Advice for 15 day Germany/ Austria trip in Dec

Posted by t.thkkr on 09/09/16 09:51 AM

Hi everyone,

Need expert travel advice. We are planning a trip to Germany and Austria for 15 days in the last two weeks of Dec. Can someone suggest a rough itinerary of towns to visit? We like small, non-touristy towns preferably with a great view of the alps (by non touristy I do not mean in-accessible or haunted, just that it isn't on every tourists 2 day itinerary)

Some background: We did a wonderful Europe trip in June this year with your help. First time ever in Europe for my 70yr old mom - did parts of London, Paris, Switzerland and Italy. We realized we were not a big fan of the big cities plus 2-3 days is too short to really enjoy it! Highlight of our trip handsdown was Wengen. Everyone from my 10 yr old nephew to mum and all of us inbetween were spell bound at the beauty of Wengen. Hated Lucerne and Interlaken with it's touristy buses and crowd everywhere. Venice was lovely, parts of Paris was charming, Rome was hot!

There you have it. We are looking to re-create the Wengen magic and wondering how to spend our holiday - absolutely looking forward to some Christmas markets!

Posted by Zonderpaard

Charm City USA

09/09/16 11:06 AM

183 posts

Are you planning to ski? Winters in small towns in the alps are going to be about skiing (or snowshoeing).

I'm not sure what sorts of activities you are looking for (besides glühwein sipping :-) ) but the Gesäuse is gorgeous. They have a nice website that is not only of the national park but the region more generally. I have only been there in summer. Admont is very nice with a wonderful old abbey.

http://www.gesaeuse.at/region-winter/

Maybe the Dachstein area, athough this will be pretty 'resortey' in winter because of the skiing. Schladming does a big Christmas market. Very dramatic landscape.

Similar would be Sölden and Vent. Gorgeous, but very popular skiing area.

Be aware that many things will close several days around Christmas in smaller places that are not winter sports centers. These places will have small/limited Christmas markets, too. But there will be glühwein everywhere . . .

Posted by Marc

Southwest Florida

09/11/16 02:29 AM

865 posts

Follow the Danube to Vienna. The train from Salzburg to Innsbruck (through Austria) is a beautiful journey with many small towns along the way. As is the back way to Munich from Innsbruck to GP. Either via train or car.

Posted by t.thkkr OP

09/11/16 04:24 AM

19 posts

Well none of us have ever skied before in our life! One day of experiencing it is all we are going to be doing..

The car is our preferred route of travel this time around (unless it's long distance and train is just easier plus now that I think about it with snow in the picture I don't know if it's a wise decision)

Posted by Chani

Tel Aviv

09/11/16 09:11 AM

15582 posts

Last 2 weeks of December, so including Christmas and probably New Year's. I think you'll need to do a lot of research to find out exactly what will be open and what you'll be able to do over the holidays (and is the 26th a holiday there?). Restaurants may be closed, or you may need reservations because everyone's going out to eat. Sights may be closed and there may be little to do in a small town but attend the church services in German. That's a popular time for skiing - students and many European residents will be vacationing on the slopes. With the Christmas markets in full swing (at least until Christmas eve), there will be lots of tourists, especially Europeans, in many of the smaller towns as well as the "biggies." In short, you'd be going in high season.

You won't have many daylight hours. Just taking Salzburg as an example, sunrise is around 8 a.m. and sunset before 4.30 p.m. That makes for really long evenings. I found that the Christmas markets in Germany and Austria started getting crowded around 5 p.m. as the locals knocked off work and began congregating in the markets. By 7 p.m. in the larger cities, it was nearly impossible to walk through them due to crowds. In the smaller places, the markets shut down around 7 p.m.

Posted by eschroeck

Bloomfield, MI

09/11/16 01:34 PM

35 posts

My husband and I were in Austria last December. We stayed in Vienna, Salzburg and Hallstatt. We used public transit and trains for all our travel. The trains were easy and reliable. We were interested in visiting some smaller towns, such as Melk, however it was a challenge in the off season to find attractions and restaurants that were open on holidays. As for crowds, we found Vienna to be beautiful and un-touristy in all aspects. We didn't wait in lines for museums, restaurants had availability, no one was pushing us... it was wonderful. Salzburg was much more touristy. The tour buses were everywhere, but it wasn't anything like Paris. The most touristy and frustrating place we visited was actually tiny Hallstatt. If you visit there, be sure to stay the night. Our best views were after the tour buses left and we had the evening to ourselves to walk around and take in the atmosphere.