Epic Christmas Market Trip 2023

We embarked upon an epic Christmas market spree in December that took us through the Black Forest, Switzerland and Alsace region of France for a variety of markets. Let's dive in...

Rottweil

Rottweil is the oldest city in Baden-Wurttemberg and was the first market of our journey. It was along the route to Ravenna Gorge, so it was worth a pit stop. If you have driven in this direction you may remember the giant tower that looks like a drill bit. We still don't know what that tower actually is, but we can now stay we've been to the town where it's located. 

Rottweil has a small, quaint market that greeted us with local musicians, gluhwein and quesadillas (the latter being quite unexpected). Their mug celebrated the 30th anniversary of the market, so we made sure to keep one to add to our growing collection.

Charles tried the quesadillas and thought they were tasty enough. Good Mexican food is quite hard to find in Germany. I loved the quirky styling of their booth.

Ravenna Gorge

Ravenna Gorge often makes the top of Baden-Wurttemberg's Christmas markets. A few people I know had been in the previous year and warned me that, while it's magical, it is crowded. I was hesitant to go because that, but figured it would be good to visit while we had the chance. We went on the final day of the market and booked a ticket with shuttle pickup from Hinterzarten. 

The warning about the crowds was right on point. We opted for the 4-6pm time slot and it became more and more packed while we were there. It was shoulder to shoulder in some parts making it a little hard to navigate and view booths. I did not love it. But I had a delicious variation of gluhwein called a Schwarzwald Marie which included a cherry liqueur to mimic the flavor of black forest cake.

We stayed one night in Hinterzarten which was an adorable Black Forest town. It was a Sunday which typically means shops are closed in Germany, but a few gift shops were open so we visited before our shuttle to the Market.

B&B Zartenbach: Our hotel was very quaint and comfortable. We booked a very small room since we stayed for only one night; it was snug, but perfect for our short stay. The included breakfast was the perfect fuel for our onward journey towards Switzerland!

We arrived at the market before dark, so it was fun to see it transform as the darkness set in.

Konstanz

We had visited Konstanz earlier in the year to see Mainau Island, but did not explore the city very much. The market lines the lake and was a nice size, not too busy and had a variety of booths. I was excited to eat Tirol Knodel which reminded me of last year's epic Christmas market trip to the Dolomites.

Winterthur

Winterthur was our first market in Switzerland and was just a quick stop before arriving in Zurich. The market was very small, but we enjoyed some delicious apple rings with vanilla sauce. 

Zurich

Zurich boasts several markets spread throughout the city and we visited them all (I think). Zurich proved to have an impressive array of food options that made my heart very happy. To name a few: Indian, empanadas, tacos, arancini, Ukrainian, African, Portuguese, Asian, Swiss (of course) and so much more. 

I adored the Weihnachtsalle market the most. Throughout the market were little booths styled like living rooms where you could sit and enjoy your gluhwein and food. I, sadly, did not snag any photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it. This market was also close to the one located in the train station which exceeded my expectations, as well. 

25hours Hotel Langstrasse: I was in LOVE with our Zurich hotel! It was right down the street from the Weihnachtsalle and train station markets which made it super convenient for this trip. Aside from that, the hotel was so fun! It was decorated with a modern-vintage mix and had some really cool special touches. For example, there was a Polaroid camera in the room. You could buy film in the little lobby shop and use the camera around town. This hotel is now one of the benchmarks that I'll use to judge future hotels on our travels.

I have been dreaming about arancini since visiting Sicily. When I saw it at the train station market, I had to have one!

Breakfast on our first morning in Zurich was spent at Babu's Bakery and Coffeehouse. The hotel offered a breakfast add on, but it was a bit pricier than we wanted, so I opted to look for other spots in the area. Charles hates waiting in line for a restaurant, but I took a chance on this place despite the almost guaranteed wait. It was well worth it for this breakfast sandwich and my latte.

Our second morning was spent eating breakfast at Bank which had really cool latte art! I had a croissant breakfast sandwich that was good, but not as drool worthy as the previous day.

Mulhouse

After stopping in Basel, Switzerland and being very much disappointed in their market, we continued to the Alsace region of France for the next round of Christmas markets. Our base for the next two nights was Mulhouse (it's pronounced very differently from how it looks for English speakers). 

La Maison Hotel Mulhouse: I had some high expectations for our hotel in Mulhouse. The website made it seem very hip and funky (we were worried that we were too "square" to stay there). But it was kind of a mixed bag. The common areas like the lobby and breakfast room were fantastically decorated for Christmas. If you enjoy a vintage, maximalist vibe, these rooms will make your heart sing. Our room was a bit of a disappointment in comparison, but still very comfortable and right around the corner from the Mulhouse Christmas market. 

