In addition to small Christmas markets in Lisbon, Stockholm, Bruges, Tallinn, and Innsbruck, only one city represents Hungary on the list: Debrecen.
The period at the end of November and December is all about preparing for Christmas, while cities also try to enchant their residents and visitors with a festive, intimate atmosphere. The Travelmag magazine took the most charming squares and fairs in Europe one by one and organized them into a list of 20, which included Debrecen and Debrecen Advent.
The newspaper described the weeks leading up to the Debrecen holiday as the second-largest city in Hungary really coming to its senses. Concerts, market stalls in front of the Great Church, hand-made ceramics, and special handicraft products await those interested. They praised the candle-lighting ceremony connected with the parade, as well as the rich program of the four weeks before Christmas. The 750-square-meter skating rink and the “mini Christmas village” created for children also confirmed for the authors of the article that the Debrecen fair deserves a place in the compilation.
The 20 best small-scale Christmas markets, where Debrecen was included:
- Bergen Christmas Market (Bergen, Norway)
- Blenheim Palace Christmas Market (Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK)
- Bruges Christmas Market (Brugge, Belgium)
- Cesky Krumlov Christmas Market (Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic)
- Advent in Debrecen
- Goslar Weihnachtsmarkt & Weihnachtswald (Goslar, Germany)
- Hans Christian Andersen Christmas Market (Odense, Denmark)
- Innsbruck Old Town Christmas Market (Innsbruck, Austria)
- Krakow Christmas Market (Krakow, Poland)
- Lille Christmas Market (Lille, France)
- Maastricht Christmas Market (Maastricht, Germany)
- Milan Piazza Duomo Christmas Market (Milan, Italy)
- Navideno de la Artesania Market (Seville, Spain)
- Riga Christmas Market (Riga, Latvia)
- Sibiu Christmas Market (Sibiu, Romania)
- Sternenmarkt (Bern, Switzerland)
- Stortorget Julmarknad (Stockholm, Sweden)
- Tampere Christmas Market (Tampere, Finland)
- Tallinn Christmas Market (Tallinn, Estonia)
- Wonderland Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal)