I would love to hear your thoughts on one of our "dream" trips, just in the imagining and talking stages so far. We would visit the 3 places listed in the title. We want to visit Strasbourg before Christmas, so we could have a visit to the Christmas Market. Vienna would include New Years Eve/Day, so that we could attend one of the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's concerts. The last part would be a train to Venice, where we would stay for maybe 2-3 days before returning to our home in the US. I've signed up for an account with the Vienna Philharmonic which will allow us to participate in their concert lottery application process in February. Other than that, we've done nothing. We want to shoot for a December 2019 departure. Any general thoughts about logistics, weather, the total folly of such a trip, etc. would be most welcome! Thanks, experts!
Posted by
Fort Myers, FL
1868 posts
First, these are extremely long train trips between each of theses cities. You will lose a full day for each trip plus 2 days arriving and leaving Europe. That eats up 4 days of your vacation. Not sure how long you can stay in Europe, but Strasbourg is a minimum of 2 days, Vienna at least 3 days and Venice at least 3 days. The travel between these cities would discourage me. If I had to pick, I would do Vienna and Venice and enjoy Christmas markets in Vienna and skip Strasbourg. Good luck.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
Wonderful places! We are planning to re-visit Strasbourg for Christmas markets and Vienna for New Year's -- and Venice looked good, too. Since we're retired we have more flexibility (travel time); we plan to see other locations in Germany and Austria over possibly five weeks and each train trip will be shorter.
Pack for cold. If you find you need a warmer hat, gloves, muffler you can buy them there (souvenirs!) Warm shoes or boots with good treads to keep you upright on slippery snow or ice. All your photos will show you in the same outerwear bundled over unseen sweaters and shirts, so don't obsess over making fashion statements.
If you don't get lucky with New Year's Philharmonic tickets in Vienna, there are free open-air broadcasts on jumbotrons at the Rathaus and other locations.