Berlin’s Christmas Markets

Berlin had never been on our initial itinerary when planning our #christmasmarketcrawl this year (it was so epic it deserved its own hashtag). But it was a city that had been narrowly missed this summer and a city we both wanted to visit.

It was also a city with plenty of accommodation options, meaning that we could rent an apartment for a few days and get some work done before the fast paced travel began.

So, of course, as soon as we arrived, we started to research Berlin’s Christmas markets. There were many – far too many for us to visit in our short four days in the city – but we settled on three.

Lucia Weinachtsmarkt

The Lucia market is only small but features stalls selling food, drink and gifts only from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Named after the saint of the same name, the Lucia market offered me my first taste of Gloggi (a Scandivian version of mulled wine) and Swedish punch.

It also had fire burners that people could huddle around to get warm and these weird “heated coats”, which were essentially a fur coat hung over a small radiator that you sat on. It was as odd as it sounds.

The Lucia market is placed within the grounds of the Kulturbrauerei; an old brewery which now houses theatres, bars and a cinema. It was definitely a low-key start to our Christmas market crawl, but we did visit it on opening night (a weeknight) so we didn’t have to deal with any crowds, which was a definite bonus.

Alexanderplatz

The next night we met up with some fellow bloggers at the Alexanderplatz Christmas market. The Alexanderplatz market was much bigger than Lucia and included rides and an ice rink. It is in a great central location and offers a good range of drinks (we had some apple cinnamon gluhwein as well as the more traditional version) and food, although don’t mention that to Scott, who, for some reason, after a few drinks, decided that ordering chicken liver and potatoes was a good idea. Needless to say, it wasn’t, and it ended up in the bin.

This market is bigger and brasher than some of the others – the large pyramid in the middle houses a bar which seemed to only play cheesy 80s European pop. We enjoyed that atmosphere, especially as we were meeting friends, but it isn’t the place to go if you want to sit down and have a relaxing drink.

Charlottenburg Palace

The Christmas market in front of the Charlottenburg Palace was probably my favourite in Berlin. The setting was spectacular (you can’t get more spectacular than in front of a palace) and there were a few brass bands playing Christmas music.

There was also a stall selling some freshly smoked hot salmon, so we tried some in a sandwich smothered with a honey mustard – delicious.

The food and drink on offer here wasn’t anything out of the ordinary (apart from the salmon), featuring waffles, bratwursts, gluhwein, hot chocolate, etc. but the setting definitely makes it worth the trip out there.