Journeying from youth hostel to youth hostel: a magical trip to nine fantastic Christmas markets

The approaching festive season welcomes in an array of enchanting Christmas markets – perfect places for getting into the festive mood. Join us on our latest discovery tour where we’ll introduce some of the most spectacular Christmas markets that can be found near our youth hostels. Combine your next stay in a youth hostel with your favourite Christmas market.

Montreux – for a traditional and exotic vibe

Any­one who has ever been to Mon­treux knows that the town with its palm trees is rem­i­nis­cent of the French Côte d’Azur. From the end of Novem­ber to Christ­mas Eve, how­ev­er, the city on the shores of Lake Gene­va is trans­formed into a Christ­mas won­der­land. The Mon­treux Christ­mas mar­ket boasts 150 taste­ful­ly dec­o­rat­ed chalets along the lake­side prom­e­nade, offer­ing tra­di­tion­al charm along­side many oth­er fes­tive high­lights.

We all know how exhaustig Christ­mas shop­ping can be. Make the process much more fun and relax­ing with a stay at our mod­ern lake­side youth hos­tel.

The fan­tas­tic evening atmos­phere on Lake Geneva.©Schweiz Tourimus

Basel – the oldest Christmas market in Switzerland

The old town of Basel is well worth a vis­it at any time of the year, but espe­cial­ly dur­ing Advent when the city trans­forms into an enchant­i­ng Christ­mas par­adise. More than 100 mag­nif­i­cent­ly dec­o­rat­ed Christ­mas trees, kilo­me­tres of fairy lights and fes­tive­ly dec­o­rat­ed hous­es lend the city a fairy­tale atmos­phere. The peo­ple of Basel know exact­ly how to trans­form their city into a place that delights all the sens­es. And this is no coin­ci­dence, as Basel is home to the old­est Christ­mas mar­ket in Switzer­land.

A stay at the Basel Youth Hos­tel is the ide­al way to not only explore the his­toric Old Town, but also to tru­ly expe­ri­ence the mag­ic of the Christ­mas sea­son.

Mag­ic and joy in every cor­ner of the city! ©Schweiz Touris­mus

Laax — wellness and Christmas magic combined

Dur­ing the Christ­mas sea­son, the old town of Chur is trans­formed into a sea of lights with numer­ous mar­ket stalls. There you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to shop for fine Bün­der spe­cial­i­ties and local hand­i­crafts.

The per­fect place to stay awaits you at our wellnessHostel3000 in Laax, which you can eas­i­ly reach by post­bus from Chur. The well­ness area is the per­fect place to warm up and relax after Christ­mas shop­ping.

A fun build-up to Christmas in Lausanne with its three markets and a children’s village

Christ­mas is cel­e­brat­ed in three dif­fer­ent neigh­bour­hoods in Lau­sanne – in the trendy Flon dis­trict, at the Place St-François and the Place Pépinet. These loca­tions are where you will find a range of beau­ti­ful hand­i­crafts as well as many tempt­ing culi­nary delights from the can­ton of Vaud. And for the lit­tle adven­tur­ers among us, there’s a real­ly cool children’s vil­lage where they can play to their heart’s con­tent and be enchant­ed by excit­ing fairy tales. If you need a break after all the fun, Lau­sanne Youth Hos­tel offers the per­fect retreat after your pre-Christ­mas stroll through the city!

Fes­tive atmos­phere in the Olympic cap­i­tal. ©Schweiz Touris­mus

Zurich at Christmas time: Splendour, glitter and a festive atmosphere in the heart of the city

In the run-up to Christ­mas, Zurich trans­forms into a true Christ­mas par­adise with its mul­ti­tude of Christ­mas mar­kets. Right next to Zurich main sta­tion, you’ll find the pop­u­lar Christ­mas mar­ket, which boasts an impres­sive 15-metre-high Christ­mas tree dec­o­rat­ed with 7,000 Swarovs­ki crys­tals. For pure romance, you should def­i­nite­ly vis­it Zurich’s old­est Christ­mas mar­ket in Nieder­dorf. Anoth­er high­light awaits you on Werd­müh­le­platz on Bahn­hof­s­trasse. This is where you will find the Singing Christ­mas Tree, a podi­um in the shape of a Christ­mas tree where region­al choirs per­form heart-warm­ing Christ­mas car­ols.

