Christmas Markets

With wonderful memories of the Christmas markets in Salzburg some years ago, I already had high expectations for Innsbruck. I was not disappointed. The markets in Innsbruck were just as traditional and Christmassy as...

When you think about Christmas Markets one of the first images that springs to mind is wandering through an array of traditional wooden market stalls in a picturesque market square with the snow falling...

This year I decided that I was going to visit the Salzburg Christmas markets, which I’ve been wanting to visit for a while now. I also decided that I would make a second Christmas market trip so that I could re-visit the Dusseldorf Christmas market to remind myself just how wonderful my first Christmas market experience was.

This year I decided to visit two Christmas markets, one which I have visited before and also a brand new destination, Salzburg. Salzburg came highly recommended to me by a family member who had visited the Salzburg Christmas market a few years ago, and I thought a destination in the Alps would make a fantastic Christmas market location.

The shorter days and colder nights can only mean one thing… it's nearly time for the Christmas Market season to begin. Over the next few weeks we will see the streets and market squares of the beautiful European cities come alive with Christmas spirit. Each year during the run up to Christmas I try to visit at least one European Christmas Market, but this year I have planned to visit two cities.

Prague with its striking gothic architecture, ornate squares and imposing castle is famously known as Europe’s fairytale capital city, a fantastic location for a magical Christmas market. I have visited Prague a few times...

For this years Christmas market break I wanted to try somewhere completely different to the destinations that I've visited previously. One of my friends suggested Italy and after some research I concluded that the Turin Christmas markets were the ones which I wanted to visit.

I know Christmas is over now for another year, but before it slips too far way I wanted to share one last Christmas experience which I had over the festive period, while I was on my travels through Australia - The Lights of Lobethal.

I booked my recent flights to Adelaide on Qatar Airways, which had a Munich departure because of a fantastic deal that I found online. As my flight on Qatar Airways was a mid-morning departure I chose to fly out to Munich the day before and I spent the night in an airport hotel. I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to visit the Munich Christmas Market.

For my main Christmas market break this year I chose to visit the Brussels Christmas Market. I chose Brussels this year because when I first visited Brussels a couple of years ago I thought that the architecture in the city centre was absolutely stunning, and that it would make the perfect setting for a Christmas market.

One thing I had planned to do in December 2014 was pay a visit to the Christmas Markets in Bath, UK. Being used to visiting the markets on the continent, I had assumed that the Bath Christmas Markets would be open right up until Christmas Eve, and so I planned to visit on December 23rd. This was a big mistake on my part as the Christmas Market in Bath only ran until December 14th. This did, however, teach me a valuable lesson of the importance of thorough research before planning a trip. So this time around I did just that.

I try and visit at least one Christmas market each year, and this year along with a group of friends we decided to visit Luxembourg. This was my first trip to Luxembourg, so as well as enjoying the various Christmas markets, I also discovered some of this picturesque continental city. Luxembourg is completely land-locked between France, Belgium and Germany and has subtle influences from all its neighbours.

One of my favourite things about this time of year is making a visit to one of Europe’s beautiful Christmas Markets. Each year I try and visit at least one destination, sometimes more. Having previously visited markets in Germany, Croatia, Spain and Sweden, I decided on the Christmas Markets of Basel for this year’s trip.