Food & Drink

What to Eat, What to Drink

The honest side of market food: what's worth standing in line for, how the deposit system works, and why the same hot drink tastes different in every city.

Steaming cups of mulled wine with cinnamon sticks and orange peel at a winter market stand

Food & Drink

Mulled Wine, Five Ways: How Europe's Cities Make It Differently

Same cup, very different drinks. From German Glühwein to Danish gløgg, here's how Europe warms its markets.

5 min read · By the editors

A hot bratwurst in a crusty roll at a German Christmas market stall

Food & Drink

What to Eat at a German Christmas Market

What's worth queuing for, what's a tourist trap, and how the deposit system actually works.

7 min read · By the editors

A selection of gingerbread: round lebkuchen, moulded speculaas biscuits and glazed pryaniki on a wooden board

Food & Drink

Lebkuchen, Speculaas, Pryaniki: A Gingerbread Taste Test

One word, many cookies — how Germany, the Netherlands and Russia each make their version of Christmas spice.

6 min read · By the editors

A street vendor's pan of scored chestnuts roasting over coals, a paper cone of them beside it

Food & Drink

Roasted Chestnuts: Europe's Winter Street Snack, Explained

The paper cone of hot chestnuts is the same across Europe — where the tradition comes from and how to eat it well.

5 min read · By the editors

A sliced stollen dusted with powdered sugar next to a whole panettone on a wooden board

Food & Drink

Stollen, Striezel, Panettone: The Great Christmas Loaf

Dresden's fruit loaf and Milan's dome are cousins — how the great Christmas breads differ, and how to pick one.

7 min read · By the editors

A thick hot chocolate in a market mug next to a small espresso cup on a wooden stall counter

Food & Drink

Hot Chocolate vs. Coffee at Christmas Markets: Where to Choose

Two warm drinks, very different queues — when to order the pudding-thick chocolate and when to find the espresso bar.

5 min read · By the editors

Grilled sausages in crusty rolls on a wooden market stall, mustard in a small pot beside them

Food & Drink

Sausage Across the Markets: Bratwurst, Currywurst and Friends

From nine-centimetre Nuremberg bratwurst to Berlin's currywurst — a country-by-country guide to market sausage.

6 min read · By the editors

A sugar-dusted trdelník chimney cake beside a crêpe folded over at a market dessert stall

Food & Drink

Sweet Things: Crêpes, Trdelník and Other Market Desserts

The sweet stalls anchor every market — crêpes, chimney cake, langos and the ones in between, compared.

6 min read · By the editors

Keep exploring

Plan the rest of the trip

Market Guides

Step-by-step guides to the individual markets, from Nuremberg to Copenhagen.

City Guides

The whole city as a Christmas destination, mapped street by street.

Journal

Field notes and essays from the market trail, written in our own words.