Christmas Markets with Children: Which Ones to Choose

Taking the little ones to a family Christmas market is a different proposition from a stroll between adults. Children want a turn on a carousel, a pair of skates on their feet, a letter slipped to Father Christmas and a waffle piled with icing sugar to take away. Some towns have built a whole programme around exactly that: ice rink, big wheel, craft workshops, free shows. Others are mainly pretty to look at, and less practical when you are pushing a pram over cobbles. This guide sorts the markets by what they offer families, with age guidance and a few tricks to keep the outing a good memory rather than a chore.

What makes a Christmas market genuinely child-friendly

A beautiful market does not always make a good market for children. The difference comes down to a few concrete ingredients, easy to spot before you set off. When several of them come together, the outing runs itself, even with little ones who tire quickly.

• An ice rink: often the high point of the afternoon for ages 5 and up, with seal-shaped sledges or penguin supports for beginners.
• Rides and a big wheel: the carousel keeps the smallest busy, while the wheel delights older children who want to see the town from above.
• Father Christmas's house or chalet: the ritual of the letter and the photo, free most of the time, with set hours worth checking.
• Craft workshops: decorations, biscuits, model-making. They frame a spell in the warm and break up the walking.
• A little train: handy for linking the market's different areas without wearing out four-year-old legs.

One criterion never appears in the brochures: getting around. A wide, flat square can be crossed with a pushchair without trouble, while a cobbled medieval lane turns the shortest trip into an ordeal. We come back to this below, because that detail changes everything when you set off with a baby.

Amiens: a bigger ice rink, Father Christmas's chalet and a 360-degree view

Amiens has built a solid family reputation, and recent years have pushed things a notch further. The big wheel has given way to an 80-metre panoramic tower with heated cabins, and a 360-degree view over the cathedral and the rooftops. The ice rink, for its part, has almost doubled in size to reach around 400 square metres, enough for children to try their first turns without treading on each other.

Father Christmas keeps his wooden chalet with his elves, where the little ones hand over their letters. Rides round out the picture, and the whole thing stretches through a setting of illuminated streets. The Amiens Christmas market opens early in the season and stays open until the end of December, which leaves room to pick a quiet day. A good bet for a first big market with children of all ages, all the more so as the town can be seen in a day, cathedral included.

Montbéliard: northern Franche-Comté playing the family card

Voted several times among the finest markets in France, Montbéliard earns its reputation on the children's side too. The 55-metre big wheel overlooks the historic centre, several rides turn for the youngest and a large ice rink welcomes beginners and regulars alike. All of it in a setting of coloured houses that already hints at neighbouring Alsace, with its ochre façades and steep roofs.

The strength of the Montbéliard Christmas market is this concentration of attractions in a compact area: you go from the wheel to the carousel and then to the parents' mulled wine without crossing the whole town. Short distances count double when you are managing two children and a pushchair. If you combine the stop with the region, Belfort just nearby also has its festive atmosphere, handy for spreading two half-days without too much driving.

Nantes: Father Christmas's house and the Saturday workshops

Nantes, a long-established market, builds its offer around children. Father Christmas's illuminated house goes up on Place Royale and opens in the afternoon on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, from late November until 24 December. Around it, free craft workshops welcome ages 3 to 12 every Saturday, and a face-painting workshop fills the Wednesdays. Enough to pace a visit without paying for entry, which counts when the cost of a day out climbs quickly.

The Nantes Christmas market occupies Place Royale in particular, but the real bonus for families is right next door: the Machines de l'île put on their festive dress during the holidays, and the great mechanical elephant remains a sure way to impress young and old. Plan a hot chocolate break between the two, as the day can fill up fast. Nantes has the advantage of a pedestrian centre and open squares, gentler than a steep old town for getting around with a pram.

Strasbourg, Colmar, Mulhouse: the Alsatian trio seen from a child's point of view

Alsace has the most famous markets, but they are not all equal when you have pushchairs and children keen on a carousel. The table below sets out who does what.

