The 15 best Christmas markets in the world

Good for: the ‘gram

Strasbourg is the setting of the longest-running Christmas market in France (dating all the way back to 1570), and you can see why two million festive travellers head to the city each year. But it’s not just the Christkindelsmärik which is worth exploring – the area around the Cathedral transforms into a twinkly wonderland of 15 different Christmassy spots each year, making this a particularly wondrous display of gifts, snacks and sparkling lights – no wonder it’s known as the Capital of Christmas. We can practically smell the cinnamon from here.

Christkindelsmärik, Grand Ile of Strasbourg, France from Nov 27-Dec 27. 

Good for: Christmas movie fans

There are a handful of Christmassy spots which crop up all over New York during the festive season, with the gargantuan trees and pretty lights we all recognise from classic Christmas movies, but the Union Square Holiday Market is the place to head if you’re after some good old-fashioned gift-buying and a cup of hot chocolate or two. Nestled in Midtown South between East 14th and 17th street, more than 150 vendors set up hut here from mid-November, so there’s no excuse for last-minute shopping.

Union Square, E 14th St, New York, NY 10011, USA from Nov 16-Dec 24. 

Good for: figurine collectors

The Peruvian city of Cusco might be best known for its colonial architecture and nearby Incan wonders, but it’s also home to a Christmas market like no other. A vast arts and crafts fair called Santurantikuy takes over the Plaza de Armas on December 24 every year, a 500-year-old tradition that sees vendors selling colourful carvings of holy figures. Be sure to pick up a quirky retablo – a handmade box containing the nativity scene. 

Plaza de Armas de Cusco, Del Medio 123, Cusco 08000. Dec 24.

Good for: warm-weather people

Not all of us love constantly grasping a hot beverage and donning multiple layers – some of us are just warm weather all-year-round kinda people, and that’s okay. So, if you’re someone who prefers to do their Christmas shopping in shorts and a T-shirt, Singapore’s iconic Gardens By the Bay is the place to head. Every year, the spot becomes filled with fairground rides, carnival games, fairy lights and festive  stalls, so you can play, shop and snap until your heart is full of Christmassy joy.

18 Marina Gardens Drive Gardens By the Bay, Singapore 018953 Singapore, dates TBC. 

Good for: ardent traditionalists

There isn’t one single reason why so many flock to Nuremberg’s Christkindlemarkt during the festive season. Sure, the market’s Christkind (a young woman dressed in white and gold) is a spectacular quirk and the setting, beneath the ornate spire of the Schöner fountain, is mesmerizingly scenic. But that all pales in comparison to the actual market itself, a mini-city of wooden stalls packed with traditional homemade goods, smoked beers and mugs of homely glühwein.

Hauptmarkt, 90403 Nuremberg from Nov 29-Dec 24. 

Good for: a gorgeous gorge

I mean, do Christmas destinations get any more scenic than that? Beneath the 40-metre-high arches of a ginormous railway bridge in Germany’s Black Forest lies the festive market at Ravenna Gorge, a hive of buzzy huts and quaint Christmas lights that is often covered in a thick layer of snow. For even more dazzling sights, visit at night – when the entire bridge is lit up in deep red.

Ravenna Gorge, B31, Breitnau-Höllstein from Nov 22-Dec 15

Good for: immersive festivities

When it comes to Vienna’s Christmas market, biggest really is best. The Austrian capital boasts one of the largest Christmas markets on the planet; a ‘Christmas World’ that features over 100 high-quality stalls and submerges visitors in wall-to-wall festivities. And just in case all that didn’t get you in the spirit, it’s all in the shadow of Vienna’s splendid rathaus, one of the city’s most splendid structures. 

Rathausplatz, 1010, Wien. Nov 11-Dec 26.

Good for: whisky-fuelled revellers

Edinburgh’s Winter Festival is every bit as grand and eventful as its legendary Hogmanay new year celebrations. Stretching all the way from East Princes Street Gardens down to the Royal Mile, the festive pageantry includes ice skating, artisan markets, delicious food vendors and enough whisky stands to bring a tear to anyone’s eye.

Princes St, Edinburgh EH2 2HG. Nov 18-Jan 5.

Good for: troglodytes

Some of the caves of Valkenburg are nearly as old as Christmas itself: the underground system in the southeast Netherlands was originally mined by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago. At Christmastime, a select few of Valkenburg’s caves get a glow-up with festive lights, parades and one of the world’s most magical (if eerie) Christmas markets. If you’ve got to choose just one, head for the Christmas Market Municipal Cave.

Various locations in Valkenburg from Nov 15-Jan 5. 

Good for: Christmas light fanatics

In a city already famed for its bright lights, Hong Kong’s WinterFest still manages to up the ante. On Kowloon’s harbourfront, an enormous Christmas town pops up with huts, shops, light displays, ornate lampposts and jolly carol singers – all centred around a huge, 20-metre-high tree.

West Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Dates TBC. 

Good for: all singers, all dancers

You name it, Vancouver’s Christmas market has got it. From wooden huts and artisan craftwork to fairground rides, vast light installations and even scavenger hunts, the Canadian city’s take on a traditional German Christkindlmarkt is a hyperactive blaze of stuff to see and do – and every year it just seems to get that much bigger, brighter and more glorious.

Jack Poole Plaza, 1055 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC, V6G 3E1. Dates TBC. 

Good for: classy shoppers

The Christmas markets of Cologne, Germany’s ‘cathedral city’, are appropriately elegant – despite attracting a mind-boggling four million visitors every year. While the market in the foreground of Cologne cathedral is the most famous, the entire city centre is dotted with markets of different themes, each teeming with culinary specialities and local handcrafts.

Various city centre locations. Nov 18-Dec 23. 

Good for: wannabe Germans

Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market (the name’s confusing, we know) bills itself as the largest ‘authentic’ Christmas market outside of Germany or Austria. While we can’t speak for its authenticity, we can vouch for it being a darn good time. Wash down pretzels, bratwursts and schnitzels with glühwein, weissbier and hot chocolate, all while browsing handmade wooden decorations and pristine glass baubles.

Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BD. Nov 1-Dec 24. 

Good for: sun hunters 

To those from chillier places, there’s something a bit surreal about ice-skating under palm trees and watching the nativity in very reasonable temperatures. But that’s what you get at Seville’s Christmas market, which is also known for its live music and distinctive Andalusian handcrafts. Check out the Feria del Belén for everything you might ever want to add to a nativity scene, including tiny animatronic figures.

Plaza Nueva, 41001 Seville. Nov 29-Dec 23. 

Good for: Dickensian characters

Step into San Francisco’s Great Dickens Christmas Fair and you’ll be whizzed over 5,000 miles (and back 200 years) to the streets of Victorian England. Hundreds of costumed Dickensian characters immerse visitors in a festive party, while the winding streets of the Cow Palace Exhibition Halls flog everything from antiquarian books and handcrafted jewellery to Christmas trees and mulled wine. No Scrooges allowed.

Cow Palace Exhibition Halls, 2600 Geneva Avenue, Daly City. Nov 23-Dec 22.