For a romantic – if chilly – setting, and some unusual ideas for festive season gifts, it’s hard to beat the Christmas markets in some of the most historic and attractive cities of northern Europe, writes Jim Walsh.

This year, at a time when Brits are having to count their yuletide pennies as the recession sets in, packages based on these markets are great value, with leading bus and coach operators like National Express looking to cash in.

National Express – which runs regional bus routes across the West Midlands – also runs regular services to Brussels, Ghent, Lille, Antwerp and Cologne – and travellers to Flemish Belgium and Netherlands will be able to join in celebrations throughout the region for Sinta Klaas as the present-bringer around St Nicholas’s Day on December 5.

Lead-in single fares for Eurolines services start at £15 for Brussels and Lille, £23 for Ghent, £33 for Antwerp and £49 to Cologne.

Accommodation provided by Octopus Travel through the Eurolines website, from hostels to five-star hotels. Hotel double rooms (for two sharing) start at £52.25 for Brussels, £58.50 for Cologne and £69.25 for Lille.

DFDS Seaways offers four-night voyages to the Christmas markets in picture-postcard Bruges from Newcastle on December 7 and 13 from £197. The package includes two nights on-board ship in an en suite cabin, two nights bed and breakfast in a three-star Novotel hotel and coach transfers into Bruges.

Upmarket short-breaks specialist Kirker is offering a three-night package to Copenhagen, based at the four-star deluxe King Frederik Hotel from £559, including return flights, private car transfers and guide notes to sightseeing.

Sunvil Discovery has three nights B&B for visitors to Gothenburg, where the winter wonderland of Liseberg includes arts and crafts stalls, drinks at an ice-bar and a splendid ice-rink. Packages, including return flights and complimentary Gothenburg pass, start at £523.

European Rail’s Michael Birtles says travellers aged 40-plus tend to take the train to the pick of Europe’s Christmas markets.

The operator is offering two-night stays in Germany – historic Aachen and Cologne, reached easily via Brussels – from £85 and £95 respectively, or £187 and £197 if travelling first class.

Overnight services to Berlin, Munich and Innsbruck offer couchettes from £184, or private two-berth sleepers from £291, leaving St Pancras International in London on Eurostar, while if you are looking for luxury a first-class return in a deluxe double sleeper with private shower and toilet costs from £315.

Treyn Holidays, which specialises in escorted holidays by rail, offers a range of Christmas markets including a five-day Rhine cruise from Cologne to Koblenz, Rudesheim and Mainz. Departing late November, the £520 package includes return rail travel from London, four nights all-inclusive on the MS France and excursions.

Meanwhile, a leading German tour operator has more than 60 destinations in its Christmas Markets programme, including Nuremberg and Dresden, and newcomers including Copenhagen and Stockholm. Its top pick, Vienna, starts at £399, including four-star hotel accommodation, bed and breakfast, flights and all taxes.