The Strasbourg Christmas market impresses with its scale and its façades decorated with fairy-tale characters, but the crowds quickly wear on small nerves: better to go early in the morning. In Colmar, the visual magic is real, each quarter having its own mini-market, with a village dedicated to children; the narrower streets argue for a baby carrier. The Mulhouse Christmas market stands out with its little train linking the high points, a godsend when legs give way, and its workshop where Father Christmas shows up on 23 and 24 December. Its Christmas fabric, which dresses the streets in printed cloth, gives a consistent look from one square to the next.

To carry on with the villages, Kaysersberg, Obernai or Eguisheim offer a calmer mood, often gentler for a first market with a toddler. Distances are short there and the crowd less dense than in central Strasbourg.

Metz and Nancy: Lorraine lights and Saint Nicholas' Day

Lorraine has a card to play with its tradition of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of schoolchildren, which speaks straight to children's hearts. In Metz, the squares of the centre light up and an illuminated trail links the market's different villages, a pleasure to walk at night with wide-eyed children. The Metz Christmas market combines a big wheel, an ice rink and entertainment spread over several sites, which lets you gauge the effort according to the children's ages. You can stick to one square if legs tire, or keep going while the energy holds.

Some fifty kilometres away, the Nancy Christmas market and its UNESCO-listed Place Stanislas serve up a spectacular setting, often with a sound and light show projected onto the façades. Saint Nicholas' Day, in early December, takes on the air of a great popular festival there, with a parade and a float. A high point for families looking for something other than a simple run of chalets. Allow extra time on that day: the city fills up.

Reims and La Défense: a Gothic cathedral and a huge Paris-area market

Reims sets up one of the biggest markets in the country at the foot of its cathedral, with more than a hundred chalets, a big wheel and an ice rink. The Reims Christmas market has the advantage of a large and fairly flat site, more comfortable than a cobbled old town when you are pushing a pram. The illuminations of the cathedral add to the setting without costing a cent, and children love craning their necks towards the lit-up towers.

In the Paris region, La Défense puts on a giant market on the esplanade, with hundreds of chalets, entertainment and often an ice rink. The La Défense Christmas market has the merit of being extremely easy to reach by public transport and entirely pedestrian, with no cars and no slippery cobbles, a real plus for Parisians heading out with a pushchair. The esplanade can be crossed end to end without a single cobblestone, and the open-air ice rink acts as a giant playground for the children of the business district. In central Paris, the Paris Christmas market spreads its activity across the various quarters, so you can plan a visit near home without crossing the whole capital.

Practical tips and the right age for each market

The best market in the world turns into a nightmare if you arrive at the worst moment with the wrong kit. A few habits change everything.

• Pick the right slot: a weekday morning or early afternoon remains the quietest time. Saturday afternoon and the evening draw the crowds, hard to manage with young children.
• Baby carrier rather than pushchair on cobbled markets (Colmar, the Alsatian villages): your child stays warm against you and you get around without straining. If you insist on the pushchair, go for a model with big wheels.
• Keep it short: one or two hours is often enough. You leave while everyone is still enjoying it, before the tiredness hits.
• Budget for the activities: rides, ice rink and little train are paid for (a few euros each), while workshops and Father Christmas's house are free most of the time. A mulled wine for the parents comes to around 3 to 5 euros a cup.
• Wrap the little ones up: hat, mittens and a blanket for the pushchair. The cold cuts short the loveliest of outings.

That leaves the question of age. With toddlers under 3, the Alsatian villages and the more open markets such as Mulhouse or La Défense keep the stress down: little jostling, spaces at pram height, and a carousel and Father Christmas's house are enough to make them happy. Between 4 and 8, the ice rink and the little train become the real stars: Amiens, Montbéliard, Metz and Reims tick every box with their wheel-rink-rides combination. For older children, from 9 upwards, go for the markets with a strong identity, the panoramic tower in Amiens, Saint Nicholas' Day in Nancy, the Machines de l'île in Nantes, which add something memorable. To warm up once you are home, a good homemade mulled wine keeps the mood going indoors. Whichever town you settle on, the idea stays the same: set the pace by the child, not the other way round.