Christmas markets - Europe (German-speaking area) - Recommendations?

[tdimdad]

Many here have been to the European Christmas markets. Me and my grown-up boys are targeting them this year right before Christmas.

Time allowed: We land in Frankfurt on a Monday afternoon and continue from there on Saturday morning (i.e. four full days / five nights). Trains for the intercity transport is preferred.
Location: Open to anything between Strasbourg (FR) via Zurich (CH) to Wien (Vienna, AT). I'm primarily looking for a town with picturesque markets, an added bonus would be an easy connection to a smaller village with equally pretty markets. Alternatively, we can also do two locations, two days each. Knowing Strasbourg has the oldest still active markets, that has an appeal of it's own but I'd still rather prefer pretty and "Christmasy" than big or bold. And remember the Gluehwein.
Accommodation: We'll target apartment hotel / AirBnB / B&B style. If you have suggestions of delightful places (accessible by foot or local public transport), those are gratefully taken, thanks!

 

[VPS]

Following along as I am planning on doing some Christmas markets this year.

On the top of my list are Strasbourg, Colmar and Nuremberg but I have a short list of about 20 others from lots of googling.

 

[Katie]

Munich, Dresden, Berlin are my first thoughts. Essen's market is lovely, and not too far from Dusseldorf and its market, but Essen itself is probably not a place most tourists would want to do (heartland of German industry). There are many markets in Berlin. Cologne is also good.
Very small towns (such as Fussen, the closest town to Neuschwanstein castle) may only have markets for one weekend in December.