And if your Christ­mas cup is still not over­flow­ing, we rec­om­mend tak­ing a trip to Winterthur’s old town. The city is a kalei­do­scope of colour dur­ing Advent. The high­light of the sea­son is def­i­nite­ly the Parade der Chläuse, a fes­tive pro­ces­sion fea­tur­ing mul­ti­ple San­ta Claus­es. From 16:16 hours on 3 Decem­ber, Winterthur’s old town is teem­ing with jol­ly Saint Nicks.

Christ­mas mag­ic in Zurich. © Zürich Touris­mus

The Stärnenmärit Christmas market in Bern – stellar Yuletide magic in the Swiss capital

Expe­ri­ence the mag­ic of the tra­di­tion­al Ster­nen­märit “star mar­ket” in Bern dur­ing an unfor­get­table stay at Bern Youth Hos­tel. Immerse your­self in the fes­tive atmos­phere of Bern’s Old Town, where thou­sands of fairy lights ensure the mar­ket lives up to its name. Browse beau­ti­ful hand­i­crafts and savour numer­ous culi­nary delights, while you immerse your­self in the enchant­i­ng ambi­ence. After an excit­ing day, you can relax at the cosy Bern Youth Hos­tel and recharge your bat­ter­ies for fur­ther adven­tures in the cap­i­tal.

It’s Christ­mas in the cap­i­tal, too ©Schweiz Touris­mus

Enchanting Christmas market on Franziskanerplatz in Lucerne

Every year, vis­i­tors from near and far flock to Lucerne to expe­ri­ence the enchant­i­ng Christ­mas mar­ket on Franziskan­er­platz. The cen­tre­piece of this fes­tive mar­ket is undoubt­ed­ly the Fran­cis­can Foun­tain, which is trans­formed into a giant Advent wreath that is typ­i­cal of the Cen­tral Swiss region. The con­certs held at St. Maria Church are an unmiss­able high­light. The mar­ket is easy to nav­i­gate with its 70 or so wood­en stalls. Even though it isn’t the biggest fes­tive mar­ket, it exudes a very spe­cial enchant­i­ng atmos­phere, mak­ing it one of the most charm­ing Christ­mas mar­kets in the whole of Switzer­land.

If you don’t want to head straight home after a Christ­mas stroll, our youth hos­tel on the shores of beau­ti­ful Lake Rot is the per­fect place to relax.

Win­ter mag­ic on Lake Lucerne. ©Schweiz Touris­mus

Experience festive magic among the trees

Wel­come to the mag­ic for­est of Lenz­er­hei­de, a place where nature takes cen­tre stage and the sens­es awak­en. This enchant­ed for­est trans­ports you to a fairy­tale world of glit­ter­ing lights and mys­te­ri­ous sounds. Dis­cov­er the mag­ic of the win­ter moun­tains and immerse your­self in a world of adven­ture and mys­ti­cal beau­ty in the mag­ic for­est of Lenz­er­hei­de.

To avoid hav­ing to spend the evening dri­ving home, we rec­om­mend an overnight stay at the Val­bel­la Youth Hos­tel.

Logo Zauberwald Lenzerheide

The for­est casts an enchant­i­ng spell. ©Christi­na

Basel is well worth a visit any time of the year.

Altstadt von Basel

The city is not just known for its Christ­mas mar­ket; it also boasts a myr­i­ad of oth­er attrac­tions. Nes­tled by the riv­er, the city cap­ti­vates vis­i­tors with its charm­ing sur­round­ings and mod­ern accom­mo­da­tion such as the Basel Youth Hos­tel in the St. Alban quar­ter. So, a vis­it to Basel is worth­while any time of the year, not just at Christ­mas!

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