Nederlands Christmas Markets Adventure

This time 10 years ago I spent a week in Valkenburg and Brussels, enjoying the Glühwein at the Christmas markets for my mum’s 60th. Family and friends embarked on planes, trains and automobiles, to celebrate the milestone and the festive time of the year.

Here I am, a decade on returning to this magical town with the same crowd and more. Having experienced Leiden last year, the plan is Valkenburg and this picturesque town, 30 min from Amsterdam.

It was an early start catching the 0555h plane from Manchester to Schiphol, then a 3 hour train to Valkenburg. Half the group missed the connection on the home stretch at Maastricht, but I stayed behind to ensure everyone got to the destination.

After lunch at the station cafe and checking into the hotel, I went for an explore. I couldn’t remember this many restaurants last time I was here! I managed to find the bar we made our regular all those years ago – I had to stop for a drink.

The rest of the gang joined for food and a few drinks. By 10pm we were flagging having been up since 1am; time to call it a night.

Valkenburg’s Christmas market is within a cave system of a sandstone mine. At 11am we were through the doors. Stalls upon stalls filled every corner, trees and decorations transformed the place into a festive grotto.

There were sweet treats, waffles, Christmas decorations, festive jumpers and Gluhwein for sale. After a couple glasses and every tunnel explored we headed to a bar, before attending the outdoor market for food.

One more drink in the warmth of a nearby bar called the end of the day.

Back on the trains the following day to Leiden. Having briefly visited this city last year, I wanted to spend longer at this pretty town. It is like Amsterdam but without the tourists.

We arrived early afternoon meeting up with four new party members, who are joining us for the remainder of the trip. We grabbed some food, checked into our hotel then had a little explore and a couple of drinks.

The Christmas markets here don’t open until Saturday however a short train trip south to The Hague and there are plenty there.

After grabbing breakfast at a quaint little cafe by the canal side, ‘Roos’. We took the train to The Hague.

I expected the city to be all modern high rise office buildings, but I was wrong. Although at the train station there some, once you get to the centre, you are amongst the characterful Dutch buildings.

The markets are within the Voorhout Park, next to the Ridderzaal which is part of the Binnenhof complex, the political centre of country.

The cabins formed the perimeter and seating areas in the middle. Lots of food stalls – I spotted empanadas and churros; I had to partake to have a taste of Spain and the Camino!

The temperature was cold and after a couple of hours we sought some warmth of a bar. On the way we passed the royal palace, before ducking into a tiny jazz bar.

Once warmed up and a couple drinks down us we returned to Leiden for food and evening drinks.

After breakfast in Leiden we headed to Amsterdam. While the group did the boat tour, I took the opportunity to visit the NEMO science museum. It gave a time line of the history of science and the great discoveries.

Each floor had a specific topic from engineering to the human body – I particularly liked the astronomy floor. Everything was interactive, bringing out my inner child!

From there I joined the rest of the party at the Christmas markets situated near the Rijskmuseum. It is smaller than The Hague one, and very crowded. This day was definitely the coldest, and we soon moved on back to the train station.

We finished the last evening on this adventure in Leiden.

With evening flights, it allowed us to spend the most of the day in Leiden, exploring the Christmas market and town.

The market was very small, along a pretty street outside the Hooglandse church, with mostly food stalls – I had another empanada! There was a carol service in the church and some craft stalls.

I had wanted to look inside the building the last time I was here, and over this visit. Huge ceilings with leaded windows and white stone pillars reached up to the top; quite impressive.

It started to rain at this point prompting us to dive into a bar for warmth and a drink, after which we made our way to catch the train to the airport.

A very eventful packed week, and a great time had by all.