Wooden huts are glittering with golden fairylights as groups of friends gather in woolly hats, warming their hands on mugs of mulled wine.
Signs written in German are dotted about - Glühwein (mulled wine), Bratwurst (grilled sausage), Kinderpunsch (non-alcoholic punch).
This isn't Germany - it's Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas Market. Organisers say it's the largest authentic German Christmas market outside the country and Austria.
Christmas markets are thought to have originated in Germany in the 14th Century, and its markets have long been admired since. But how close are the ones in the UK to that supposed traditional, real thing?
BBC News visited some to find out - and perhaps provide some inspiration for your next festive visit.
A taste of Germany... in Birmingham?
On a cold Thursday afternoon in Birmingham, we have just met Nina Adler and Till Rampe, 27-year-old German students studying for PhDs in the UK's second city.
As we walk around the Christmas market, which snakes through streets close to Birmingham New Street railway station, they're reminded of home.
They point to the wooden huts, food and drink, and the handicrafts as positive signs this is close to the traditional ideal. The chocolate-coated marshmallows at one stall impress Till, who is from a town near Frankfurt. I could swear they are from my hometown, he says.
But other aspects of Birmingham's market are further removed from the German way - like the beer. People are just connecting Germany with beer, Nina, from Berlin, says. In Germany usually you drink mulled wine. This is very typical.\div>
And as for the pop tunes blaring out of the speakers in Birmingham - like The Power of Love - you probably wouldn't hear that at markets in Germany - rather it would be Christmas music and carols, she says.
Also visiting the market with us is Katharina Karcher, an academic at the University of Birmingham. Her verdict? It's super authentic.
Having been set up in 1997 and running annually since 2001, the Birmingham market is organised by Kurt Stroscher, who is also director of Frankfurt's Christmas market.
He uses only wooden stalls and atmospheric white lights that don't blink, with the stalls built in Germany and food and drink imported from there.
It's mostly a thumbs-up for Birmingham's Christmas market when it comes to authenticity, then - but how does it compare to one in Germany?
Our visit to a Christmas market in Berlin
While many Christmas markets in the UK have been running for a couple of weeks now, in Germany they have only just opened, as is tradition, on 24 November.
Many German towns and cities have a Christmas market, with Dresden, Nuremberg and Cologne among the most famous.
These markets hold huge symbolic meaning to Germans, says Dr Karcher, who's from near Frankfurt. Along with a religious undertone, they are what get people through the dark time, she explains.
Some 800 miles away from Birmingham, the city of Berlin is home to more than 70 different, small Christmas markets. In Charlottenburg Palace in the west of the German capital, the market is bustling and filled with people of all ages when we visit on a Tuesday night.
The smell of roasted almonds, caramelised apples, chocolate-coated fruit, mulled wine and grilled sausages fills the air, as Christmas carols are performed live on a stage and children enjoy a small, sparkling Ferris wheel.
So what exactly makes a traditional German Christmas market?
Typically, they may have large tents housing entire restaurants or bars, stalls selling a range of handmade gifts, mulled wine for those who drink alcohol, and a location in a square in the Altstadt, the old part of a town.
To Magrita, 66, who is enjoying a mulled wine with her husband Dietmar, 69, German Christmas markets are characterised by their unique atmosphere: The colourful lights and Christmas decorations make it so special.
Despite the heightened security measures put in place after past attacks, the atmosphere at the market remains warm and inviting.
Visitors from Birmingham, as well as locals in Berlin, continue to celebrate the festive spirit, with the overall sentiment leaning towards a strong appreciation for both the Birmingham and Berlin Christmas markets.
