Christian kitsch and wholesome handmade stocking fillers – German stereotypes melt away at SANTA PAULI Christmas market, as you’re instantly greeted by a gigantic disco ball, a near-naked Santa mascot, a striptease show and stalls selling everything from mulled wine to adult toys.
SANTA PAULI is far from the fairytale Nürnberg-style Christmas market many imagine.
Located in Hamburg’s red-light and entertainment district, St. Pauli, it’s become a pre-Christmas ritual for me since moving here from the United Kingdom in 2017. If you’re open to a bit of Christmas quirkiness, I recommend you visit this market at least once.
It’s no fairytale, but it is fun
SANTA PAULI runs from mid-November to 23 December at Spielbudenplatz, and entry is free.
You don’t need long to browse the stalls – 30 to 40 minutes max – and if you visit on a weekday, as I usually do, it’s easy to weave through post-work groups and gatherings. Even though the market is family-friendly, the crowds are more mature, manageable and relaxed here compared to Hamburg‘s other main markets, which are often overcrowded and overstimulating.
The traders are a colourful mix of local businesses and visiting vendors. You’ll see couples (and families) drifting past stalls selling knitted woollen hats, wooden Hamburg-themed Christmas cards, body piercings and beeswax penis candles.
It’s an absurd atmosphere that only St. Pauli can pull off.
SANTA PAULI also sells its own cheerful merchandise. The mulled wine mugs illustrated with Santa’s unconventional helpers – from a naked angel to a pink bulldog – are now popular collector’s items that people can buy online or at the stalls when you order a drink.
It’s still got your traditional treats
SANTA PAULI is the most unique and alternative Christmas market I’ve ever visited in Germany, but that’s not to say that you can’t get your conventional festive fix here.
You can still buy traditional glühwein, Feuerzangenbowle or an alcohol-free hot punch from one of the many stalls for about 9.50 euros (including a 3-euro deposit for the mug). On Mondays, you can even buy Einhornglühwein (unicorn mulled wine), which is a sparkly concoction of pink mulled wine.
The market is as traditional as it gets when it comes to food. You can buy sausages in a roll for 5 euros at almost every stall down the strip – from your “spicy” Krakauer sausages to your bratwurst. Other German delicacies are also available, such as Kaiserschmarrn, Flammkuchen, potatoes, quark and meatloaf.
There are, of course, alternative options, such as falafel or burgers, for those who don’t want to lean into all the German Christmas clichés, or for those with dietary requirements. You can spend as little as 5 euros or as much as 16 euros, depending on the size of your appetite and your budget.
Germans aren’t always as serious as they seem
This market is a reminder to any foreigner building a life in or visiting Germany that it’s important to stay open-minded about the German mindset, which is stereotypically depicted as serious and stern.
Whether it’s your first time spending the festive season in Germany or you’re on year eight of living abroad, like me, this Christmas market will nudge you to look at German humour and especially the St. Pauli neighbourhood’s liberalism – in a whole new light. In an audacious pink, sparkly light.
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See more about German Christmas markets here in Dispatches’ archives.
Read more from Sara here.
Sara Vordermeier
Sara Vordermeier is a Hamburg-based freelance writer and editor specialising in sports, technology and culture stories from her life abroad. Her professional writing experience spans more than seven years in the fields of content marketing, organic search trends and journalism.
