Where is your dream Christmas market destination? I
created a list with Christmas Markets after I visited the ones in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden in Germany and Vienna in Austria and will publish
these in the coming days. Today we are going to have a closer look at
Hamburg’s Christmas Markets. Hamburg in
the far north of the country is officially called Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and neighbouring states are Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony. Germany’s
second largest city has for ever been called the ‘gateway to the world’ because
of its large port.
Most visitors come to town to visit the port and
its surrounding districts. Hamburg has always
been the meeting place for people from different nations and cultures. The city by the river Elbe is well known for its red-light
district, and that has always attracted seafarers visiting the port town. It
was just announced that a street in the new centre is going to be named after a
famous prostitute who died in 2009. She worked in Hamburg as a domina and later
as a street worker for drug addicted girls. A total of ten streets will be
named after famous Hamburg women to remind people of the city's history. There
is a lot of history to discover on a trip to Hamburg, but if you visit in
December, you would want to start with the Christmas markets. You will
find everything from handcrafted wooden products to delicious German Christmas
delicacies, up to the ever so popular mulled wine. It is December, and if you
spent a few hours outside, you most certainly need hot drinks to stay warm and
enjoy the fun.
In many German homes Christmas remains more of a
quiet and traditional time. But then there are also the beloved Christmas
Markets. More than six million visitors come to see the 18
Christmas markets of Hamburg each Christmas season. You can start planning your
Christmas season trip to Hamburg with this choice of five markets plus one magical
and off-the-beaten path Christmas Market, that is forty kilometres from town
and easy to reach by bus. It is best to come hungry.
2018 Guide to Five Fantastic Christmas Markets in Hamburg plus one off the beaten path
1. Christmas Market Jungfernstieg
Christmas market with an amazing view of Hamburg. There
is a giant Christmas tree on a pontoon, on the river Alster and at the quay
there are lots of colourful small vessels plus a huge Ferris wheel. Due to its
location there is this winterly breeze. It is magical, wait till you see the
Christmas parade, and inquire at one of the stalls for the times of the
Christmas Parade on weekends.
Information: 26th November to 30th December
2016. Hours: 11am to 9pm. Fr. and Sat. 11am to 10pm. Closed 24th and
25th December 2018.
2. Traditional Christmas Market at the Town Hall
This is a massive market in front of the town hall.
It is a pretty maze of little lanes, and yes, these lanes are packed with
people who love this Christmas Market as much as everybody. You can buy
handmade toys, delicacies, soap, flowers, and Christmas decoration. There are
lots of stalls that sell mulled wine, sweet treats and food. Watch out for
Father Christmas, occasionally gliding over the market on his slide.
Information: 26th November to 23rd
December 2018. Hours: 11am to 9pm. Friday and Saturday 11am to 10pm.
3. Christmas Market Fleetinsel Hamburg
A maritime inspired picturesque little Christmas
Market on an island between the Alster and the river Elbe. It is slightly off
the beaten path, and well worth the short walk. From here it is only a few more
steps to the port of Hamburg.
Information: 26th November to 23rd
December 2018. Hours: Daily 12pm to 9pm.
4. Christmas Market Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz
This one is just off the main shopping strip and has
the atmosphere of a tiny village. There are many wooden stalls selling a
Christmassy choice of delicacies, but the real highlight is an old
merry-go-round.
Information: 26th November to 29th
December 2018. Closed 25th December 2016. Hours: 10am to 9pm (food
stalls 10am to 11pm).
5. Christmas Market Spitalerstrasse Hamburg
Romantic looking Christmas Market on one the
biggest shopping streets in Hamburg, have a browse, you will find lots of
handcrafted things. It conveniently leads directly to the central station.
Information: 26th November to 29th
December 2018. Hours: 10am to 9pm (hours food stalls 11am to 11pm). Closed 25th
December 2018.
6. Christmas Market off the beaten path: Basthorst in Schleswig-Holstein
This is certainly one of the cutest Christmas
Markets in Germany. Imagine life in a village in the countryside in the early
1930’s, life still feels pretty much pre-industrial, no big machines and no
tractors. There are only a few tiny grocery stores, a church and a school.
Sheep are grazing the meadows, and the ducks swimming their rounds on the pond.
There are apple and pear orchards as far as the eye can see. Is there some
movement on the horizon? Deers? At dusk children go to the barn to wish their
donkey sweet dreams. After dinner and just before bed time it is all about
stories by candlelight. There is lots of quiet and peace, life is charming.
Everybody often day dreams of a more simplified
life closer to nature, right? I found it in the northern most state of Germany
in Schleswig-Holstein. Basthorst is a village with 400 citizens in the district
of Lauenburg. There is this big estate, with an impressive red brick manor
house erected in 1750, several hundreds of year old barns around a court plus
many different outhouses. Every Holiday Season the owners open their estate to
the public and invite them over to visit their Christmas Market.
Information: Gut Basthorst.
Auf dem Gut 3. 21493 Basthorst. Germany. 23rd to 25th November 2018
(Christmas bazaar), 30th November to 2nd December 2018 (1st weekend of Advent),
7th to 9th December 2018 (2nd Advent weekend), 14th to 16th December 2018 (3rd
Advent weekend), 21st to 23rd December 2018 (4th Advent weekend). Hours: 11am
to 7pm. Tickets EUR 6, free for children up to the age of 16.
How to get to Christmas Market Basthorst
By shuttle bus
There runs a shuttle bus from
Hamburg central station to Basthorst and back during opening hours of the
market on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Travel time is approx. 45 minutes. One-way
ticket EUR 5 per person.
Hamburg central station to
Basthorst Christmas Market
10.15am / 11.15am / 12.15pm /
1.15pm / 2.15pm / 3.15pm / 4.15pm / 5.15pm / 6.15pm
Basthorst Christmas Market to
Hamburg central station
11.05am / 12.05pm / 1.05pm /
2.05pm / 3.05pm / 4.05pm / 5.05pm / 6.05pm / 7.05pm.
By car
From Hamburg via A24, approx. 40 kilometres. Parking is available.
If you plan to visit Christmas Markets this season
read Oh all these Magical Christmas Markets - The Do's
and Don’ts for a perfect Christmas Market visit.
How to best reach Hamburg?
Visit the website of Hamburg airport to find your
flight.
Visit the website of the Deutsche Bahn to search
for train tickets.
More Hamburg? Read
From Berlin with love
Editor's note: This post has been updated for
accuracy in November 2018.
