My husband and I are flying in/out of Frankfurt at the end of November and will be in Europe until December 15. We know that we will be in London for the later part of the trip (e.g. December 10-14). Other than that, our itinerary is totally open. In other words, we have about 12 days of unplanned time.
I feel like we're going to Europe at a strange time (winter but pre-holiday) and I"m wondering what people enjoy doing at that time of year.
Frankfurt has one of the largest and oldest Christmas markets going on during that time. 600 years old and over a 1000 stands. Lots of museums and art galleries to visit and some beautiful old churches, the Kaiserdom (1409), St. Leonards (1213), and Alt Nikolai (1290) are the most popular to visit.
Well, I loved Italy the first week of December, but since you are flying in/out of Germany and heading over to London, Italy is kind of in the wrong direction.
People enjoy doing what they usually enjoy doing for the most part--and cheaper with smaller crowds! Obviously you won't want to go swimming, but the museums are a lot less crowded and more pleasant, there are markets and winter sports if you're into skiing.
Depending on your interests, if it were me, I'd probably spend a few days in Frankfurt, possibly head south to Munich, then west to France, followed by London. Do you have to fly out of Frankfurt or can you fly out of London which saves you the hassle of back-tracking?
Alternatively, if you are into snow, you could go to Switzerland.
You could hit Berlin - since it's a city, it wouldn't matter too much if you 'did' it in the winter. You could also do the southern Germany/Bavarian Alps and Austria thing in keeping with the season. I'm not sure how pretty the Rhine/Mosel area will be at that time of the year. I doubt they're going to have snow yet and everything else will be pretty bare.
I think it would be a crime not to see the Frankfurt Christmas Markt since you'll literally be in town when it's happening. It's MASSIVE and one of the better known ones in Germany.
I think 12 days is really long enough to do almost anything you want. What about Europe really strikes your fancy? What are your must-sees? Make a list of those, figure a budget, and then do searches/posts on this board for detailed advice. There's lots on here!
Thanks for the thoughts so far. I think we've decided to put aside a certain amount of money for transportation and we'll stay in Frankfurt until we're ready to leave (open ended), and then we'll check the super inexpensive airlines and see where we can go on the Mediterranean for a few days before heading to London. We're thinking we'd like to hit Italy, but there's so much to do/see there, we don't really care WHERE we go (e.g. Pisa, Rome, Venice). Once we are ready to move on from there, we'll see how many days we have before we need to be in London.
We would LOVE to go skiing while we're there, but we've heard that early December is still too early for there to really be good snow. Does anyone know differently? If there is good snow, we might change our minds and try to head toward Switzerland instead.
Before heading to the Mediterranean, check the weather stats for December in the region you're hoping for. I know the wind really picks up in Greece in the fall and stormy and rainy weather takes over much of the winter. Depending on where you go and what you want to do, weather may be something you want to really consider.
HOWEVER - I recommend looking out for all the thousands of little travel agency shops you'll see as you spend your first few days in Frankfurt. They offer FANTASTIC last-minute deals all over the place. The window fronts usually advertise last minute cruises or all-inclusive giant resorts, but if you go inside you can ask what they have for last minute airfare, trainfare, air/boutique hotel combos, etc. This can include someplace as close as Munich or as far-flung as the Maldives! Always worth an ask and it can be an adventuresome way to spend those 12 days! =)
This is one of our favorite times in Europe! Christmas markets often open immediately after the first Sunday of Advent. Salzburg has a beautiful market! Budapest is beautiful! Vienna and Innsbruck are marvelous in late fall and early winter. Don't miss out on a great time of year! The crowds are smaller, there's great seasonal food and marvelous atmosphere. The market in Bath is very good and check out York, too. Both are doable as day trips from London. Cardiff Wales also has nice markets!
