M8888! The excitement. I bloody love Berlin and I’m going back with some of my pals to explore the city and the Christmas markets for a few days. Let me tell you, we explored so many different Christmas markets and Germany in the festive season is definitely worth the hype. We’re already wondering where our Christmas market trip could be next year… I’m dying to go to Switzerland! This is trip number six of the year, and my last of 2023. It really has been a year of adventure. Let’s get to it!

I’ve really branched out this year, I’ve been on two trips which weren’t solo, first with my mum and one of her friends for a chilled girly few days, and this one, Berlin, with some of my favourite people to have the a fun-filled few days. We landed in Berlin quite late in the day so our mission was to get to our apartment, settle in and then go grab some dinner. We had my little bestie with us, Bear, who is 6, so we were conscious of him having a really long day, completely full of excitement too, and needing to get some sleep. We wanted him to really enjoy his time as much as possible too, so having some downtime on the first day was really important.

Day two (our first full day) was for the commencement of German Christmas Markets. We went to the shop after dinner last night to get in some supplies for the apartment so the lads cooked up bacon and sausage sandwiches in the morning so we were fully ready to go for a whole day of exploring!

First up was Alexanderplatz. This is right at the centre of Berlin and definitely one of my favourite places. We stayed here for a little while and explored the cute little stalls which had some of the most incredible hand-crafted gifts, I genuinely could have brought something from every stall. And let’s just have a minute for the food and drink! Before we go any further, I think I have spent the last four days mainly eating and drinking and will definitely be referring to some of the amazing things I’ve had over the last few days. About 100 yards into the market I found a Baileys Hot Chocolate stall so that was first up, and it tasted so amazing. I got currywurst for lunch (can you not when you’re in Germany??) which tasted insane, of course, and then the beers started flowing. We headed round to another market in Alexanderplatz where we stumbled across a really cool brass band who were street perfomers. They did some incredible songs and we really enjoyed listening to them for a little while, drink in hand, of course. We then found a pop-up German Christmas Bar where we had even more alcohol and this is where the Baileys began for me and there was no going back.

We had a wander around Alexanderplatz and beyond and then spent the evening at Gendarmenmarkt where I found the most INSANE chocolate covered strawberries, I resisted and only bought one skewer but definitely could have had about seven more if I really wanted to. They had some live music here which was nice to listen to, as well as an inside area! We finally had the chance to warm up a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t actually as cold as we thought it would be, but being outside all the time at the markets meant we were definitely a little chilly and appreciated a bit of time wandering around an inside market. From here we headed a few minutes down the road to Winter Market Schlossplatz which was opposite Museum Island. This was probably one of the most ‘cutesy’ markets we went to and it really felt like a traditional winter wonderland. There were some cute fairground games as well as a huge Christmas tree in the middle which really set the scene. I’m not a christmassy person but I did really start to get the festive feels after spending some time here.

We then headed back to Alexanderplatz to see Santa on his sleigh and to go on the Big Wheel! The Santa Sleigh show was honestly one of the most magical things ever, obviously we had Bear with us, who’s only 6, so he absolutely still believes in Santa, and basically it was someone dressed up as Santa and he got in his sleigh and literally ziplined through the air above the Christmas Market, with fireworks coming out the end of his sleigh at the end as if he was taking off. Bear was completed mesmorised and it was SO cute to see. The Big Wheel was also really cool, you could see over quite a lot of Berlin from it and as we went on at night, you could see Christmas lights all over the city and spot where all of the other Christmas Markets were so we could seek them out in the coming days.

Day three started off with a trip to the Berlin Wall. I’ve been here before, about three or so years ago, but I love it so much and am genuinely amazed by the artwork on the walls, it is next level insane! Some of the artwork was the same from when I came here before, but some had changed which is why I think I’d definitely always make this part of my intinery if I was to ever come back to Berlin for a third trip too. It just all looks so cool and groovy and you can really see some of the meanings behind it all, and I got the chance to see a few of my fave pieces again too, including ‘My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love’, which always fascinates me, and ALWAYS has a queue for pics with it! It is definitely an insta shot.

I really needed some me time by now, I’m so used to doing it solo that I think even my friends clocked on to me needing some ‘me’ time, so I left my pals to it and found an escooter and went off exploring for a few hours, I headed to Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag and Berlin Cathedral before hopping over to Museum Island briefly. Yes, it seems a lot! Most of it was just sight seeing so I managed to hop around pretty swiftly, and I do just really enjoy looking at most of the architecture in Berlin so was really happy scooting around with my headphones in, in my own little world. I then met back up with my pals at Winter Market Schlossplatz where we went last night. This was obviously a firm favourite! We spent some time here before wandering over the bridge and back to Alexanderplatz (there’s a theme here), it was one of the biggest, and best, markets we’d visited! Bear really wanted to go ice skating, I was the dedicated adult to go ice skating so we joined the queue and spent a bit of time on the rink before we both got sore feet and watned to come off. I then began drinking mulled wine, stunning.

We went to a proper German Doner restaurant to grab yet more food (of course) but we was all super keen to have it. I’ve had it before and it is 10x better than what you’re served up in kebab shops in England after a night out. It has real flavour and is served proper. After dinner we bid farewell to the family of the group so that Bear could go to bed and the three of us left ended our day in a German Bar (it had to be done). At one point I had a stein of Baileys and wasn’t entirely sure if the measurements they had given me were legal (they definitely wouldn’t have been in the UK), but I was loving life and it was definitely warming me up! The music was cheap and cheesy and like what you’d get at a school disco back home, we had a great time dancing the night away before heading back to the apartment.

Day four was our final day. We headed to our final Christmas Market, Weihnachtsmarkt in Breitscheidplatz, built around the Kaister Wilhelm Memorial Church. This Christmas Market was right by Berlin Zoo and the surrounding area was lovely too. There was a cute little trinkety Christmas shop we spent some time in and found a whole parade of the Berlin Bears. We’d been keeping an eye out for these throughout all of our travels and gathered quite the gallery of Bear with bears.

Onto the Christmas Market and we wandered, got some more snacks, looked at more incredible hand-crafted items and I bought a few little bits to bring home. I got a homemade snowball here, it was delightful, they had them at most Christmas markets we’d been to but there were always so many flavours I got really overwhelmed and never knew which flavour I wanted, but on the last day I knew I needed to decide quickly. I was torn between Baileys (a firm fave) or mint, and settled for the latter, it tasted divine. We also had the best thai food here too, we had thai red curry, dumplings, spring rolls, noodles, chicken satay and more. We just kept going back up to the lady and ordering more, she must’ve thought we hadn’t eaten for days, when in fact it was quite the opposite. It was then time for final beers and then back to the apartment to grab our bags and onto the airport to come home.

We had the most fun-filled few days and it’s definitely one to look back on for years to come as friends. But that’s it! Adventures of 2023 have finished, see you in 2024 for a whole new year of fun! Have a lovely Christmas and New Year and see you on the flip flop! Mads x