[marioair]

Apart from Bruge, any recommendations on weekend destinations for Christmas markets

[davey]

Newcastle, Winchester...

[Rob L]

Market Harborough (but the airfield has been a prison for a while )

[johnm]

Bonn

[tomshep]

Salisbury.

[Chris Martyr]

Stevenage is apparently quite attractive at this time of year .

Especially when blanketed in snow .

[Danny]

Manchester has a pretty impressive Christmas Market set-up.

[PeteSpencer]

Too late: You missed the Bury St Edmunds Christmas market which was last weekend. It is now the second most visited market in the country -edit no it isn't!!

(The German sausage / frankfurter stall is to die for.....)

Edit for accuracy: It doesn't figure in anybody's top ten market lists fairy tale put about by local chamber of commerce I guess.

Peter

[tomshep]

Yes, I'd heard their botulism was the wurst kind.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Bonn

If you go to Bonn, also look up Siegburg. They have a medieval Christmas market there, with blacksmiths, traditional bread making, medieval singing and dancing and costumes, and when it gets dark, there's no electric light. It's quite special!

https://www.nrw-tourism.com/a-siegburg-christmas
http://www.mittelalterlicher-markt-siegburg.de/web/mittelalterlicher_markt/01121/index.html
https://www.mahdiaridjphotography.com/en/siegburg-medieval-christmas-market/

If you really want Christmas market fatigue, you can, in a long weekend, take in Dusseldorf, Cologne, Bonn and Siegburg. I usually take the car, and sometimes call in to the one in Bruges as well! With a bit more time, you can take in Aachen too.

Cologne has quite a few large Christmas markets but they get very busy. Look up the ones to go to before going. I saw last year that Cologne even has a gay Christmas market which was all done up in pink!

Last year I found that the square in Dusseldorf where I used to live (Belsenplatz) now has a Christmas market in it as well, and that's out of the tourist trail so is a bit more relaxed and features a nice wooden pub.

Last Christmas, some of the Cardiff Christmas market food stands stayed until April...

[Rob L]

Stevenage is apparently quite attractive at this time of year .

Especially when blanketed in snow .

You owe me a coffee (and a keyboard!)

[Boxkite]

Aachen

[Flyin'Dutch']

Cologne

[akg1486]

Lübeck. Make sure to bring marzipan back for your Xmas party.

I'll be trying Krakow for the first time this year, but I'll take Ryanair instead of flying myself.

[rats404]

Cologne

Having lived in Germany for six months over last Christmas (just outside Dusseldorf), My personal finance director and I went to Aachen, Dusseldorf and Cologne.

Aachen is nice, Dusseldorf is OK, but Cologne is terrific. We are heading back there for three days in a week or so. If you want a real German restaurant, try Gaffel Am Dom just across from the Cathedral. But you won't be short of options for food and drink.