Edinburgh Christmas Markets 2016. I’ve always been a bit indifferent to the Christmas Markets here in Edinburgh and this is for a few reasons. The first is I lived in Birmingham for almost a decade and the European/German markets there were great. Really big, lots to see, do and eat and a lot of fun. The markets here in Edinburgh at least when we moved here were really small and just not very impressive.

Another thing that bugs me is the cost of going to the Christmas Markets. It always costs us around £50-100 when we go the Christmas Markets due to the price of everything. Everything is twice as expensive as a non Christmas Market and it’s always the same kind of things available to buy.

Things have obviously changed for us now we have a child and while it’s still expensive it seemed a bit less this year and there was also a lot more to do in Santa Land which Amelia is now old enough to really enjoy. We spent around three hours at the European Markets the first time we visited this year. We had two giant hotdogs, a potato/smoked sausage thingy, a big waffle (!), a beer, bottle of water and Amelia had goes on four rides (carousel, tree maze, train and helter skelter) and we spent £65. Expensive but not too bad.

We didn’t book the grotto ahead of time so we missed that but the markets were good fun this year. I’ve written a load of comments below and also some extra bits at the bottom but if you’re happy with the Edinburgh Christmas Markets 2016 being the cash-cow it is then go check it out.

We bought a waffle with vanilla sauce from the above stand. Think it was around £4 but was pretty good

I bought Amelia one of those heart shaped biscuits you always see at these kinds of markets. My daughter’s favourite book is “The High Street” by Alice Melvin and the night before we visited I read it to her before she slept. There’s a wee bit about a candy store in it and the whole night and whole of the next morning she kept going on about the candy in the book so we had to buy her a biscuit. £5!

Loads of stands selling waffles!

The above was really delicious. Smoked sausages, potatoes and cheese from a French stand. First time I’ve seen a French stall at the markets but it is a European market. £7 for a large portion.

Usual kind of German/European market trinkets. I haven’t bought anything from here this year as we’re moving at the end of December and we don’t generally anyway as everything is so expensive. Still great for photos though.

Sweets, sweets and more sweets. A child’s dream!

Amelia had a go on the big carousel which she absolutely loved. But I was shocked at how expensive it was and for how long. The same exactly style of carousel was in Ocean Terminal recently and it cost £2.50 to have a go. At the Christmas Markets it was £4 and it seemed to last half as long.

Lots of things to buy and the big wheel. Never been on the big wheel and probably won’t for the price. £9 per adult plus extra cost for children. Ouch!

First one for us, second for Amelia. The Baileys stall was right next to the carousel so Liv went to get alcohol while Millie went round. Millie managed to eat half of her biscuit before dropping it and after she saw the candy floss she constantly asked for it. Candy floss was £3.50 a bag.

The train was really cool. I think we paid almost £15 for all three of us to go on but it was fun and worth it. Amelia loved it and it was probably the most uncomfortable thing I’ve done in years but we all enjoyed it. If you haven’t met me, well, I’m 6ft 4 and weigh 25 stone so most things are a squeeze but again the ride was cool.

Both the train and the above tree maze were in the Santa Land and this was the first time we’d visited it but Amelia had a lot of fun and we really liked the maze. All in all we spent £21 on tickets and that was for three of us to go on the train, one slide down the helter skelter and two of us in the maze.

The maze was a lot of fun because we had to run around and find letters to stamp a piece of paper. Once we found the letters we had to work out the work and give it to the elf on the way out. We then got a packet of haribo and some chocolate coins so everyone was really happy.

So that’s it for the Christmas Markets so far. We won’t go back to the food markets themselves again but I’m planning on going back one evening to take some photos of the markets at night and there’s also the Street of Light on George Street which we’ll check out. I’m busy as hell with college and work right now and I have shoots every weekend until Christmas but in a couple weeks there’s a santa run I’ve been meaning to check out for years but have always missed. We’ll also try to take Millie to a Santa’s Grotto sometime.

This year the markets do seem a lot better than they have been in the past. Still expensive but a lot of fun.