Christmas in France/Germany Itinerary Help

melly136, welcome. Here're my thoughts. Did you already make flight reservations? I would fly multi-city fare, to Paris and from Zurich. That backtracking to Paris eats up a whole day of your too few days. In fact, you're only giving yourself a day in each location, because of the distances and time for transportation. No reason to drive from Strasbourg to Andermatt (in the winter) when the train will get you from place to place faster and safer, and you don't have time to stop for anything else along the way. That's a long way to go for a day of skiing. Come to think of it you wont actually have time to ski as it will take you a day to get there, with or without a brief stop in Colmar.

Most of the markets close on Dec 23, or the morning of the 24th, it varies by city. The Strasbourgh markets are incredible, and not to be missed. Colmar is also very cute, but much smaller. The Zurich main train station has the largest indoor Xmas markets in Europe.
Nuremburg has the largest markets , but gets so crowded , you can have a better experience in the smaller towns.
I'm sure you know that Europe generally shuts down Xmas day and the day after.
What location is the "must do"- the skiing ? You mentioned Germany- what would you give up for Germany? Just trying to get a feel for your priorities.
I agree, fly open jar, so you don't have to backtrack and lose so much time.
Would your husband consider daytripping by himself for skiing, while you explore your given area?
Give us a little more info, and perhaps we can help your planning. Below is my Trip Report from our 2019 Xmas markets trip, which was magical!
Safe travels !

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/christmas-markets-switzerland-france-germany-2019

All great things to do, but in 7 days,,, wow!!! Plus coming all the way from Alabama!! And those are the shortest days of the year!!

Looks like 4 hotels in 8 nights. 3 long train rides sandwiched by 2 long flights.

If it were me, I'd drop 1 location.

If Paris is set in stone, drop skiing.
If you can change flights to Zurich (for Andermatt) or Geneva (for Chamonix), drop Paris.

Then you can relax a little and enjoy 3/4 nights in each place and still be near the airport on your last night.

Hi Melly136, great questions!

• You really only have 7 days on the ground, with day 2 usually a bit of a blur due to at least some jet lag.
• Skiing at Christmas time can be hit or miss, sometimes it's not very good snow. And he will be skiing when everyone is on vacation, expect Q's in resorts. Here's a link to what a local says about snow conditions in Andermatt, Switzerland - https://swissfamilyfun.com/ski-switzerland-december/#:~:text=Dec.,side%20leading%20to%20the%20bottom.
• If your H is set on skiing, I agree with another post that I would stay wherever you happen to be & enjoy a quiet day exploring & skip the schlepp up into the mountains.
• Flying into Zurich & out of Paris with him taking off for Andermatt & you taking the train to Salzburg & Paris & him catching up to you en route (don't know exactly where this would be) could work. Let us know what you decide & enjoy your vacation!!

If skiing is a must, I would not choose Andermatt in December. Andermatt really shines for off-piste skiing (with guide & gear), and that's not always possible this early in the season. Look at Engelberg perhaps, it is a bit closer both by road and by train, so if conditions are marginal, at least you won't have travelled too far.
I am not sure you can combine Paris, Alsace & Swiss Alps in 7.5 days, though. One probably has to go :-(

Thank you for all the wonderful feedback! We do already have the plane tickets to Paris booked. I believe hubby said they are refundable, but he did get a really good deal using points on them. I will have to find out if it's possible to fly home from a different city.

I will try to persuade him to skip skiing this time, especially if the ski conditions will be iffy at best! He picked Andermatt because it was the only place on the Epic Pass that does not require an overnight stay at the resort. I do not ski at all (tried for years and hated every minute of it). Our son skis but I don't know if he would want to on this trip. We travel to Vail 1-2 times a year to visit family and ski so for me, skiing is not a priority for this trip. I'm also concerned about schlepping ski gear to and around Europe, especially with the lost luggage crisis and navigating to multiple hotels with bulky luggage. I will have to have a serious discussion with the family on this point.

I somehow did not realize that their was a train option from Strasbourg to Andermatt. Thanks for that info.

Germany was thrown in the mix because my husband had a coworker who is moving to just south of Stuttgart and wants us to visit. Might be an option to spend Christmas/day after Christmas with them when things are shut down, but again, this is not a priority for me. I've only met this guy a couple of times and I've never met his wife or kids (very young). Could be awesome, but also has the potential to be very awkward!

So, if we take skiing and Germany out of the equation, what would y'all recommend? If we narrowed it down to just Paris and one other city, what would be your top pick? Also, any hotel recommendations for Paris? As I mentioned before, our 14 yo son will be with us and he will need a separate bed or sofa. It seems Paris hotels mostly only offer 1 double or 2 twins!

Strasbourg does sound very lovely and has excellent Christmas markets so I'm still interested in it, but mostly picked it since it was sort of on the way to Andermatt. Should I stick with it or consider another destination? Could we do Strasbourg as a day trip from Paris?

Thanks again for all of your help! This forum is the best! So glad I stumbled on it!

I would recommend spending at least a night, if not two, in Strasbourg. The old town is just so magical and beautiful, and there are about 6-8 Xmas markets in different locations, all walkable from each other, and one has a large ice rink. Enjoy just being there, and soak up the atmosphere, go back to the room for a late afternoon rest or warm up, and not worry about catching a train back to Paris on the same day you came.
Safe travels!

New poster here. I'm seeing on this website https://noel.strasbourg.eu/en/les-marches-de-noel that the Christmas market is open on the 24th and 25th, although for more limited hours.

I'm also staying in Paris, but arriving to Paris from the US on the 22nd, so would prefer to go there on the 24th or 25th to give us a day and a half to recover from the trip over. I keep hearing they shut down on the 23rd, so wondering if this is inaccurate?

thanks!

You only have 7 days, so do you want to add a second destination & hassle of changing hotels, or stay in one hotel in Paris for a week & take day trips. (Assuming there's no skiing involved!) Christmas week is a very busy time of year, so suggest booking ahead, including restaurant reservations & train travel.

• Saturday, Dec 24th will be very busy, just like any big US city, but even more so for food shopping! Sunday, Dec 25th & Monday Dec 26th are public holidays so you might like to make some plans specifically for those dates.
• While Strasbourg at Christmas sounds amazing, if you're skipping skiing, maybe consider a day-trip closer to Paris. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/best-christmas-markets-in-france.
• My top pick for a Paris Christmas activity would be a St Chapelle Christmas concert Dec 24th or Dec 26th. I’ve been to an evening concert, & it’s an absolutely stunning church. I didn't research how to book directly, but here's a link. https://www.classictic.com/en/christmas-concerts-at-la-sainte-chapelle/18107/?e=1084317&amount=1&category=369819.
• Lots of Paris hotels recommended on the forum. If you go to the main page, there's a search bar so you can look for specifics. Someone mentioned triple rooms. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/paris-hotel-5e1827b2-9067-4587-8b5c-a15065ce22e7 OR https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/paris-hotels-2abbecea-2de9-4163-a12a-f871ba496976