Paris and Strasbourg in early December

Indeed, there is a lively and large Christmas market in Strasbourg. You might also consider a day trip from there to Colmar. Trains run between the two about every 30 minutes all day. On weekends, there are mini-buses to a few small villages with their own small markets as well.

Train tickets from Paris only get more expensive as you get closer to your travel dates, so I’d recommend booking as soon as possible. I booked mine as soon as they went on sale for about €200RT. They’re now around €400. So you see how they go.

If either of you have an interest in WWII, there’s a museum in Turkheim that is well worth seeing.

If you are thinking about this December, book your hotel in Strasbourg SOON. The Christmas market season is very busy and many people reserve a year in advance. We booked about a month ago and found that hotel prices were much higher than we paid in the summer this year.

From Strasbourg, you can visit many smaller towns and villages that have Christmas markets. Colmar is very popular and only 30 minutes by train. From there you can take a bus to smaller villages.

Be prepared for cold weather. Bring waterproof shoes.

Riquewihr is a smaller quaint town with a really unique Christmas market. Would be a good day trip.

If you don't have a car, and choose to go to Colmar for a day, the navettes (mini-buses) do a circuitous route all day from Colmar to Eguisheim, Kayserberg and Riquewhir on weekends during the Christmas market season.

I agree this is a great Dec. trip. You have some good suggestions for Strasbourg (and area), so I will just add in Paris how fun the Christmas not-quite-market-but-more-like-a-Christmas-fair is in the Tuileries Gardens and that you shouldn’t miss the tree and windows at the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann.

Strasbourg has several markets running at the same time, you'll walk from one to another. Yes it will be cold and likely rainy so be prepared. The boat ride starts out fun and then gets kinda boring once you're away from the historic buildings. Make sure you visit that neighborhood La Petite France.

It's not hard to do Strasbourg as a daytrip thanks to the TGV from Gare de l'Est, get a discount card.

Thanks so much for all the helpful replies, everyone!

Our initial thought was to stay in Strasbourg, but I see from reading Rick’s book that he suggests Colmar as a better place to stay. However, it looks like I have more hotel options in Strasbourg.

Is Colmar that much better as a base to stay in for a few days? We’ll be in France for two weeks and we could be flexible on the dates, so we could look for hotel openings on different days if it is worth it to stay in Colmar over Strasbourg. And are the weekends a better time to be there than the weekdays?

Thanks again for sharing your experiences!

I would say that it depends on if you have a car. There are so many little villages around Colmar that are well worth a visit. But they're much easier to visit with a car. The navettes only run on the weekends and the local trains would be cumbersome to work around..

Colmar is much smaller than Strasbourg as well. So there's that to consider.

I would also say that if you do stay in Colmar, opt for the old town part due to its charm, but make sure to find lodging with parking.

And I wouldn't dawdle about finding lodging. You may find many already booked up.

In Spring of last year we spent 1 night in Strasbourg and 4 nights in Colmar. We had a car in Colmar and we would have had difficulty seeing the surrounding area without it. A friend and I are going to the Christmas markets in December and I first looked for a place in Colmar. This was in early June and I was looking for a rental because it will be mid-trip and I wanted a washer over our 4 night stay. I couldn’t find anything, so I switched gears and looked in Strasbourg. I found a small apartment near the train station, so easy to walk around town and take the train elsewhere. I will be there mid-week and the Navette in Colmar that goes to the villages only runs on the weekend. Depending on the weather I may rent a car one day to go the villages, plus have a full day for Strasbourg and Colmar. I’ve heard that Strasbourg has one of the best markets in Europe.