There’s nothing more festive than a European Christmas market.
It takes Christmas as you know it and amplifies it, with hundreds of quaint stalls with hand-crafted gifts, glasses of warm gløgg (a type of mulled wine), all softly lit by thousands of meticulously hung fairy lights and if you’re lucky, softly falling snow.
And when it comes to a European Christmas market, German Christmas markets are the crème de la crème.
One small town, nestled in a picturesque German forest and populated by just 75 people is begging tourists to stop flooding into their home this festive season.
Top 5 Christmas markets in Germany
Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market
Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt
Munich Christmas Market
Rothenburg ob der Tauber Reiterlesmarkt
Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market
The market with 1 million Christmas lights, 150 exclusively selected exhibitors, all located near to the Dutch border in a town called Velen is visited by thousands of tourists each year. And the tiny village can’t take them anymore.
On December 7th, the number of people flooding to the Christmas market was so great, the Deutsche Welle reports the organisers had to cancel the event after thousands of visitors filled the streets and blocked roads.
“As a result of the massive rush of visitors, we must cancel this event! The Christmas market in the forest remains a market for visitors from the area!,” the organisers posted on Facebook, before thanking people for their understanding.
To help spare the people of Velen check out five other brilliant Christmas markets around Germany.
