Last Updated on July 10, 2023
Schnitzel, bier, lederhosen, Oktoberfest……these are all things that come to mind when discussing good ole’ Germany. But my new home country of Deutschland has more to offer than just beer and pretzels. Especially when it comes to Christmas (Weihnachten). The German Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmärkte) are a wonder to behold. And this December, JC and I went on a hunt for the best Weihnachtsmärkte Germany has to offer. Read below for our full itinerary to learn where to go for the best German Christmas Markets.
Best German Christmas Markets – Rothenburg ob der Tauber
The Christmas Markets in Germany open the first weekend of the Christmas Advent calendar (i.e. first weekend of December). This year, it meant Friday, November 30th. For our first stop on our Christmas Market tour, we drove six hours from Berlin to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. We had been in May to Rothenburg for the first time on our Romantic Road Trip, and immediately fell in love with the charming medieval town. It may be our favorite town in all of Germany. However, when we arrived to the Christmas Market Friday afternoon, we were a little…..underwhelmed; there weren’t too many people, not too many stands, plus it was raining. But then, out of the misty gloom appeared…… Christmas Market heaven.
Our heaven was called Käthe Wohlfahrt. Not only did the indoor shop shelter us from the cold and rain outside, but it offered us the most beautiful selection of wooden Räuchermen, or incense burners. We were immediately overwhelmed with too many choices of Räuchermen. How could we choose? Should we buy them all? (Unfortunately, at 70 EUR or more a Räuchermen, that wasn’t an option). But somehow, after much deliberation, we walked out of the store with only two, plus a squirrel ornament…..well, because, do I need to explain the squirrel thing? (If in doubt, please refer to the ‘About Us’ section, as well as, well, the name of our blog).
Best German Christmas Markets – Nuremberg
With our purchases in hand, we continued to our second stop on our Christmas Market road trip, Nuremberg. Nuremberg is one hour away driving from Rothenburg and the most famous of all the German Christmas Markets. Our expectations were high, and Nuremberg did not disappoint.
We heard live Christmas music…
And even spotted a polar bear…
If you are going to go to one Christmas Market in all of Germany, make it to Nuremberg. Between the plentitude of stands selling beautiful ornaments and Räuchermen and the overall joyful atmosphere complete with Christmas carols, you do not want to miss this experience.
Best German Christmas Markets – Dresden
The next day we continued back north in the direction of Berlin, but stopped at our final Christmas Market of the trip in Dresden.
Dresden has three separated Christmas Markets, and we managed to see them all. The city is beautiful, and the Christmas Markets are also lovely, but at this point both our wallets and our bodies were worn out. We had done most of our Christmas shopping damage in Rothenburg and Nuremberg and were ready to go home. However, if you are located in Berlin and do not want to travel too far to experience Christmas Markets, I would highly recommend making a weekend trip or even a day trip to Dresden.
While we had picked up gifts for all of JC’s family members we would soon see for the holidays in Peru, we couldn’t go home without a little something for ourselves….
He kind of resembles us, don’t you think?
Which are your favorite Christmas Markets in Germany? Comment below!
Related Post: Where to Drive on the ‘Romantische Straße’ Romantic Road | Germany
