The Zibelemarit, Bern's Onion Market

On the fourth Monday of November the old town of Bern fills before dawn with stalls of onions and garlic, plaited into ropes and wreaths and hung from the frames by the tonne. Sellers set up around four in the morning and the crowd arrives with them, in the dark and usually in the cold, for onion tart, cheese tart and mulled wine. By mid-morning the streets under the arcades are solid with people. The market has been held for centuries as an autumn produce fair and is now the largest single day in Bern's year. In the afternoon it turns into a running confetti fight that children treat as the whole purpose of the occasion.

What you actually see

• The onion plaits - ropes and wreaths of onions and garlic sold by the metre.
• The pre-dawn start - stalls lit and open around four in the morning.
• Onion tart and cheese tart - the food of the day, eaten standing under the arcades.
• The afternoon confetti - the streets given over to a running confetti fight.

When to go

One day only, the fourth Monday of November. The point is being there in the dark before six, when the stalls are lit and the crowd is still thin; by ten it is shoulder to shoulder. It is usually near freezing and often wet. Trains run early from Zurich and Basel specifically for the morning.

Honest expectations

Getting there for the early hours means either a short night or an expensive room in a city that books out well ahead. Later in the day the old town is uncomfortably crowded and moving through it is slow. Beyond the onions, many stalls sell the same fairground goods as anywhere, and the afternoon confetti gets into your collar and stays.

Nearby

The market runs through Bern's arcaded old town and the squares beside the station.