Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt

Nuremberg is the market every other market is measured against, and it has stayed that way by being unusually strict about what it is. The Hauptmarkt fills with 168 identical wooden stalls under red-and-white striped cloth roofs, and a market committee polices what may be sold: no plastic, no mass-produced imports, no tinsel-covered tat. There is a long waiting list for a pitch, and traders lose them for breaching the rules.

The opening

The market is opened by the Christkind — a girl aged between sixteen and nineteen, elected by the city every two years — who appears on the balcony of the Frauenkirche in a gold crown and white and gold robes and recites a prologue to the crowd below. It happens on the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent and draws thousands. If you want to see it, arrive in the square a good hour early.

What to eat

Three things, and in this order. Nuremberg Rostbratwurst: small, finger-length sausages grilled over beechwood and served three in a roll, or six or twelve on a pewter plate with sauerkraut. Elisenlebkuchen: the premium grade of Nuremberg’s gingerbread, made with a very high proportion of nuts and almost no flour, sold in decorated tins that make good presents. Zwetschgenmännle: little figures made from dried prunes and figs, which are a Nuremberg speciality and sold nowhere else in any quantity.

The Glühwein comes in mugs with a deposit on them, and the mug design changes annually.

Getting there and around

Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof is a ten-minute walk from the Hauptmarkt through the old town, and the city is well connected to Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin by ICE. The market sits inside the walled old town, so everything — the Kaiserburg castle on the ridge, the Albrecht Dürer house, the Handwerkerhof craft courtyard by the station — is within walking distance.

There is a separate children’s market, the Kinderweihnacht, on Hans-Sachs-Platz a few minutes away, with a carousel and a steam railway, plus a market of twinned cities on the Rathausplatz.

When to go, and the honest caveat

This is one of the most visited Christmas markets in Europe and it feels like it. Weekend afternoons in December are genuinely crushing — you will shuffle rather than walk. Go on a weekday, go in the evening when the stalls are lit, and accept that you will still be sharing the square with a great many people. Some visitors find it too commercial and too crowded to enjoy; the traditionalism that makes it special also makes it a fixture on every coach tour in Bavaria.