Christmas in Europe

Our family went to the Christmas markets last year. We flew into Munich and out of Frankfurt. We were able to go to the Salzburg and Munich markets. We then spent the majority of our time in Rothenburg ob der Tauber using it as a base. From there we traveled to markets in Bamberg, Nurnburg & Heidelberg. We bougth our plane tickets in late September. It was wonderful!

Are you interested in having a Christmas experience with this trip (markets, lights, festivals, whatever), or are you just looking for a warmer getaway during that time period?

Both would be wonderful. I don't want to get stuck in snow and bad weather.

It’s warmer in the south by probably 10 degrees, but I was in Madrid at the beginning of the Christmas season last year, and it was very festive. Every major plaza and all the parks had huge Christmas tree displays with spectacular lighting. All of the streets in the old center were strung with lights, and the huge department store had wonderful light displays timed to Christmas music and a mechanical character show for kids on the side of one of the buildings (cool but sort of creepy…in the same way clowns can be sort of creepy). Big Christmas market in Plaza Mayor. There are great daytrips from Madrid. When considering destinations last year, Barcelona and Madrid had some of the lower fares available. As for temps, you could expect highs in the low 50s. The only snow might be on the mountain tops outside of the city (noticed a dusting when we left…raining at airport but just a dusting on mountains in distance).

Ibiza sounds much warmer than Madrid. We were in Madrid this past December 28-January 2 and it was very rainy. But the decorations were fabulous and I think Madrid would be a great place to spend the holidays, as long as warm, nice weather isn't your main objective.

Julia, a couple of XMass ago we did Germany and then Portugal.

My wife got to see all the XMass markets in Germany. When we got tired of the cold, we hopped on a Ryan Air fight and headed to Portugal.

If was so warm in the Algave that we were wading in the ocean. Lisbon was fun, and the XMass food was wonderful. Then we headed North to the Porto area for Port. We ran into the rain there, but still had a great time.

We mixed the cold with the warm weather, and really enjoyed ourselves.

Portugal is really "cheap", the freeways were all new, with no traffic, and the people are warm and friendly.

Southern Spain could be just as good, and probably warmer.

We got super cheap flights by flying "open jaw", flying into one city/country, and out of another, and then using the lo cost inter-EU airlines to jump from one country to another.

No one does Christmas like Germany or Austria. We did a week in Venice and the flew to Frankfurt to do the Christmas markets. (2 weeks November/December) First Freiburg im Breisgau then based ourselves in Rothenburg o d T. From there we went to Nuernberg, Muenchen, Noerdlingen, Dinkelsbuehl even to "Steiff" in Giengen/Brenz. Combining Venice with Germany at that time of the year allowed us better rates for hotel and apartment, less crowds and the driving was no problem but could have been worse because of weather uncertainty. Weather was moderate in Venice and in Germany we prepared for worse but were pleasantly surprised with cool/ dry weather. Snow you probably wouldn't get unless you seek it out in the Alps. Take a chance and enjoy the food and the atmosphere.

Canary Islands.

I like living in Germany and Christmas time is festive. But if you want to stay away from winter weather Germany is not the place to be that time of year. I know what James from Ansbach is talking about. Maybe you'd get luckier than we were last winter, which was brutal, but no guarantees.

Gee, i'm sorry you had a bad year. Weather is always a chance and unpredicatable regardless or area. We normally get a great helping of snow but had very little this past year.

Tunisia is warm and fairly inexpensive. Flights from the UK offer a nice package of flight, lodging and meals.

I once knew a rich old lady who always spent her winters in the south of France.