For an American raised on shopping-mall Santas and Christmas Eve drives through the suburbs to ogle people’s decorated houses, there’s nothing quite like walking around a German Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas market.
Unlike Oktoberfest, which is really a Bavarian thing, Christmas markets are found in cities and villages throughout Germany every December, with some stretching into the new year. Berlin, Dresden, Frankfurt, Nuremberg and others, they all have markets.