Christmas Village In Baltimore

3 Stars may be pushing it just a little. I am glad that I went and checked it out, saw the pretty lights, heard a nice performance by a choir. But it wasn’t really worth the $ 5 admission into the main tent. Even though that’s an all-​season pass, I wouldn’t see a reason to come more than once. I just thought that there would be more of, well, everything. More food, more beer, more gifts, but there wasn’t. My group of three enjoyed walking around, I had a mulled wine, which I had never tried before and it was pretty good. But we got bored pretty quickly and only stayed around because we wanted to see how the lights looked after dark. My friend did score a jar of bacon jam for her bacon-​obsessed sister, so that part was worth it.

So sad to have to give the Christmas Village such a low rating, but it really was a letdown. I would say my friend and I spent no more than half an hour here, and we even bought the $ 5 tickets to go inside the tent.
There was music, a biergarten, and some vendors, but everything seemed quite lackluster. Once I realized I could have purchased any of the merchandise from a World Market or German Bakery for half the price and twice the quality, I was through with this experience.
I was shocked to see that they were charging admission inside the tent — there is no good reason to do so when every other Christmas Village I have seen is free of charge and far better than this.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Over-​promised, under-​delivered.
The only thing Christkindlmarkt about this thing was the one shop at the end of the tent hall. Which, to be honest was mostly loaded with stuff you could pick up cheaper at Valley View Farms during their holiday season. At least three of the outdoors vendors were seeking nearly identical merch. Sad.

Would give half a star if possible. This is the saddest excuse of a Christmas market you could imagine. There’s a small section that is outdoors and then a larger heated tent with more vendors — the tent portion is free admission on weekdays and $ 5 admission on weekends (tip: there’s a $ 2 off coupon on the website). We came on the weekend and I regret spending the money.
The vendors are nearly all terrible, selling cheap jewelry, scarves, decorations, etc that look like they came straight from a factory in China. And there was a Bath Fitter stand, I mean come on. The best stand was honestly the pickle stand (DC Dills), with interesting flavors like Sweet Onion and Sriracha. The food stands are a huge letdown. The Gluhwein is mediocre, the hot chocolate tastes like store-​bought Swiss Miss, and the bratwurst are nothing special and overpriced.
Almost nothing about this Christmas Village feels like Christmas. Sure there are decorations, but even the Christmas tree is fake (and a poor imitation too) and the country music playing in the tent doesn’t exactly make it feel like the holidays.
This event needs a major overhauling, or it needs to be honest and not bill itself as German or a Christmas Village. Charging admission for such a poorly executed event is bollocks.

I hate that I have to give Christmas Village such a poor rating. They advertise it as being german culture but i did not see anything that was different. Small amount of vendors selling trinkets way over priced. Very poor options for food. Waffles for $ 5 dollars that was flatter than pancakes. The best was vendor was the folks selling flavored popcorn! They where customer orient and helpful.
I say skip this Baltimore Holiday attaction. I believe it cost $ 1. It not worth the money or the time.

I have been coming every year since it opened. I loved all the different booths inside and out. The first 2 years were amazing then it has gone down hill ever since. Now you find booths that are from stores from the inner harbor. This year there is less vendors to buy from. Also I can buy German food at any grocery store so when I walked into the tent and looked to my left a small little store.
I spoke Nancy the Coordinator of the Village Market. I asked what happened to all the small vendors. She was rude, and would not even let me finish a sentence. If this is how she runs stuff whether her first year doing it, I am sorry this is poor costumer service. She could careless. Then the lady from the Information Baltimore said well you can buy shirts from us here. I am sorry if I wanted to buy shirts I would walk 200 ft. All both could say it was way better than before. First if I was in her shoes I would listen and take ideas what customers want to see. I would not recommend this place to anyone and I probably will never go back. It is a shame Philly has it right. To bad Baltimore does not care.

it was ok. booths and plenty of ideas for Xmas. Vendors did seem rather uninterested in interacting with customers. cute food court area, and cute little area in back full of detailed unique items that looked hand made and of course christmasssssy.

Do you need a vacation break? You ready to try some authentic German foods? Well we have the perfect destination for you. Why yes the Christmas Village is the answer. From German foods and beers you will feel like you have transported away.
So many vendors to shop and get that unique gifts. This was my first visit to the village. I had fun walking around and sampling some of their wares.
Ok Christmas Village is a big heated tent with various vendors selling German items.
It really is a must to check out.
Where can you find cheese bacon on a stick? brataple? Banana split popcorn? Yes the Christmas Village.

May be worth doing if you’re already in Baltimore for something else. Otherwise, a pale shadow of the real German Christkindlmarkts; I’ve been to about six of them, the best being the one in Augsburg. There just wasn’t all that much there. The Website makes it look like a vast display of vendors, but there are really few.

