheel with cars shaped like giant Christmas tree balls. A miniature train takes kids through an elaborate miniature village and they can decorate their own Christmas cookies or make candles at the booths especially for kids.

These markets are popular, so it’s not too early to book hotels in these or other cities famed for their Christmas markets.