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Help Planning Trip! Germany/Prague/Alsace in December

Hi all, I'll be traveling with my fiance and mom (age 35 and 71) from Nov 28 to Dec 15, and have the following itinerary mostly planned out. But, wondering what the thoughts of those on this forum are! Open to any suggestions!

I'm planning to rent a car when needed, and interested in museums, food, touristy landmarks, christmas markets.. and just enjoying the scenery and wandering around beautiful old towns/cities!

I've listed a general outline, but please comment on:
1. For the below itinerary, is there anything I can optimize?
2. Am I missing anything important that I should try to add?
3. Am I doing too much?
4. Recommendations for tours.
5. Recommendations for FOOD!!

11/28: Travel to Prague
11/29: Arrive in Prague (via public transit/uber from airport)
11/30: Prague
12/1: Prague
In Prague: Walking tour, Prague castle, christmas markets, Vysehrad, dancing house

12/2: Travel to Nuremberg (arrive 7pm with bus from Prague)
12/3: Nuremberg
In Nuremberg: Walking tour, Nuremberg Castle, Christmas Markets, Toy Museum (?)

12/4: Travel to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (by car - stop somewhere along the way.. Wurzburg?)
12/5: Visit Rothenburg and other nearby towns
In Rothenburg area: Visiting town my dad grew up in (nearby); Dinkelsbuhl (lunch on 12/5), Christmas Markets, nightwatch tour

12/6: Travel to Heidelberg (by car - stop to visit friend in Michelstadt on the way.. other stops like Walldurn church, Miltenberg along the way?)
12/7: Heidelberg
In Heidelberg: Heidelberg castle, not sure what else yet

12/8: Travel to Obernai (by car - stop somewhere along the way? Speyer? Other recommendations?)
12/9: Alsace (Strasbourg)
12/10: Alsace (travel to other small towns like Ribeauville, Riquewihr, Kayserberg castle... Colmer if time permits)
In Alsace: We are staying in Obernai with our car... plan to visit Strasbourg 12/8 evening (xmas market) and 12/9 to sightsee.. then 12/10 to visit nearby towns. Open to recommendations! In Strasbourg, definitely will see cathedral, xmas markets, petite france, maybe walking tour?

12/11: Travel to Munich (by car) - stop along the way at Hohenzollern castle and/or Tubingen for lunch? Maybe Dachau if time permits.
12/12: Munich
12/13: Munich/day trip to mittelwald or salzburg
12/14: Munich
In Munich: Walking tour, Nymphenburg palace, museums (pinakothek), wander the old town/churches
Day trip from Munich: likely drive to GaPa and/or Mittelwald and/or Fussen (neuschwastein).. other option would be Salzburg by train or car (if there's somewhere to stop along the way?)

12/15: Fly home

Posted by
2603 posts

From Strasbourg take the short trip to Gengenbach. Go on a Monday, Saturday, or Sunday so you can visit the Narren Museum - a great museum devoted to the Fasnacht ( Carnival ) masks and costumes. Diring Advent, the city hall becomes the world’s largest Advent calendar.

Freiburg is another possbility. Wolters World Youtube had a nice video on it posted today

While I have enjoyed my two visits to Hohenzollern castle, I would just be content to viewing it from afar, perched atop the mountain, A stop in Tuebingen would be fine.

12/6 - Wertheim might be another stop.

12/7 - if have time, drive along the Neckar to Bad Wimpfen

Looks like a pretty good itinerary

Posted by
11608 posts

Prague- excellent beer but the meals were very heavy and meat focused, not our favorites.
12/09- We loved our stay in Strasbourg
12/10, your tour of the wine villages looks good. We stayed in Riquewehr and toured from there.
Enjoyed Kaysersburg and Eguisheim, not so much Colmar.
Riquewehr- we had good dinners at La Grappa d’Or.

Posted by
457 posts

The Haut-Koenigsbourg castle near Ribeauville was awesome ... maybe on the way to Munich stop at Stuttgart for lunch and wander around their Christmas market (or one of the other smaller cities like Esslingen or Ludwigsburg, their markets are both recommended by quite a few top Germany Christmas Market lists) ... I wouldn't go to Dachau that afternoon, it is very emotional and you need to be prepared for that ... if you did go you need a full day, not that it takes the whole day to see, but you are emotionally drained after and things just don't seem to matter ... maybe just drive straight from Obernai to Fussen and see Neuschwanstein that afternoon, then you'll have 3 full days for Munich (highly recommend a day trip to Salzburg, beautiful city with a super Christmas Market) ... I'm kinda partial to a good schweinshaxe and dunkel, both the Spatenhaus and Augustiner Stammhaus are a short stroll from the Marienplatz where the Munich Christmas Market is held ... have a great trip!

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you for all the recommendations/comments so far!
I may consider stopping in Gengenbach on the way into Obernai if time/weather permits.
Not sure how we'll feel the day driving into Munich, but I'll keep Fussen in mind as an alternative to Dachau depending on our mood.

Still interested in any comments/suggestions!

Thank you