More Dutch visiting German Christmas markets, typically by car

Many Dutch people are visiting a Christmas market in Germany this year. They travel there more often by car or public transport. Organized bus tours and cruises are somewhat less popular.

This month, many German cities like Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Cologne are hosting Christmas markets again. FlixBus noted a greater demand from the Netherlands to Germany this year in the run-up to Christmas and expects more people to book a bus trip to the country in the coming weeks. A FlixBus spokesperson could not say how much more. “There is currently a great demand for tickets to Magdeburg. We can say with certainty that this is due to the Christmas market there,” she said. According to her, Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg are currently the most popular destinations, but she doesn’t know whether that is due to the Christmas markets.

The ANWB is seeing that more Dutch people are interested in visiting a German Christmas market by car, a spokesperson said. Dutch people have looked up much more information about this than in the years before. Most people prefer to take the car to a German Christmas market and often stay one or two nights in a city, she said. “People make a weekend out of it to get into the Christmas spirit. Families look for child-friend Christmas markets, while couples look for romantic Christmas markets.”

According to the spokesperson, the Christmas markets in Düsseldorf, Oberhausen, and Cologne are the most popular. People are also interested in Christmas markets in other European cities like Vienna and Lille. NS also sees that train tickets to well-known German cities with a Christmas market are popular again this year.

Bookings for coach trips and cruises of three days or more are not gaining popularity that quickly. ANWB reported a “negligible” increase there. At travel agency De Jong Intra Vakanties, the number of bookings for these kinds of trips even fell slightly. “Everything is getting more expensive every year and that undoubtedly has an impact on bookings,” says tour operating manager Paul van Laarhoven of De Jong Intra.