{"id":221565,"date":"2026-06-17T19:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/221565\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T19:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:12:22","slug":"things-to-do-at-christkindlmarkt-christmas-market-in-bethlehem-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/221565\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to Do at Christkindlmarkt Christmas Market in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-element-index=\"0\">The holiday season often means\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/21796404\/12-days-of-christmas-explained\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">carols<\/a>, ringing bells, warm, spiced beverages, and\u2014the less accessible, but equally iconic\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thrillist.com\/travel\/nation\/best-christmas-markets-in-the-world\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christmas markets<\/a> that twinkle across Germany and the rest of Europe each year. For those not planning a trek to another continent this year, your seasonal itinerary can still include a visit to a excellent Christmas market in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"1\">The three-decade-old, German-inspired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.steelstacks.org\/festivals\/christkindlmarkt-bethlehem\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem<\/a> takes place each year in a town with its own Germanic roots and an identity built around Christmas that stretches back across three centuries. On Christmas Eve 1741, German Moravian bishop Nicolaus Zinzendorf christened the city Bethlehem. In 1747, it became the <a href=\"https:\/\/bexar-tx.tamu.edu\/homehort\/archives-of-weekly-articles-davids-plant-of-the-week\/a-little-bit-of-history-about-christmas-trees\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">first US city<\/a> to sport a decorated Christmas tree. It\u2019s no surprise then that the popular Christmas destination adopted the nickname <a href=\"https:\/\/bethlehempa.org\/things-to-do\/christmas-in-bethlehem\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christmas City USA<\/a> in December 1937.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"2\">Revelers flock to Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem each year for festive holiday shopping including handmade arts, crafts, gifts, and authentic Bavarian decorations from lauded German ornament manufacturer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaethe-wohlfahrt.com\/en\/home\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">K\u00e4the Wohlfahrt<\/a>. For 22 years, K\u00e4the Wohlfahrt has set up shop at the market with handmade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.german-way.com\/history-and-culture\/holidays-and-celebrations\/christmas\/christmas-candle-arch-der-schwibbogen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">schwibbogens<\/a>, nutcrackers, and glass ornaments.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"3\">While it\u2019s easy to spend a fortnight\u2019s wages on unique ornaments, you can save some time and cash by opting for special performances (and an appearance by St. Nicholas), or lacing up for ice skating at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christmascity.org\/ice-rink-at-steelstacks-faq\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Ice Rink at SteelStacks<\/a>. After working up an appetite, take a break with strudel, bratwurst, Christmas cookies, and more from local food vendors.<\/p>\n<p>Drive time:<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"5\">1 hour, 50 minutes from NYC<br \/>1 hour, 20 minutes from Philadelphia<br \/>4 hours, 50 minutes from Boston<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"6\">Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem takes place at the PNC Plaza at the 10-acre\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.steelstacks.org\/about\/what-is-steelstacks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SteelStacks<\/a> campus and runs weekends from November 15 through December 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The holiday season often means\u00a0carols, ringing bells, warm, spiced beverages, and\u2014the less accessible, but equally iconic\u2014Christmas markets that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,23034,5675,3734,96497,237,69,96498,96499,76396,75144,6769,96496,4491],"class_list":["post-221565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-boston","tag-global","tag-holidays","tag-kemi-ibeh","tag-new-york","tag-philadelphia","tag-reasons-to-drive","tag-regional-travel","tag-road-trips","tag-small-towns","tag-standard","tag-thrillist-editorial","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}