The Mulhouse market was on the smaller side, but in the shadow of the beautiful cathedral. The town is beautifully lit up for the market and hosts a little Christmas train that plays music as it drives you around the city. We could hear the train's music from our hotel room as it drove by. It was adorable!

Mulhouse is also where I discovered that vin chaud blanc is far superior to gluhwein. I have since reached out to my local community for a recipe so I can recreate it at home.

A slight letdown about the markets in Alsace is they use plastic cups versus mugs for the hot wine. They were beautifully designed, but harder to hold with the hot beverage inside.

We found a booth selling Canadian poutine at the Mulhouse market and ordered the Authentique poutine. It hit the spot!

Eguisheim

Eguisheim is a small town in the Alsace region. I had visited back in March with friends and loved it. With it all decked out for Christmas, it was just as magical. The market is very tiny with just a small selection of booths. But we enjoyed some vin chaud and window shopping. 

Side note: The Eguisheim vin chaud booth charged a deposit (pfand, if you're familiar with the German term) for the plastic cup. However, they did not take the cups back so we were stuck with it.

Turkheim

Sadly we did not fully get to experience Turkheim's market. When I was researching for the trip I had noted that its market opened at 11am. We arrived around 12:30pm, but sadly it did not open until 2pm. We walked around the area and saw the shuttered whimsical and colorful booths. We did get to say hi to some sheep, so it wasn't a total loss.

Colmar

I visited Colmar twice in 2023, each time with different sets of friends. Colmar is an adorable town and often tops the Christmas market lists. There are a variety of markets spread around the town. Since I had been before, Charles left me in charge of navigating around which was a huge mistake. I am directionally challenged to say the least. We ended up walking in circles the whole afternoon. 

Charles enjoyed a meal in the gourmet market. Aside from a yummy croissant bagel sandwich and tasty hot spiced apple juice, I was not in love with the Colmar market. It was just too spread out and crowded for my taste.

We had hoped to visit at least one more market on our 2023 Christmas Market spree, but it was unpleasantly rainy on the day of our departure from France, so we visited the Cora grocery store to stock up on some French goodies like crepes, butter and soap before heading home to relax after so much excitement. 

I hope you have a chance for your own Christmas market spree in 2024! 

Revisiting Lucerne

How often do you revisit places on vacation? We rarely visit the same place twice (a couple exceptions include the Hendersonville/Asheville area of North Carolina and Charleston), but with the wide range of new places to visit we typically opt for new vs. been there. 

This past weekend was another exception. We planned a weekend away in Lucerne, Switzerland for Juneteenth weekend. Hurray for another federal holiday to celebrate! Lucerne was the final stop of our European honeymoon nearly 14 years ago and I loved it. We stayed in a quirky hotel, had the best chocolate we've ever eaten and had an overpriced takeaway pizza. These were all things I wanted to recreate on our recent visit. 

Alas, my expectations were a little too high. For one, we visited on what may have been the hottest weekend so far of the year. If you have ever traveled in Europe you'll know that hotels do not necessarily have air conditioning. Ours did not, but we brought a fan and figured we could tough it out for two nights. 

We also chose to bring our dog along which always limits what we can do while on vacation. And because we brought our dog, we could not stay in the same hotel we stayed in during our honeymoon. But we stayed in a hotel right on the lake just outside of town which included free bus passes! That was a really nice perk. 

On the first evening of our weekend trip, we hopped onto the bus into Lucerne and walked around. The first picture is a tower that is across a small square from where our honeymoon hotel is located. 

The next picture is just a view from one of the bridges. Lucerne is so beautiful!

Our hotel advertised as having a private beach area. That was a fact. The thing I was not expecting was for it to be so small. Also, the door leading out to the beach area had a no dogs allowed sign. Suzie loves the beach and water. Obviously, as you can tell, we chose to ignore the sign and let Suzie relax in the water for a bit. I put my feet in. It was cold! 

Suzie has now visited five different countries, if I remember correctly. Doesn't she look so content just laying in the lake?

Here you can see the full beach area. It did have some nice grassy terraces with lounge chairs where you could sit and enjoy the view.

The hotel was actually really great. Our room, despite not having air conditioning, was comfortable. The hotel restaurant had a lovely terrace where we enjoyed a glass of wine from a winery right up the street. And it had free parking, which can be a rarity in Europe. The letdown was the area around the hotel. It was beautiful, but was mostly residential homes. There was little space to walk Suzie without her burning her paws on the road. So after sweating it out the first day, we chose to cut our losses and head home early where we could at least enjoy our portable A/C unit. Not all trips will meet all your expectations, but at least we can say we visited Switzerland last weekend!