Merry Massive Christmas Market Tour 2025
- Bryan Johnson
- Jan 5
- 9 min read
This trip has been a long time coming! Ever since we visited Vienna in November 2023, Katie and I have wanted to visit some of the best Christmas Markets in Europe, so we decided to go all out and spend nine days across nine different cities in Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, and Germany.
Thursday, December 11: Geneva, Switzerland
With Katie and I each taking the day off from work, we got to spend the morning with our puppies before heading to Sevilla for our 3:50 pm flight.
Montbrillant: Hôtel Résidence Le Montbrillant
We landed in Geneva at 6:15 pm and immediately headed to the hotel to drop our bags. Conveniently, our hotel is located right next to the train station and was the same hotel we stayed at when we previously visited Geneva for New Year's earlier this year.
Quai du Mont-Blanc
Our first of many Christmas Markets was a hit! Just a 15-minute walk from our hotel, this market offered some great stalls selling beautiful felt ornaments and crafts, but most importantly, that first sip of mulled wine HIT! (For those counting, we are now at one collected mug for the trip!)
Friday, December 12: Basel, Switzerland
Our next morning started rather early for an 8:54 am train to Basel.
Geneva Train Station → Bahnhof Basel SBB
After a short changeover in Bern, we made it to Basel at 12:01 pm, dropped our bags at the hotel, and made our way to the first of many markets in Basel.
Barfüsserplatz: Basel Christmas Market
Basel had two small markets, one in its main square and one just adjacent to the cathedral. Although it didn't offer as many fun, unique stalls, the decor with the giant Christmas pyramid ("windmill-ish" pyramid picture below) was stunning, and of course, more mulled wine (that's mug number 2)!
Before calling it a night, we needed dinner! After checking out a few restaurants and seeing the ridiculous "Switzerland" pricetag (a bowl of butter chicken curry was going to cost about $35), we opted for a quicker Chinese noodle shop: Mister Wong Basel Gerbergasse. The food was good, it was quick, and it was one of the cheaper places we had spotted, so no complaints from us!
Saturday, December 13: Colmar, France
The next morning started with a 40-minute train to Colmar, known as one of the most beautiful and famous Christmas Markets in Europe! After dropping our luggage at a storage facility near the train station, we walked into the city to grab brunch.
La Bonneterie - Café Brunch & Bar Apéritif
We knew we had picked a great place for brunch when there was a line out the door! Katie enjoyed shakshuka while I had pork shwarma!
Following brunch, it was time to explore the city and its many markets! Katie and I were quickly unimpressed: the market stalls were selling cheap, Temu crap and it was incredibly crowded, so much so that we could barely move in some areas.
The last straw was that their Christmas market "mug" was a plastic cup I could buy from IKEA. I was certain to return my cup to get back my €4 deposit. The only redemption for this place is that it's considered the inspiration for Disney animators when they created Beauty and the Beast. Katie and I had such a bad time that we decided to cut out of town early and head to Strasbourg five hours before our scheduled train! While Colmar was beautiful, the crowds and low-end booths made this Christmas market unworthy of a full day's visit.
Strasbourg Train Station
At 3:30 pm, Katie and I had made it to Strasbourg, greeted by a giant Christmas Tree with the words "Capitale de Noel" (Capital of Christmas). That's some big expectations right from the jump, but after our experience in Colmar, the bar for French Christmas markets is very low!
Fortunately, our hotel was just next to the train station and was decorated immaculately for the season! They even offered free coffee, tea, hot cider, and snacks, so Katie and I decided to spend a little bit of time resting our feet before going out for the evening.
Le Madras - Restaurant Indien à Strasbourg
For dinner, Katie and I were craving Indian (as we usually do when we travel), and we found Le Madras that scratched our itch!
Pl. de la Cathédrale
Immediately following dinner, we made the walk to the other side of town to visit Strasbourg's main market! While hanging out at the hotel, we learned that French Christmas Markets have moved to using plastic cups when serving drinks, instead of ceramic mugs, but that ceramic mugs can still be sold at certain stalls. We learned that Strasbourg has two ceramic mugs, and one was sold at one of the crepe stalls near the Cathedral. We made it our mission to find this mug, and fortunately, we succeeded before making the 20-minute walk back to the hotel for the evening (that makes three mugs thus far)!
