Christmas season is here!! It is incredible how Christmas is being celebrated across the globe with different kinds of food. If there’s one thing that excites me about this season, it is the immense variety of Christmas foods! From sausages to mulled wines, find your next Christmas destination and satisfy your craving in this list of 10 Must-Visit Christmas Markets Around the World for Foodies.
10 Must-Visit Christmas Markets Around the World for Foodies:
1. Nuremberg, Germany (Christkindlesmarkt)
At the Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, you will find the famous Nuremberg sausages, gingerbread, and hot mulled wine.
In certain countries like Germany (of course!), Christmas celebration would not be complete without the freshly-grilled sausages. The Nuremberg Bratwurst are distinctly small and can be enjoyed in three’s, or as they say, “drei im weggla” or “three in a bun.” Only produced within the city limits of Nuremberg, the Nuremberg sausages would surely taste the same as the traditional recipe. These sausages are said to have a strong smoky aroma. Yum!! 
Another Christmas snack to look forward to in Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt is its famous traditional gingerbread (Lebkuchen). These thick Nuremberg gingerbreads come in different flavors – chocolate, sugar-coated or topped with almonds. Like the Nuremberg sausages, Lebkuchen are only produced within the city limits.
*If you’re a big fan of gingerbreads, you can actually have a Lebkuchen collection delivered to you!
Another Christmas staple you must not miss is the traditional hot mulled wine. It’s a mix of red wine, citrus, cinammon and cloves. Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt makes it extra special with its blueberry brew, creating the perfect drink to warm up in the cold Christmas weather. ♥
*Make your own mulled wine with this recipe.
2. Zagreb, Croatia
Zagreb Christmas Market has been voted twice as the best Christmas market in Europe. Tourists and locals visit Zagreb for its festive atmosphere and programs.
The traditional flavors of the Zagreb Advent include sausages, stuffed turkey with mlinci and Sarma. Craft beer, mulled wine, and spiced hot chocolate are also being served in the market.
Stuffed turkey with mlinci (thin dried flatbread)
Sarma (sour cabbage rolls stuffed with minced meat and smoked bacon) and mashed potatoes
Source: http://www.adventzagreb.com/
3. Zurich, Switzerland (Christmas Market at the Main Train Station)
In Zurich’s Main Train Station (Hauptbahnhof), you will find one of the largest indoor Christmas markets in Europe.
Zurich Christkindlimarkt boasts over 300 stalls including a wide variety of food and drinks! It’s easy to get lost in this beautiful madness but make sure you find the Raclette, Gluhwein (mulled wine), Glögg (sweet, spicy and hot red wine), Tirggel biscuits, and Christstollen fruit cake.
Raclette is a classic Swiss dish. With its growing popularity, you might already be familiar with this mouthwatering dish. They slowly melt the cheese, scrape the soft melting part off the wheel and serve over bread or potatoes.
They also have traditional wafer-thin honey cakes called Triggel biscuits.
Traditional Christmas Stollen fruit cakes are filled with almonds, dried fruits (usually currants, candied lemon, and orange peel) and other spices, topped with powdered sugar.
*If you are craving for this Christmas delicacy, you can have this delivered
Gluhwein (another term for mulled wine) is sweetened red wine that has been heated and spiced up.
Source: http://www.christkindlimarkt.ch/en/
4. Toronto, Canada (Distillery District)
A Christmas market close to my heart is Toronto’s very own market located at the Distillery District. Its ambiance has an old, romantic charm. 
Small wooden stalls offer a wide range of excellent local and international dishes – smoked turkey legs, grilled sausages, pretzel buns, Raclette, poutine and grilled cheese. Toronto Christmas Market also have beer gardens which serve traditional mulled wine, local handcrafted beers and ales.
Find the two small stalls outside Mill Street Brewery. They are serving big, juicy smoked turkey legs!
Poutine is a traditional Canadian dish made with fries, cheese curds and gravy. Top it off with extra smoked beef brisket!
Save room for dessert because Toronto Christmas Market also has sweet treats like the classic homemade fudge.
