10 Best: Irish Christmas Markets
Picture courtesy of discoverireland.ie
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The sweet smell of mulled wine. Chestnuts roasting on open fires. Families pulling their collars up against the cold… there’s just something about a Christmas market that would melt even the most cynical of hearts.
Or there would be, if they weren’t so expensive to get to. According to a recent survey by Lastminute.com, 37% of Irish people have visited a Christmas market abroad in the past, yet only 9% are planning on doing so this year.
Rudolph, it appears, is in recession too.
This year, however, there’s no need to travel to Budapest or Vienna to immerse yourself in cinnamon-scented streets and festive fare. More continental-style markets than ever are striking up in Ireland, from Galway all the way to Grand Parade.
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Crimbo in Cork…
Cork flicks the Christmas light switch on December 12th this year, but you can catch a winter village’s worth of market booths along Grand Parade from this Saturday. As well as stalls stuffed chocabloc with seasonal goodies and stocking fillers, expect to redden your cheeks with mulled wine, hot chocolate, gingerbread treats and lots else besides (think sushi, think pigs on spits). Entertainment includes chap-lipped choirs, frosty-breathed bands and a seasonal light and sound installation – this year on a theme of ‘the enchanted forest’ – bringing Bishop Lucey Park to life.
Details: November 25 – December 17 (weekends), December 20-22. Cometocork.com/Christmas.
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12 Days of Christmas at Dublin’s Docklands…
It isn’t all bad news down at Dublin’s beleaguered Docklands, you know. Now in its sixth year, the 12 Days of Christmas festival takes place in a specially-constructed waterside village in George’s Dock, with some 100 market traders spread about a special pontoon. This year’s event is managed by German company Go GmbH, and features dozens of German stallholders alongside Irish and African neighbours. Expect bright wooden chalets stuffed with arts and crafts, glühwein, roasted nuts and sundry stocking fillers. A highlight is the lovingly restored ‘Galloping Horses’ carousel.
Details: December 3-22; dublindockands.ie.
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A Continental Christmas in Galway…
Galway is getting a taste of a Germanic yuletide this Christmas with a continental market featuring some 70 Alpine huts already in place on Eyre Square. Mindful perhaps of the Irish holidaymakers who will not be stocking up on scented candles, handmade jewellery and puppets in Vienna and Munich this winter, they’ll be filled with goodies from as far afield as the USA, Peru and China. Amongst the stallholders too, will be a group of Nuns from the St Elizabeth Convent in Belarus. They’re selling religious icons and Russian Crafts, including the famous Russian Doll. Watch out too for the German bier cellar and Santa’s Grotto, with proceeds going to the ISPCC and Enable Ireland.
Details: November 19 – December 19; galwaytourism.ie.
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Snow queens in Kinsale…
Kinsale is known all over the world for seafood and flapping sails, but any town this good on atmosphere can mount a mean Christmas market too. As well as a seasonal farmers’ market in the Short Quay and an indoor/outdoor market at the Blue Haven, you can check out a Snow Queen competition on December 8th, join guided winter walks, a Christmas Jumper Party at Hamlet’s Cafe with prizes for the funniest/yuckiest jumper (Dec. 10th) and, erm, ‘Santa for Grown-ups’ in Dalton’s Pub (yes ladies, you can sit on Santa’s knee and tell him what you want for Christmas). Look out too, for the gorgeous torch light parade on December 19th.
Details: December; kinsalechristmas.com.
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Christmas in the Kingdom…
Christmas markets are said to have originated in Germany and Alsace, so it’s apt that Frankfurt-Höchst is continuing its backing of Tralee’s Christmas market this year (December 10-12). The towns are twinned, and as well as Christmassy produce from a wide range of Irish traders, visitors can expect to dip their beaks into German glühwein, grilled bratwursts and farm bread as they make their way around cosy chalets on The Square. Christmas in Killarney is another one to watch out for – alongside an ice rink, grotto and other events, open-air markets on Main Street will be lined with craftsmen, cheese makers and the like dishing up snippets of Christmas cheer.