We went on the Dollar Day weekend at the Inner Harbor. Thank goodness because I would’ve been very mad if I spent $ 5. It was a small tent with vendors charging for over priced goods. I bought a hot chocolate and it cost me $ 4. The best deal there was a bottle of Gluehwein for $ 15 but you have to pay cash because they don’t take credit cards there. You could also purchase a cup of Gluehwein in a keepsake cup for $ 7 but the bottle is a much better deal. There was a group of children inside the tent singing which was nice but there wasn’t enough tables/​chairs to sit and enjoy so couldn’t even enjoy that. Will never go back.

We made the trip with some family while we were visiting for Thanksgiving. It was very underwhelming. The highlight of the trip was the balloon animal maker. The food was bland and not very «German» as they pitched. The prices weren’t unreasonable but for the quality it was disappointing. There were more peddlers of alpaca based wares then anything Christmas. We didn’t have to pay an admission fee, and I am thankful for that. This wasn’t at all worth paying to walk through. It was like a mix between a poorly organized New England Fair and some people selling over priced ornaments. Granted, there was a very nice small section of Christmas themed things in one area, but it was higher priced than what I’d expect.

I came here this past weekend (first weekend after Thanksgiving) hoping that it would be at least worth the time. Oh dear. There were a few huts surrounding a juggler (who was very good), two or 3 food huts serving overpriced food ($ 7 for two tiny latkes? Are you kidding?) and then a larger tent housing more food vendors and craft booths. Toward the very back of that tent, there was an area containing the German holiday items. Some of the ornaments and the mantle decoration pieces were very beautiful. I preferred the wooden ornaments to the glitter and there were some very special pieces if one was looking for such.
It’s extremely unfortunate that quite a few booths were empty, there was a Bath Fitter vendor (really? At a Christmas Market?) and there was a singer belting out Christmas songs (she seemed very happy with the venue) in a tiny space.
Overall, it was what I expected but not what I had hoped for. It was not very «Christmasy» but with any luck, this market will grow and actually host true holiday and craft vendors.
I went when the admission was free, I think that is a good plan if you want to experience this.

I came this past weekend which was part of the special «Dollar Days» event so admission was only $ 1 for a holiday pass (that can also be used at later weekends). I got there pretty early so there weren’t too many people. There are outdoor kiosks that you can visit without paying money, which were cute. The pavilion requiring admission had a lot of variety of booths selling ornaments, handmade soaps, Tibetan goods, puzzles, homemade fudge, pretzels, sausages, jewelry, etc. My favorite was Kathe Wohlfahrt which had very intricate and awesome goods (a bit out of my price range though).
I wouldn’t pay $ 5 to visit, but for $ 1 it wasn’t bad and I enjoyed the holiday cheer. Come on the weekday when admission is free!

I visited the Christmas Village the Friday evening after Thanksgiving. After reading the two reviews here, I very nearly canceled the trip, but I’m glad I didn’t. That said, I probably would not be writing a positive review if I’d had to pay $ 5 to enter. Entry is free opening weekend and weekdays. The fee is only on weekends. There are some really nice booths to visit. Kathe Wohlfahrt, Alpaca Girl and Game Puzzles were standouts. The Game Puzzles staff were friendly, knowledgeable and not pushy. I didn’t eat anything, but there were a number of German food options: schnitzel, bratwurst, knockwurst, assorted sausages, lebkuchen and more. There’s a bier garten in the center of the indoor portion. German beer and gluhwein are available. The wine was tasty and served in a pretty ceramic mug that’s yours to keep and enjoy as you stroll through the shops. There were some odd outliers that didn’t seem to belong: kitchen remodeling, gutter guards and a churro stand along with a few typical Baltimore flea market stands. It would have been nice to have the large tree and some of the additional lights lit and some Christmas music playing, but I believe the tree lighting was scheduled for the night after my visit. Worth a trip, but try to go on a week day to avoid the entry fee.

Not good. Biggest positive was a cold German beer. $ 6. There are no food booths. It’s like one booth. Then there is a popcorn booth. The food is overpriced .
Not impressed. Very small flea market type area. Also overpriced. Took 5 mins to walk through.
Disappointed.

We went to this Christmas Market expecting something that resembled a Christmas holiday market with seasonal food and crafts.
What we found was that we needed to pay $ 5 per person just to enter, and it was a small flea market. It is billed as a German Christmas market. There were no German foods (except dubious sausage and beer). No christmas baked goods from anywhere, no other food of any type. A couple of stalls had christmas ornaments, but mostly it was stuff you could find at any flea market, without the entry price and high cost.
There was one «German» store onsite, with high-​priced traditional German items (nutcrackers …). They were priced higher than in a christmas store in town, and were lower quality. We think this store was the primary sponsor for the market.
It took us 15 minutes to walk through the entire market and leave. Since we hadn’t eaten, because we were expecting to snack at the market, we ended up going into the inner harbor for food. So it wasn’t a total waste.