Christmas Village In Philadelphia

Admit it: Some people are hard to buy gifts for, I’m not one of them. Usually I will drop hints here or there about some stuff I’m eyeing. I’m never disappointed by any gift. Anyway, you will find some winners at the Christmas Village In Philadelphia. Trust me its guarantee to please anyone, and everyone, on your list. Even those hard-​to-​please.
Perhaps Christmas Village is the most fun reason to ship out the wallet, after all, the most wonderful time of year, deserves the most wonderful gifts. Also, the promise of good time, wining and dining, are some ways to get you to go to the pop-​up traditional German Christmas Market at Love park. You don’t have to go all the way to Germany to experience Christmas markets. Visiting this Christmas Village is your chance to take a bite out of the German Bratwursts, or warm up with some mulled wine, or hot chocolate, as you you shop around more than 60 booths this holiday season.
Just go and jump-​start your holiday gifts, or get your last-​minute gifts.
Four Unilocal

It’s so-​so. We came on a Saturday night and it was incredibly crowded. It made it difficult to navigate through the village. The lines for food and beverages was crazy at most places — we ended up having Belgian frites, which is similar to Dutch frites. Being Dutch, I was obviously excited! I have to say it was pretty good!
Overall, we had a good time walking through the village even though it was crowded. There weren’t any arts and crafts we particularly liked. They did have beautiful trees for sale! Parking was easy at the LOVE Park garage.

Love walking around the Christmas village every year! The big lit-​up tree and all the cute little stands make for a nice holiday activity. I loved that chaddsford winery was offering mulled wine and you got to keep the mugs! Last night there were professional dancers performing in the middle of the village which was very cool to watch. Definately a must visit attraction in Philadelphia during the holiday season!

I live near Harrisburg PA so it’s a day trip to get here so I’ll be a little more picky.
There were lots of unique vendors there. Of course you had the stuff that’s made in China. But there were some really neat hand craft items from around the world. There were some coats made in Nepal that were knit from yaks hair that seemed to be incredibly warm and they were quite reasonable at about $ 90.00. They came in a variety of sized from small to XXXL. For a hand made heavy warm coat? That’s not bad. Some of the stuff was overly expensive. I can get a MILKA candy bar at Wegmans for 1.99 whereas here it was an impressive $ 5.00!!!
The draw is the Kathe Wohlfahrt stand. I was disappointed as it looked a lot like the Christmas stuff you would see at normal Christmas shops. They did have the Schweboggens (arches), the pyramids and the nutcrackers that are stunning. The prices were as expected. I was disappointed because they didn’t have the Erzgebirge figures and the hand hewn Tree ornaments that I was looking for. I’ve been to the original in Rothenburg and there were lots of similar things. I guess you can only get so much into these stands.
The food was great but I just wish they wouldn’t have put all the crap on the stuff automatically. I got the schnitzel (it was the real schnitzel pork cut too) sandwich and the potato pancake. They automatically put both apple sauce (the way I eat them) and the sour cream on the pancake. The schnitzel sandwich automatically had a curry sauce, onions and pickles. I had to make them scrape it off. That’s not how I eat my german food. LOL
They had several wine stands where you can get the tradition mulled wines in the festive commemorative little mugs that are super familiar in all the Christmas markets in Germany.
Seating was fine and set up just as you would see it in Germany though Americans still try to go off in their own corners to eat. Overseas, people would sit right beside you even if there were 20 empty tables nearby.
My biggest complaint was they didn’t have people keeping up with the trash. It was pretty gross at the outer perimeters and I wish they would wipe the tables more often. They also seemed to have gotten lazy and the doors to close the cute little huts they just dropped down and leaned in the front of the huts. If they would do it the German way and have the lean up doors on hinges, you’d have an automatic awning. But I’m really nit picking on that. It just looked sloppy. Germans are pretty anal about making sure everything looks good. It kind of ticked me off that there was a street vendor that managed to get inside to sell the usual crap you see on the streets. I gave a review of 4 because of the trash and the really dirty tables.
FOR THE HANDICAPPED: For the most part you can get to all levels in a wheelchair though there were a couple stands that were on the steps. You kind of had to weave in and out of the market and there was one ramp (part of the original plaza) that gave you access to pretty much everything at the different levels. The parking garage right below the plaza did not have elevators so you had to go up and down the entrance and exit ramps.
PARKING: Parking was a breeze. There’s a parking garage right below the plaza, though pricey. I paid $ 11.00 for about 2 hours. If you stop at the info stand they’ll give you a $ 2.00 off stamp. If you’re facing the LOVE sign it’s on the left.
We got there at 11:30 am and left around 2:00. The market opens at 11:00 on Sunday. It was pretty crowded by the time we left. But if you get there early I think you’ll be OK. The lines for pictures with Santa or a picture in front of the philly «LOVE» sign and tree got really long really fast.
I was impressed for the most part. I got to hear some German which was wonderful. Philly kept it traditional with their own little stamp on it.

Nothing gets me in the Christmas spirit quicker than the merriment at the Christmas Village. For one month a year, the normal hellhole that is Love Park is transformed into a Bavarian Winter Wonderland replete with wooden vendor booths, mulled wine, and the occasional choir performance. Everyone is nice at the Christmas village, also not typical of Philly, and the atmosphere can’t be beat.
If you are looking for unique gift ideas the village just may have what you are looking for. The vendors sell items ranging from scarves, to lego type toys and everything in between.
I am partial to the mulled wine vendor booth myself. Chaddsford Winery offers two of their favorite wines warmed and spiced to perfection in a fancy Christmas mug for $ 7. Everyone of age I saw was nipping on one of these bad boys, which now that I think of it could account for the jovial spirit, but whatever! It works!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
With the vendors all selling,
Crafts and delicious smelling,
Pastries and knitted winter gear.
It’s the hap happiest season of all,
With those bacon flavored cheeses,
And sculptures of baby Jesus,
It’s way better than the mall.
There’ll be platters for hosting,
And mulled wine for toasting,
And carolling out in front of the fountain,
There’ll be artwork for buying,
And you basically should probably go.
The Christmas market is always a favorite activity of mine during the holiday season. Delicious snacks, holiday trinkets, and great gifts. You just can’t go wrong! I’ve taken everyone from out of towners to my mom here. Check it out!

A little underwhelmed by our visit this weekend. We enjoyed perusing the stands, but there were gnats all over the place. We also stopped to get some spiced wine and apple wine, but we’re not great at all.
I’ll probably go to one of the other Christmas attractions next time.