Dresden Striezelmarkt

The city runs the Striezelmarkt itself and gave out 216 stall places in 47 trade groups for 2026. The name comes from Striezel, the old Dresden word for the Christmas stollen, and the market began in 1434 as a one-day meat market before Christmas Eve. The market moved often over those 592 years. The city's own chronicle lists a string of squares it used, and it names the 1930s, when the Nazi city leadership staged the market's return to the centre for its propaganda value.

Wood from the Erzgebirge fills a large share of the stalls: pyramids, candle arches, smoking men and nutcrackers, with workshops on the square where makers carve and turn in front of you. Look for the Pflaumentoffel too. It's an edible little figure built from dried prunes, and Dresdeners give it as a lucky charm. Pulsnitz gingerbread and blue-printed cloth from Lusatia turn up between the woodcraft stalls.

Hot drinks come in the market's own ceramic mugs, which change design each year. The city sells Striezeltaler at the Dresden Information pavilion among the show workshops, 11 coins for 10 euros, and the stalls take them as payment. The Stollenfest on Saturday 5 December 2026 brings its parade and a giant stollen to the stage in front of the Kulturpalast at noon.