market – Crouch Family On Tour

I first visited the Einsiedeln Christmas Market nine years ago while my husband and daughter were in the UK meeting our newborn grandson. Since then I’ve wanted to take my family there. Unfortunately due to my work schedule, ice hockey and the fact that the market is only on for around ten days we hadn’t managed it until this year.

This year it is on from Friday 28th November to Monday 8th December.

https://s70e4aeea355bacce.jimcontent.com/download/version/1759862086/module/14459084189/name/EinsiedlerWeihnachtsmarkt_2025.pdf

When I went last time I took the train to get there, as this is recommended due to limited parking. I met a friend there who drove me home. This time we decided to drive and get there for when the market opened.

We arrived in Einsiedeln at 10:40am as the market was due to open at 11:00am. I drove towards the car park I knew near the monastery but unfortunately it was only open for stall holders. I drove towards town and followed to parking signs to the car park under Migros. It was one that uses Parking Pay so we could use our card. The car park is undergoing renovations so it was a bit tricky getting in, but when we made it to the lower floor there were plenty of spaces to park. We wrapped up warm and, after a quick toilet stop, we headed off the find the market.

The market stretches from just across the road from the station all the way up to the monastery. It’s a lovely setting, especially as there had been recent snow, making the background pretty.

We started at the bottom and wandered slowly up towards the top end. The stalls are not crowded together, like some markets, which means, even when it’s busier, there is still room to move around.

There were lots of stalls selling food but also lots of different craft stalls with handmade products.

Here are a few of the stalls selling homemade or Christmas products.

Bethany loved these candles especially when she spotted one for ZSC Lions.

Bethany was most excited to find a stall selling gluten free bakery products – chocolate muffins, cinnamon swirls and vanilla swirls.

Bethany chose the cinnamon swirl and I had a gluhwein 🍷She said the cinnamon swirl tasted just like a ‘normal’ one. This was the first one she had eaten since her coeliac diagnosis five years ago. She was very happy! The gluhwein was also good and the cheapest I found in the whole market.

Bethany was even more excited to find gluten free ‘magenbrot’ on the stand next door. She had been looking for it at Uster Märt the day before.

In the information about the market I had seen that there was a cafe that had its own coffee roasterie. I knew this would interest Michael so we made a quick stop so he could grab a coffee and a cookie.

I had also seen information about the Gingerbread museum (Lebkuchenmuseum) which I thought would be interesting. It was on a street next to the market and was well signposted.

The museum was just a few rooms in the back of the gingerbread shop. It had lots of old equipment and moulds for making gingerbread. Unfortunately they didn’t have any gluten free gingerbread.

We also took a walk up to the Diorama, which shows the nativity story in figures. I went in last time but Michael and Bethany weren’t interested.

There are some lovely houses in Einsiedeln.

As the weather had brightened up we took a final wander up to the top of the market and then made our way back to the car.

It was starting to get busier as we headed back to the car, but it was still ok moving around.

Once we got away from the market area, the streets were really quiet.

We were really surprised to find that parking at Migros for two hours cost us CHF1.50!

Here are a few more photos of some of the other stands and shops we saw.

I hope this gives you an idea about the look and the feel of the Einsiedeln Christmas Market. It is definitely one that I will visit again in the future.

Around a week ago, I saw information in a newsletter about events going on in November and the carrot market piqued my interest. I had heard of the Bern Onion Market but never this carrot market. As I had the day off I decided to check it out with my husband.

The information on the website recommended travelling to Aarau by train, as they expect around 30,000 visitors to the market. We, however, decided to drive as it would be much quicker. On the Swiss Family Fun website, I had read the recommendation to park at the station, so this was where we aimed to park.

In arrival in Aarau, we started to see signs for the Rüeblimärt parking, so decided to follow these. They lead us round the outside of the town to an open parking area, where people were waiting to show us where to park. We were surprised that the car park still had a lot of space. We had passed a couple of other car parks that were full or almost full on route. There was no charge for parking at this official car park.

Once we left the car park, it wasn’t really obvious which direction we should walk, we just followed other people who were leaving the car park. It was really quiet which surprised us.

Autumn trees on the way from the car park

We started seeing a few more people walking in the same direction and also people walking in the opposite direction with shopping bags. After a walk up a steep hill we arrived at the start of the market.

An inflatable carrot hanging out of the window at the end of the market

We were amazed how busy the market area was. Where had all these people come from?

We very slowly made our way along the main row of stalls, looking at the displays of carrots and other vegetables.

Some stalls had artistic displays. There was an award for the best decorated stall which could be voted for on the website.

We managed to make our way up to the end of the main row of stalls, but hadn’t found the stall selling gluten free bakery products that we were looking for.

I checked on the website to see if I could find out where the stall was. The map also showed the areas where the other stalls were.

I eventually managed to locate the stall we were looking for and luckily it wasn’t far from where we were. After looking at the range of bakery products we bought 2 small bread rolls and a bag of mini gugelhupf. Our daughter was very pleased when I sent a picture to her.

There were lots of carrot based food products available but also lots of other articles with carrots on them. We tasted a carrot pesto and a carrot and apricot chutney that was made by a local women’s group, who had their own stall.

Selection of photos of some of the food products which were available

We made our way back down the main row and came across angel wings made out of sliced carrot.

We chose to walk down the parallel street to see the other row of stalls. It was much quieter in this street.

When we got to the bottom of the street we decided to have a bit of a wander around Aarau old town, having heard that it was really pretty.

We came across lots of lovely buildings with decorated facades and the undersides of the roofs. It was amazing how quiet the town was away from the market. You would not have know that there were so many people just round the corner.

We came across the church where they were going to be playing ‘carrot music’. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long enough to listen.

On the way back towards the car we even found a cafe which had carrots hanging outside which had a special carrot based menu for the day.

Arriving back at the car park, we were surprised to see that there was still space in the car park, but around 20 coaches had arrived. That explains where a lot of the people had come from.

Photo taken at the same point as the one when we arrived

The trip home was also really easy with no traffic.

The Rüeblimärt was definitely worth a visit but having seen it we probably wouldn’t go again, unless we had visitors who wanted to visit. I would however go back to have a better look round Aarau old town.

I would suggest not going to the market with a pushchair, wheelchair or dogs as it was so busy. Also expect not to be able to move quickly, as people were constantly stopping to look at stalls in the middle of the walkway. It was interesting to see the number of varieties of carrots that were available and the interesting ways that carrots had been used in other products.

From a planning point of view, there were toilets in various places in the market and they could easily be found on the map.

Here is the link to the website from 2025:

https://www.rueblimaert-aarau.ch/?fbclid=IwVERFWANqrbxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHrWkjOM3GcFrxiU7IIBgYXxbbq-4bZMtDl7tJd_ddvkBg5jbeVS5bcKyQWAR_aem_PlDqCOu-feGmXuhOU7XnnQ

Tag: market

Einsiedeln Christmas Market – Saturday 29th November 2025

Rüeblimärt Aarau – The annual carrot market – 5th November 2025