Seattle Christmas Market — Local services in Seattle

We were here yesterday because we were hoping to try out a traditional German Christmas market in America, and we got $5 tickets.

We took the light rail and monorail there which went pretty smoothly and then had to wait just a few minutes to get into the market.

Unfortunately, they were yelling at people to get rid of all outside food and drinks at the entrance which it did not mention on the tickets, in the email they sent, or easily found on the website before we came. My husband had just made a warm thermos of coffee to get through the cold weather, and brought water to drink and some granola bars for the kids, and did not want to throw it all out. It would’ve been nice if they would’ve made this obvious on their website or sent a reminder in the email with the tickets.

After we went to the side and asked to speak to a manager, however, he briefly looked in our bag and told us to go ahead. Since this was a strictly outdoor event, we didn’t think they would be as picky as they are for indoor concerts.

The market itself was OK, but there wasn’t really much to do after looking at the very overpriced stands. From looking around, it seemed that there was nothing under $20 even for a little 2 inch wooden ornament, which was crazy. The food and drink was also expensive. For example, a small paper cup of cider was five dollars and a small paper cup of mulled wine was $10. We bought two pretzels for six dollars each which were tasty and a cream puff for $10 which was also pretty good, but those were just a snack.

There were tables and chairs to sit in the one building near the bathrooms, but everything else was just for standing. Probably the best thing about the place was the live music with local artists singing and playing instruments in the big pyramid building. The two story carousel also looked fun for the kids, but there was a huge line to wait in as is to be expected.

One thing that was not super helpful was that once you left the fenced area, you could not come back in.

We were lucky to have dry and sunny weather, since it might have been quite slippery in the rain. They did have plastic tiles over the grass and walking areas.

We were there for about two hours and then took a look at the fountain and the center house and left. None of us thought it was that exciting, and I don’t think we would come back again.

From seeing photos, it does seem that it is quite pretty at night, but Seattle is definitely not a place I want to be for long when it...

TLDR: if you have not purchased the ticket and you are thinking of going, maybe consider changing your mind to go to a farmer's market or the Pike Place market. They are free entries with more food and shop options. Plus, Pike Place Market lit up the Christmas lights! I got the season pass before the market opened because I love Christmas market and it's close to where I live. I checked it out on the past Monday, there was not a crazy amount of people, but same as what other people's comments-everything is overpriced. We checked a couple of food booths, and everything is a minimum of $15+, and the artisan shop's price is also unreasonable... Not that many food options and the whole experience is underwhelming. We just spent 30 minutes walking around in the market and took the carousel two times (because we kinda ran out of things to do...). There are lights and maybe 1-2 photo spots, but the lights and Christmas trees are not impressive and there are tons of free lights to see elsewhere :( The only free thing in the market is the carousel. If this will take place again next year, I recommend lowering the entry price (maybe $5-10 would be more reasonable) and taking feedback from everyone's comments. I understand this is the first-timer event, and I love the concept and I see a lot of potential. I truly hope this will get better next year. There is a lot of room for improvement! I think another reason this market is being low-rated is that the entry fee sets high expectations- if it's free or $5, there probably will not be that many complaints but more appreciation for more Christmas events in the city; since the entry fee set the bar high, of course, I would have higher expectations :( I see a lot of people complaining about many food stands running out of food and the market being very crowded. I came on a weekday evening so luckily I did not deal with the chaotic situation but I will be very disappointed if this happens and on top of paying...

Listen to the one star reviews here. This is NOT the market to go to, I feel totally ripped off. I absolutely love markets and frequent a lot of them in Seattle so I have a lot to compare to. This was the worst one I've been to and one of the few to also charge an entry fee which is ridiculous for what little they provide. It's $20 just to go in! It was SO small, not a lot of vendors compared to other markets (Urban Craft Uprising, Gobble Up, Pike Place Holiday market, and Fremont Sunday market are better than this and those are all free). I expected everything to be overpriced but this was even more expensive than that. The food vendors have super long lines and there's a long line for regular tickets if you don't get season pass. There's an indoor area with lots of Xmas trees I got excited about but it's legit just seating in there and marketing tables for a bank. This is embarassing for a Xmas market, go to the other free ones and they will be better and you will actually walk away with good gifts for folks unlike here, there's not a lot of variety either in the shops. This feels like a gimmick. The only pro is that the wood huts they built for the shops are cute. Not much to see or do though, it's boring.

I regret buying a season pass and the pre ordered mug. Btw the mug is still the same price at the market compared to pre-sale and they legit don't even have a box or bag to put it in, they hand it to you to carry around plain. I spent $40 already on my season pass just to get in, talk about cheap. Please skip this, it acts elitist with the ticket price and fence around blocking the view from people outside but it does NOT deliver inside. Really disappointed, save your money and time and go to any...