I've thought about doing a christmas market trip for a few years, and this year it felt right. So I set out on a little adventure spaning 3 countries and 4 cities/towns, and many markets and christmas events.
My first stop was Basel in Switzerland. I arrived in the afternoon and found my hostel pretty quickly. Then I went exploring. I wanted to check out two christmas markets and a shop I like that we don't have in my town in Norway. But I also needed food. After wandering one of the christmas markets for a while not really finding food that was for me (it's not easy being picky when you also don't understand any of the menus) I ended up in a supermarket that had some warm foods. Then I went into New Yorker, the shop I'd been wanting to check out. It was actually a bit more expensive than I remembered, turnes out the Swiss prices are a little higher, but I still got a few things. After the shop I checked out the other christmas market, which was only a few minutes away. It was a very nice market in an open space next to a church and there was a big christmas tree close by. After wandering for a bit, taking photos, I decided to go back to the first market to see it after dark, and to get some sweet treats. This market wasn't only in an open space but also stretched out into side streets. I found some hot chocolate and a pastry and enjoyed them by a funny christmas display with singing moose.
I went back to the hostel fairly early as I had a long day ahead of me and I wanted to get an early start. I had two room mates and ended up chatting with them for quite a bit. That's the upside of choosing a hostel for a few nights when travelling alone, the company, meeting interesting people.
The next morning I left my luggage in a locker and went out the door an hour before sunrise. I was disappointed to find that most of the christmas lights, including the christmas tree, was switched off. I wanted morning photos of the lights, but no such luck. I still got some nice photos of the river and the normal city lights though. My goal for the day was to get geocaches from three different countries as Basel is a city with boarders between Switzerland, France and Germany. I found a physical cache and then walked towards a point of interest, a marker for the boarders and a virtual cache.
After having some fun with photos by the monument I went to find a tram stop so I could get a tram to Germany. My plan was to find a cache and then go into a shopping centre for a shoe shop I like, and then cross the bridge and countinue geocaching on the French side. However, when I stepped into the shopping centre I found New Yorker, and despite having been to one already I knew I needed to check it out, since I hadn't found much I liked, for prices I liked, in the Swiss shop. I ended up finding shoes, a winter coat and some other clothes before leaving the building. Having a lot to carry I knew I couldn't continue geocaching for hours. I crossed the bridge, got my photo for the virtual cache and found a physical one on the french side, then I went back and got the tram back towards the hostel. I walked through one of the christmas markets again and got a couple of treat to try and sat down for a few minutes when I got to the hostel. Then I got my suitcases, re-packed and headed to the train station. My next destination was Strasbourg, a small city claiming to be the capital of Christmas. By the time I'd gotten settled in at my hotel studio appartment I was starting to feel hungry. I looked at the map and thought I'd found an option and decided to go towards that and if I found anything else on the way that'd be good too. But it turns out being a picky eater is really difficult in this part of France. (I don't remember it being that difficult the last few times I was in France, that being Nice and Chamonix in 2018 and 2019.) The place I thought would be okay had burgers on the menu, but they couldn't remove the onions and such from the burger because it was pre made, seems really strange to me. I left them and kept walking, in the rain.
I did have my first teddy bear encounter on this wet walk, but didn't take many photos because of the rain. By the time I sat down at a small italian restaurant I was seriously hungry. I managed to find an okay pizza on the menu and we found a pop (soda) that was alright too (they didn't have any of the known brands so one of the girls working there helped me find a flavour). After the meal I went back to my room, I was exhausted and my feet were hurting pretty bad. I started my first full day in France with some shopping. My plan had been to look for christmas presents, but the Primark was huge and I actually really like a lot of the fashion right now (bright colours and glitter), so I ended up shopping for my self until my feet hurt. Then I went back to the room, and relaxed a bit before going out to explore the city and the christmas markets.
I found a panini for lunch at the big christmas market and wandered the market and then the streets looking for cool shops and decorations. I found the street that drew me to the city, with teddy bear decorations. I had a cup of hot chocolate, I did consider trying the hot cider or one of the many hot wine and fruit drinks, but being picky I ended up not trying them. (I mean, they're not that cheap and I would have just had to throw it out if I couldn't handle it.) I decided to find a couple of geocaches, but the first I tried was gone, it was clear from spoilers that I would have seen it if it was there. I did find the next one though. And then I explored another little christmas market by the canals, the canals are pretty cool, especially with the cool and colourful «Fachwerk» style houses. They also had live christmas by the canals. When the sun started setting, I went back the way I'd come from because I wanted to see the «entrance» to the inner city all lit up, I also wanted to see the teddy bear houses and the christmas market with the big christmas tree in the dark. The little alley with all the teddy bears is quite magical and definitely worth a visit.
Before heading back to the hotel room I went back to Primark to get some christmas presents. By the time I got back to my room my feet hurt so bad I didn't really know what to do with myself. So I relaxed and watched Friends on the tv, I found out how to turn on the original sound.
