At 4:20 on a December afternoon the lights on the Rathausplatz in Vienna come on all at once, the whole neo-Gothic front of the city hall behind the stalls, and for about ten minutes the market is a thing people are looking at rather than walking through. Then the office crowd arrives off the Ring tram, the punsch queues form, and it becomes the biggest and best-run Christmas market in Europe. Those ten minutes are the reason to be in the city rather than on a day trip to it.
Vienna is the best Christmas-market city in Europe, Strasbourg is second, and London is not in the top four. The ranking is on the markets themselves: how many, how old, how good the food, and whether the city around them is worth the other 20 hours of the day. We priced these six hotels on Sept 4 across the four Friday-to-Sunday weekends of the market season, from late November to mid-December. All six returned a rate on all four, and the band ran from $326 a night in Prague to $1,841 in Vienna.
The short version
- Vienna wins on having a dozen markets and a city worth the daytime; Strasbourg has the single most atmospheric one.
- Prague is the value by a distance at $326 to $508 a night, less than a third of what Vienna's Sacher costs in the same week.
- Every city had a different cheapest weekend, so price the city rather than the month — there is no one cheap week across Europe.
- Skip London for markets: Winter Wonderland is a funfair with a bar, and the city's December is about windows and theatre.
- Go to the Rathausplatz at 4:20 pm for the ten minutes before the Ring tram empties the offices into it.
1. Vienna
Vienna has a dozen markets and three would top most other cities on their own: the Rathausplatz for scale, Spittelberg in the 7th for the one you would actually shop at, and Schönbrunn for the setting. The food is the best of any market city. We would book the Anantara Palais Hansen on the Schottenring, a ten-minute walk along the Ring to the Rathausplatz. Ask for a room on the courtyard side; the Ring side has the tram. Typically $745–$967 a night across all four weekends, cheapest Nov 27–29 — check your dates. Second is Hotel Sacher behind the Opera, which wins on being Vienna in a building and loses on price: typically $1,435–$1,841, cheapest Dec 11–13 — check your dates. Go to Café Sacher at 8 am, before the queue, or skip it.
2. Strasbourg
The oldest market in France, held since 1570, and the only one here that takes over a whole city rather than a square: Place Broglie, the cathedral square, Place Kléber with the great tree, and the lanes of Petite France strung between them. The catch is the crowds on a December Saturday, the worst in Europe, so come on a weekday. No five-star hotel in the city returned a rate for any of our windows, so we have no number to give you. Strasbourg is 1 hour 46 minutes from Paris on the TGV from Gare de l'Est — do it as a two-night stop.
3. Munich
The Christkindlmarkt on Marienplatz is the classic, and the two that matter more are Tollwood on the Theresienwiese, a festival with a market inside it, and the small one in the Residenz courtyard, which is quiet at 5 pm when Marienplatz is not. We would book Rosewood Munich on Kardinal-Faulhaber-Strasse, five minutes from Marienplatz in the old state bank. Typically $940–$1,197 a night, cheapest Nov 27–29 — check your dates. It moved less across the season than anything else on this list, which tells you it is full either way.
4. Prague
Old Town Square is the most photographed market on the continent, and it earns it at 7 am when the square is empty and the tree is lit. By noon it is a queue with a tree in it. The value here is the city: The Emblem on Platnéřská, three minutes from the square, ran typically $326–$508 a night, cheapest Nov 20–22 — check your dates. That is the cheapest room in this post on every weekend we checked. Ask for a room at the back; Platnéřská is a through-street for tour groups heading to the Charles Bridge.
Is London a Christmas-Market City?
Not really. Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park is a funfair with a bar, the Southbank Centre market is a good evening but a single strip, and the city's December strengths are the Regent Street windows and the theatre, not the stalls. If you go anyway, Conrad London St James on Broadway is five minutes from St James's Park: typically $518–$939 a night, cheapest Dec 11–13 — check your dates. It swung more across the season than any other hotel here. Our London hotel roundup has the Mayfair alternatives.
Should You Skip Rome?
For markets, yes. Piazza Navona's market has shrunk to a few stalls and a carousel, and Rome in December is about the churches, the presepi and the light on the Tiber at 4 pm, none of which need a stall. Palazzo Ripetta, a former monastery on Via di Ripetta near Piazza del Popolo, ran typically $611–$926 a night, cheapest Dec 4–6 — check your dates. For a warm December city at a fair price Rome works; for a market it is last, and Prague does the same job for less.
Getting There and Around
Vienna's airport is 30 minutes from the Ring by taxi and about 25 on the S7 to Wien Mitte; Munich's is 40 minutes by S-Bahn to Marienplatz; Prague's is 30 to 40 minutes by taxi. On a two-night market weekend the arrival night is half the trip, so fly in the morning and land by early afternoon rather than taking the evening flight and losing the first lights. Book the flight through Luxvibe's flight search; the booking, the PNR and any cancellation stay in your account alongside the hotel. You need no car in any of these cities — every market above is a walk or a tram from the hotels named, and Strasbourg is a train. To see more Vienna hotels than the two here, start from the Vienna search.
What It Costs
Two nights at The Emblem in Prague, the best value on the list, runs about $650 at its cheapest weekend; two at the Anantara in Vienna is near $1,490. The mechanic the spread exposed: every city had a different cheapest weekend. Prague bottomed in the third week of November, Vienna and Munich the week after, Rome in early December, London and the Sacher in mid-December. There is no cheap week for Europe as a whole in market season, so price the city you want rather than hunting a month.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which city has the best Christmas market in Europe?
Vienna, for the number and quality of its markets and the city around them. Strasbourg has the single most atmospheric market; Vienna has the better week.
When do the Christmas markets open?
Most open in the second half of November and close just before Christmas; Vienna's Rathausplatz and Strasbourg run to Christmas Eve. The first week of December is the sweet spot.
Which Christmas-market city is cheapest?
Prague, clearly. Its hotel here ran $326 to $508 a night across the four market weekends we priced, against $745 and up in Vienna and $940 and up in Munich for comparable rooms.