Market manager Kathrin Krumbach: “We are delighted to once again offer many people an opportunity to get together in the run-up to Christmas with the Christmas market in Bonn's city center.” The range of goods on offer at the market, which is traditionally organized by the city of Bonn, focuses on arts and crafts and Christmas products. Many craftspeople can be seen at work. The culinary offerings are also varied as usual with numerous sweet and savory Christmas and fairground classics. A range of organic dishes as well as vegan and vegetarian specialties are also on offer.
The approximately 160 vendors include many well-known stalls that are popular with visitors. The tried and tested products that will once again be on offer at the market include Christmas crafts, stollen and pastries, silver jewelry, children's clothing made from certified organic fabrics, natural rapeseed cushions and Belgian chocolate specialties.
The market will once again start on the Friday before the Sunday of the Dead (November 22, 2024); it will remain closed on the Sunday of the Dead itself (November 24). Unlike in previous years, the last opening day this year will be Sunday, December 22. From 2025, the market will be open again until December 23.
Epiphany market “extends” Christmas magic in the city center
For all those who want to enjoy the magic of Christmas for even longer, the city is organizing a market in the city centre until January for the first time. Under the name Dreikönigsmarkt, the stalls on Remigiusplatz will remain open until Monday, January 6, 2025, even after the rest of the Christmas market has been dismantled.
Ralf Bockshecker, Head of Citizens' Services at the city, is looking forward to the premiere: “The stalls and the new atmospheric decorations on Remigiusplatz were very well received last year. Now there is also an opportunity here 'between the years' and in the first week of January to meet up in a Christmassy atmosphere after a shopping spree or a visit to the city center and enjoy a warming drink or a snack, for example.” Anyone wishing to toast the New Year with a hot drink can also do so on New Year's Eve due to the extended opening hours.
Short delivery routes and as little plastic as possible
The goods on offer at the Bonn Christmas market are mainly delivered regionally and the supply chains are bundled. This significantly shortens delivery routes and several stalls and stands are supplied by the same shipment. Snack and bar businesses mainly use reusable tableware. Where this is not possible, biodegradable cardboard trays, wooden trays and cutlery made from corn starch or wood are used. Plastic bags are largely avoided for “take-away products” such as sweets or almonds; paper bags or transparent bags made from corn starch are used here. The stand operators also use energy-saving LED technology.
Joint guard station of municipal security service and police
Once again this year, the police and municipal security service will work together to ensure maximum security at the Christmas market. For the first time, they will be present on Münsterplatz with a jointly operated police station. This is located diagonally opposite Bonn Minster on the site where the Christmas house for children was located for many years. The childcare service is changing location and can be found on Mülheimer Platz this year. Employees from the police and public order service will once again be out and about at the market in uniformed foot patrols and - just like their colleagues at the police station - will be available to visitors and stallholders at all times.
To provide better protection against pickpockets, tricksters and other criminals who are known to mingle with people, the police will use their video surveillance system at busy entrances to the Christmas market and at particularly crime-relevant times, as they did last year.
As the organizer, the city administration will once again take comprehensive security precautions for the Christmas market in Bonn's city centre this year. As always, the security concept will be drawn up in close consultation with other parties involved, including the police and fire department.
Among other things, it provides for the access roads to the Christmas market to be closed off even more extensively than in previous years. There will be barriers at the entrances to the Christmas market on Poststrasse, In der Sürst, Mülheimer Platz, Friedensplatz, Kasernenstrasse, Am Dreieck, Marktbrücke/Remigiusstrasse, Acherstrasse and Fürstenstrasse. In addition to the familiar barriers made of concrete blocks, the city is using mobile access protection elements for the first time. Thanks to integrated ramps, these allow barrier-free access to the market even when closed. They are also easily recognizable in the dark.
Access for delivery traffic is possible daily until 12 noon during delivery times. From 12 noon until after the end of the event in the late evening hours, the barriers remain closed. Access and exit are not possible during this time.
During the night hours, a private security service will carry out patrols on the Christmas market site and at the same time provide a fire safety watch.
City asks for alternative means of transportation
The city of Bonn expects that many people will once again come to the city center for the Christmas market and gift shopping, especially at weekends. To relieve the traffic situation, the city is asking people to come by public transport, bicycle, e-scooter or on foot if possible. In order to optimize the exit situation from the university, market or Münster garage, the city has commissioned an external specialist office to evaluate the traffic situation. The results are now available. Based on these results, the city has initiated initial measures. The first step will be to test whether vehicles can drive more smoothly across Am Hofgarten road onto the B9 with the help of adjusted traffic lights around the Hofgarten. The adjustments will be implemented and tested in the run-up to Christmas and especially at busy weekends. If the results are positive, they will be continued and supplemented with further measures.
Christmas market - information at a glance
Duration of the event
Friday, November 22, up to and including Sunday, December 22, 2024.
The Christmas market will be closed on the Sunday of the Dead, November 24.
Opening hours
Sale of arts and crafts and Christmas items: daily from 11 am to 9 pm.
Snack and bar service:
Sunday to Thursday: 11 am to 9:30 pm
Friday and Saturday: 11 am to 10:30 pm.
Streets and squares
Münsterplatz, Bottlerplatz, Friedensplatz, Remigiusplatz, Windeckstraße, Vivatsgasse and Poststraße.
Christmas house for children
Children aged 6 to 14 can once again play, paint and do handicrafts in the “Christmas House” under pedagogical guidance and supervision. The free offer can be found for the first time at Mülheimer Platz and is available on Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 8 pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 7 pm. Further information is available at www.weihnachtshaus-bonn.de (opens in a new tab).
Punch and Judy show at the Sterntor
Every Sunday at 12 noon there is a free Punch and Judy show for children in front of the Sterntor.
Epiphany market at Remigiusplatz - information at a glance
Duration of the event
Friday, December 27, up to and including Monday, January 6, 2025. The Dreikönigsmarkt will be closed on New Year's Day, January 1, 2025
Opening hours
Sales: daily from 11 am to 9 pm.
Snack bars and pubs:
Friday and Saturday: 11 am to 11 pm,
Sunday to Thursday: 11 am to 10 pm,
New Year's Eve, December 31: 11 am to 1 am,
New Year's Day, January 1: closed,
Monday, January 6: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Information on the Internet
From Monday, November 18, the city will be advertising the market in Bonn city center and other Christmas markets in the other city districts on billboards around the city. Information - also on other Christmas events in Bonn - can be found on the city's website at https://bonn.de/weihnachtsmarkt.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)