Travelling around Germany at Christmas time feels like stepping into a world steeped in warm spice, sparkle and festive cheer.
The cold air carries the sweet scent of roasted almonds, and timbered houses glow softly beneath garlands of twinkling lights. Many of the villages look as though they’ve been lifted straight from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, offering hands-on baking workshops and selling artisanal toys.
The four destinations I visit each reveals a different side of the German holiday spirit and the country's Christmas traditions, from the storybook beauty of Rothenburg and artisanal heritage of Seiffen, to the aromatic delights of Nuremberg and rich culinary legacy of Dresden.
Christmas lives all year in Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Along Germany's scenic Romantic Road is Rothenburg ob der Tauber. With its turrets, spires and red roofs overlooking Tauber Valley, the town feels designed for Christmas all year round.
Visiting during the holiday season is like wandering on to a movie set; after all, it was the inspiration for Geppetto’s village in Disney’s Pinocchio. Timbered houses lean over winding streets, snow settles like powdered sugar on rooftops and lantern-lit shops spill warm light on to cobblestones.
Kathe Wohlfahrt, Rothenburg’s most celebrated Christmas store, instantly brings out your inner child. Carols play softly in the background, and shelves overflow with hand-painted ornaments, shimmering snow globes, and carved nutcrackers that resemble soldiers and delicate wooden angels. The shop’s Christmas Village is built around a gargantuan tree decorated with about 2,000 baubles and 12,500 LED lights. It's a museum-like collection of traditional decor.
Walk along Rothenburg’s medieval walls for panoramic views over Tauber Valley, dusted with winter frost, then head to its historic Christmas market that fills the central square with the aroma of roasted chestnuts among other specialities. Trying the town’s signature sweet snowballs, made with strips of shortcrust pastry and dusted with powdered sugar, is a must.
My favourite store is Leyk, which sells charming handcrafted lighthouses that are illuminated by tealights, and modelled on buildings and houses in the town and other parts of Germany.
Baking traditional lebkuchen in Nuremberg
An hour east of Rothenburg is Nuremberg, Bavaria's second-largest city. Known for Christkindlesmarkt, one of the most famous festive markets in the world, it is also the birthplace of lebkuchen, the spiced gingerbread that embodies German holiday flavours.
Lebkuchen was once the domain of artisans who guarded their recipes fiercely, but today visitors can sign up for baking workshops at local cooking schools such as Cookionista. The city’s strategic location on medieval spice routes gave bakers access to cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves, which became the soul of the aromatic treat.
If you're passing through Nuremberg, a visit to Christkindlesmarkt is essential. The festive market has been in operation since the 17th century and includes more than 130 red-and-white-striped stalls, which sell traditional and handcrafted goods. A typical buy would include prune people, made with dried fruits mounted on pieces of wire and birch-wood.
The Nuremberg Christkind is the symbolic figure for the Christmas market, an angelic character with golden curls, crown and robe. Every two years, a local girl is elected as the Christkind to open the market and represent the city at charity events.
Toy story in Seiffen
From Bavaria, the Christmas trail leads me north-east to Saxony and the Ore Mountains, where villages have perfected the art of making Germany’s most beloved wooden decorations and toys, from spinning pyramids and miniature figurines to Schwibbogen candle arches.
Seiffen was once a miners’ village, where long winters encouraged wood carving as a pastime. When the mines closed, the hobby blossomed into a beloved craft tradition.
Many of Seiffen’s workshops open their doors to visitors who can see first-hand how the treasured toys are made. The experience offers a ringside view of techniques passed down through generations. Inside, the air smells of fresh wood and varnish as artisans turn pieces on lathes, fit them together and paint them by hand.
My favourite is the whimsical Rauchermannchen, the “smoking men” that puff incense from their mouths. I watch as these figures, dressed as miners, shepherds and bakers, are painstakingly assembled. I also love the region’s famous wooden pyramids, spinning multi-tiered carousels driven by candle heat, which tell the Nativity story in miniature scenes.
As a souvenir, I buy a handcrafted Schwibbogen, a wooden arch with lights, symbolic of the miners who once worked in constant darkness, and were beckoned by these arched candle-holders to return home for Christmas.
Home of Christmas stollen in Dresden
Next I drive an hour and a half north to Dresden, a Saxony city popular as the home of stollen, the buttery, dried-fruit-filled Christmas loaf. The cake has been baked here for more than 600 years.
Dresden’s annual Stollenfest is a centuries-old celebration, which features a giant stollen that is paraded through the city by a horse-drawn carriage before being ceremonially sliced. After the mayor tastes the first bite, thousands of pieces are sold, with the money going to charity.
At Wippler Bakery, visitors can join a stollen-baking workshop to learn how to make a Dresdner Christstollen. Participants knead a dough enriched with butter, raisins, candied citrus peel and spices. The loaf’s signature fold is said to represent a swaddled baby Jesus.
Dresden’s Striezelmarkt is one of Germany’s oldest Christmas markets, filling the baroque streets with carousel music, wooden crafts and the scent of fresh stollen. The Medieval Market, located in the courtyard of the Royal Palace, is also worth a visit for its open fires, craftsmen in medieval costumes and wooden barrel hot tubs. The products represent a celebration of artisanal products and fine craftsmanship, rather than commercial mass production.
Taken together, the experiences of Rothenburg, Seiffen, Nuremberg and Dresden form a vibrant tapestry of German Christmas traditions and culinary highlights. Christmas is not simply a holiday here, but a rich cultural expression of handmade treasures, family recipes, festive markets and the simple glow of candles in every window, which is sure to warm the cockles of your heart.
