Note: This is Part II of my Christmas Markets of the Alsace France tour. Part I covers the towns of Colmar a Riquewihr, feel free to click the link at the bottom of the page if you're interested.
Kayserberg
The Kayserberg market is quite small by market standards but the town is one of my favorites of the Alsace.
Its super quaint and charming and it's surrounded by vineyards for miles around. I would say that it's a must see location if you're in the area.
We visited it a few months back in the fall and walked the vineyards and it was a really nice experience.
But that's a story for a future post I think.
Kayserberg was actually the first market we saw in the Alsace. We stopped there on our way to Colmar around 10:30am when the market was just opening. It was already starting to get busy by then.
There weren't many stalls or huts there but most of the local shops sell gifts and ornaments and the town was very decorated so it still had the Christmas Market vibe to it.
Alsacianne pottery is a specialty of the region and is sold in most towns in the area, including Kayserberg.
My wife bought a pie plate during our visit.
We also bought a gingerbread Christmas tree ornament, a cookie tin filled with Alsacianne biscuits, some cookie cutters and some antique cookie stamps.
The stamps were actually bought in Riquewihr though. I forgot to mention that in the last post.
I didn't take a whole lot of photos this time around but hopefully you get an idea for Kayserberg as a market destination.
Obernai Market
The Obernai Christmas Market was a bit of a surprise for us in how good it was. We hadn't even planned on visiting it but decided to last minute on day two of our Christmas market extravaganza trip.
It was decorated with a ton of streaming garlands and the town itself was also very cool.
It was surrounded by a medeival wall known as a rampart and the old town had the usual colorful half timbers buildings common in the Alsace region.
We hadn't been there prior, like we had with the other towns, so we didn't really know what to expect.
Needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised.
It had three small markets with the usual wooden huts selling crafts, food and decorations and multiple streets with christmassy shops.
It also had the usual food and drink items like, roasted chestnuts, hot chocolate and vin chaud (a.k.a. mulled wine).
The day was dreary and rainy, which is typical for this time of year in France.
But it's wasn't a problem since we went prepared. I wore the hat I bought in Bavaria Germany, which I call my hiking hat, or my rain hat depending on the day. You've seen my wife in hers a few posts back and now you get to see mine.
We didn't spend a whole lot of time in Obernai because we were anxious to see Riquewihr but enough to get a fell for the city and the market.
It's nice that all of the cool towns of the Alsace are super close together. You can easily see a bunch of them without feeling rushed.