Sunday, December 14: Strasbourg, France
On our full day in Strasbourg, Katie and I sought to visit each of the city's 10 different markets. The first two markets we visited were on the west side of the city near our hotel, where we enjoyed craft sodas, warm apple cider, and pumpkin soup.
Place Broglie
We spent the majority of the day perusing through the markets, snacking and drinking, and enjoying the scenery. As night fell and the city began to glow with its spectacular lights, we made our way to the farthest market from our hotel at Place Broglie. This market first opened in 1570, making it one of the oldest in Europe, and for centuries, the only Christmas market in France. Of course, it was a highlight because it offered another ceramic mug in the shape of a blue boot (for those counting, that makes four)!
Sapin de Noël de Strasbourg
As we slowly made our way back across the city to our hotel, we stopped in the 10th and final market of the evening. In the middle of the market is the Sapin de Noël (French for Christmas tree), standing at 102 feet tall! For those looking to compare it to something, the famous Christmas tree in front of the Rockefeller Center in New York was 75 feet tall in 2025!
Our last stop of the evening was a grocery store for Katie and I to grab some water and fruits for our long train ride in the morning. While there, we found a sour Skittle drink; for those that know us, you understand that sour Skittles are our vice, so of course, we had to try it (update: it was horrible).
Monday, December 15: Luxembourg
The following morning, we arrived in Luxembourg around 11:30 am. This is our only new country during the trip and marks our 58th country visited together!
Reggie's Californian Burrito
After dropping our luggage, it was time for lunch, and Reggie's satisfied our craving for a good burrito!
Librairie Ernster
Visiting a new country comes with the requirement of purchasing a new Harry Potter book for our collection. We knabbed ourselves a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Luxembourgish and a German copy with a brand new cover!
Pl. de Paris
Since we started collecting our mugs earlier in the trip, Katie and I have been religiously checking out European Christmas Market groups on Facebook and planning out what mugs we could expect to see along our travels. We found out that Luxembourg offered a ton of unique mugs, so we made it our mission to check out each market and pick our three favorites, just to limit the number of mugs we come home with. We were off to a hot start, because in our first market, we found a fantastic nutcracker mug that we both loved.
One thing we noticed about the Luxembourg Christmas Markets is that the focal point of each market is large stalls decorated as Christmas pyramids, trees, or Advent calendars. We happened to be in the market with the large Advent calendar when we discovered that it had a small show, so Katie was sure to grab a video!
Kinnekswiss Park (Edouard André Municipal Park)
We made our way to the farthest market from our hotel, where we grabbed our second mug of the evening and enjoyed watching people ice skating and enjoying the view of the Luxembourg Castle.
Place de la Constitution
At the final market of the evening, we grabbed our third mug of the day (up to seven total, now) and made it back to the hotel before heading into Germany tomorrow.
Katie and I agree that the Luxembourg Christmas Markets were amazing because there were minimal crowds, it was very walkable, and we had a great time hunting for our favorite mugs! Katie even argued it may have been her favorite spot of the whole trip!
Tuesday, December 16: Heidlburg, Germany
The next day was a long day of travel, with two of our trains being delayed. What was supposed to be a 4.5-hour trip turned into a 6.5-hour journey. At least we got to enjoy some grand views of the Rhine River Gorge and its many spectacular castles along the way.
We crossed into Germany and made it to Heidlburg Station around 2:30 pm, and immediately made our way into the old town.
Although not the most exciting of towns, we enjoyed some really good food, including a pumpkin peach ginger soup that I thought was spectacular. Heidlburg is most known for Heidlburg Castle, one of the most visited castles in Europe. Unfortunately, with our travel delays, we didn't get much time to see or explore the city, but don't worry, we have another ceramic mug to commemorate our visit (eight)!
Wednesday, December 17: Frankfurt, Germany
On the seventh day of the trip, we started with a 50-minute train north to Frankfurt, Germany.
Sunny Side Up Sachsenhausen
After dropping our bags at the hotel, we enjoyed shakshuka for a late breakfast at Sunny Side Up Cafe.
Mainkai, Römerberg, Paulsplatz, Friedrich-Stoltze-Platz, Roßmarkt, Hauptwache
As we made our way through the city, we found numerous stalls selling tons of great gifts. We grabbed ourselves a new grater dish and a beautiful little Räuchermann (German smoking man) that is designed like a man serving glühwein. These Räuchermanns come apart in two pieces and are unique because you can burn incense inside of them with the exhaust coming out of their pipe. We even found a market mug from last year to go along with this year's limited edition mug (we're now in double digits at 10). The 2024 mug has a Santa and a reindeer playing soccer to commemorate Germany hosting the 2024 UEFA Euro Soccer tournament; what a cool and lucky find.
Nonno Pizza & Pasta
Before slowly making our way back to the hotel, Katie and I enjoyed an early dinner of pizza and pasta at Nonno.
Thursday, December 18: Essen, Germany
On day eight, we made the 2.5-hour trip to Essen, Germany, a small city in western Germany just north of Cologne. We chose to do this smaller town because when planning for the trip, Katie discovered that it was rated as Germany's best Christmas market and Europe's most sustainable market, with all stalls powered by 100% renewable energy, a complete ban on plastic disposables, and utilization of a deposit system on reusable cutlery and dishes.
Takumi Essen Sapporo Ramen Kitchen
Our first meal of the day was at Takumi Sapporo Ramen, where we enjoyed gyoza, karage, and of course, two bowls of Ramen. Katie and I may be traveling in Western Europe, but our taste buds have traveled the world.
Flachsmarkt, Marktkirche, Kennedyplatz
Although this was a smaller city with smaller markets, it had many great stalls, including a Kathe Wohlfahrt store where we purchased a beautiful nutcracker donned in Lederhosen and carrying a mug of beer and pretzels. It reminded us so much of our Oktoberfest trip last September, where we also visited Kathe Wohlfahrt's main store in Rothenburg. We also got the city market's mug, which was hand-painted with a Christmas pyramid (we're at 11 mugs going into our final day).
Friday, December 19: Cologne, Germany
We spent our final full day in Cologne, widely considered to have some of the best and most magical Christmas Markets in Europe.
Cloud Kitchen
We made our way to the edge of town and enjoyed a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, and you guessed it, shakshuka (can you tell Katie was obsessed?)
Hahnentor & Neumarkt
Near our breakfast spot were two markets, Hahnentor & Neumarkt, themed after St. Nicholas and Angels, respectively. In the St. Nicholas Market, we knabbed another mug, this time a brown gingerbread boot (Mug Counter: 12).
Weihnachtsmarkt am Kölner Dom
We made our way back into the city center to Cologne's main Market next to the Cathedral. Here we grabbed two more mugs (one ceramic, one glass; Mug Counter: 14) and a fun beer glass with angels with hairy legs.
Alter Markt, Heumarkt, & Kölner Hafen-Weihnachtsmarkt am Schokoladenmuseum
We ended our day by walking through three additional markets, one was gnome-themed, one was themed to look like a 1700s Christmas market, and one was located next to the Lindt Chocolate Factory, next to the river. We even got to try the TikTok famous cheese toast with honey, bacon, and chili flakes, and MOST importantly, I finally got a Bratwurst. It would be criminal to visit four German Christmas Markets and not eat at least one Bratwurst!
As we ended our final day of Christmas Markets, I have to admit that I think we saved the best for last! While we loved Luxembourg's markets for the light crowds and awesome mug options, Cologne definitely had the uniquely-themed markets with tons of stalls, food, and fun around!
Saturday, December 20: Headed Home!
But like all good things, this trip also had to come to an end.
Cologne Bonn Airport: Köln Bonn Airport
We departed Cologne at 10:55 am and made it home by 3:30...
...where we were greeted by the most precious puppies in the world!
I must say, this was a fantastic trip! In summary, we visited nine different cities across four different countries, took 13 different trains (not including intracity travel), and collected 14 Christmas market mugs to add to our (previously small) collection. Thanks for tagging along!
Prost!
Bryan
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