Bolzano Christmas Market

Waltherplatz is the heart of it. The wooden stalls fill the square under the cathedral's patterned tile roof and spill onto the Pfarrplatz and the Domplatz beside it. This year craft stalls also line the Eisackstraße from the cathedral down to the Kapuzinerpark. The station sits just south of the square, so you can step off a train and be holding a mug of Glühwein almost at once.

South Tyrol cooks in two languages, and the food stalls show it. Look for Zelten (a dense Christmas loaf packed with dried and candied fruit) and slices of apple strudel. Woollen slippers and loden hang from the rafters of the craft huts. The food stalls stay open until 22:00 or 23:00 before Christmas, well after the craft stalls shut at 19:00.

Bolzano works as a hub for the other original South Tyrol markets. Merano, Brixen, Bruneck and Sterzing all sit on the regional rail network, and the organizer points visitors to suedtirolmobil.info for timetables. If you want snow as well, the Ritten plateau above the city holds its own small market at Oberbozen and Klobenstein.