Christmas markets in Berlin

We begin our tour of festive Berlin in the far west of the city. The traditional Christmas market in Spandau's old town center now looks back on a 43-year history. Every Wednesday Santa takes to the stage here to listen to children's wishes and sing along with them.

The Baroque palace in the district of the same name will serve for the tenth year as a magical setting for a Christmas market that focuses more on quality than quantity. It's an attractive combination of culinary delights and consumerism, with the palace and its park as a backdrop. In the new wing of the palace there will be special tours focusing on the topic of Christmas at court.

Berlin's Botancal Garden, in the southwestern district of Dahlem, is presenting a "Christmas Garden" for the very first time this year, inspired by "Christmas in Kew" in the UK. Every evening, more than a million points of light, 23 illumination installations and 3,000 strings of fairy lights will transform the gardens into a brightly colored fairyland.

In the heart of Berlin, on the Kurfürstendamm boulevard, the Christmas market at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, in memory of the victims of the recent terror attack, will remain open until New Year's Day, 2017.

You'll find this over-sized nutcracker on Tauentzienstrasse, which is an extension of the boulevard known as Kurfürstendamm. He's there for all passers-by to see during Advent and serves as a guidepost for stressed Christmas shoppers. Most will find what they are looking for in "KaDeWe", the luxury department store right next to him.

The "Winter World" at Potsdamer Platz is always first to get going – it opens in early November and remains open until New Year's Day. One of the attractions here is what the organizers claim is Europe's biggest mobile snow tubing run. After slushy experiences in the past, it now relies on a synthetic surface.

This boulevard is broad, and in winter, it's quite bright at night. Every year the lime trees that give Unter den Linden its name are illuminated. You might spend some money in shops on both sides of the street, but the real attraction is a stroll through the Christmassy sea of lights.

This boulevard is broad, and in winter, it's quite bright at night. Every year the lime trees that give Unter den Linden its name are illuminated. You might spend some money in shops on both sides of the street, but the real attraction is a stroll through the Christmassy sea of lights.

This historically listed former brewery complex in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin is a popular venue for entertainment and the arts all year long, with its theatre, cinemas and concert halls. In the winter, the Lucia Christmas market, inspired by Nordic traditions, adds a Scandinavian touch - with rides for the kids, handicrafts and tasty Swedish ginger biscuits.

Mulled wine, roasted almonds and handicrafts are also on sale outside the Rotes Rathaus, Berlin's town hall. In addition, the Christmas market at the Rotes Rathaus offers ice skating - on a circular temporary ice rink around the Neptunbrunnen, a fountain dating back to 1891.