Every year the charming, medieval market square in the centre of Goslar plays host to a wonderful Christmas Market. In 2019, the market opens on November 27th  and closes on December 30th . The stalls are open every day from 10am to 8pm (11am-8pm on Sundays). Opening hours are reduced in the period between Christmas and New Year.

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Taste the Glühwein

The Christmas Market in Goslar has around 80 stalls selling Christmas decorations, handicrafts, gifts, sweets, cakes, decorated gingerbread figures, sausages, barbecued meats and a full selection of hot drinks. Many of the stalls also sell the traditional and almost obligatory Glühwein, both with and without alcohol.

Christmas activities and the cozy stalls

The stalls fill the market square and line two streets that lead from the square to the church behind it. Younger children will love the Christmas Market with its delightful merry-go-round and miniature train rides. They can also spend time visiting the live goats, lama and miniature horses in the Nativity scene.

Thousands of fairy lights sets the festive mood

The Christmas Market in Goslar is a festivity of lights, creating a wonderful Christmas spirit. The entire market square is wreathed in fairy lights, nets of lights and other Christmas lights. Long strings of fairy lights stretch from the fountain in the centre of the market square over and above the market.

The original “Romantic Christmas forest”

One popular feature of the Christmas Market in Goslar is the “Romantic Christmas Forest”, which originated several years ago. The Christmas Forest is made up of 60 illuminated, large fir trees placed together to create a forest. Follow one of the wooden chip covered paths into the forest for an authentic Christmas feeling.

Several stalls inside the forest sell warm drinks that you can enjoy at round tables fitted around the trunks of the fir trees. The whole concept of the “Romantic Christmas Forest” is bound to become extremely popular in other German Christmas Markets, but given that Goslar owns the rights to the concept, the other markets have to seek approval from Goslar before they can set up and promote a similar forest in their Christmas Markets. Take a stroll through the forest and enjoy a cup of hot Glühwein by a fir tree or on a bench – you can’t help but get into the Christmas spirit!

Keep the Christmas decorated cup as a souvenir

The Glühwein is served in charming cups with a Christmas design from Goslar. When you buy a drink, you pay a deposit of two Euros that you can get back if you return the cup, but you can also keep the cup and take it home with you as a souvenir.

One light for each hot drink sold

The huge Christmas tree in the centre of the Christmas Market is decked with fairy lights. It is said that every time a cup or glass of hot drink is sold, one more fairy light is lit. By the end of the Christmas Market, the tree is covered in lights covering every branch.

You get a wonderful, warm feeling as you wander around the stalls, especially in the evening when the fairy lights are lit and all the aromas from the stalls mix in the crisp air. Add in some Christmas music, sleigh bells and the laughter of children on the merry-go-round along with smiles on the faces of everyone you meet, and you have the true essence of the Christmas Market in Goslar!

Travel to Goslar

Goslar is an historical town with a history dating back more than 1,000 years. It is home to more than 1,000 timber-framed houses, and the old part of the town centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Goslar was also one of the towns in the Hanseatic trading network. To visit Goslar, we recommend a flight to Hanover then continue by train or car. We can also recommend a round-trip to all or some of the nine historical towns in the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), including Goslar.

Read about more Christmas Markets in Germany:

Christmas Markets in Germany – Hamelin
Christmas Markets in Germany – Hildesheim
Christmas Markets in Germany – Göttingen

My visit to the Goslar Christmas Market was a part of the #CitybreakGermany campaign arraned in collaboration between Ferielandet Tyskland and NordicTB. All opinions are as always my own.