Traditional European Holiday Markets like the one in Frankfurt are great fun, but a long way to … [+] travel.
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Holiday markets pop up in many major European cities every fall, across Austria, Germany, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy, Spain and other countries. Most feature a broad assortment of craft vendors, lots of local and traditional food and drink, entertainment and a kind of outdoor conviviality and festivity that is hard to find in other ways—especially when it gets cold out. Strolling around with a glass of warm wine or local schnapps, shopping, grazing and taking it all in is a great way to explore a place like Vienna, Brussels or Prague.
I’ve been, and they are fun, festive and can easily be worth the trip. Many Americans travel to Europe just for the holiday market season, and there are tour operators and river cruise lines that link great holiday market cities together into a single itinerary.
But you don’t have to fly across the ocean to get a taste of what big cities can offer in the run up to Christmas, Hannukah and New Years. Several American cities have carved out a niche with big annual holiday markets closer to home. Some have multiple major markets, all are free admission and family friendly, and these are the most notable.
Denver, CO Goes Crazy For Lights
Denver has the most highly rated Holiday Market of any major U.S. City, but it is especially … [+] passionate about lights.
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Denver is one of my favorite cities to visit at any time, low rise, low key, and easy to get around, with great food and arguably the best craft brewery and craft distillery scenes in the entire country. It also has the best public transportation connectivity of its airport and downtown of any U.S. city, via dedicated rail to the wonderfully rejuvenated Union Station.
But I put it first on this list for another reason: Denver claims, with good evidence, to be the birthplace of outdoor Christmas lights, in 1914. These now appear on houses, trees and lawn reindeer all across the world, making the city an indelible part of all things winter holiday decorations. Larimer Square, a historic pedestrian neighborhood downtown, is Denver’s answer to the department store windows of New York’s Fifth Avenue, and famous for its holiday lights. The bright display runs every evening from November 29-December 31, accompanied by live music, artisan shopping and lots of food and drink.
Denver’s new big holiday attraction for 2024 is a 40-night drone show on the skyline with local … [+] animations like a skier carrying the state flag.
VISIT DENVER
But that’s not the main event: the Denver Christkindl Market is an annual German-style festival market held in the city’s Civic Center Park and sponsored by big local hitters Bank of America and United Airlines. It was ranked Top 5 in the nation by USA Today readers and had record attendance in 2023. It’s got real deal European feel, with live entertainment, dozens of vendors, food and drink in wooden huts throughout the park, lots of goulash and sausage and pretzels and beer, with a mix of local and European craft vendors. There’s even an indoor Festival Hall doing an Octoberfest tent theme, where you can reserve tables for Bavarian food and drink. It runs from November 22 to December 23, from11AM-7PM and until 9PM Thursday to Sunday. The Festival Hall is open until 10PM on weekends. The event has been running for more than a quarter of century, has moved twice after outgrowing previous venues, and now shares the location with the city’s annual Mile High Tree.
In keeping with the theme of lights, new this year in Denver is the Mile High Holiday’s Nightly Drone Spectacular. Starting Friday, November 22, 400 drones will take over Denver’s skyline with dynamic holiday displays and performances, continuing for 40 nights through New Year’s Eve. The 15-minute show includes a rotating mix of two-dozen animated scenes built specifically for the city’s tourist board, VISIT DENVER, including variety of holiday-themed animations and Denver icons, as well as scenes depicting Denver’s favorite winter moments, mountain activities and animations paying homage to local professional sports teams. The show will take to the sky nightly at 7 p.m. and be visible throughout downtown Denver—it’s especially great from the city’s many rooftop bars and restaurants. All of these above events are part of the citywide Denver Mile High Holidays, which includes other events and regional/neighborhood holiday markets.
Boston, MA Embraces the Waterfront
Each fall, Boston’s Seaport neighborhood transforms into Snowport, a Holiday Market.
Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Alex Pickering
Snowport, or Winter in the Seaport, is a big annual event in New England, and one of the first holiday festival markets to open, on November 8. The Seaport neighborhood has gone through a big urban revival in recent years, and is within walking distance of many top hotels, especially my favorite luxury spot in the city, the one-of-a-kind Forbes 5-Star Boston Harbor Hotel, which sits on the harbor with direct water-taxi service to Logan airport, a novel way to arrive at a city hotel.
The open-air market sprawls over a main square draped in lights and decorations, but also pulls from the entire surrounding neighborhood, with more than over 120 businesses represented, plus an expansive dining area with 17 food and beverage concepts. There’s a little bit of everything, gifts, games, art, food, shopping, and special events, with activities such as outdoor iceless curling at The Snowport Curling Lanes, freshly cut trees and evergreen trimmings at The Tree Market, an annual holiday tree lighting, and the annual Menorah Lighting (December 29).
Strolling with drinks is a longstanding Holiday Market tradition. This is the JingleBar at Boston’s … [+] Snowport.
Lindsay Ahern
There’s a 1,500-squre foot heated food and beverage tent, and live music outdoor stage sponsored by the Mohegan Sun casino resort, One unique touch is the Current, a year round series of market like stalls that host rotating pop-ups in an outdoor village format, transformed into winter chalets for the festive season, and this part of the holiday themed shopping experience is already open now. The rest of Snowport goes daily from November 8 to December 29, 3-8 PM Monday to Thursday, 11AM-9 PM Friday and Saturday, and 11AM to 8 PM Sundays, with extended hours in peak December shopping season.
Washington, DC Doubles Down
The Downtown DC Holiday Market sits in front of the National Portrait Gallery, which also houses the … [+] Smithsonian Museum of American Art.
Washington.org
The nation’s capital has two major competing options. The Downtown DC Holiday Market makes the USA Today Top 10 list and is celebrating its 20th year and is now helmed by the same group behind Boston’s Seaport market (above). The revitalized event is held outside the National Portrait Gallery, which also houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and both are free to enter and can be easily combined with a market visit. There are around 100 vendors plus 17 food and beverage outlets, along with live entertainment, and the market will run from November 22 through December 23.
The Holiday Market at Dupont Circle is more of a neighborhood affair—in one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods—and will feature about 30 small business, local performers and food and drink, set in an area full of galleries and locally owned boutiques, combining the market with the city itself. This one runs from November 22 through December 15.
Philadelphia, PA Goes Global—And Local
2-For-1: Christmas Village in Philadelphia sits right around the corner from the Made in … [+] Philadelphia Holiday Market.
VisitPhilly.com
Another city with multiple attractions, Philadelphia has a long history of embracing the festive season and features its sibling Christmas Village and Made in Philadelphia Holiday Markets. Another USA Today Top 10 winner, Christmas Village in Philadelphia is modeled after traditional European open-air Christmas markets and organized by a team of German-Americans. It is in its 16th season, set in the city’s LOVE Park and City Hall Courtyard, and last year a Festival of Trees was added in LOVE Park’s Welcome Center. There are more than 120 vendors who come from abroad as well, and over one million visitors are expected.
Souvenir annual collector cups are big in European Holiday Markets, and several U.S. cities have … [+] followed suit.
VisitPhilly.com
In addition to live music on stage there is a carousel, Ferris wheel and children’s train. The European style food and drink offerings include raclette, a German grill, Austrian strudel, potato latkes and schnitzel, plus locally brewed beer and warm mulled Gluhwien from Pennsylvania’s own Mazza Vineyards. As in Europe, these are served in souvenir collectible mugs. Open from Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Eve, 12-8 PM and until 9 PM on weekends.
The Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market is just around the corner, offering a two-for-one experience you won’t find in any other city. It is held in Dilworth Park at City Hall’s west side and is the biggest outdoor market for regional products, with only local artisans and crafters allowed. There are about 40 vendors. The hours are the same as its sibling market, but this one runs longer, from November 15 through New Years Day.
