It’s impossible to not get into the Christmas spirit when you’re at a European Christmas Market – especially when you have one right on your doorstep! Our apartment on Andrassy Avenue is just one block from Budapest’s main Christmas market, which begins on Deák Ferenc Square and continues down the pedestrianised street to Vörösmarty Square, where most of the festive action takes place.
I have to admit we have a soft spot for Christmas markets, which is most probably because we don’t have them in Australia. The sun is shining Down Under in December after all, so it just wouldn’t be the same. After we moved to the UAE in 1998 we made a point of heading to Europe for the winter – aside from the fact that snowy winters were such a novelty, for Terence it was primarily for snowboarding, for me it was for the Christmas markets.
We’ve been to Christmas markets in Zurich, Bern, Basel, Prague, Salzburg, Munich, Nuremberg and a half a dozen small towns across Southern Germany, and my favourites were the markets in Munich and Zurich. Until now…
Our grand tour has actually taken us to four European destinations with Christmas markets: Budapest, Zell am See, Vienna, and Krakow, where we recently arrived. Yes, our little blog is a bit behind us and is struggling to catch up…
Here’s a rundown of four Christmas markets we’ve come to love.
BUDAPEST
We can smell the glühwein even before we reach Deák Square, and buying a couple of mugs of the steaming hot wine is the first thing we do when we arrive. We’ve done the rounds of all the sellers, but our favourite – which is nice and spicy – is sold by the man splashing some into a cup for us in the picture above. Budapest’s Christmas market is small compared to Vienna’s, however, we prefer the atmosphere of the market in Budapest – there’s nearly always some kind of music on or a band on the stage, steam is always rising from the food stalls from which mouthwatering smells emanate, there’s a huge variety of hearty traditional food, and the Christmas decorations, crafts and gifts for sale are some of the best quality we’ve seen, from colourful felt hats to handmade warm woollen sweaters and socks.
ZELL AM SEE
The Christmas market at Zell Am See, the Austrian lakeside town where we head after Budapest, may be tiny, with just a single stand selling glühwein, another selling sausages, and dozen selling Christmas decorations and gifts – but it has loads of Christmas charm. The woman who sells handmade woollen beanies, scarves and socks is knitting them right there! There’s a stall dedicated to everything and anything that can possibly be made from lavender and I’m sure it’s all made from the cute old lady who runs it.
VIENNA
Vienna boasts some 20 Christmas markets (I asked the nice woman at the tourist office to highlight each and every one on a map for me) and we must have sipped glühwein or punsch (the local preference) in half of them during our stay. The whole city is festooned with spectacular garlands of glittering lights, especially on Kohlmarkt, Graben and Kärntner Strasse, and there are shiny baubles and sparkling fairy lights on Christmas trees in every store window. Our favourite Vienna Christmas market of all is the largest, in front of the Rathaus (City Hall), where there are hundreds of stalls selling hot dogs and kartoffelpuffers (potato cakes), Christmas decorations and gifts, from teddy bears, gingerbread men, beeswax candles and and baubles for the tree to handmade candles, souvenir t-shirts and hippy clothes, it’s all here! There’s quite a bit of tacky nonsense between the quality stuff, which is the only reason I think Budapest’s market is best.
KRAKOW
The Christmas market in Krakow must have the most spectacular location of all on The Rynek, the Old Town’s Market Square, and it was looking especially enchanting when we first arrived, with everything dusted in snow. It’s a medium-sized market with stalls selling beautiful handmade wooden toys, woollen slippers, furry hats, and those traditional floral scarves that Polish women wear, among other fun things. Krakow’s market wins the award for the stalls selling the most beautiful Christmas decorations. My favourite are the small trees, wreaths and angels crafted from natural materials like twigs, leaves, and dried fruit and flowers. And naturally the glühwein, sold from barrel-shaped stands is pretty delicious too!
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