Best cities in Europe for Christmas holidays?

The "Christmas in Europe" site is where you should be looks. Lots of terrific recommendations/

Try looking at this website, as it has all the Christmas events in Germany. It is quite extensive with all the markets in the little towns too. It is in German, but you can get the dates and the town names and their websites at least from it. Some of the towns may have their own website in English of course.

http://www.weihnachtsmarkt-deutschland.de/burgweihnacht.html

Partial to Firenze! Not exactly a holiday in the warm sun, but the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we spent in Florence last year...well, it was magical.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

MY hometown! ;)

Do you want a big city experience or do you want a quiet alpine experience?

Here is a medium sized town experience. Sulzburg Austria! Filled with charm! But it is very cold in the winter, so you do need to dress well for that kind of weather.

I have to agree with Salzburg. We love the Christmas market there and the weather is perfect to put you in the Christmas mood. Vienna and Budapest are also good choices. If you want to get away from Germany, we also enjoy London, Bath, York, Cardiff and Edinburgh in the winter- all have great Christmas markets.

Thanks for the tips. Still making decisions

Rothenburg ob der Tauber sounds interesting

Christmas markets look like they are all great, just have to make a decision which ones

Thanks

On our public t.v. channel they have been playing Rick Steves Christmas in Europe almost every few days.. could try and see if its been playing where you are as it might help.

You guys know I am partial to Frankfurt, and though it can't compete with those cute little towns known for quaintness or fabulous scenery, it is still a lot of fun. Spent the afternoon wandering around the Christmas market. The aromas drive me crazy and make me want to eat everything. Especially the roasted chestnuts and the glühwein smells, plus these onion pies being baked over a real wood fire. Heavenly! They made an ice skating rink in front of the Alte Oper and it looks really cool. Some of the little kids were skating around holding onto sliding penquins for balance. I would need one of those too, which for sure will look really doofy, but, oh well. I think it must be beautiful at night when the lights are all on.

The city of Frankfurt is offering little Christmas market tours in English this year. For 9.50 € you get a glass of glühwein, some marzipan, a ride on the double carousel, a short tour, and the best part, you get to go up on the roof gallery of the Alt Nikolai Church. This is where the nobles and City Fathers used to stand, to watch the Emperor coronations, the Passion plays, and the Fest Spiele which were popular in the 1920's & 30's. Even going up the medieval spiral staircase is cool, and you get this great view of the Christmas Market and the Römer. This isn't something that is usually open, so if you are going to be in town, I would go for it.

This Sat.(the 29th) is also the "Pealing of the Bells" at 1630. They will also do this on Christmas Eve at 1700. It is a 4 times a year occurrence where 50 bells in the 10 downtown churches ring for 30 minutes in harmony.

I think every city has something wonderful to offer and you will have a good experience no matter where you go.

I was in Prague the week before Christmas once and it was beautiful.