World's Biggest Christmas Market (2025)

Step into a storybook Christmas as Tom Read Wilson swaps Blighty for the twinkling heart of Cologne - home to the world's biggest Christmas market. Seven interlinked wonderlands of light, laughter and Glühwein await, and Tom has only one magical weekend to soak it all up. He's on a mission to find gifts for his friends and family while steeping himself in the festive spirit. He begins by tumbling head-first into Cologne folklore, guided by mischievous elves, skating the city's vast open-air rink beneath a thousand fairy lights, and warming his hands - and his heart - at stalls piled high with sugared almonds, cinnamon-perfumed Lebkuchen and hand-carved treasures. Tom chats with the makers and merrymakers: the market organiser who builds the village in ten days flat, the Bethlehem carpenter selling nativity figures whittled from olive wood, and the blacksmith who helps him forge a lucky horseshoe polished to a golden gleam. By day, he hunts for the perfect presents among the 400-plus stalls - but discovers Cologne's connection with Christmas runs far deeper than trinkets and treats. Behind the market, within the soaring cathedral, lies the jewel-studded shrine of the Three Wise Men, said to hold their very remains. From faith to festivity, Tom follows the intoxicating scent of cocoa to Cologne's Chocolate Museum, where he learns to cast and decorate edible works of art. By night, he joins locals for a lively round of curling, discovering a sport he can finally call his own. Laced with history, humour and the warm German spirit of Gemütlichkeit, Tom's adventure is a whirlwind of taste, craft and community - part travelogue, part Christmas embrace. Bags bulging and cup brimming, he leaves with more than souvenirs: new friends, a diploma in joy, and a heart full of Yuletide magic.