December 1st was to be spent in a small town called Colmar, but first I did a little more christmas shopping at a small shopping centre. Then I got the train to Colmar and started exploring the charming town brimming with christmas decorations. The first thing that met me when I stepped out of the train station was big red letters with white (and some green) trees behind it, perfectly matching my outfit for the day. I walked towards the river and the town centre and as soon as I got into town I knew it was a special place. The decorations are beautiful, and they're everywhere, and the bridges are perfect lookout spots for the beautiful buildings.
I walked around taking photos and enjoying the beautiful town, I helped a few other tourists get their photos and ended up talking to a lovely couple from the US, they also helped me get some nice photos. The tripod is great for photos in nature, but it's not always too helpful in towns and cities; it's too short, and it tends to get a bit crowded in the towns. And I really do understand why the bridges in Colmar got crowded, who doesn't want photos of rivers lined with cool houses and decorated so beautifully for christmas. Just before it started getting darker outside I went into a food hall and had a hot chocolate and a chocolate pie thing, again I struggled with finding food I felt alright with. After my little «meal» I walked around a bit again. And the already beautiful town turned magic at nightfall. The christmas lights were amazing, some of them slowly changed colours and there were these little light shows on some of the building walls. Colmar really knows how to make their narrow streets and the view from their bridges magical. I was a little sad to leave Colmar, but I was also hungry and my feet were absolutely killing me. On my way back to the train station I noticed another market I would have loved to check out, but I needed to make the next train. So if I ever go back at Christmas, I'll have to check that out too.
When I got back to Strasbourg I went straight to McDonald's, that's right, I was so hungry. I don't do this kind of fast food often, but when I do it's normally while travelling. I walked back to my room as fast as I could in slight rain and then enjoyed my cheap fast food meal while watching more Friends, and then I packed my suitcases. Turnes out I really did go a little crazy for myself this time, my big suitcase was mostly filled with things for myself, and the hand luggage suitcase was filled with christmas gifts. The weekend was to be spent in Switzerland but before leaving in the morning I found a supermarket for some more gifts, and I figured it would be best to get them before leaving France. Then I started the 3 hour journey to Zürich. I had booked a hostel bed unlike what I'd done before, I was staying in a so-called capsule. What I hadn't realised was that it meant my luggage would have to be in a locker by the reception, one that wasn't big enough for both suitcases. So my hand luggage was by my bed, but it felt like I was taking up space I wasn't supposed to have. I will not book a capsule again, it's too much hassel not having my belongings close to me. I had a little rest in my little capsule and then started exploring the city. The weather wasn't really on my side on this trip, but it wasn't too horrible either, but I'm a little sad I couldn't see the mountains in the horizon while I was in Zürich. I started taking photos of the birds, and honestly think those are some of my best photos from Zürich, apart from the incredible light display I visited on my last night, but I'll get back to that. I walked around exploring the city and looked for a few geocaches. I noted that the shopping street was not for people like me, with all the big designer lables side by side.
This was the first day where the sky was partially clear by sundown, so I took some photos with golden light reflected in the water. I ended up talking to a girl, who I offered to take a photo for and she was really nice, we connected online so who knows, maybe I'll meet her again some day. Then I went back to the room to put on some make-up for the evening. The plan for the evening was to go on a bar crawl, but first I needed to find some food. I took photos on my way towards an Irish pub I'd seen. When I got to the Irish pub it was full, because of the football championship there was no tables available. I ended up having dinner at a christmas market, a cheese toastie thing and a glass of wine. This particular christmas market is known for their «singing christmas tree» which is a construction decorated as a christmas tree where choirs will sing. There was a childrens choir singing in the tree that evening. After my meal, and a few photos of the singing christmas tree I decided to try to find a bar for a drink.
That turned out to be harder than I thought; the football championship meant the pubs where full and the cocktail bars I saw were either full or too fancy for me. I did eventually find a bar that looked okay and wasn't too full though. I ordered a drink called «Tipsy elf», it was alright but quite expensive, maybe my most expensive cocktail ever. While I was enjoying my cocktail I double-checked the meeting time for the bar crawl and was disappointed to discover that the website was a tad inconsistent. Even though it said there is a bar crawl every Friday it also said the next bar crawl wasn't until two weeks later. If I had known that I definitely would have planned the weekend a little differently. After making this discovery I decided to try to find a bar closer to the hostel, something that was made a little difficult by the fact that most of the bars were really full and I don't feel comfortable going into full bars on my own. I finally decided to go into a restaurant/bar to at least have one more drink before bed. It looked more like a restaurant, but I just wasn't ready for bed so I went in and asked if they had room for me for a drink, and it turnes out their bar was down stairs. So I went down the stairs and found a seat at the bar, the tables were full. I ordered a cosmopolitan and it was perfect, which I think is rare for this cocktail. I ended up chatting a bit with some of the staff, they were very friendly, and after my big cocktail I went to bed. On my last full day in Zürich I left the hostel around 11am to start exploring and geocaching. I started with a christmas market where I found breakfast; mini pancackes with nutella and peanuts. After a quick look around the market, which had loads of interesting booths with edible and drinkable goodies, I started the geocaching. I headed up the main shopping street and found both physical and virtual caches before doing a last little bit of christmas shopping and ending up at the irish pub. This time they had room for me and I could sit down for a proper meal and a cider, the tables weren't reserved until later in the evening. I had a great meal and then headed back towards the hostel to rest my feet a little before the sunset.
