Christmas Markets

The UK ones used to be good. Now they are just copy and paste. The products are all the same cheap tat at expensive prices and the food is mass produced and dreadful value. The sort of vans you used to get outside of football stadiums selling burgers for a quid are now wrapped in a wooden box and charging £10. When they first started they were a bit of a novelty but they were fairly good value. The food was proper restaurants doing pop-ups but once it became commercialised those pop-ups became full time businesses so now you have people that have never set foot in a restaurant and would never call themselves chefs selling reheated mass-produced fast food for restaurant prices. The drinks are double the price of the over-priced pubs and because it's outside it's in a plastic cup. I don't mind them for a walk around, bit of atmosphere but I would do that and then head to a proper restaurant for food/drink.

I have found the small village ones where they have local businesses with stalls to be far better quality/value. I would definitely seek out somewhere abroad if I was going to travel to one. Somewhere that has always had them and does them properly (I assume Germany) rather than somewhere that has just copied the idea.
 
speckyget said:
Strasbourg.
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Yep have done many throughout Europe but this is the daddy I would say. The place is alive at Christmas.

Manchester is a good place at night but not their Xmas market.


Many of the suggestions in this thread are listed in this good Times article.

www.thetimes.co.uk

24 of the best Christmas markets in Europe for 2023 - Times Travel

Salzburg, Strasbourg, Gothenburg and Berlin are among the best Christmas markets in Europe — and there are plenty more. Here are our expert tips.
www.thetimes.co.uk www.thetimes.co.uk
 
Bath isn't bad, the whole center turns over to the Xmas market with at least 170 Xmas chalets lining the streets , and the centre itself isn't too shabby, right up there with Edinburgh and top notch European locations,
 
LessoftheLip said:
Off to Krakow in a week or so. Looking forward to the markets👍
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We loved it there, the shops sell beer and cider bottles for about 40p. Weirdly somersby out there is a flavoured beer drink?

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If you like escape rooms, or if you've only done British ones, check out Fear Factory it is immense it's right by the main square. We did it with two polish girls and they tapped out in the first 5 minutes

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Miles better than what you get here

If you like black pudding the bowls of it are class - grim if you don't like it but if you do, well worth trying

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Obviously do all the usual stuff like salt mines and auschwitz, do them both same day it's a long day but fair travel to both

Vodka bar is really good for flavoured shots, it gets busy tho

There is a great hidden bar called mercy brown which is well worth a visit; they take you through the hotel kitchens etc to get to it

Try lots of the sausage, pierogi's and visit a milk bar

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

MERCY BROWN: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

www.tripadvisor.co.uk www.tripadvisor.co.uk

When at the Christmas markets try the soups with bread, they don't look very appetising so I tried on a whim on the last day, but they're class

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Never been to a bad German one, Munich was good as there's also the Tollwood Festival on at the same time https://www.tollwood.de/en/tollwood-winterfestival/

Been to Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Aachen, Hamelin, Hanover, Munster and others. Berlin is good as there's several markets and I try and combine towns/cities just to add a bit of interest and variety. Cologne and Dusseldorf are close so easy to combine. This year I'm going back to Cologne but also visiting Bonn and Koblenz. I considered Hamburg and Bremen but will probably go next year.

Wasn't impressed by Valkenberg myself

Liege was poor but combining Antwerp and Ghent was good and Brussels and Bruges could be combined.

As I live near I usually go into Manchester and I was there yesterday and it does seem to be getting low in quality and overpriced eg Apple Strudel and custard was £7

I'm off to Palma tomorrow and their xmas markets, never been to any in a warm place so we'll see......
 
exeterboro said:
Bath isn't bad, the whole center turns over to the Xmas market with at least 170 Xmas chalets lining the streets , and the centre itself isn't too shabby, right up there with Edinburgh and top notch European locations,
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Horrendous, always absolutely packed.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
We loved it there, the shops sell beer and cider bottles for about 40p. Weirdly somersby out there is a flavoured beer drink?

View attachment 67650

If you like escape rooms, or if you've only done British ones, check out Fear Factory it is immense it's right by the main square. We did it with two polish girls and they tapped out in the first 5 minutes

View attachment 67651

Miles better than what you get here

If you like black pudding the bowls of it are class - grim if you don't like it but if you do, well worth trying

View attachment 67652
Obviously do all the usual stuff like salt mines and auschwitz, do them both same day it's a long day but fair travel to both

Vodka bar is really good for flavoured shots, it gets busy tho

There is a great hidden bar called mercy brown which is well worth a visit; they take you through the hotel kitchens etc to get to it

Try lots of the sausage, pierogi's and visit a milk bar

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

MERCY BROWN: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

www.tripadvisor.co.uk www.tripadvisor.co.uk

When at the Christmas markets try the soups with bread, they don't look very appetising so I tried on a whim on the last day, but they're class

View attachment 67649
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That soup looks disgusting to be fair.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
Had high hopes for here when we went last year and it was probably the worst Christmas market I've been to outside of Middlesbrough. It was scaled back a bit because of some dispute but still a good amount of stalls

I'm used to there being loads of food stalls and alcohol stalls as well as all the usual artisan gift stalls and other stuff to look around. A hot chocolate with rum in it cost me £8 and some bread and stew was £12 each;


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It was nice but I think most euro markets I'd have paid less than a fiver.

think a little glass of mulled wine was £5. Overall found Budapest quite expensive and generally poor value compared to most the other winter getaways we've done

Surrounding bars were extortionate. We went to some of the best rated cocktail bars and some hidden away ones and lot of them were more expensive than here 😂
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Really mad to hear that. I think Budapest has been one of the very best value cities in Europe for the past 10 years we have been going. It certainly isn;t as cheap as it was but not at all what I would call expensive. I wonder if your experience was specifically tied to the Christmas period.
 
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