@kdgregory @cstross It’s not just because Edinburgh has a particularly shit Christmas market, part of which pretends to be German. The nearest the UK has to the German experience is probably Manchester.
If you’ve never experienced the real thing, and you don’t mind crowds, Cologne has particularly magical Christmas markets. Nuremberg is the big touristy one. Berlin has massive diversity, and Dortmund is absolutely the typical market, with the biggest tree. Some places have mediaeval markets.