I was to my local (German village) Christmas market, and it was nice. Alle the stalls run by local nonprofits or small businesses, resulting in reasonable prices. You'd have to forcibly drag me if you wanted me to go to a fully commercial big city Christmas market with its outrageously inflated prices and silly paranoid security theater.

[–] Servais@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

FYI, your other comment it tagged "Deutsch" for some reason so I couldn't see it, I had to open it in another window to see that content

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

oops, thanks for the heads-up, wanted to tag it as English and must have slipped.

[–] Servais@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yours sounds great!

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

It's small and only on one weekend, but nice.

Unfortunately you won't find Christmas markets like that in the touristy places and big cities, because they'll typically charge a shitload of rent for a spot to put up a stall, so only commercial vendors with rip-off prices can afford to take part.

In small towns and villages, the organisers will possibly ask for a small charge for the consumables (water, electricity) your stall uses, but rarely for the space, and if so, then very little. Due to the short duration of those small Christmas markets, they are unattractive for the typical commercial fairground vendors, so you'll only find stalls run by the local non-profits and small businesses.

Ours had stalls offering the following:

Hot alcoholic drinks (run by one of our two sports clubs)
Hot soups and stews (run by the other sports club)
Hot (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) drinks (run by a local pub)
Fish and seafood (run by the anglers' club)
Honey and beeswax candles (run by a local beekeeper)
Advent wreaths and the like (run by a local flower shop)
Christmas decorations made of wood (run by a dude who does some woodworking as a side business)
Homemade bird feeders and nesting boxes (run by the bird protection association)
Waffles, hot mead, coffee, and various Christmas decorations (run by the church)
Coffee and cake (run by a local farmer who does some baking on the side)

There were a few more, but I can't recall precisely what they sold, I totally blame the exquisite selection of vendors of hot alcoholic beverages for that.

[–] Servais@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago

Amazing!

[–] Servais@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 2 months ago

I still have to go to the Brussels one, usually it's quite nice, cool vibe and hot wine

[–] plactagonic@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 months ago

Not good.

Nothing special, lots of food and drinks, duplicate sellers and stuff like that.

On the other hand I visited markets in Austerlitz, they have them only on the reenactment weekend. Much better 10/10.

[–] PostingInPublic@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Spices stand still exists, so I'll return there once I've checked mine to make a list of what needs refilling. I usually buy all my spices there for the year, they are expensive but top quality, costs me like 70 bucks and I'm done with spices.

Bought new slippers made of sheepskin, they raised the price quite a bit. Also a yearly expense.

I love the french fries there, and a stand has sausages made from game, deer and wild hog, they are awesome.

Bit unusual, but it makes the Christmas market worthwhile for me, as I otherwise despise everything Christmas.

[–] allywilson@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Went to York the other week, it was just mulled cider or mulled wine stalls, cheap tat stalls, random street food (not the best either). Was fairly disappointed.

[–] jlow@beehaw.org 2 points 2 months ago

I hate Christmas markets with a passion (lots of people, awful music, cheap food, alcohol etc.) but I've been to a few local art and crafts markets in the last weeks and it was amazing, so many friendly and absurdly talented artists, can recommend.