MARCH 2025

My sister and I fell in love Rothenburg ob der Tauber on a summer trip. It truly is one of the prettiest fachwerk towns in Germany, with colorful half timbered houses and medieval city walls. We had longed to go back to visit it’s Christmas markets and this dream came true in November 2024. In this blogpost you will read my honest opinion about our visit. We found the perfect hotel to explore the Rothenburg area, so I have also included a hotel review in this blogpost.

Hotel recommendation near Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg only has a few hotels and these tend to get booked up quickly over the Christmas period. I have an affordable recommendation for you instead! We booked two rooms at Waldgasthof Wildbad in Burgbernheim. The hotel is only a 15 minute drive from Rothenburg and it is located in a quiet piece of nature where you can go on lovely walks. The hotel is decorated in alpine style and hasn’t been renovated in quite some time… making you step back in time. I found the hotel and the grounds incredibly charming. The staff prepares a big breakfast in the morning, which is included in your room rate (€ 120 November 2024). At night you can have dinner in the hotel restaurant, which has delicious local dishes and old favorites such as spätzle and schnitzel. The wine menu also is really good! We loved unwinding in a relaxed atmosphere after having visited the busy Christmas markets.

Parking in Rothenburg is cheap and if you make sure to arrive to the markets in the morning, it should not be an issue to find a parking spot.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Christmas markets

In 2025 the Rothenburg Christmas markets will take place from 21-11 until 23-12. The Christmas market of Rothenburg is called the Reiterlesmarkt and it is held on the central square of the town. This is one of the prettiest areas of Rothenburg and has the Rathaus and Marien-apotheke as its backdrop. If you venture away from this market a bit, you will run into a second Christmas market, which takes place next to the St. Jakobskirche. All the other streets of Rothenburg have also been decorated in Christmas style. Rothenburg is one of the prettiest “gingerbread” towns of Germany and it is even more beautiful with Christmas decorations.

Rothenburg is not a hidden gem. We visited on a Saturday with lovely weather, so it was packed. I highly recommend to visit on a weekday if possible. The town is small and the streets get filled with crowds.

Rothenburg is home to Käthe Wohlfahrt, one of the most famous Christmas stores of Germany. You can often find little pop-ups of this store on Christmas markets throughout Germany. The queue was enormous so we didn’t go in this time. The store is open year-round and I got to visit last time we were in Rothenburg. Though it is a very expensive store, you can find really original decorations in here.

I would say that the biggest markets offer more distractions for the kids, though Hugo loved the colorful gingerbread houses & decorations. Near the St. Jakobskirche we did find a little merry-go-round. We also encountered a Santa Claus playing a small organ, which added good vibes to the market!

This time we didn’t end up visiting the city walls, as they aren’t stroller friendly, but if you have never walked these walls, this is definitely something you have to do on your visit. Read about my summer visit here.

Overall, we really liked our visit to Rothenburg ob der Tauber’s Christmas markets, we just wished we would have been able to visit on a different, less busy, day.

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