Every year in Birmingham, around about the middle of November, there’s a faint scent of ginger, mulled wine, spices and sausages in the air. It may not always feel like crisp winter, but there’s a definite scent of seasonal cheer when the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market rolls into town. The city is partnered with Frankfurt, so for the past fifteen years, that’s been the source and inspiration for the market. We’ve been visiting for many of those years, and we’ve recently checked out the 2018 Market to update this post.
Planning on visiting this year? Why not pin this for later!
What to Expect At Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market
Last year’s market saw 5.5 million visitors. That’s a lot of good cheer. It’s spread through the city centre from Victoria Square at the Town Hall, down to the end of pedestrianised New Street. Updates for 2018 include some small additions to the market scattered around the city. For example, just outside the Mailbox, you’ll find a gathering of stalls selling everything from hot gin and Pimms to beautifully cheeky cards. The craft market is now situated in the area surrounding the cathedral, making it an easy addition to your visit to the Frankfurt Christmas Market.
In the market itself, you’ll find a lot of stalls selling everything from traditional Christmas gifts to food and drink, toys, jewellery and decorations. There are also plenty of food stalls selling traditional German fayre, such as pretzels, schnitzels, bratwursts, and roasted almonds. The drinks are traditional too: glühwein, weissbeer, and hot chocolate.
Sometimes it’s the little touches that make all the difference. Tell me if you’ve ever seen a more festive bin.
And many of us wandering around were charmed by the presence of the Snow King. His total and pristine snowiness shows true dedication to the cause, as I imagine you’d be finding white flakes in your hair months later. It’s how I envisage I’d look if I painted every ceiling in my house. And indeed, he seemed to be shedding his snowiness as he walked.
Sensory Overload: Experiencing Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market
I’ll take you round the market with me in a moment, but first, let me prepare you for the experience. There’s something spicy in the air, and it’s making you hungry. You can smell cinnamon, cloves, maybe a little ginger. Then there’s the unmistakable smell of sausages, and a background hint of hot chocolate. Your ears are being teased by a mixture of sounds. There’s a fairground noise, live music in the distance, and you can hear the chatter of excited people. You can see lots of pretty lights, and those little chalets that are the staple of Christmas markets across Europe and further afield. Wrap up warm, and let’s head on in.
Celebrating and Drinking: From Hot Chocolate to Weissbier
There are plenty of choices on offer at the market if you are looking for a traditional drink. You can have gluhwien, or its fruity variants: kirschwein (cherry), apfelwein (apple), himbeerwein (raspberry), and heidelbeerwein (blueberry). Then there are the variations: Kirschi (hot cherry wine with cherry schnapps), Himbi (hot raspberry wine with raspberry schnapps) and Heidi (hot blueberry wine with blueberry schnapps).
Then come what I’d like to call the hottails… Heisse Liebe (the hot love that is hot red wine with rum), Flirt (hot red wine with amaretto), Schneemann Punch (gluhwein with rum, amaretto and cream) and Scharfer Franzose (hot apple wine with Calvados).
For hot chocolate fans, there’s also plenty of choice: Heisse Schlokolade (hot chocolate), Santa’s Dream (hot chocolate and amaretto), Ladies’ Dream (hot chocolate and Baileys), Men’s Dream (hot chocolate and rum) and Hunter’s Dream (hot chocolate and Jagermeister),
For those who like to keep it more chilled, you’ll find Hofbrau and Weissbier. Plus, of course, a range of soft drinks. Drinks have a deposit, which you can recover by returning the mug or glass.
You’ll Never Go Hungry: Food Choices at Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market
For fans of sausages, there’s an extensive selection of wurst: Bratwurst (German sausage), Krakauer (sausage with garlic), Kasewurst (sausage with cheese), Feuerwurst (sausage with spices), Currywurst (sausage in curry sauce). And if you need something truly substantial, you can wrestle with a half metre of Bratwurst. I’d recommend something a little shorter when the crowds are at their height. Half a metre of bratwurst is a bit difficult to wrangle on the busy street.
You can also find pork or chicken schnitzel, served in a roll or with chips. You can top some chips with goulash, chicken fricassee or onions with bacon and cheese. This is the point at which I wish I could share the smell of the market with you, although I’m sure that your imagination can work well on this.
Then there are baked camemberts, red or green hot chili peppers, mozzarella sticks, cheese sticks and burgers. You can get pots of mashed potatoes and potato pancakes with either sugar and cinnamon or apple sauce. Don’t forget the pretzels with ham or salami. There are Berliner doughnuts, toffee apples, and marshmallow and fruit skewers. Followed, possibly, by a lie down.
Gifts: Shopping Inspiration At The Christmas Market
There are a whole host of gifts to be had here. Firstly there are the food gifts. There are flavoured coffees, chocolates, gingerbread and sweets and all kinds of treats.
Then there are all the traditional ornaments for your Christmas home, from tree decorations to rotating wooden carousels driven by candle heat. You can also have at least a couple of battalions of nutcracker soldiers.
There are wooden toys and ornaments galore, crystals and windchimes, and plenty of woolly wraps, hats, scarves and gloves to keep you toasty. And, for some unknown but rather welcome reason, a lot of guinea pigs.
I was taken with these pretty windchimes, and it has to be said that they were very melodic.
These miniature houses were also very fetching.
How To Visit Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market
This is the largest outdoor Christmas market in the UK, and also the only German market outside Germany and Austria. No wonder it’s popular. Trains from London and all points of the country arrive into central Birmingham, making this a totally viable day trip from London, Bristol or Manchester. If you’re travelling from further afield, why not make a weekend of it?
