Christmas is a wonderful time full of family, friends and celebration. What better way to bring everyone together than a traditional Christmas Market? I traveled to Nurnberg to see one of the most popular German Christmas Markets, and I can say that it was an amazing experience. Drinking Gluhwein (hot wine), eating warm chestnuts and hearing the German quires sing festive songs brings it all together. Now when going to a Christmas Market, I have a few things that I recommend doing, and these will be the main point of my post today.

Step 1: Get some food!

Germany is chock full of delicious street food at these Christmas Markets. Classic things to go for are any kind of sausage (Bratwurst, Rotwurst, Currywurst), Gluhwein (as mentioned before is a form of hot wine, perfect for the cold weather!), and we cant forget the sweets! Germany has long been the place to get rich cakes and oh so sweet chocolate, so don’t forget to grab some!

Step 2: Shop!

Christmas Markets are more than just a gathering of people, they are also a great place to get some amazing gifts for you or for friends and family. Stop by the shops and check out whats for sale. You will find a lot of local crafts made by residents of Nurnberg. See the picture below of handcrafted German Decorative Houses. But don’t forget about the local eatery when shopping! Germany has a plethora of dairy producers, local and national, that make some great cheese, which will go perfect with the wine that you got in step one.

Step 3: Enjoy!

These Christmas Markets really bring the festive Germany to light, Seeing everyone enjoying themselves naturally makes for a fun environment… so enjoy it! Listen to the music and try to speak with the locals (just a few German words will spark the conversation!). This is the most important step in the Christmas Market travel, so don’t miss out on it!

Thank you all for reading my quick guide to German Christmas Markets. I have added some pictures below to show you some of the things I mentioned, but I cannot capture the true feeling you get when traveling to these Markets with just pictures… go do it yourself!

Hello everyone,

This is Todd Sheets writing from Heilbronn, Germany. This is my first time posting to the blog and I’m happy to say that everything is going great! I have had an amazing first few weeks in Germany with a ton of great experiences. I keep a full log of exciting things that I do on my YouTube channel (link below). But for today, I would like to share one experience that I felt was moving and made me realize how fun studying abroad is going to be.

When I first arrived in Germany I did as most do and got situated in the city. Moved in to my apartment, looked for local grocery stores, and of course got some local food! Soon after I got in contact with an old friend named Christoph. Christoph was a exchange student at my high school for a year to learn English, and he was nice enough to invite me to his home and to meet his family. I traveled to a small town in Germany to meet up with Christoph, and when I arrived I was greeted by him and his family and a home-cooked meal. This is when I felt that I had truly been immersed in a new culture. Eating the food and hearing the German language was a really enlightening experience and cleared me of any doubts I had about study abroad. I think it is important for anyone studying abroad to reach out to the local culture and experience something new. And if you are reading this and thinking about studying abroad in the near future, I can’t urge you enough to do it!

That’s all for this first post. Feel free to follow my YouTube if you would like to see more about my travels and also my Instagram for the same thing. Links below.

YouTube

Instagram: _tsheets