The best Christmas markets in Europe offer hot drinks, gingerbread cookies, roasted almonds and a festive mood.
Wooden stalls with food and drinks, souvenirs, Christmas baubles of all kinds, and vendors flushed from the cold and mulled wine can be found in the center of any city. Gazeta.ru offers a tour of the best markets in European cities.
Bolzano, Italy
The capital of South Tyrol, Bolzano, is located in the Dolomites: at the end of November, this medieval town surrounded by mountains is adorned with Christmas lights, and on Piazza Walther and Piazza del Municipio, Christmas markets open.
If the first of these is all traditional (Christmas ornaments, ceramic and wooden crafts), the second is a place where artists from all over South Tyrol gather to sell their works of art, applied, of course. At both, it is recommended to eat speck, canederli (also known as dumplings), pork braised in beer, and apple strudel.
Cologne, Germany
At the end of November, not one but seven markets open in this city. The most famous of them is located right under the walls of Cologne Cathedral – it is considered the largest in Germany and is even listed as a UNESCO site.
You need to go here to drink mulled wine and snack on roasted chestnuts in the shadow of the Gothic facade.
And if your task is to delight children, head to Alter Markt, the Old Market, to meet real gnomes, watch a puppet show, and eat sausages.
Colmar, France
Where else in France to listen to Christmas carols and minstrels and troubadours, where to ice skate and kiss under the mistletoe, where to drink hot wine spiced with cinnamon and orange peel? Only in the ancient town of Alsace. There are as many as five Christmas markets here.
On Place Jeanne D'Arc, you can shop and try foie gras in the atmosphere of an Alsatian village recreated here for the time.
You should buy antiques and handicrafts at the market near the old customs building. With children, head to Little Venice – a canal district where you can ride a fairy-tale carousel and send a letter to Santa Claus.
Tallinn, Estonia
At the end of November, a giant Christmas tree is installed on the central square of the Old Town of the Estonian capital – Raekoja plats. Estonian researchers claim that it was here, in Tallinn, that the Christmas tree was first erected: in 1441, local merchants started the tradition of dancing around a giant fir tree and then burning it for the holiday.
The priority of Tallinn is disputed by the people of Riga and Alsace, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a fairytale Christmas market surrounded by snow-covered spires and towers of the medieval city, snow sculptures, dances and songs that are always sung in chorus.
Bratislava, Slovakia
On the banks of the Danube, there are many cities where you can indulge in Christmas shopping, and Bratislava is not the most popular of them. Which is a shame: at the fairs located on the main and market squares, about a hundred stalls appear at the end of November, where you can buy items made of wood, leather and glass very inexpensively (especially compared to Vienna, which is just a stone's throw away).
To warm up here, one is offered traditional cabbage soup, bread with lard and onions, gingerbread and cookies.
In Bratislava, Western and Eastern Europe come together so touchingly that it pleases both Westerners and Slavophiles, because there is a place for everyone.
Bruges, Belgium
In this medieval city, trade routes of Europe converged as early as the 12th century, and in the 14th century the world's first commodity exchange was founded here. Now the Venice of the North attracts perhaps more tourists than merchants, but at Christmas all roads lead here.
Ice sculptures and an ice rink on the main square are just the tip of the Christmas iceberg, and if you delve deeper, you can find two Christmas markets.
Belgium is famous for its chocolate – and at the local fairs, it is customary to warm up with it. In addition to hot chocolate, the stalls serve mulled wine and gin-based drinks.
Winchester, United Kingdom
If a British visa burns a hole in your pocket, then at Christmas it would be good to go to a quieter place instead of London. Quiet and full of dignity: located in Hampshire county in southern Britain, Winchester became the capital of England long before London, and here is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe, built back in the 11th century. Under the walls of the cathedral, a fair opens that will surely remind you of one of the German markets.
The same wooden stalls, and inside – decorations, glassware and clothing. The same hot wine. The same sausages. Inside the cathedral, you can listen to Christmas carols, and if you prefer to warm up by moving, there is an ice rink near the fair.
Salzburg, Austria
A month before Christmas, several fairs open in Salzburg, the most musical city in Austria. The main ones are, of course, on the central squares, Domplatz and Residenzplatz.
These are classic Christmas markets – with wooden huts, gingerbread, mulled wine and children singing Christmas carols in chorus.
If you want more thrills – and in Salzburg they are really lacking – we suggest walking to Hohensalzburg Castle: in this medieval fortress towering over the city, there is also its own fair.
Wrocław, Poland
In this once German, now Polish city, the capital of Silesia, Christmas fairs have been held since the 16th century. The city has so many architectural styles mixed together that you can't immediately say whether it's Gothic, Baroque, or Renaissance.
In December, the entire historic center of Wroclaw turns into a Christmas market.
At this fair, you can buy items produced not only in Poland but also in Lithuania, Germany, Latvia, and France – silver and amber jewelry, wood and ceramic products, candles, lamps, and other curious objects. And children can be sent to a fairy-tale forest set up right here. Don't worry – there are no ogres there.