Planning a trip to Germany for December and trying to maximize the number of (good) Christmas markets we might see. Initially thinking about staying several days in the Koln area and using the DB to see several of the markets in the west (as well as Luxembourg). Wondering what city to use as a second base. Berlin? Hamburg?

We've done the markets in the south and are mainly interested in the northern portion of Germany. We have been to Trier, Mainz, and Frankfurt, but all were in the summer. Have never been to any of the northern cities at all.

Any suggestions for base cities that will maximize our ability to find markets? Or recommendations for markets not to be missed? Thanks!

From Cologne, Aachen is easy to reach. The market there is quite nice (try Aachener Printen, a special type of spicy chocolate biscuits), and don't miss the cathedral, Charlemagne's church, built around 800 A. D.

Both for Christmas markets and for the city, I definitely recommend Dresden. One of the oldest and most famous Christmas markets in Germany. Here you'll find the real traditional woodcarvings from the Erzgebirge. Dresden is worth staying for a couple of days.
The one at Leipzig is said to be nice, too, but I haven't visited it myself.

You don't mention the exact dates of your trip - I guess you know that practically all German Christmas markets terminate on Dec 23 or Dec 24 around noon, so coming here for the Christmas holidays would be a disappointment.
Advent, i. e. the four weeks before Christmas, are much better to soak up some Christmas feeling. Streets and shops are decorated, and any city or town has its Christmas market.

come to the Strasbourg Lingerie DO on dec 15th . its not only about lingerie, we'll have a walk to on of the most famous chrismas markets in the world. from Strasbourg you can easily reach Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg or other soutern german cities.

Surprisingly, Dortmund has a fairly good Christmas markt, too. It should be an easy train ride from Koeln.

Erfurt, in Thuringa, has a good Markt:

http://www.erfurt.de/ef/en/discover/rendezvous/fairs/

Yay, Erfurt - didn't think of that one. And the city is a hidden gem, almost unknown among foreign travellers.

Another vote for Erfurt.

L�beck is also very nice (you can reach L�beck from Hamburg)
http://www.luebecker-weihnachtsmarkt.de/

Nurenburg. Great Weihnactsmarkt.

Guess you mean N�rnberg/Nuremberg?

Sure, Christkindlmarkt at N�rnberg is the most famous Christmas market in Germany, but I suppose OP has already been there ("done the markets in the south...")

I found an old FT thread on Christmas Markets:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=374776

Some of the links mentioned in the thread no longer work. However, here is a link that lists Christmas Markets and their 2006 dates.
http://www.germany-tourism.de/ENG/cu...as_markets.htm

Enjoy!!

Thanks for all the replies! The trip will probably be the second week in December so the markets will definitely be open. I'll take a look at the geography of the markets suggested above and see what I can do to come up with a base city or two.

I've got a non-market specific Germany Guide on my website, that may help with pub recommendations for whichever city you choose.

Funnily enough, I'm also in Germany on "market duty" that same week - treating my recently travel-phobia cured mother to a trip!

Kathrin, you should definitely visit Leipzig's. It has much more stimmung than the one in Dresden IMO. The Dresden one is nice as well, but the Leipzig one somehow fits into the city center so nicely and there are a lot of activities as well.

Last xmas we visited both Leipzig and dresden xmas markets both as good as each other the best part was the many gluwine stalls it was a real eye opening experiance. I rated leipzig the best (it rained whilst we were in dresden) because you must visit St. Nicholas Church on the sunday and listen to the choir singing carols and also playing of Bach s music as he came from leipzig