Travels With Clo

Who doesn’t love an EDT?

2 years ago, my friend Tina and I did two extreme day trips to enjoy some European Christmas markets. Another blog will follow about the second trip to Brussels.

We caught an early morning Eurostar to Paris, arriving mid-morning. We were travelling for work, but Eurostar often run offers where tickets are between £20-35pp. You can even buy these on Uber now.

Our business was done with pretty quickly, and our train back to London wasn’t until 17:30, so we had a full afternoon to explore the Jardin des Tuileries Christmas market.

Jardin des Tuileries Christmas Market, named the La Magie du Nöel, is the biggest Christmas market in Paris. The location is excellent, practically in the shadow of the Louvre, and is very easily accessible by public transport. Jardin des Tuileries has its own metro station on line one, and you can also take line seven and get off at the Louvre station. There are a couple of others as well, all within a five minute walk.

As we ascended the steps from the metro station, we smelt the market before we saw it. Sizzling sausages, fresh crepes, fried onions and raclette. It was making me very hungry, and luckily we had time to sample a lot of the offerings.

The half a mile stretch of Christmas market is split into three main sections.

• A Christmas-themed carnival packed with fairground attractions – a continuation of the tradition of “fun fairs” in Paris since Medieval times!
• An “Artisan Village” featuring gifts and crafts from around the world 
• A vast selection of food and drink vendors.

There is also a small ice rink if you like skating, a Champagne igloo, a giant plastic Santas, reindeer, candy canes, and of course lights of all types, sizes, and colors everywhere.  There’s even a much-smaller-than-lifesize Eiffel Tower.

Feeling hungry, our first point of call was to order some food. I fancied trying the raclette, which was served with salami, ham and potatoes. It was mouth-wateringly delicious and so filling. I think this cost £8.

We then had a wander around the stalls. We didn’t buy anything, but there were so many great homemade items, such as candles, wooden figurines, cheeses, macaroons and sweets, and of course, escargot!

As we had bags with us, we didn’t go on any of the rides, but we did treat ourselves to some Nutella donuts for the journey back.

No Christmas EDT to Paris would be complete without a quick stop at Galeries Lafayette to gaze at their famous Christmas tree. Each year they decorate it with a different theme, and in 2022 it was Planet Fir, combining sustainability and holiday magic. Most of the tree was made of cardboard, and the green and blue design was a nod to saving the planet.

We caught our Eurostar back to London at 17:00, and had a wonderfully festive time. If you fancy a European Christmas market and don’t want to fly and or go for more than a day, Paris is an excellent choice. It can also be done on a very small budget if you get cheap Eurostar tickets, and using no annual leave.