Zibelemärit: the most strange and unusual market you’ll ever see!

Zwiebelmärit

The Zibilemärit is held on the fourth Monday of every November. It is a huge, world-class, one-day-only street market in the UNESCO city of Bern, Switzerland.  What is so unusual about the market: it opens at 3:00 AM, by 4:00 AM the market is already full of many thousands of visitors, transported here from all over Switzerland by special trains that the Swiss Federal Railways schedule.

And aside from beer and wine, the only product that is sold at the dozens and dozens of stands and vendors: onions and garlic.  The best part is all the hot food you can eat: garlic soup, onion soup, garlic bread, onion cookies, you-name-it-with-garlic-and-onion!

The history of the market dates back over 650 years: after a fire destroyed much of Bern, the villagers in the neighboring village of Freibourg volunteered to help rebuild the city. In exchange for this kindness, the Fribourgers were allowed to sell their goods in Bern, free of taxes.