3 Christmas Markets...3 Countries...24 hours

On the 14 of December our Swiss friends collected us from Zurich train station and took us on a 24 hour long Christmas market extravaganza. We traveled to Bregenz in Austria where we booked into a hotel and immediately went to our first Christmas market, in the town center. Later that afternoon we moved onto a busy, but incredible night Christmas market in Konstanz, Germany. Once we had seen, done and eaten everything in sight in Konstanz we went back to Bregenz for dinner and a quick nap and then set off to the Christmas market in Winterthur, Switzerland first thing on Sunday morning.

It was such a wonderful and different weekend away, as we got to experience Christmas in 3 different countries and it really got us into the Christmas spirit. We found that although the markets in the 3 countries had many similarities, there were some specific things that differentiated them from each other, including the food, drink and music.

Austria- Bregenz

Bregenz is a really cute little town on the banks of Lake Constance in Austria, and it lies in between Germany and Switzerland.

The Christmas market in Bregenz was very small, but so lovely and traditional. It was filled with stalls selling Glühwein, Christmas decorations, Cherry Pip bean bags (to keep you warm), onion pizza bread and pony rides. A stroll through this town and Christmas market will leave you feeling like you're living in the 19th century.

The entrance to the square where the
Christmas Market was held

Bregenz Christmas Market

Germany- Konstanz

Konstanz is about an hours drive from where we were staying in Bregenz. This town is well known to the Swiss as it boarders Switzerland and many of the Swiss people travel here on a regular basis to do their shopping, as it is considerably cheaper to shop here than in Switzerland. 

The Germans really know how to do bright, big, bold and delicious Christmas markets. This market is on the banks of Lake Constance, and part of the market is on a huge yacht which floats on the edge of the lake. The Konstanz Christmas market was so busy, we were constantly dodging people, however, this gave it a very lively and festive atmosphere. There were hundreds of different stalls selling everything including jewelry, rugs, sweets, wooden goods, knitted clothes and hot chocolate. There was also a fun fair and a carousel with real ponies. I did however feel very bad for these probably very dizzy ponies ambling around in circles.

The majority of the stalls were decorated so beautifully (see picture below), with life size 3D Christmas themes and every tree in the nearby vicinity of the market was covered in thousands of tiny lights. Christmas music rang out over the speakers and you could not escape the smells of delicious food.  This was by far the best Christmas market that I have visited thus far.

Some of the market stalls
have the most incredible Christmas displays on the roof 

Steve admiring his favourite Swiss made product-
The Victorinox Swiss Army Knife

Trees covered in lights

Steve`s first taste of the delicious German Lebkuchen

Switzerland- Winterthur

On our way back home on Sunday morning we went to the Winterthur Christmas Market, This was about a 30 minute drive from Zurich and it was wonderbaar (wonderful).

Again the stall roofs  were decorated with the most incredibly creative 3D scenes and they sold everything from hand made guardian angel decorations, raclette and healing jewelry to Swiss lebkuchen (with almond cream inside it), Heisse Marroni (roasted chestnuts) and handcrafted wooden puzzles. 

One of the stunning roof top displays 

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire... 

After singing this song for years...I finally got to taste chestnuts that have been roasted on an open fire. They were warm, really soft and completely unlike what I expected. 

Am I glad I tried them?...YES

Will I eat them again? Probably not. They weren't my favorite.    

Chestnut anyone?

My first chestnut experience