We were looking for a good Christmas Market destination this year that wouldn’t cost us the earth. Our first choices of Munich, Vienna and Stockholm were ruled out because the air tickets were too pricey. So we decided on Düsseldorf!! We knew nothing about it as a destination – only that it’s German and no one does Christmas quite like the Germans – they invented the Christmas Tree after all! Aer Lingus fly here directly and it was relatively cheap compared to other more famous and glamorous Christmas Market destinations. But Düsseldorf did not disappoint – we had a blast and it ticked all the right boxes for us!
We arrived quite early on a Friday, as the flight (which we nearly missed by 5 minutes) leaves at 6.50am. In fact the worst part of our weekend was the very grumpy cabin crew member refusing to let us board with our lovely hot coffees!! But it went uphill from there. Arriving into Düsseldorf International Airport, the train into the city centre only takes about 15 minutes. (Note Ryanair fly into Düssledorf Weeze, which isn’t really Düsseldorf at all – it’s about an hour and a half away!).
First impressions walking from the main train station to the town centre weren’t great. It’s only a 10/15 minute walk but is a bit grim and it was very very cold!! As with many city centre train stations, there were a fair few ‘strange’ characters wondering around and it all felt a little sleazy. But once you get to the main centre of town, it has a completely different feel. There is serious money around with designer shops galore along the main shopping street of Königsallee where we were staying (Chanel, Prada, Burberry, Armani, etc……) And every parked car was a top of the range Porsche, Mercedes, Audi or BMW – with a few Aston Martins thrown in for good measure! There are countless department stores and in-door shopping centres - it really is a shoppers’ paradise with some good bargains to be found!
I have to have a moan about the rip-off Irish Republic now…… I recently bought a Villeroy & Boch wooden Christmas Advent Calendar in the Kildare Shopping Village priced at €32, allegedly reduced from its full price of around €64 – so I thought I was getting a great bargain. But the very same calendar could be found in the Villeroy & Boch shop in Düsseldorf for €14.90!! I nearly fell over when I saw the price difference and bored my poor husband about it for the rest of the weekend.
The real star of the show is the Christmas Market itself (or markets)!! Christmas in Düsseldorf is charming and full of atmosphere – this is a serious party town and we had difficulty keeping up with the locals (although we certainly tried, particularly on our first night….say no more). For all you skiers and snowboarders out there, it was like après ski but without the skiing part! There are about six markets spread across the city centre (which you can easily walk around on foot). I would recommend starting at the Schadowplatz off the main shopping boulevard of Königsallee and working your way across to the old town of Alstadt where there seem to be markets on every street and in every square. The markets are beautifully lit-up with lots of fairy lights and Christmas Trees and look really special from around 4pm onwards when it starts to get dark.
Each market is a series of wooden stalls selling local Christmas decorations, food (mainly German sausages, nuts, sweets or crepes) and the very deadly gluwein (German mulled wine). You can easily spot the gluwein stalls as they tend to be the most popular and are always ten people deep – even at 11am in the morning!! You will smell the lovely spices before you see them. You have to pay a small deposit of about €3 for each gluwein as they give you a souvenir mug with each one – some are very cute and worth keeping. We were given mugs in the shape of Santa boots. But be warned! The gluwein will blow your head off – particularly if you opt for a shot of rum or brandy mixed in with it.
The Alstadt itself is really pretty and was our favourite part of town. Unfortunately it was very badly damaged in World War 2 but has been lovingly restored to its former medieval glory. It is a series of narrow winding streets with lovely little squares and is absolutely packed with bars and restaurants – a bit like Temple Bar but with loads more atmosphere. The people spill out into the streets no matter how cold it is (and believe me, it was very cold!). Most bars put plenty of gas heaters outside to keep everyone warm(ish) but you will need to wear a woolly hat! There are also a few Irish Bars dotted about to keep you from feeling homesick! My favourite was O’Reilly’s right next to the Marktplatz (another pretty square containing a Christmas Market). This bar was lots of fun with good, reasonably priced food. But there are plenty of other places to try. There are numerous German restaurants serving traditional fare but I confess we found the prospect of ‘stewed pigs knuckles’ far too scary so opted for a Thai restaurant instead……!
Throughout our weekend the town was packed with the locals and people from Belgium, Holland, Ireland and Britain all partying along together in a really good natured, festive way. It was very friendly and felt quite safe. The Düsseldorf people themselves were warm and welcoming in most places. There were lots of gangs of people wandering around with silly Christmas hats (including a crowd of Dutch grannies well into their 60s!) which added to the amusement and party atmosphere.
This is a great place to visit for a Christmas Market weekend and I would highly recommend it (which is quite a compliment from me because I adore Christmas and loved the Christmas Market in Copenhagen’s famous Tivoli Gardens last year. Düsseldorf compares very well to that). We had three good days here (returning on Sunday evening) which was plenty of time to take in all the markets and shops and feel like we’d had a really good break away.
Susan Murdock
