A Christmas markets weekend in Strasbourg

Begin under the Grand Sapin de Noël, the towering fir raised each Advent in Place Kléber, the city's largest square, ringed with stalls of ornaments, mulled wine and Alsatian crafts. Follow the smaller market clusters to the cathedral, whose single spire was for centuries the tallest building in the Christian world. Step inside at midday, when the astronomical clock's procession of the apostles runs, then come back to Place de la Cathédrale at dusk as the stalls light up and the floodlit façade rises into the dark.

Its medieval and Renaissance buildings hold original sculptures from the cathedral façade alongside Rhenish and Alsatian art: a quiet, intimate half-hour before you head back out to the lights.

In Advent its lanes and waterside paths are strung with lights and quieter than the main squares, made for wandering as a pair. Follow the water to the Ponts Couverts and their medieval watchtowers, then climb onto the Barrage Vauban, a 17th-century fortified dam whose rooftop terrace looks back over the old town's roofs to the cathedral spire.

Its lavish period rooms make even a short visit feel grand.

Place Broglie, one of the city's grandest formal squares, was the Christkindelsmärik's long-standing home before the market spread to Place Kléber and the cathedral. Its stalls still lean toward Alsatian food and gifts, and the crowds run a little lighter: the spot for a final vin chaud and the last souvenirs. Then let the morning go unstructured, following the lights and the smell of roasting chestnuts through whichever lanes you haven't walked yet.

The Musée Alsacien fills a row of connected old town houses with traditional Alsatian domestic life, crafts and costume, a small, warm museum for an easy last morning.