Festive Markets - The Hosts of Christmas Present.

Generally, the French go at Christmas less hard than elsewhere it is celebrated. They don't post a shopping day countdown, or fall out of bars wearing reindeer horns from mid-November. France (mercifully) lacks the pub culture that brings the English "together". Nor, might I add, do they have TV programs of a necessary standard to keep people at home on the sofa. I cannot think of a single French TV show, where a Christmas Special wouldn't be acutely painful.

Instead, the French go out and do stuff. They have a great outdoors and they use it. Illuminations are front and center - pretty and well thought out - in every town and village, rather than the last line in the burrough's budget, which in some areas of the UK, stretches no further than a fizzy neon santa, strapped to a lampost like a frat house prank.

The Christmas markets of France is where the experience get really rich. I am trying so hard to stay away from comparisons, they are so unkind and pointless - but I hold hard to this festive suggestion. Christmas markets in the UK just seem like the same old mutton dressed as tinselled lamb. Where sausage rolls seasonally shift into bite-size "Pork Wellingtons". Terrifying trinkets and metallic, mulled wine, served by some bloke in a donkey jacket and a Santa hat. OK, I didn't try that hard.

The most famous (and therefore most heaving) are in France's middle east, on the oft-swapped border with Germany. Strasbourg, Ribeauvillé and Obernai, all with a dazzling homage to Christmas that would make the shepherds reach for their sunglasses. The area is already prosperous with product, and this seasonal ritual so warmly embraced, brings out the bucolic best of it. Bredle cookies, tartes flambées and spiced gingerbread. The bakers, chocolatiers and cheesemongers are out in force, like gourmet elves, serving slices of truffled brie, steaming choucroute and hot apple juice.

We will visit our nearby town of Sarlat-la-Canéda this year, where their market lasts for a fabulously full four weeks, and being in the heart of the Périgord, it features food heavily. They have an entire town square "La Place Bistronomique", where foie gras shakes hands with the first truffles of the season, chestnuts roast and all is washed down with sweet wines from Monbazillac and cinamon-warmed, hearty reds. The illuminations are heavenly and it's all about family. Probably bucket-list required - yes - it's that good.

OK, it must be time for a "Top Ten" - who doesn't love that? We will start off in the City of Lights, which has no fewer than 14 "official" Christmas markets..the best one to visit?

Ten - Paris - Notre Dame Market - Nestled between the recently restored Cathedral and the charming Place René Viviani, home of the oldest tree in Paris. It's bright, bustling and just really well done, with the best backdrop outside of Bethlehem.

Nine - Strasbourg. Often called the Capital of Christmas, with 300 cute chalets, spilling bratwursts and wurtzels and knacks for snacks. Oh.. and a light-filled fir tree as big as you think they could possibly grow. I maybe could have listed it higher, but it is so enormously sprawling and so busy with people, it can get bewlindering, even for seasonal die-hards like me.

Eight - Reims. I did 2 years at business school here, so it has some good memories for me. Another magical Cathedral backdrop (many Kings of France were crowned in Reims). Its a great one, this and being Reims, Champagne features finely. Good food, good times, and each night, the Cathedral is the stage for a dazzling light and sound show.

Seven - Colmar. Back to the Franco-German border again, to a town that takes Christmas very seriously. It has six markets at this time of year, feeling that much more "authentic", because of Colmar's incredibly bucolic architecture. The festive food stalls in the Place Jeanne D'Arc are a must spend.

Six - Nantes. 900 km West of Alsace, but well worth the drive, just for the waffles. Another reason it gets a mention is because it has a square focus on the grey side of Christmas - the landfill issue... "The Other Market" is a space (still with a festive feel) that celebrates thrift, recycling, sustainability and fair trade products. Christmas with an eco-friendly Twistmas.

Five - Lille. Not my favorite place, the French North East, but I am making a seasonal exception for the Lille markets of Yuletide. They must spend a fortune on lights here, and I am sure that the giant industrial wind turbines that more than dot the countryside here, must be spinning 24/7. Place Rihour is where it is mostly at, and the market here is iconic, and the ferris wheel is to die for.

Four - Lyon. A drive due South will eventually get you to the capital of the Rhône. This one is famed not for its gingerbread and warm wine (the wine being too good to heat up) but for the "festival of light", with no fewer than 32 displays of "son et lumière" scattered across the City, you can see it from Mars. It is truly a sight to behold.

Three - Mulhouse. No. It's pronounced Moo-Looos. More from the Alsace region, and the adorable architecture in a sort of Tudor Toytown style. La Place de la Réunion lights up with determination and hosts the main market. I like the food here. It's authentic and very much a mouthful of Christmas.

Two - Amiens. I have spent a bit of time here also. Good vibes, Amiens, all romance and history. This is a good walk, made better. It stretches over 2 km, and has 130 + chalets of goodies. It is perhaps the giftiest of the markets featured here. It also features really amazing street performers. Stiltwalkers, fire eaters and dress up drama. It's avant-gardey for Christmas, but decidedly different. The Cathedral here, becomes other-worldy with the Chroma-sound light show, which would make Jean Michel Jarre blush. You tell me..

One - The top spot has to go to the town of Riquewihr. Its a medieval town dedicated to wine. The finest wines of Alsace live here. It's a bit lesser known, but no less of a firytale than Christmas deserves. Narrow streets and half-timbered homes, connecting cute courtyards which get made over at Christmas like you have never seen afore. It's not a massive market, hosting just a hundred stalls, but you could drop your bus fare at each and every one. It also boasts food and wine workshops that are really worthwhile.

One thing they could all do more of, is a good old Christmas Carol. They really don't go for it over here. Neither do they really send Christmas cards, and you will not find a crimbo cracker to pull for love nor money. Mistletoe is symbolic of good luck rather than for kissing under, and many families knot the ends of the tablecloth to stop the devil from getting under the Christmas dinner. But with this array of Christmas markets, I can live with that.

Vive la différence..