What’s all the fuss about?
Most mainland European cities have had Christmas markets for years. The tradition is really strong all over Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Belgium. The large town and cities all host these markets and they traditionally start around advent, that’s the 4 week period in the run up to Christmas. As their popularity has grown and they have become huge tourist attractions in their own right they have been extended and now open the weekend before advent starts, so this year that means most markets are open from 18 November.
Most cities have more than one Christmas market and they sell all sorts of things. It’s the ideal spot to pick up some amazing Christmas decorations, traditional cribs, beautiful presents, hand made jewellery, candles, just about everything we associate with Christmas. To add to the atmosphere there’s always great food and drink stalls selling hot gluhwein, gorgeous food and tempting chocolates. They really create a total Christmas buzz in the cities. Yes the weather can be cold, but that just adds to the atmosphere.
There’s always loads more to do than just visiting the Christmas Markets, here’s a run down of what else you can do in the most popular cities for Christmas Markets.
Once the Christmas Markets are done what else can you do?
Prague – Czech Republic
Prague is one of the most walkable cities in Europe, in fact it’s best to see it on foot, wandering from one district to the next along both sides of the Vltava. The charm of Old Town Square where the main Christmas market is located are and home to the astronomical clock, from there head along Karlova down to Charles Bridge the most romantic bridge in Europe and across to the Castle District and Prague Castle. Prague is picture post card perfect, it was one of the first of the former eastern block cities to open up to tourism and when you visit Prague, you can see why people keep coming back.
Berlin – Germany
In Berlin you can visit the museums on Museum Island or go to the top of the TV tower at Alexanderplatz. Take in the recent history of WWII at checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenburg gate. More shopping but on a grand scale – visit the Ka-de-We, it’s the German equivalent to Harrods and it’s the largest department store in Berlin, located right on the Ku-damm, the main shopping street. Don’t miss the food emporium it is unreal, the in store restaurants are amazing, you could spend a day here even if you’re not a shopper. Berlin is a vast city, but very easy to navigate with it’s efficient public transport system, it’s safe, affordable and has so much to see, plus it’s home to the magnificent Tiergarten Park one of Europe’s great parks. You won’t be bored.
Vienna – Austria
Vienna is elegant and chic, relax, and have a coffee and cakes in any number of the local cafes, it’s a must! You can even try out the Sacher Torte in the famous Cafe Sacher. Visit the Belvedere and the Schonbrunn Palaces right in the city. Go see the Spanish riding school and see the Lippizzaner (white) horses being put through their paces, this takes place right in the city centre.
Take the train over to Bratislava in Slovakia, it’s only 1 hour away and tick another country off your list.
Take in a show or simply visit the stunning Opera house.
Budapest – Hungary
With Budapest you get 2 cities in 1. Pest is built on the hills across the river from the Parliament which is in Buda.
Budapest boasts the 1st ever underground in the world, take a ride on the original elegant carriages, the underground is literally only 3 or 4 feet under the road. This line, called line 1 or the yellow line runs from the world famous cafe Gerbeaud (where one of the Christmas markets is located) past the Opera House out to the Zoo. You can always have a pamper day, Budapest is famous for it’s Spa’s, the Gellert, Rudas and Szechenyi would be among the best known. Indoor and outdoor heated pools and a vast range of treatments for you to enjoy.
All our city hotels are central. We don’t feature hotels out in the suburbs or near the airport. We hand picked a small selection of hotels in each city based on reviews and ratings, value for money and location.
Top tips
The markets are open 7 days a week, late into the evenings, from around 18/19 November right up to Christmas Eve on 24 December; often you will find flights and accommodation for the Christmas market cities to be cheaper midweek than at the weekends.
If you have to go over a weekend, think about going Tuesday to Saturday as that’s usually cheaper than Friday to Monday for flights and it’s the same amount of time off work.
If you go mad shopping check in a bag for the return flight only, you can do this on aerlingus.com from your destination and it’ll only cost €15 one way for a bag or suitcase weighing up to 20 Kgs. If you’ve a problem doing this, just call us and we’ll do it for you.
Share checked in bags – if you are checking in a bag or suitcase, think about sharing one between 2 or 3 people. With Aer Lingus your allowance for a checked in bag is 20 Kgs, that’s 44 lbs or just over 3 stones.
It tends to be cold in these cities so wrap up warm, the snows don’t usually come till January but have layers and wear hats, scarves and gloves or better still buy them at the markets and save on the packing!
All these cities have great public transport links to get around the cities and all have bus and or train links from the airport to the city centre as well as taxis. Our guidance is if there are 3 or 4 or more of you take a taxi if it’s only 1 or 2 people, then public transport is the best bet. For more information just Google the relevant airport.
Often it’s much cheaper to book the hotel on a room only basis and get breakfast at your leisure in one of the nearby cafes or restaurants, we’re finding city centre hotels often have quite high charges for breakfast so we push them for the best rate overall and you pocket the saving.
Prague has a bit of a reputation for pick pockets, we always advise people to follow normal safety guidelines in all cities, don’t take your passport with you other than to and from the airport, carry 1 credit or cash card and enough cash for 1 day so if you are pick pocketed, you can still get home easily and can still enjoy your time away from home.
Vienna may be more pricey in terms of food and drink but otherwise all these cities offer great value for money for food and drink and even Vienna is no more expensive than Dublin.
— Paul!
