Packing for Winter

We have actually done exactly as you are planning same time of year, same evening clothes. Good Luck! Actually we wore black wool long coats so they could double for the opera. For daily clothing pretty light shirts and trousers and a couple pairs of thermal under garments. With two carry on and two fair size shoulder bags and by wearing the coats we managed to pull it off. The next time we checked a bag with the nice stuff and down coats that had been compressed in those roll up packing bags with the one way air valves. Much easier.

If you know where you are staying in Austria you might consider shipping your ball clothing to your hotel ahead if time and then shipping them back home when you are done with them - at least that was you won't have to lug them all over - a tux & men's dress shoes takes a lot of space and weight. For daily wear go with layers - the problem I have with thermal under garments is if you are indoors for a while they are too warm. A calf length coat is a must for walking around as is scarf, gloves & hat. Then layers that can be removed or added as needed. We actually love traveling in the winter - no lines - anywhere! Have a ball! ;)

Thanks for the suggestions! We are staying at a bed and breakfast apartment, so I do not know whether I can have the garments mailed ahead. I thought about that, or even arranging a hotel stay for the night of the ball (being double booked but assured our garments will be there). My partner is considering renting a tuxedo over there but worries they won't have the right size; he's not a small man. Thanks for the suggestions on the layers. Thermals are uncomfortable to me, but I can probably add my base layers from running and strip them off if we do a lot of walking or indoor activities?

Heather, I often travel in the winter to Europe...no crowds. I have not been in the Alps, however. I find Europe, on most days, warmer than Boston. One February in Florence we spent the days in our shirtsleeves but it was chilly in Sorrento, so you never know. I wear a long sleeve blouse or T-shirt, a wool or boiled wool sweater, an unlined leather jacket. Sometimes I don't need the boiled wool jacket/sweater. I always pack hat, earmuffs, scarf and gloves. Of those items, in the suitcase-carryon goes the hat, muffs and scarf. On the plane I wear the sweater and jacket. So winter changes the weight of my suitcase by very little. Keep in mind, people from the warmer parts of the USA will generally feel the cold more than you or I. I also packed for my daughters UK wedding in a carryon. It was more fully packed than usual but everything fit well. Pick a wrinkle resistant ball gown and pack it in a plastic bag from a dry cleaner or have time for it hang out. I had three sets of dressy outfits along with my usual travel clothes, so you can do it. My husband managed his suit in his carryon. We use rolled carry-ons, smaller than the 22" guideline so there are no issues at the gate. I take a Sherpa Sojourn as my purse sometimes, otherwise just my a purse. W.

Go to Weather.com and check the averages. The temperature differences between Naples and Prague for instance can be enough to impact your decisions, as can be what you plan to do; more inside or outside, metro or walk. We are big fans of central and Eastern Europe hence the down coat (that and they pack down so small) In Rome it would be a little warm and one year when we were in Moscow in January we brought full Parks and were just barely warm enough.

Find the nearest Post Office to your accommodations and send them "Poste Restante" - or General Delivery. They will hold it at the post office until you pick it up

Substitute "long sleeve teeshirts or henleys" for the short sleeve shirts and you will still only need 4 or 5. Add smartwool socks, a sweater, a fleece vest, a hat or headcovering of some kind, and some really good gloves.
Also, silk longjohns are by far more comfortable than what i think of as thermals (waffle fabric). Silks are thin and light,pack into a shoe, keep you warm yet do not make your clothes snug. Buy mismatched ones at Sierra Trading Post for the best prices I've seen. I dislike the cold, so I am happy in a knee length down coat with a hood.

These are great suggestions, thank you!

Your mention of possibly renting a tuxedo caught my interest, so I googled it for Germany. Found a big shop in Cologne right away; in Vienna, I found a website for "Kleiderverleih Rottenberg" but without specific info. The English version didn't come up. (Of course you might be going someplace else.) In Cologne, if you rent everything except the shoes (which they sell but not rent) the price for jacket, pants, shirt, vest, cummerbund, tie, cufflinks would come to about 170 Euro plus 19% taxes; each item is priced separately. You can keep it for five days and dry cleaning is included. A Tuxedo is called a Smoking and tuxedo rental is "Smokingverleih". The prices are probably not too different in Austria. Maybe this will make you feel better about taking your own. By the way, I second taking long silk underwear and I always take a long, wide scarf (pashmina) I can wrap (attractively) around my neck and head, it gets really cold at night.

Anna has done a good service finding that website. I had a good look at their website and saw them quote around 166€ for the full set, to be hired on the Friday and returned on the first business day after the Ball. I didn't see anywhere that they said that the VAT was in addition. In Europe the VAT is almost always included in the price, unlike added on at the end the way it is in the USA...

Anna, you are a charm. I had performed a few searches earlier on and had trouble locating something. My German isn't that good but hopefully I will be able to rely on a friend who is much closer to fluent so we can email an inquiry about their size range.

Merely going to remind you that when doing layers don't forget warm socks (Smartwool brand worth every penny), gloves, hat and scarf. The latter two you could buy there. Also they are some very lightweight and comfortable Polartec fleeces on the Lands End website. Sounds like a wonderful trip. Enjoy.