The best Christmas markets in Germany

Christmas may be a few months away but if you're already planning a Christmas holiday, here are some tips on where to find the most magical festive traditions at Germany's famous Christmas markets.

The Christmas markets all over Germany open on the last weekend in November, officially beginning the Christmas season of Glühwein (mulled wine), speciality food and socialising in enchanting settings.

In northern Germany the town of Bremen features 150 festively decorated stalls around the brick Gothic town hall, Roland Statue and St Peter's Cathedral.

In Celle, superb half-timbered facades surround the Christmas market in the heart of the old quarter while in the East Frisian port town of Emden a market will be set up on a giant pontoon in the harbour.

Hamburg has seven Christmas markets in the city centre alone, including a historical and a hanseatic market, and the capital Berlin boasts 50 different Christmas markets.

Heading further east, the famous stollen Christmas cake gives its name to the oldest Christmas market in Dresden - the Striezelmarkt.

The Erzgebirge (Ore mountains) are the home of traditional Christmas decorations and handicrafts, particularly in Seiffen where you will find the largest nutcracker in Germany and the famous toy-making village.

For Germany's biggest market, visitors should head west to Dortmund, where they will also find the world's tallest Christmas tree.

Or try a small and exquisite market such as the one in the famous wine town of Deidesheim on the German wine road.

Further south is the country's most famous market in Nuremberg with the ever-popular Lebkuchen ginger bread.

Try something different in the Unesco world heritate site of Regensburg, set beside the Danube and yet to be discovered by British travellers with three markets in town.

By Lake Constance the markets stretch from the old quarter to the harbour and continue on board the "Christmas ship".

Join the locals and find your own favourite Christmas market destination.

For more information about Christmas market holidays in Germany this year, and to order a Christmas markets brochure, see the German national tourist office website.