I’d go for historical surroundings (edit: many already offered these, at least for Germany), but I’d also try to figure out beforehand if the organizers have limitations and strict rules for the stalls. Because however historical the town square is, if you fill it to the brim with cheap candy & bric’a’brac sellers, it’s going to suck anyhow.
Also certain locations are pretty much guaranteed to be overcrowded every fucking evening. 1st hand experience: Cologne Cathedral. I’d go for smaller markets if I were you.
IIRC some actively try to create a historical athmosphere, e.g. within the constraints of a medieval castle.
Cologne has more than just Domplatte which is very full, although it is hard to find any that are not at least somewhat full just because the city already has 1M and there’s maybe up to 2/10 of that in visitors around that time as well. I’m of the opinion that none of these are worth it at night because it’s too crowded for me. On a weekday earlier than about 4pm they can be quite enjoyable.
Domplatte : right next to the Dom and very full almost always, skip-able unless you need Dom specific merch
Heumarkt - Alter Markt : Center of the old city often with quite cute stall design and ice skating on the Heumarkt this is where I’d go first because after the Dom it’s the first to get crowded. The stalls are good and the location is nice so I’d say take a peek.
Schokoladenmuseum: Quite nice and on the water has the ferris wheel typically, not that coordinated but still nice. And not that central so a bit more bearable in terms of crowds.
Neumarkt and Rudolfplatz: I end up hushing through these mostly Can be nice but they are both smaller and more geared towards food
There is at least another 5 in the city I’ve never been to
The gay winter market at Schaafenstraße, close to Neumarkt is fun to visit. It’s pretty over the top with lots of tourists but the local community is there as well
The Stadtgarten market is a lesser known, more intimate market next to the train station Köln West
They’re all crowded though and try to sell stuff you don’t need. But everyone knows that. :)
I’d go for historical surroundings (edit: many already offered these, at least for Germany), but I’d also try to figure out beforehand if the organizers have limitations and strict rules for the stalls. Because however historical the town square is, if you fill it to the brim with cheap candy & bric’a’brac sellers, it’s going to suck anyhow.
Also certain locations are pretty much guaranteed to be overcrowded every fucking evening. 1st hand experience: Cologne Cathedral. I’d go for smaller markets if I were you.
IIRC some actively try to create a historical athmosphere, e.g. within the constraints of a medieval castle.
Cologne has more than just Domplatte which is very full, although it is hard to find any that are not at least somewhat full just because the city already has 1M and there’s maybe up to 2/10 of that in visitors around that time as well. I’m of the opinion that none of these are worth it at night because it’s too crowded for me. On a weekday earlier than about 4pm they can be quite enjoyable.
There is at least another 5 in the city I’ve never been to
They’re all crowded though and try to sell stuff you don’t need. But everyone knows that. :)
Okay, and those would be? You described the what, but don’t offer any “where’s”. You only negatively mention one place. The question was where to go.
Plenty other people had already offered historical places when I wrote this; my comment was in addition to that. Maybe I should’ve made that clearer.