{"id":118653,"date":"2025-10-13T05:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T05:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/118653\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T05:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T05:24:09","slug":"revealed-the-town-with-magical-christmas-market-and-cheapest-flights-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/118653\/","title":{"rendered":"Revealed: The town with magical Christmas market and ‘cheapest flights’ in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOWENA RILEY, TRAVEL WRITER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 19:52 EDT, 12 October 2025 | Updated: 19:56 EDT, 12 October 2025 <\/p>\n

Flights to some of Europe’s most ‘magical’ Christmas<\/a> markets have been significantly reduced, offering UK travellers the ultimate festive experience for less this winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Airfares to Cologne, a city set along the Rhine River in western Germany<\/a>, have seen a drastic drop in the past year, according to Skyscanner, with some one-way flights from London<\/a> airports starting at just \u00a314.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cologne, situated just an hour and a half from the UK by plane, is home to several distinct and popular Christmas markets, each with a unique theme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the city’s main market, the Cathedral Christmas Market, is renowned for its historic backdrop, the illuminous Alter Markt, located by the Rhine, is themed around the legend of the\u00a0Heinzelm\u00e4nnchen dwarves.<\/p>\n

Neumarkt is also popular choice for its unique St. Nicholas-themed setup, extraordinary light art and festival atmosphere.<\/p>\n

All three markets, which collectively draw millions of visitors each year, run from November 17 through to December 23, with opening hours extending to 10pm or later on weekends.<\/p>\n

Visitors can sip on\u00a0gl\u00fchwein (mulled wine) and sample regional treats like\u00a0Lebkuchen, sausages and candied apples, all while browsing dozens of stalls selling handcrafted gifts and decorations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A range of unique attractions are also on offer, such as a special ‘Heavenue’ market with its striking displays and neon lights, a vegan and sustainable market, and a festive Christmas train that drops riders off at different markets across the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Airfares <\/p>\n

Airfares to Cologne, a city set along the Rhine River in western Germany, have seen a drastic drop in the past year, according to Skyscanner, with some one-way flights from London airports starting at just \u00a314 (Pictured: Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market)<\/p>\n

\"Cologne, <\/p>\n

Cologne, situated just an hour and a half from the UK by plane, is home to several distinct and popular Christmas markets, each with a unique theme (Pictured:\u00a0Alter Markt)<\/p>\n

\"Visitors <\/p>\n

Visitors can sip on gl\u00fchwein (mulled wine) and sample regional treats like Lebkuchen, sausages and candied apples, all while browsing dozens of stalls selling handcrafted gifts and decorations<\/p>\n

Cologne’s biggest and most ornate market, the Cathedral Christmas Market, remains a firm favourite for visitors and locals, who have given it an impressive 4.6 stars on TripAdvisor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One person gushed over the market’s ‘beautiful lights and decor,’ while another described it as ‘amazingly overwhelming with lots of lovely samples to taste.’<\/p>\n

Another wrote, ‘We managed to visit five of the markets and they are all magical,’ while a fourth added the market is ‘without a doubt one of the best Christmas Markets,’ they’ve visited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through November, one-way flights from Stansted Airport to Cologne Bonn Airport are available for as little as \u00a314, while prices increase to as much to \u00a377 in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Passengers are advised to book flights as soon as possible for best prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n Revealed: The town with magical Christmas market and ‘cheapest flights’ in 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JOWENA RILEY, TRAVEL WRITER Published: 19:52 EDT, 12 October 2025 | Updated: 19:56 EDT, 12 October 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,118,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,4319,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-118653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-travel","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}