Strasbourg

Before you go — what this page can and cannot tell you

All 17 of our Strasbourg photographs were taken in December — 5 on one evening in 2017 and 12 across two days in 2024. Nearly every one is after dark, because that is when this city is doing the thing it is famous for.

So this is a guide to Strasbourg at Christmas, and it does not pretend to be a guide to Strasbourg. We have no photograph of the place in daylight in June, and are not going to describe one.

• The market dates from 1570 and is the oldest in France. The city calls itself the Capitale de Noël and has earned the right to.
• It is not one market. Stalls fill a series of squares across the old town — the cathedral square, Place Broglie, Place Kléber with the great tree — and walking between them is most of the evening.
• Go after dark, which in December is from about half past four. Sixteen of our seventeen frames are lit, and that is not a coincidence of when we happened to be free.
• It is busy, and central Strasbourg closes to traffic. This is a walking evening. Plan to be on your feet for it.

The cathedral — the reason to come even without the market

Pink sandstone, and one spire rather than two because the second was never finished. It was the tallest building in the world for over two centuries, and standing in the square looking straight up is the thing people remember longest from Strasbourg.

• See it lit. Floodlit at night the sandstone goes gold and the whole west front reads as one carved surface. Two of our strongest frames are exactly this and nothing else.
• The market huts sit at its feet, which is either the best or the worst of it depending on what you came for — you cannot photograph the west front in December without a stall roof in the shot.
• Go inside as well. The astronomical clock is the famous thing; the building is the reason.

Petite France

The old tanners' quarter, where the Ill splits into channels and the half-timbered houses lean over the water. In December it is lit in colors, which is not to everyone's taste and is undeniably a sight.

• It is ten minutes from the cathedral and most market visitors never walk down. That is the whole trick to Strasbourg in December: the crowd stays where the stalls are.
• The quiet corners are a street away. One of our frames is precisely that — a lane with nobody in it, a minute from a square with several thousand people in it.

Eating — this is Alsace, not France exactly

The food here is its own thing, and closer to southern Germany than to Paris. It is one of the genuine reasons to give the city a night rather than an evening.

• Tarte flambée — thin, crisp, cream and onion and bacon, cut into strips and eaten with your hands. It is the local dish, it is everywhere at the market, and it is better in a winstub.
• A winstub is a wine tavern, wood-panelled and small, and it is where to eat rather than at a stall if you have the time to sit.
• The wine is Alsatian and white — riesling, gewürztraminer, pinot gris. Ordering red here is a missed opportunity.

Seven years apart — what changed

Our two visits are 2017 and 2024, which is long enough to be worth saying something about.

• Not much, and that is the point. The lights, the stalls, the angel strung across the lane, the tree on Place Kléber: the 2017 frames and the 2024 frames are recognisably the same evening. A market that has run since 1570 is not chasing fashion.
• It has got busier. That is true of every good Christmas market in Europe and it is true here. Come on a weekday if you have the choice.
• Security is visible now in a way it was not, with bag checks and closed streets at the entrances to the old town. Allow for it and do not be alarmed by it.

How long?

One night. Arrive in the afternoon, walk the squares once it is dark, eat properly, and see the cathedral lit last.

Strasbourg pairs naturally with Colmar and Mulhouse, which are close and also on this site, and the three together make a short Alsace loop rather than three separate trips. It is a poor day trip and a very good overnight.