Our experience visiting some of the Christmas markets in Berlin
The only good thing about visiting Europe during winter is the year end gorgeous Christmas atmosphere. It’s really the only reason worth freezing your butts off in below zero degrees temperature, because why else would anyone want to visit Berlin in any season other than Spring and Summer.
‘Lucky’ for us, we managed to carry our frozen butts off to see some of the most beautiful Christmas markets in Berlin. We found that even though these are different sites, almost every market is similar in their offerings. Every Christmas market or Christkindlmarkt as it is called in German, will have various stalls selling glühwein (mulled wine), barbeque grill with hundreds of sausages and steaks to be served with bread rolls, candied nuts and fruits, waffles and crepes, cured meat and cheese stalls, and finally Christmas decorations stalls.
And even though they all looked and tasted almost the same, each and every single one of them always felt so.. magical. Cheesy i know, but every single market has a slightly different and unique atmosphere that makes me want to jump in joy and sing jingles every time I step into one. ☺
Alexanderplatz
Christmas market in the public square with an ice skating ring right in the middle. Free entry, good food and glühwein. A brilliant ferris wheel was also setup and beautifully decorated with Christmas lights. This was our first Christmas market we visited when we arrived in Berlin since it was located in the busy Alexanderplatz. Surprisingly, this was also the market where we had our best currywurst experience (see the previous Berlin street food post) and my favourite nutella waffle, slathered in copious amount of liquid goodness over a hot piece of fluffy waffle…delish!
Gendermanmarkt
I believe this was the most beautiful and grandiose Christmas market we have visited thus far. (Update: Still true even now when we are in Vienna) So grand that they charged you 2euros per entry. But it was so worth it though because this was held in the most beautiful square in Berlin, Gendermanmrkt, and the market itself was huge and filled with so many different stalls. A stage was even setup in the middle of the square with live bands and shows playing. (That’s probably why they charged the 2euros) This was the only Christmas market that made us go Wow! Words cant begin to describe how captivated we were with the entire place, so much so we went there a couple of times for dinner. Some memorable foodie mentions include the traditional confit goose leg served with purple cabbage and potato dumplings, potato pancake with apple sauce and the candied nuts
Charlottenburg Palace
One of the many Christmas markets that we happened to just stumbled across on our way back from Charlottenburg Palace visit. Nowhere as grand as Gendermanmrkt or as bustling as Alexanderplatz, but beautiful setting against the palace backdrop nonetheless. A great pit stop if you have the time to wander abit further out of central. The bonus is less crowd and almost no queues. They served all the traditional fares of sausages, mulled wines and the likes. The only stand out stall for us was the Scandinavian stall that was selling smoked salmon sandwiches.
Deja vu! I was in Berlin over the holidays in 2012. Such a fun and festive time! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Hollie. It’s a great city, everywhere we go we meet expats from around the world that have chosen to settle down in Berlin. Funny enough, most of them tend to disappear during winter. It really is a summer and spring city. We’ll be back in Berlin summer this year to explore more of its sunny side 🙂