How the Swiss do Christmas markets

I've loved the last weekends I've spent at the Christmas markets in Vienna and Cologne so I was definitely going to kick start the festive season in the same way this year. On the first weekend of December Stuart, Kris, Natalie and I were joined by a couple more friends in Basel, Switzerland.

Flying in on Friday night, we eased into the weekend with pork schnitzel at a nearby restaurant. There are only two markets in the small town centre so there was no rush to get going on Saturday morning. We had a leisurely breakfast in a cafe in the centre of town where the Bircher muesli I ordered was so good I had it the next day as well.

Being Swiss, the markets bring together the best of the German and French influences - bratwurst and raclette - and eating as much of this as possible was the mission for the weekend. But first we headed to the much-heralded gluhwein carousel at Barfüsserplatz for our first mug of the warming mulled wine. We vowed to return later and spent the rest of the morning wandering around the wooden huts admiring the wares and stopping for bratwurst along the way. I bought 3 gorgeous wooden tree decorations from my favourite shop.

Then it was on to the second market, Münsterplatz, set out by the cathedral close to the banks of the Rhine. This was far more charming than the first and had a couple open log fires to sit around. Perfect for the -5 degree temperatures! That kept us warm on the outside, and on the inside we warmed ourselves with gluhwein, roasted chestnuts (marroni) and raclette.

As it got darker and colder we headed back to the carousel for a few hours of merriment, listening to cheesy Christmas music while slowly going around and around... I had a savoury crepe for dinner and we finished up the night in a nearby pub.

On Sunday we woke up to snow beautifully gracing the rooves of the buildings and market stalls. We visited both markets again, this time at a slower pace and, because we only do it once a year and our stated mission, had a second round of bratwurst and raclette! Our flight was in the late afternoon so it wasn't long before we needed to drag ourselves away from the log fire for the airport...

 

Barfüsserplatz market

Barfüsserplatz market

We found the carousel!

Kris, Stuart & I

Nat takes a sneaky shot of me choosing my decorations

 

Münsterplatz

The kids area at Münsterplatz

Münsterplatz

The girls enjoying the gluhwein and the snow

Raclette time

Some of the gang hanging out by the log fire

All up, it was a lovely, very christmassy weekend away - almost guaranteed fun. And while the markets stalls were pretty good, and the availability of raclette and bratwurst was a treat, ultimately the Germans do Christmas markets the best so it will be back there next year.