This post may contain affiliate links. We may earn money or products from the highlighted keywords or companies or banners mentioned in this post.
Paris
Where’s the best shopping?
The Marché de Noël des Champs-Elysées is one of the best markets in town. There are 160 wooden chalets stretching all the way from the Place de la Concorde to the Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées, with regional foods, vin chaud (mulled wine) and all kinds of toys, arts and local crafts that make great gifts.
What’s your favourite cosy bar?
Le Forum (4 Blvd Malesherbes, 8th) is a classic Parisian bar with excellent cocktails and whiskies.
What’s the most magical place?
The Musée des Arts Forains (arts-forains.com) is a private collection of old carnival rides and funfair stands, a magical setting that opens to the public each year for the holidays. It runs from 26 December to 4 January.
What’s the best thing you can do for free at Christmas?
Enjoy the window displays in the city’s Grands Magasins department stores. Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, Bon Marché and BHV all compete each year to outdo each other.
Heather Stimmler-Hall (secretsofparis.com)
Brussels
What are the unmissable events?
Brussels Winter Wonders is one of Europe’s biggest Christmas markets and is the best way to get into the holiday spirit. The nightly light show on the Grand Place is a beautiful spectacle. Combine it with a glass of mulled wine and a plate of oysters.
Where’s the best shopping?
For the most quirky and offbeat shops in town, head to the Marolles neighbourhood. For the fashionista on your list, Rue Dansaert is home to trendy Belgian designers and high-end fashion.
What’s your favourite place to escape the cold?
The best way to warm up in Brussels is with a mug of rich Belgian hot chocolate. My favourite is served at the Wittamer café, on Place du Grand Sablon.
What’s the food that reminds you of Christmas?
Christmas is boudin season in Belgium, and the place to find it is at a street market. There are two main types: boudin noir gets its colour from the addition of blood; the pale boudin blanc often contains milk.
Where’s a good place for a walk?
Brussels is surrounded by a “green belt” connecting forests, parks and quiet neighbourhoods through a series of walking trails.
Alison Cornford-Matheson (photos.acmphotography.com)
Berlin
What are the unmissable events?
Christmas markets, lights and decorations in the streets, special dishes and mulled wine at restaurants, and Christmas programmes at the opera and concert houses.
Where’s the best shopping?
The Holy Heimat Christmas market at Neue Heimat in Friedrichshain is mixing street food with design products, live music and an ice rink. What’s your favourite cosy bar?
Berlin has hundreds of them. The Felsberg, in Wedding, has warm lights, brick walls and a friendly atmosphere. If you want something a little more hip, the Fahimi bar at Kottbusser Tor is a good option. For an extraordinary cocktail experience try out the new Bryk Bar in Prenzlauer Berg.
What’s the food that reminds you of Christmas?
In Berlin it’s typical to eat out in restaurants that serve anything but German cuisine. But at Christmas bring the holiday spirit to your stomach at the Schneeweiß in Friedrichshain, which specialises in Alpine cooking.
What’s your favourite kind of Christmas entertainment?
Making your own decorations is the best way to spend the holiday season. Berlin has many shops that cater to the crafty-minded. The Idee Kreativmarkt has a few stores offering a wide range of materials.
Where’s a good winter walk?
Walk when it’s snowing because otherwise it’s cold and wet. But all the parks of Berlin are worth exploring. The biggest is probably Tiergarten, but the Humboldthain in Wedding is a good option, and for those close to Friedrichshain the number one is the Volkspark.
Frank Schröder (iheartberlin.de)
Rome
What are the unmissable events?
First of all there is the Christmas market in Piazza Navona. The square gets filled up with stands selling ornaments, toys, candy etc. Another tradition is nativity scenes – you find them in every church.
Where’s the best shopping?
Rione Monti near the Collosseum is a wonderful area with many local shops, artisans, cafés etc.
What’s your favourite cosy bar?
I like Barnum in Via del Pellegrino very much. It’s super-cosy, with a great interior. There is Wi-Fi and you can have a light lunch or just enjoy a cappuccino with some cake.
What’s the food that reminds you of Christmas?
One Italian Christmas food which I have learned to like is the yeast bread called pandoro. It’s a simple cake – you buy it at the supermarket and it comes with a little bag of vanilla-scented icing sugar which you pour over the cake before serving it.
What’s your favourite kind of Christmas entertainment?
What I love the most about Christmas is simply being out and about. I love the lights, the decorations and hanging out in cosy cafés with warm beverages and cake.
Where’s a good winter walk?
I would suggest one of Rome’s stunning parks. Villa Doria Pamphili is gigantic and so beautiful.
Birgitte Brøndsted (adustyolivegreen.com)
Madrid
What are the unmissable events?
Grab 12 grapes and squeeze into Puerta del Sol square on New Year’s Eve. As is tradition, swallow the grapes in the seconds before midnight. The Three Wise Men parade on 5 January isn’t just for kids – it’s a fiesta of noise and light.
Where’s the best shopping?
Browse ceramics, jewellery and leatherwork by local artisans in the Plaza de España Christmas market, or check out the hip selection of handmade goods in the Nomada market (nomadamarket.com).
What’s your favourite cosy bar?
Warm up from the inside out with a potent glass of oloroso sherry in gorgeous, tumbledown La Venencia.
What’s the food that reminds you of Christmas?
Roast lamb is a Madrid Christmas staple, and 17th-century Posada de la Villa slowly cooks theirs to succulent perfection in a wood-burning oven (€44 for two people).
What’s your favourite kind of Christmas entertainment?
Wander the jam-packed, luminous Plaza Mayor, where market stalls sell a startling array of nativity figurines, or hop on the double-decker Navibus and tour the city’s Christmas lights.
Where’s a good winter walk?
The central Retiro park fizzes with festive energy through the Christmas period. Or head for the largely unknown Capricho Park – the former palace gardens are an 18th-century wonderland of hidden nooks and tucked-away treasures.
James Blick (madridchow.com)
Powered by WPeMatico
