#12CountriesOfChristmas – Colmar, France

So many of you mentioned that Colmar was a must for a tour of Christmas Markets around Europe, that we decided we had to go out of our way to visit. And so, after a night in Rothernberg ob der Tauber, and a quick hop through The Netherlands and Luxembourg (David’s idea. “Why not stop by since we’re so close?!?”) we arrived in France. Colmar reminded us of Rothenberg ob der Tauber in many ways — a painfully cute, well-preserved medieval European town that just gets Christmas festivity absolutely correct! Colmar is in Alsace, and is truly a mix of French and German influences from the architecture to the food. Find my packing list for a European Christmas Market Tour here!  Even though we only spent ta couple hours in Colmar we came away with so many photos! We loved walking the streets of the city, admiring the festively decorated painted building fronts with our camera in hand. For breakfast, David and I stopped at Au Croissant Doré Cafe, a super cute French bistro in the heart of the old town. The woman who owns the cafe has been running it for many years, and you can tell she just loves serving her guests. We ordered the best croissants we’ve had across Europe and double espressos to start the day. The Christmas market was small but lovingly put together. Colmar doesn’t participate in the German/Austrian tradition of serving gluhwein in collectible mugs (tragic ;) however, we did find a beautiful hand-painted bell Christmas ornament to add to our growing collection to decorate our tree in a few days at our chalet in Austria. xx, SF All photos by David and Stacie for Stacieflinner.com