In Strasbourg, France, during the Christmas season, the facade of a restaurant is adorned with Santa-capped teddy bears and another restaurant is adorned with stuffed polar bears. Buildings are also decorated with giant, gift-wrapped packages and other decorations such as white deer and oversize gingerbread men. The central medieval quarter is transformed into a Christmas maze with curtains of lights glowing above cobblestone lanes lined with food and gift stalls. In the central Place Kléber, lights on a nearly 100-foot-tall Christmas tree flash and glow, synchronized to carols.
Across Europe, Christmas markets pop up like fairy-dusted street fairs, with temporary chalet-style shops selling everything from handmade ceramics to warmed wine and abundant food. Visitors shuffle among the merry warrens, holding their cellphone cameras high.
A popular way to visit the markets in France, Germany, Switzerland and beyond is to take river cruises on the Rhine, Danube or Main, spending roughly $2,000 to $4,000 a week. The author wonders if a similar holiday pilgrimage could be done for less by using trains to get around.
Along the Rhine, through the Alsace region of northeastern France, trains run continuously between Strasbourg in the north and Basel, Switzerland, in the south, allowing access to market cities and towns en route. The author tests their budget and tolerance for seasonal cheer by spending about $300 on trains, splitting six nights between lively Strasbourg and popular Colmar at Airbnbs that averaged $180 a night. In exchange for convenience, the author hopes to gain priceless control over when and where to wander.
“If you stay a week in Strasbourg, you will gain three kilos,” said Pierre Feisthauer, a tour guide who runs Discover Strasbourg, during a two-hour market tour that the author booked through Airbnb Experiences (about $26). The author’s first evening offered a practical lay of the land in the old town on an island in the River Ill, a tributary of the Rhine, where more than a dozen markets cluster in plazas and pedestrian lanes.
The tour also included food led by tarte flambée, sausages, spaetzle, and soft pretzels, as well as vin chaud, or mulled wine.
An 80-minute train ride from Strasbourg, Basel introduced the author to the fondue dog — a half-baguette drilled with a well in the center filled with molten cheese and a frankfurter. Stalls in Basel offered a mix of costume jewelry, beeswax candles, wood carvings, tabletop Christmas villages, and paper lanterns.
About 45 miles south of Strasbourg, Colmar is a popular day-trip destination with six official markets squeezed into a well-preserved city center. The author dined on oysters, charcuterie, risotto with truffles, and Bouchée à la Reine.
During the heart of the market season, the Navettes de Noël or Christmas buses ply a course from Colmar to a series of villages on the Alsace Wine Route. Local trains also reach some of the more remote Christmas-circuit towns.