Germany in Winter

The likely weather in Germany in December will influence your choices. For the weather facts that will assist your planning by helping you with realistic expectations for the weather, go here, input a location and the time span you'll be there.

Hi Ed,

It would be of help if you mentioned where about in Germany. It's a big country.

Paul

Your right. We will be in Berlin for 2-3 days and then Munich for about 4-6 days.

The biggest difference between winter and summer (beside the temperature) for most tourists in Germany are the hours of daylight, which are very short in December. This means that you can accomplish less on daytrips outside of the cities. In the countryside and small towns, Germany is very dimly illuminated at night, so you can't see much once the sun goes down. But, this shouldn't affect your touring in the cities.

I was in Germany for Christmas and New Years a few years ago. We went from the Black Forest to Munich, with side trips to Neuschwanstein and Salzburg. There are things to do, but it is certainly restricted by short hours and cold weather. In Munich we still managed to take in the Glockenspiel at Marienplatz, the Fussganger Zone around Marienplatz, the City Museum of Munich, the Hofbräuhaus and the Viktualienmarkt, and Schloss Nyphenburg. There are a lot of indoor things in Munich; trains run almost independent of weather, and buses are almost as reliable.

I don't think you'll have any trouble finding things to do in Berlin. There's Museum Island, Ku'damm, WWII and cold war sights, etc. And, all should be open. But, may have limited hours. Also looks like the Fernsehturm closes in November for construction. Check out this site for more details on what to do.

http://www.visitberlin.de/english/sightseeing/index.php

In December, you will have daylight from about 08:00 til 16:30.

Most museums in the cities will be open til 18:00 or so. Berlin may be even later and on some evenings they may have special events, tours, or music. You might want to plan on some concerts in the evenings. Many churches will have organ or chamber music concerts all through the month of December as well as beautiful nativity scenes to visit. Makes a nice break from the Christmas Markets. The Opera houses too, have a full schedule of orchestras, plays, etc.

If you look on the tourism boards for each city, they will list upcoming events so you can plan your trip a little better. The event list for Germany here on the RS Graffiti Wall is extremely outdated and minscule as to what is really on offer in Germany.

Because of generally cold weather and short days you have to plan indoor activities. Fortunately, there are great museums, churches, castles and palaces to see.