The Christmas Market opens in the middle of November and finishes just before Christmas. In 2018, the market shuts on 23 December. It’s within easy walking distance of the main three Birmingham stations: New Street, Moor Street and Snow Hill. If you want to know more about Birmingham itself, we’ve taken you on a guided tour of the city here – hold onto your hats! We’ve also explored the Birmingham’s surprising potential as a romantic destination. Don’t forget to take the Tolkien Trail too, to understand Birmingham’s role as part of Middle Earth. You’ll find the local guide to the Christmas Market here.
Know someone who might like to visit with you? Why not share, or pin this for later?
I would never have thought to visit Birmingham for its Christmas markets, they look like a great alternative to the overcrowded Manchester markets…and that Sharfer Franzose has my name written all over it!
The Birmingham one gets pretty busy, but I’ve never felt overwhelmed by numbers, as I have in some other places. It helps that there are plenty of little side streets to explore for a while, including the wonderfully named Needless Alley. I might be there at a suitable time to undertake some market research later…
I’m in Edinburgh and a sucker for Christmas! A trip to Birmingham looks much needed! Sounds like an amazing time!
Ah, Edinburgh is fab at Christmas. 🙂 We’ve been a few times in December and January, and it’s been gorgeous; it’s a city built for Christmas. Birmingham’s looking pretty in her Christmas market garb too.
Oh I just love festive seasons and market. They are so full of life. Thanks for sharing
I love the way people have entered into the spirit of things already. And the Snow King is brilliant fun; he doesn’t say a word, but his mime skills are immense. 😉
I didn’t realize Birmingham had such a big Christmas market. Just the selection of drinks is a little overwhelming – I want to try them all. Pinned for future reference, I would love to go one year.
It does look an interesting choice, doesn’t it? I haven’t done any consumer research yet, but I think I’ll be trying the apple version. It certainly all smells wonderful, and there are plenty of those little wooden enclosures to shelter in if it’s a bit chilly.
I have heard of the Birmingham Christmas Market before but never knew it was at this scale! I would love to visit as it will be definitely less overwhelming as the the London version.
It’s a nice combination of busy and chilled. I think it helps that it’s in the main pedestrian parts of the city centre, so people are buzzing about their daily business as well as enjoying the market. And there are plenty of interesting side streets to explore in the same trip.
Christmas is my favourite! I feel like everywhere I’ve been in the past couple weeks has had their market set up, but not open yet.
It always starts fairly early in Birmingham. I guess that it might be because most of the staff are actually from Frankfurt, and it makes sense for the market to last a reasonable duration. I’m not entirely sure though; I’ll have to get chatting when it’s less busy.
Oh I do love a Xmas market and wish I could explore everyone across the UK as I cannot resist a roasted chestnut and some mulled wine.
Those are my two favourite things too. I had to wait a short while for the next batch of chestnuts to roast through. I managed to pass the time productively though… And the chestnuts were wonderful. 🙂 I have some at home, and I’m mightily tempted to get roasting right now.
What a lovely Christmas market! I love seeing the different ones around the world and how they’re all similar but all very unique. So special! 🙂
Similar but unique is a great way of describing it. The last one I went to was Antwerp, and it’s been fascinating seeing the differences in the favourite stalls here and there. Birmingham has more potato products, and Antwerp, perhaps unsurprisingly, more chocolate.
This really does look like a German Christmas Market. I would like to try all of the wine please! Oh, and the sausages! LOL!
I think there’s a role for more testers. It has to be said that the wurst smell gorgeous. You’ll note that I managed to restrain myself from starting a section entitled “The wurst of times, the best of times…” 🙂
I love Christmas markets, but admittedly never considered the UK as a Christmas market destination. Thanks for enlightening me!!
It’s become more so of late. The Birmingham version’s been going for 15 years, and there are plenty of other markets including Manchester and London. I think we Brits were enjoying the experience so much, someone brought it home. 🙂
I would never have put Birmingham and Christmas markets together before, what a good reason to jump on a train soon.
It’s not a city that rings its own sleigh bells as loudly as it should. 😉
How I love festive time!
Carmelatte
Your writing is always fun to read:) “that’s a lot of cheer”. I do love that festive trash bin. I am jealous of all the markets you have been to!!
Ah thanks! 🙂 I just write like I speak. The bins are fab, aren’t they? I think I’d like the mind that thought them up; that’s a really creative brain.
I wish I had time to get up to Birmingham between now and Christmas now! I didn’t know that the Birmingham Christmas Markets were so good; although to be honest I immediately think of mainland Europe when it comes to Christmas markets!
It’s really as though someone dropped a bit of Frankfurt into the centre of Birmingham. But it happens every year, so always time to think of it for future visits.
Oh my gosh, I bet it smells so good there! I love that mulled wine and chocolate scent — looks like a great Christmas market, I’ll have to add it to my list!
The smell is lovely. When I worked in the city centre, it was beyond tempting!
I’m heading to the Strasbourg Christmas markets this week!! Your post just makes me more excited to experience Europe during this season. 🙂
Ooh – have fun in Strasbourg! That’s most definitely on my list too. 🙂
A very nice article. Maybe one day, I will also visit… 🙂
It’s certainly very festive, especially today, as it’s full of snow too. 🙂
The guinea pig photo made my day – thanks for sharing
It was so unexpected. 🙂 Glad it made you smile too.
Hoping to make it here someday! Very informative post!