Christmas Markets - Berlin

Katgoddess

We are thinking of Berlin this year for our annual Christmas market trip. I think I've got the accommodation sorted. We'll be staying in a private room in a youth hostel. We stayed in their sister hostel in Vienna last year and it was fab.

So has anyone been this time of year to Berlin? And do you have any tips, restaurant recommendations, indoor things to do in case the weather is bad.

Thank you in advance. :beer:

814man

I lived in Berlin some years ago and it’s just a fabulous place at any time of year. Point to remember is that it’s a very big city with what are essentially small towns existing as part of it not far from the very busy centre. We lived in area called Kladow and used to go to the Christmas market in Spandau which was very different to some of the more tourist focussed ones in the city centre. As I said it’s been a few years since I lived there so I’ll not try to be specific about stuff but would advise getting a good map (particularly one which has the brilliant city public transport network on busses, underground trains (U-bahn) and overground trains (S-bahn) overlaid on it. Google Berlin Transport for lots of info.

dzug1

The problem with Christmas markets in Berlin is you don't get the ' in the market square overlooked by the town hall and cathedral' atmosphere - which IMV is one of their main draws. In Berlin they are straggled out in several areas, none of them large enough to get critical mass, and thus a little disappointing in comparison with other cities.

814man

dzug1, we may need to disagree about this – although it all depends what you want of course. The Christmas market in Cologne in front of the cathedral is incredibly large, very impressive and certainly worth a visit. However if you want a smaller scale authentic German Christmas market then in my personal opinion the ones in the districts of Berlin will offer that. They all have a different look and feel and certainly the one I know best in Spandau was set in the old part of the town and was very picturesque.
http://www.partner-fuer-spandau.de/Startseite_26_0.html

814man

This site says there are over 60 Christmas markets in the Berlin area.
http://www.visitberlin.de/kultur/index.en.php?sprache=en&menuItm=winterzauber&subMenuItm=weihnachtsmaerkte
Just looking at the one in front of Charlottenburg Palace it looks pretty impressive to me. In fact just writing this has tempted me to book a trip back to Berlin myself in December.