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Read on to find out how to cover a lot of ground in just 2 days in Germany and experience the Christmas spirit of the North Rhine-Westphalia region. The Christmas markets of the North Rhine-Westphalia region are a magical destination for a weekend city break in Germany in December. Read about visiting the Christmas Markets of North Rhine-Westphalia using a DB Bahn Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket on a December weekend city break covering Essen, Dortmund, and Muenster Germany. Germany can be challenging to visit on Sundays because all the shops and some cafes are closed. Münster offered a nice combination of 5 different Christmas markets spread around town which were connected by a number of historical attractions. Münster is just another 30 minute ride on the train from Dortmund.
If you need to squeeze some last minute Christmas shopping into your weekend getaway, Dortmund has got you covered. It is approximately a 30 minute train ride from Düsseldorf Airport to Essen. We emerged from the train station in Essen into a winter wonderland filled with cauldrons of piping hot glühwein and even a singing moose called Charley. You just need to be aware that this special train ticket is not valid on the faster German ICE trains. We opted for the "handy ticket" which we surfaced in the DB Bahn app on our mobile phones so we didn't have to worry about printing our rail ticket and potentially losing it. Düsseldorf airport is a convenient entry point into North Rhine-Westphalia.
When is the 2022 Essen Christmas Market?
We emerged from the immigration queue, hopped on the sky train monorail and were in the DB Bahn train station within 10 minutes. Did you enjoy this post about visiting the Dortmund, Münster and Essen Christmas Markets? We've had the privilege to visit many different Christmas Markets in Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia features the widest array of world-class markets that I've seen concentrated in such a small area well-connected by trains. Step-gabled houses like you might find in Amsterdam were a prominent feature of the architecture. We enjoyed admiring the look and feel of Münster as we walked from Christmas market to Christmas market.
We visited Münster on a Sunday after spending the night in Dortmund. There is definitely plenty of food to choose from at the Christmas markets in Dortmund. However, sometimes it's nice to get off your feet after walking and standing all day. Our weekend in North Rhine-Westphalia was clearly off to a promising stop. Next up, we boarded the train from Essen to Dortmund, less than 30 minutes away. DB Bahn offers a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket ("Nice Weekend Ticket").
Football Fun with Borussia Dortmund
Plan a trip to the Alsace region of France for an atmosphericChristmas in Strasbourg. We smiled when we saw this bright blue glockenspiel brightening Essen's central shopping street. You never know what you'll find when you take the time to explore. Christmas markets are a great excuse to visit cities in Germany that you might not take time to visit otherwise. We saw some vendors from cities around Europe and even a booth or two of exotic African crafts.
This train ticket starts at 44 EUR per day and up to five people can travel together on the same ticket. Dortmund makes a good home base for a Christmas market weekend getaway. The Grey is located just a 5 minute walk from the Dortmund Hauptbahnhof and features a friendly staff and boutique feel.
All Aboard to the Dortmund Christmas Market
Look beyond Münster's Christmas markets, and pop into the town hall. For just 2 EUR, you can see the Hall of Peace where the Peace of Westphalia was negotiated to end to the 30 Years War in the mid 1600s. Walk just another 5 minutes of so and you'll be in the center of Dortmund's Christmas market. I also really enjoyed watching this mushroom vendor stir a giantpot of champignons. When you buy your glühwein, the vendors charge a deposit for the mug. You can either return the mug and get that deposit back or keep the mug for the cost of the deposit.
I was especially excited to see heart-shaped Christmas mugs in Dortmund. My husband and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary with this city break trip to the Christmas markets and the shape of the mug lent an unexpected element of romance to our weekend. That did have a side effect of making the train extra crowded but we enjoyed seeing the mass of yellow and black clad fans making their way to the stadium. Dortmund won the match which lent an extra buzz to the Christmas markets around town. Stuttgart is the only other city where we've enjoyed a similar experience of exploring so many nearby Christmas markets. Nuremberg is king when it comes to Christmas markets but tends to be extra crowded with tourists.
We found Regensburg's Christmas Markets to be a magical and less crowded alternative to Nuremberg. We paid less than 100 EUR for our 2-day Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket thanks to a discount promotion that was running when we visited in mid-December. The ticket is good on all regional trains (e.g., RE and RB trains) and local transportation (e.g., S-Bahn trains and buses). If you are visiting Germany for the weekend and plan to travel between a few different cities like we did, a German rail pass is the key to a successful trip. North Rhine-Westphalia also includes the cities of Dortmund, Essen, and Münster, the focus of our winter weekend jaunt this year.
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