Fudge
5. Strasbourg, France (Christkindelsmärik)
Strasbourg Christkindelsmärik is the oldest Christmas market in France. Its traditional Christmas delicacies are rich in cinnamon, aniseed, other spices, citrus fruits and dried fruits. Can’t you just smell the Christmas aroma? Its must-try classic Christmas treats are Bredeles, gingerbreads, foie gras, mulled wine, and Christmas beer.
Bredeles are the famous Christmas cookies in Strasbourg. These come in different variations including cinnamon, orange, aniseed, chocolate or walnut.
Christmas in Strasbourg, or any French Christmas, wouldn’t be complete with foie gras. Try pairing it with local wine!
Unlike the mulled wine in Nuremberg, its version is a mix of white wine and red wine with honey, lemon, orange, cinammon, aniseed, nutmeg and cloves.
Another must-try holiday drink in Strasbourg is its Christmas beer. There’s such a thing! Every Christmas, the local breweries produce this special edition. It has the taste of cinnamon, honey and ginger.
Source: http://noel.tourisme-alsace.com/en/gourmet-pleasures/
6. Budapest, Hungary
Traveling to Budapest for Christmas is twice as fun because there are two Christmas markets with similar dates. The Christmas Market on Vorosmarty Square is the oldest and one of the grandest in Budapest. Close to the Vorosmarty Square is the newer Christmas Fair (Basilica).
These Christmas markets serve traditional Hungarian Christmas dishes such as grilled sausages and meat, roasted pork knuckle, roasted goose thigh and stuffed cabbage.
Sausage will always be one of the crowd favorites but stuffed cabbage rolls are also a must-try! This Hungarian specialty is filled with sauercrout, minced pork and rice and deliciously served with sour cream.
Source: http://www.budapestbylocals.com/event/budapest-christmas-fair/
7. Manchester, England
Tourists and locals flock Manchester every year for its Christmas Markets. It is located at 10 different areas around the city, each having its own features.
Manchester Christmas Markets are famous for their traditional German bratwursts. No need to find these because these are everywhere in the Manchester Christmas Markets.
Another delicious treat is the mouthwatering roast hog. You can also get slices of hot pork from the roasted hog with a soft white roll and apple sauce.
The traditional holiday drinks in the Manchester Christmas Markets are Gluhwein and Feuerzangenbowle. Think of Feuerzangenbowle as the fun version of Gluhwein. A sugarloaf or sugar cone is soaked with rum and set on fire on top of the bowl of mulled wine. The result is a melting and caramelizing rum-soaked sugarloaf dripping onto the mulled wine.
Source: http://www.christmasmarkets.com/individual-christmas-market/manchester-christmas-markets/
8. Stockholm, Sweden (Old Town Christmas Market)
The Old Town Christmas Market in Stortorget Square has a fascinating history. It originated from the medieval markets in Stockholm, making it the oldest Christmas market in Stockholm and Sweden.
Traditional Swedish Christmas delicacies such as smoked sausages, smoked reindeer, elk meat, pepparkakor (traditional ginger biscuit) and Nordic glogg are sold at the little red stalls in the Stortorget Square.
Source: http://stortorgetsjulmarknad.com/
9. New York (Union Square Holiday Market)
Indulge yourself with French truffles, meatballs, Belgian waffles, hot chocolate and hot apple cider!
French Truffles and Hot Chocolate by No Chewing Allowed!
Waffles by Wafels & Dinges
*For more of my NYC foodie list, read my post here.
Source: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/shopping/union-square-holiday-market-1
10. Sydney, Australia (36-hour Fish Market)
Sydney’s Christmas tradition is unlike any other. Every 23rd of December until Christmas Eve, you can buy the finest, high-quality fresh seafood in its Fish Market. This annual event is open for the entire 36 hours, earning its name “36-hour Seafood Marathon.”
Imagine seeing piles of prawns, lobsters, King Crab legs, scallops, oysters, fish fillets, whole fish, sashimi bars, and many more. It’s every seafood lover’s dream!
Source: http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/home
Which is your favorite among the Christmas markets?