Details: tralee.ie; christmasinkillarney.com.
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Jingle bells at Limerick’s Milk Market…
Limerick’s Milk Market has been a shopping crossroads since Noah was a boy, but this year, after a nifty €2 million renovation, it’s hosting the city’s Christmas market too. Some 60 stalls are promised, with a range of artisan food, craft and gifts serenaded by carol-singing choirs. Housed under Ireland’s largest canopy, the market is weather-proof, which should ward off the ghosts of Christmas weather past, and you can grab your giftware at a special artisan craft fair running on November 27 and December 7-9. From woodwork to jewellery and vintage clothes, you won’t want for stocking fillers.
Details: November 25 – December 24 (Thurs-Sun); December 7, 8, 21, 22. milkmarketlimerick.ie.
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Northern lights in Belfast…
Who needs Berlin when you’ve got Belfast? Housed at the newly refurbished City Hall, the city’s Christmas Continental Market features dozens of stalls offering crafts, food and decorations in an Alpine village set-up. Amongst them are traders from the Lapp area of Finland and Daniel Aguirre, who makes Alpaca knitwear on the foothills of Machu Picchu. Also in Belfast, at King’s Hall from November 27-28, is the seasonal shindig, The Magic of Christmas. Discovernorthernireland.com, linking in with a special offer, has two nights’ B&B plus one dinner at Jury’s Inn from £64.50/€75pps.
Details: November 22 – December 19; gotobelfast.com.
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Winter in Waterford…
Like Kinsale, Waterford is mounting more than Christmas markets this year; it’s mounting what looks like a full-blown festival. As well as a craft fair in Garter Lane (where you can pick up handmade scarves, mirrors, bags, stained glass, basketry, jams, cakes and puddings), there are Christmas markets on Broad Street and John Roberts Square. Watch out too for the grottos, carousels, the Santa Express (on the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway), a performance of Handel’s Messiah and, of course, the Santa Dash… where hundreds of Santas chase up Michael Street on December 13th.
Details: December 4-10 and 12-23; christmasinwaterford.ie.
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Dear Santa, at Doonbeg…
Forget Vienna’s Christkindlmarkt or Munich’s Marienplatz. Next month, a courtyard in Doonbeg, Co. Clare will metamorphose into on old-world town square evoking the original European markets. Can the Doonbeg Lodge pull it off? Let’s hope so. Over 50 outlets are lined up to sell stocking fillers ranging from handmade toys to Christmas cakes and pieces of local art, and visitors can sup Bailey’s hot chocolate and chow down on hog burgers directly from the roasting spit. In the finest continental tradition, it will all take place to the dulcet tones of Doonbeg’s finest carol singers.
Details: December 4-5 and 12-23; www.doonbeglodge.com.
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This entry was posted in Blog, Days Out and tagged 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas in Belfast, Christmas in Cork, Christmas in Dublin, Christmas in Galway, Christmas in Ireland, Christmas in Kinsale, Christmas Markets, Doonbeg, Dublin Docklands, ireland, Irish Christmas Markets, Killarney, Limerick Milk Market, Mulled Wine, Tralee, travel, Waterford. Bookmark the permalink.
In the crypt of Christ Church Cathedral, we are holding a Christmas market for the first time. It will take place on the 11th and 18th of December from 10am to 5pm. It is one of the largest medieval crypts in Europe and is the oldest surviving structure in Dublin so it is a unique venue for a market. Entry to the crypt will be free on those dates. In addition we will have visits to Santa available for €10 per child, and a Christmas carol concert on the 15th of December. More information on all our events available from http://www.cccdub.ie or 01-6778099.
[...] listed in an interesting article “10 Best: Irish Christmas Markets,” by Pól Ó Conghaile (http://poloconghaile.com/10-best-irish-christmas-markets/, for 2010). As I suspected, the markets he describes start a little later than the Christmas rush [...]