Chicago, IL Dives Deep Into Food
Christkindlmarket in Chicago goes for a deeper embrace of the German Holiday Market traditions.
Jim Prisching
Chicago’s Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza also cracked the USA Today Top 10 and is returning for the 28th season, while three years ago the city added a second Christkindlmarket location, at RiverEdge Park in Aurora. Both open on November 22, and are put on by German American Events, LLC, a subsidiary of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest. They claim is the largest and most authentic holiday market outside Europe, with a focus on traditional cuisine and crafts and over a million visitors attending each winter.
The best Holiday Markets, such as Chicago, feature live entertainment.
Christkindlmarket GAE, LLCMorgan Kingsland
At each location there will be around five dozen vendors who come from all over Europe as well as Illinois, and this is the place to buy real cuckoo clocks form the Black Forest. There is also a lot of German and European foods, and if a deep dive into holiday market cuisine is your thing, Chicago may well be the very best pick. There’s so much that the Chicago Tribune and Eater Chicago do special seasonal guides just for the food options, which include schnitzel, bratwurst, currywurst, goulash, pierogis, strudel, pretzels—traditional and stuffed—raclette sandwiches, pickled herring and much more, as well as plenty of draft beer—they even have an opening night ceremonial keg tapping in the style of Munich’s Octoberfest. Beer comes in keepsake souvenir mugs, as does hot red or white Gluhwien.
New York, NY Goes Melting Pot
The Holiday Market at Union Square Park is laid out in rings.
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In sheer size and number, New York offers the biggest slate of holiday market shopping, and the main three options, Union Square Park, Columbus Circle and Bryant Park, are operated by the same folks, combining for over 500 vendors and 100 food choices. All are highly accessible and very well located for visitors to the city, and while it would be a bit of a marathon, it is entirely possible to explore all three in one day (they span about two miles of central Manhattan).
But the two I have visited, Columbus Circle and Union Square Park, have a more commercial retail feel, and less of the European strolling with a cocktail, county fair, entertainment, night out with friends and family aesthetic. They certainly have less emphasis on traditional European foods, and this being New York, between the three you can find Southeast Asian, Brazilian, fried cheese curds, Indian, crepes, Greek, Mexican, BBQ, fried chicken, empanadas, ramen, arepas, several kinds of Chinese dumplings and bao buns, and even paella. But between the vendor list of all three markets, I found just one lonely bratwurst stand, and good luck with Gluhwien.
The Union Square Holiday Market, in the park of the same name, is the city’s longest running holiday market and has over 150 vendors selling goods and food. It’s laid out in a unique round pattern, with concentric circles of booths. (November 16-December 24, 11AM-8PM Monday to Friday, 10AM-8PM Saturday and 11AM-7PM Sunday).
New York’s Bryant Park Christmas Market adds a skating rink to the fun.
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Columbus Circle is the best location in the city for tourists, right at the corner of Central Park, but tends to get very crowded. The Columbus Circle Holiday Market has more than 100 vendors and if it’s cold out, it is right across the street from the Deutsche Bank Center (formerly AOL/Time Warner Center) and its indoor mall of shops, restaurants and bars. (Same hours, November 28-December 31)
Bryant Park, adjacent to the main branch of the New York Public Library and close to both Grand Central Station and Times Square, has a little bit more of the festive, open-air feel, with ice skating, and more sheltered shopping in glass enclosed kiosks. Formally known as the Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park, it has 170 vendors. It also has The Lodge, a seasonal covered outdoor apres-ski style area overlooking the ice rink with bars and food, so you cannot scroll but you can have a cocktail. It also has the longest season, by far, opening soon (October 25-January 5) with skating and the Lodge remaining open until March 2.
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Publish date : 2024-10-24 09:30:00
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