If you enjoyed reading this post, share or save this to your Pinterest travel/food board! ♥
Great list of Christmas markets!! Thanks for sharing
Ooo I love Christmas markets … for the food though, nothing else so this post was perfect for me! Yummm Lebkuchen, I love gingerbread and thankfully we have German supermarkets in my area which sell plenty of traditional German Christmas treats including Lebkuchen 🙂 Gluhwein is also lovely and warming to have, in fact I’m having some this weekend! I was surprised that Croatia has been voted the best Christmas market in Europe twice .. you learn something new every day! I attend the Manchester market every year as we have friends there so it’s tradition for us to visit them and pop to the market. I love stollen as well and try and have some every year, oh boy, I best stop thinking about all this amazing food now! Thank you for sharing this delicious post with us #feetdotravel
Oh my goooooodness, this post is so Christmasy and I LOVE it! As a Canadian living in Sydney, I miss the traditional Christmas markets 🙂
I really feel like I am missing out as I have only been to one Christmas market on the list . . . Manchester (and I live nearby). I am really going to have to embrace Christmas more and get to some of these next year. Thank you for inspiring me.
I love markets! There is something about wandering around and discovering lots of unique things that really appeals to me. Great list here. Zagreb looks awesome and glad to see you included one from my hometown (Sydney) even if I don’t eat seafood lol
Wonderful. I have been going though all the christmas market posts and they are all so great. And this one is delicious as well 🙂 Would love to visit. I guess I will want to be somewhere full of Christmas markets next year
Great list Jen! Me and Phil love Christmas markets, and have been to a few on your list including Stockholm and Manchester but I think Berlin and Prague have been our favourites so far. We need to check out more Nuremberg looks great!
The lights of Christmas, the snowy winter and the magic in air has always fascinated us. We have been to couple of markets but unfortunately none of the ones in this post. Zagreb and Toronto looks beautiful.
i love christmas markets! my favorite one is in prague! but it was so interesting hearing more about ones I haven’t been to!
Christmas markets are so cute. The food is just so cozy in the cold weather. We always end up eating too much! But we love them.
I haven’t been to a Christmas market (because I never seem to be in a part of the world where Christmas markets is a thing), but I love food markets in general! That huge wheel of cheese with a part of it melting off looks SO good!
Oh wow so many great Christmas Markets and so much food, your photos are excellent. The Raclette looks amazing would love to try that now! #feetdotravel
I love Christmas markets, even though I haven’t traveled during Christmas that much. We also have “sarma” (sarmale) as traditional dish along with many others. All the food in this post looks great and I am happy I tried most of them. I would love to visit Prague during Christmas, so far I visited just during the Easter time.
I am from Australia and we always pick up our seafood on Christmas Eve. You wouldn’t believe the line-up you have to wait in! But is is worth it! I really like the look of Nuremberg yum, yum.
This made me hungry!! 😄 Thanks for the detailed article!
Now…you just made me realise that xmas is really approaching and I kinda miss home ;_; Once I’m back in Europe i really want to visit all these markets! 🙂
My mouth is watering!! The only one on your list I’ve been to is in Toronto – the distillery district is wonderful all year round but especially during Christmas. Poutine is the best! Hope to visit some of the others next year!
All that wonderful food! The markets just have a special feel to them. They are definitely different here in the states. I tend to go overboard a wee bit especially with the sweets!
Wow, what wonderful Christmas markets and ones that I would love to visit. They would make the holidays so special. All that food looks so yummy! I pinned this for later and thanks for Sharing 🙂
Lovely variety of Christmas markets here! I went to the one in Manchester once but by the time we had eaten the market was finished and closed – it was the last night too! Fascinated by the market in Sydney may visit that one next year!
Wow, an awesome post and some mouth-watering food there! I’ve just come back from visiting Christmas markets in Munich and I am already planning next year’s trip! I heard really awesome things about Nurnberg’s market so great to know you also rate it highly! Thanks for sharing!
I love Christmas markets and this list highlights the best ones there are to visit. It would be great to visit each of them and sample the different foods. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Umm… Can I have some Raclette?? Looks so gooey and mouthwatering! Great list! One of the favorite parts about Christmas and seeing all the traditions foods from around the world!