AUstria/Germany Christmas

this was just discussed a couple days ago - do a search - most of the best markets close down Dec 23-24. We go over every other year. The ones that do stay open are scaled down and many vendors are gone. Vienna and Prague do stay open, do a Google search for dates - it's easy to find. And find the post from a couple days ago. Also, 2020 markets were canceled in Oct, so we aren't even sure yet if the markets will happen in 2021 (although we are certainly hoping, as we are going Nov 26-Dec 11). Dachau is an easy day trip from Munich, but the Munich markets aren't very good and they will be closed. Lots of info on these forums. Also, book MULTI-CITY flights, fly into one city and out of another so you don't have to circle back. You can always fly out of Munich and do Dachau then. We've used Radius Tours (as recommended by Rick Steves, and we've also done a Private Tour with Big Hat Tours which was fantastic. Salzburg markets will be closed, but it's still a great city. Maybe stick with Prague, Salzberg, Vienna, Munich. We never rent a car - the train is super easy - we book 6mo out to get the best price.

The Budapest markets are 2.5 hours away by train, are some of the finest in the area, and stay open until the first of January (without the food vendors). The Lviv and Kyiv markets are 1 to 2 hours away on Wizzair or Ukraine Air out of Budapest for about $100 nonstop and run through Orthodox Christmas on January 7th.

Christmas markets, skiing, Dachau, Salzburg, castles and alpine towns are all within easy driving distance of Munich. I would fly to Munich and rent a car and do your thing. Munich to Fussen to Innsbruck and back to Munich is about 290 miles. Add Salzburg and you're up to 390. After circling back you can either fly or take the train to Vienna (Salzburg is on the line).

My husband and I have visited the Alsatian and the German Christmas Markets three times and had another trip planned for 2020 but.....oh well. Hope to go this year. We traveled by train, using a Eurail pass or just individual train tickets. To get started on planning, I suggest you look through the Travel Forum for trip reports from posters who have made Christmas Market trips to get an idea of cities/villages to visit. Our first trip included Nuremberg, Munich, and a day trip to Salzburg. We flew into Munich and trained to Nuremberg for four nights, back to Munich for three nights and day tripped to Salzburg one day while in Munich. Second trip a couple of years later, we traveled with another couple to Alsace and Paris. We based in Colmar for four nights and used the seasonal shuttle bus to go to Kayserburg, Eigesheim, and Ribeaville with a day trip by train to Strasbourg and then trained to Paris for three nights. Our trip in 2019 was much longer, starting in Vienna for three nights. We then trained to Regensburg for one night (could have used more!) then into Frankfurt for two nights with a day trip to Heidelberg ( could have used another night). Leaving Frankfurt, we trained to Cologne for two nights with a day trip to Aachen. From Cologne, we trained to Dortmund for one night and a reunion with a couple of friends. Training back to Frankfurt, we spent another night before flying home. We were gone about 15 days on that trip and covered quite a lot of ground. A tip: plan your stops in places where there are sites to see since the markets are best enjoyed late afternoon/night. Do check for trip reports and consider a Eurail pass. We snagged a pretty good deal for seniors in 2019 with 5 days travel in a month and used the pass for the longer stretches and bought tickets for the short day trips. Be sure to pack for cold weather and have a wonderful time!