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Christmas 2017 Suggestions?

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I'm looking ahead to our first Christmas in Europe in 2017. We'd like to visit Christmas markets and historic places, as well as attend cultural events. In addition to Salzburg (which we have visited) and Vienna do you have any recommendations for other towns or cities in Austria to consider? We will travel by train. I'd also be interested in suggested routes and places to stay in those areas. Thanks so much!

Posted by
329 posts

How long will you be in Austria or when are your tentative travel dates? Do you plan on staying exclusively in Austria for personal reasons or are you open to other countries along with Austria? We just did a tour of Christmas markets last November/December so I may have some suggestions depending on your response.

Posted by
58 posts

Hello John, We are flexible at this point, but I'm thinking the first 2 weeks of December, as I seem to remember that many markets begin at the beginning of December. We have traveled in German-speaking Europe a few times by train. I'd like to do a multi country trip but not stretch ourselves to the point that we don't enjoy it. The areas I am considering right now are: southeastern Germany including the Erzgebirge woodcrafting region, Salzburg, Vienna, Czech Republick and after reading some rave reviews, possibly Budapest. (We visited Budapest briefly 25 yrs ago!) I'd be very interested in hearing about your itinerary and what towns, cities, markets, and cultural events you enjoyed on your recent trip.

Posted by
191 posts

The last two years I have traveled to Europe in December. In 2015 I visited Kraków for the history, and then went to some of my favorite cities, Vienna and Munich. Vienna is wonderful with so much to see (in addition to the markets) and you could easily take a day trip to Bratislava if that interests you. Munich also has a wonderful mix of Christmas markets and is a great city to take a walking tour. From Munich I took a one night side trip to Nuremberg and would highly recommend it for the wonderful market (and delicious sausage!) and very interesting historical sites.

This past December, I did quick stops in Prague and Budapest on my way to the Balkans. I had visited both previously and they are fun and interesting.

If I had to pick, I would focus on Vienna, Munich, and Nuremberg

Posted by
329 posts

We did a trip through the Christmas markets only last Nov/Dec. We visited Heidelberg (small), Strasbourg France (our favorite), Rothenburg (worth skipping), Nurnberg (suggest), Prague (suggest), Vienna (suggest), and Budapest (suggest). From Heidelberg to Nurnberg we spent 1 night in each town. In Prague, Vienna, and Budapest we spent 2 nights. We traveled by train. Some of the respondents to my questions before we went thought that we were "rushing" through. Our goal was to see different markets so our schedule worked for us. Vienna's markets are many and spread thru-out. We did take a 3 hour tour of Prague one of the days, and we were shown around Budapest by a friend on another. Prague and Budapest are only a few hours by train from Vienna so I would recommend a visit to both or either one if you were to choose. We are very glad we did that trip because the markets did have some variety between them even though there were many similarities.

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