The secret to enjoying Europe’s spectacular Christmas markets

The secret to enjoying Christmas markets is to channel your inner child and abandon yourself to seasonal cliches. Wear a reindeer jumper. Stick tinsel behind your ear. Admit you like oompah bands and still believe in Santa.

Prague and its old town square with its Christmas market. Credit: iStock

Shuffle off your jaded self and be jolly. Ho ho ho at passers-by. Pat the donkey in the live nativity scene. Buy a tinkling music box and wooden puppet. And who doesn’t need a nutcracker?

It won’t be hard to surrender to childhood wonder. Stepping into a European Christmas market is like seeing carols and Christmas cards come alive.

Mountains or a castle might loom above gabled houses and crooked church spires. Christmas trees shimmer with fairy lights and gilded pine cones. Only cold, dark climates truly showcase the glittering wonder of Christmas.

Credit: Jamie Brown

Jack Frost will nip at toes and nose. Layer up and wear warm boots. Counter the chill with mulled wine, hot rum or hot chocolate. If you don’t have gloves, a bag of roasted chestnuts does the trick.

The best markets are in Central Europe: Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Stuttgart, Regensburg. Many are having a revival elsewhere: Edinburgh, Manchester, Riga, Madrid.

Cheerful wooden booths decorated with fir branches and red ribbons sell handicrafts and local food specialities, such as honey cakes in Nuremberg, almond biscuits in Frankfurt and hot apple dumplings in Copenhagen.

Christmas foods are hearty. Stollen cake studded with dried fruit and dusted with icing sugar. Thick slabs of gingerbread stuffed with marzipan. Melted cheese twisted around bread cubes.

Don’t go to the market just to shop and eat, though. Europeans visit to socialise, enjoy carol singers, and entertain themselves on ice rinks, merry-go-rounds and Ferris wheels. Kids can be hauled in a sleigh by reindeer, and say hello to Santa.

Gift-giving alternatives to Santa may be gnome-like in Sweden or witch-like in Italy. Beware the startling sidekicks that punish naughty children, such as the Whipfather in Germany.

Hearty and heart-shaped – Christmas food in Vienna.Credit: iStock

Revive your inner pagan at this darkest time of year. You might see shaggy costumed figures like Switzerland’s Krampus in markets, banging drums or blowing horns to chase away evil spirits.

The spirit of Christmas easily takes over. Munch on nutmeg macaroons. Listen to Silent Night sung in the German original. Bells jingle, happy people mingle, and for a while you might believe in magic again.