Europe at Christmas

It depends a little bit on where you want to go. The run up to Christmas, most of December is pretty magical especially in northern or Germanic Europe. The Christmas markets are terrific for getting you in the mood for Christmas. We spent last year in Germany and specifically Rothenburg and Munich. It was cold, snow was falling, and the smell of the hot wine and grilling sausages was magical. You might also check the section on this board devoted to Christmas in Europe. At the moment Rothenburg and Strasbough are our favorite but probably will change next year.

We spent December in Italy, moving from Venice to Umbria to Sorrento, then in Rome from Dec 22-31. Really enjoyed seeing the presepe (nativity scenes) everywhere, and the lighting coming on about Dec 8. The two days in Rome before Christmas were a great build up, and the week after was very pleasant in an "everyone is on holiday" sort of way. Found an English church service, too. Weather was great overall and there are lots of special foods. Have to do some planning regarding holiday dinners but there are many options.
You might want to watch Rick Steves' European Christmas DVD. It was our inspiration to go to in December.

I went this year before the Holidays and it was great. Missed the lights in Paris because we were a bit early. but then on to Germany and Austria for the markets. It was lots of fun to have food and just visit the markets. A few favorites were Salzburg, Rothenberg and Heidelberg... lots more as well. Also lots of fun in Frankfurt as we met up with Jo(expat from this site) and she showed us around. Still many more towns I would like to visit next year.

We are positively ADDICTED to Paris before Christmas - we've been visiting every year for almost a decade. The Champs Elysees becomes a magical Christmas market - every neighborhood has delightful lights - the street corners are studded with fir trees that are flocked with white or pink or scarlet fake snow - rides go up for the kids - there's mulled wine for sale to drink as you stroll - there are skating rinks at Trocadero and l'Hotel de Ville - the big department stores go all out with the fantastic window displays and festoon themselves with myriad lights - it is WONDERFUL. I've also been in London and Strasbourg pre-Christmas, and they were a delight. I think I gained 5 pounds in Strasbourg just from the FUMES from all the amaazing pastries. But know that for any city/destination you choose, you can check websites for "what's on" and for the dates of Christmas markets and lights... many places keep the holiday displays up until after January 3rd - some go on until 12th Night - so the party doesn't stop with a bang on Boxing Day.

I guess it depends on where you go, but we were in Germany/austria this year. Between Christmas and New Years, only the real tourist places were open. In Bacharach, the tourist office was closed for the week and one pizza/kebab place we ate at one night was closed the next for a month.

Hi George, We went the last week of November (Thanksgiving week) to visit the Christmas markets in Salzburg, St. Gilgen (Salzkammergut), Hall in Tirol, Innsbruck and Rattenberg (not too far from Innsbruck). While we've been to most all these places before a few times, durning this time of year it was like seeing them for the first time all over again. Incredibly beautiful and loaded with "Christmas atmosphere". We would do the same trip again. Our favorites... that's really tough. Salzburg, Innsbruck and Rattenberg. Paul

You'd probably be best off visiting before Christmas. It's a really exciting time. Tons of Europeans take a looooong holiday (by our standards) starting at Christmas well into January, so while things are often still decorated and lovely during that time, a lot of stuff is closed, especially the further away from tourist centers you are. Many fine-dining restaurants in Stuttgart, for example, were closed from right before Christmas until January 6th. I imagine in really touristy areas most restaurants and museums will still be open except on federal holidays, but I still think you're going to make the most out of a trip by visiting sometime in the first 3 weeks of December. Berlin isn't an obvious choice for rustic Christmas magic, but it has 50 Christmas markets, and many of them were very different, so that was really cool for sheer variety alone. Super fancy upscale one at Gendarmanmarkt, cool hipster scene at the Kulturbraueri, huge traditional one near Alexanderplatz...it just goes on and on. Ulm had both a traditional one in front of the spectacular cathedral and a rennassiance faire across the Danube. Esslingen am Neckar isn't a huge tourist destination but it's Christmas market was amazing as was the rennassiance faire attached to it. Next year I hope to see a lot more, they're just so much fun.

I really never would have pegged Madrid for a festive Christmas atmosphere, but we visited the last week of November and were pleasantly surprised. In the center, all of the streets had very elaborate lighting displays strung form building to building, and all of the parks and plazas had huge trees (actually just huge structures shaped like Christmas trees but absolutely covered in exquisite lighting). Plaza Mayor had a large Christmas Market that filled the whole of the plaza (but the stuff for sale was Chinese crap just like here). El Corte Ingles had a massive lighting and mechanical show display timed to Christmas music. Lots of holiday shopping going on. It was cool for sure. And with daytime highs around 50 degrees, the weather wasn't too bad.

To us, Germany is where we want to be, from the last few weeks of November up through December right before Christmas. Praha was a neat surprise too.

Christmas abroad was a pleasant learning experience for us! Hearing about and seeing their holiday traditions was a blast for us. However, we were in Ireland for Christmas this past year and my husband said "it was closed." :) But lots of things (hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, sites) are not open as they get more allotted vacation time than most of us do and they choose to spend it with their families around the holidays... who knew! Paris after Christmas was pretty spectacular AND we got to hit all the after Christmas shopping sales!

Southern Germany is beautiful in at Christmas. I was in Italy in December both Florance and Rome had large "Germany Christmas Markets" in their plazas.

Germany is best known for its' Christmas markets, the ones in large towns and cities starting the 4 weeks before Christmas, and the small towns and villages, just on a weekend during Advent. Most of them shut down a few days before the 24th, so everyone can be home. The whole country seems to shut down on the 24th about 1400. The 25th and 26th are official holidays, so no shopping, and museums seem to share opening hours. When the 31st rolls around, again, stores will all close down at 1400, and most museums will be closed the whole day. The 1st is an official holiday, so no shopping. Many businesses simply close down over the Christmas / New Years time period as it is easier to just have all the employees be on vacation, then to pay all that holiday pay. Small towns on the Rhine for example, will be ghost towns. Spending Christmas someplace where there is snow, at a ski resort, with a Christmas package is one idea. If you want to be over here at all, I would do it before Christmas and not after. Amused at the German Chistmas marekts in Italy. There are 4 Frankfurt Christmas Markets in the UK. They do a booming business.