As it was about to get darker I went back to the christmas market by the hostel. This time I had a plan of getting some hot chocolate and Baileys from a Baileys booth and take photos of the tree. What I hadn't realised was that all of Zürich and all it's visitors would be out at the markets. It was so crowded it was almost impossible to move through the market. I did find the booth, eventually, and did try get some photos of the tree, but it wasn't easy. After I'd finished my beverage I left the market and found the red tram I'd seen around the city. It was a small tram car driven my Santa who had angel helpers on board. I got some nice photos of it as I encountered it around the city. I walked along the river and made my way to the «singing christmas tree». There was another choir in the tree and I decided to get into the crowd in front of it to try for a few photos and a couple of videos, a decision I quickly regretted. I hadn't realised just how many people there were and how tight the crowd was. As I decided to get out on the other side of the crowd and struggled to do so I felt close to having a panic attack, I got warm for the first time in days, and I struggled to control my breath. Now, in saying that; I've never actually had a panic attack before, but I believe this is the closest I've ever gotten to having one, it was not fun. I was relieved when I finally got out on the other side of the crowd and made my way towards the train station. My destination was the Swiss national museum, located on the northern side of the train station. As I walked through the station I discovered another christmas market, I explored it a little, took the stairs up to a lookout deck they'd made and took photos of the christmas tree.
As I got to the museum I noticed a line to get in, and a lady told me I had to get tickets for the lightshow online, but I could get into the area with the illuminarium for free. Again, I hadn't read the information online well enough, and I felt a little disheartened but I did decide I'd go in anyways. Luckily the long line moved pretty fast and I was "inside" within a few minutes.
The illuminarium was absolutely beautiful and worth the visit, there were a lot of people in the courtyard though and moving about didn't go quickly. I took some photos as I made my way in and found the entrance to the actuall lightshow. The lady had said I couldn't get tickets there, but it sure looked like I could so I walked up to the booth next to the entrance, and after the people in front of me had asked their million questions (in a language I didn't understand, probably German) it was my turn. I was in luck; I could in deed get «tickets» from the lady. I got a combo «ticket», meaning two stamps, for both the kids show and the adult art show and she advised me to wait for the next showing of the kids show, and then not see the first but the second art showing. So, happy that it all worked out, I found a baileys booth and got a hot chocolate while I waited. The kids show was a colourful little story about 3 friendly monster looking creatures on an adventure. It was tailored to the building walls pretty well and I enjoyed it even though I didn't understand much of what was said. After the kids lightshow, which I had seen the last of, the colour of the walls in the main area changed and I went into a bar to find a drink and some heat while I waited for the next show. The art showing wasn't tailored to the wall in the same way the kids show had been. It consisted of several shorter videos from different artists which one could vote on online (something I forgot all about). I know some of them touched on some important issues in the world, but I honestly prefered the videos that went well with the wall and the tower on the side. After the art show I left the museum to find a tram back to the hostel, I was tired and cold, and had to check out in the morning.
I left the capsule hostel in the morning to find some food and some last minute gifts and treats from a supermarket. I also took the opportunity to find out what way was best to walk to get to the closest train station. (I found out the day before that I didn't neet to go to the main station when I was headed for the airport.) I found hot food, some fun treats to try and a few gifts. Back at the hostel I got all my stuff out into the reception area and put my key in the box before I ate my breakfast. Yes, I did take up some room, and I did for a while as I had to open my suitcases and reorganise them before my departure. I also had some time to kill, but as there was nowhere to leave the luggage safely, and nothing to do on a clousy Sunday morning, really, I read while I waited. Then I headed to the train station and the travel adventures of 2022 were over. So in conclusion: Christmas markets can be pretty great, but they're also, at times, very crowded. I love christmas lights, but don't like to be stuck in big crowds. I struggle to find places to sit down for a real meal in this part of Europe, especially when I'm alone, and there is a football championship going on. And Switzerland really is quite expensive. Oh, and 5 °C is easily colder than -5 °C. (I've noticed this before though and I'd take the biting frosty degrees over the sour chill by the river or ocean any day.)
I had good and bad moments on this trip, my feet hurt, I was cold, I stuggled to find food when I wanted it, but I also marvelled at beautiful lights displays, smiled at lovely live christmas music and was in awe of all the charming christmas decorations. Picking a favourite market is impossible, they all bring something different to the table. Basel had some interesting singing moose (we actually have those in Oslo as well though). Strasbourg has the beautiful «entrance» to the city and the cute teddy bear decorations. Colmar is charming and the town is brimming with christmas decorations and mini lightshows. And Zürich has many crowded christmas markets with sort of different themes. Some seeming more exclusive almost, others more charming, and then there is the singing christmas tree and the beautiful illuminarium at the museum. They're all worth a visit. If I do travel back to the area around christmas though, Colmar is the one I'm most likely to visit again. And if I do Zürich again in december, it'll be for the illuminarium.
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