I have our flights on hold until tomorrow since I just realized that our dates include Easter 2019.....we can be in either Germany (Black Forest to Munich) or France (Alsace to Paris) since Easter falls on a date in the middle of our vacation dates. I've traveled to Europe often, but never during the Easter holiday so I'm stumped as to where to target going, or where to avoid!
If you had a choice: 1. Where would you stay and why? 2. Where would you avoid and why?
Thank you for any input!
I don't have a preference but can just give you some perspective.
I've been to both France in 2008 and Germany in 2016 when my trip just happened to run over an Easter weekend. The smaller the town the less things were open or business closed early. But also there were less tourists clogging the narrow streets or getting in the way of my photos in Rothenburg ob de Tauber and in around the chateaux towns of the Loire Valley.
Can you make that day a travel day? I have found that traveling on the actual holiday can be advantageous. Nice long train ride to the next destination, as long as you know you can find a restaurant open at the destination. I would not count on being able to buy groceries of any sort.
Personal question, but are you religious? If you plan on attending services for Easter, I'd look for a place that fits with your beliefs. I am not Catholic, but I would think that a service at the Chartres or Salzburg Cathedrals would be pretty inspiring.
I’ve been in Paris for Easter. Didn’t really notice a difference in a city that large. Everything was opened. Went to an early mass at Notre Dame the out to breakfast. The Richard Lenior Sunday market was in full swing. Lots of families enjoying the parks. On Sundays there is usually a different schedule for metro, buses, trains, not as often.
Salzburg cathedral is a good option, I didn't think of it - thank you! We might go there for the weekend, then make Easter Monday a travel day back into Germany since everything will likely be closed that day!
If you need to travel during start and end of Easter week, make sure you have travel reservations including train seat reservations. Europeans enjoy traval as much as North Americans and trains can be fully booked.
If you haven't seen the Salzburg cathedral, it is so beautiful! It's more baroque and its all white and bright inside. Very different from a lot of cathedrals I've seen. Mozart was baptized there! I can almost hear the bells of Salzburg ringing for Easter Sunday!
If you travel by car on Easter Sunday, you'll want to gas up the day before, because a surprising number of gas stations are closed on Sundays, let alone Easter Sunday.
Be careful about Easter Monday - it's also a holiday in some countries. We were in a smaller town in Sicily and had to delay our departure by a day because the public transportation wasn't running on Monday.
Good Friday is the day you need to plan something on, as this day will see not only stores closed, but also most tourist sites, bars, and museums. Easter and Easter Monday are easier as most things are open except for shopping.
Good Friday is the day you need to plan something on, as this day will see not only stores closed, but also most tourist sites, bars, and museums. Easter and Easter Monday are easier as most things are open except for shopping.
Would that include something like the hotel restaurant? Are we better off booking into a larger, tourist hotel for that weekend so we'll be able eat meals, or would staying in a family run hotel work too? I don't mind things closed since we can always poke around and see things from the outside - it's being sure the kids can be fed I'm more concerned about!
You will always find something open. I have been in super small towns where the one open restaurant is all reserved for the evening. In any larger town, and in cities, there will be restaurants and shops open. When planning my trips, I look on websites for closures on the sights I plan to visit (even when it's not a holiday).
Resturants may be open for Easter dinner but could be fully booked. A number of years ago we got back to Helsinki on Easter Sunday. The only resturant that could accomodate us was a Chinese resturant. We enjoyed a memorable Chinese Easter dinner.
