Together with my wife we are planning our next year holiday and are thinking of going to Bavaria for 2 weeks in early December. I know its early, but due to the season we have to book in advance. Now we have to fly in and out of Munich. Also we don't drive while abroad and we use trains. Apart from Munich what other 2 bases do you suggest to stay in? Important that from these bases I can do easy day trips (via trains) to other cities, in less then 1.3hours. We like cities, museums, castles and for this trip Christmas decorations. Any ideas please? Munich must be the last base, so when I land I want to go directly to the 1st base. We already visited Innsbruck and Salzburg.
Posted by
NYC area
2902 posts
Hi Reuben,
First, I wanted to ask, is this your first trip in December? I ask as we had visited Salzburg and Innsbruck a few times, but in 2010 we visited the first time for the Christmas markets. Both places are even more beautiful at this time of year. We loved the trip so much we did it again last December. From our base near Innsbruck (actually Hall in Tirol, where we have stayed 5 times), we visited the charming old towns of Brixen/Bressanone and Sterzing/Vipiteno less than an hour away over the border in Italy. Even Bozen/Bolzano (Italy) is in your time frame for day trips. These are all easy by train. From our base just outside Berchtesgaden, we visited Salzburg, Bad Reichenhall, Salzburg, Hallein and then spent a day on the Wolfgangsee (took a lake cruise) visiting St. Gilgen and St.. Wolfgang.
If interested, we have photo's from our 8 trips since 2001, incl. our late Nov./early Dec. trips in 2010 and 2013.
www.flickr.com/photos/pjbassplyr/sets
Paul
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8938 posts
For your 2nd base, I would suggest Frankfurt. There is plenty to see and do here, a wide variety of museums for every interest, lots of historic churches and buildings, and as a hub for day trips, it is perfect.
The cities you can visit from Frankfurt that are 1 hour or less by train, would be Mainz, Weisbaden, Heidelberg, Marburg, Idstein, Eltville, Büdingen, Gelnhausen, Seligenstadt, Bad Homburg, Worms and of course the Rhine. Würzburg is a bit farther away, but not by much. I would still consider it an easy day trip. All of these towns have Christmas markets, but some may have them just on one weekend.
Posted by
OP
Malta, Malta
42 posts
Paul, yes this will be our first trip in December.
Posted by
OP
Malta, Malta
42 posts
What about Munich > Cologne > Frankfurt? I'm swapping Frankfurt for last as Air Malta serves only Munich and Frankfurt in that area, and want to leave the departure city for last to be safe.
Posted by
Green Bay
20017 posts
Cologne works. Favorite German city. Nearby are Aachen and Duesseldorf.
Posted by
Greeley, co, usa
2394 posts
Stuttgart
Nuremburg
Posted by
Baden Wurtemburg, Germany
16 posts
Would recommend Stuttgart as a base. From there, you can easily see the Markts at Esslingen and Bad Wimpfen which are cute Medieval towns. Look for maybe a daytrip bus excursion to Rothenburg Ob der Tauber (not sure if it's as easy by train, but definitely worthwhile). Agree with others regarding Salzburg at Christmas, very beautiful.
Posted by
OP
Malta, Malta
42 posts
Hmmm...will be getting confused now with lots of cities hehe. I'm thinking about Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne as it looks like thy are nice cities with things to do locally, and easy for day trips.
Posted by
OP
Malta, Malta
42 posts
Is Stuttgart a nice base for 4/5 days with good 3 day trips? Are there museusm, nice buildings there? How is it in december?
Posted by
Greeley, co, usa
2394 posts
The Stuttgart area has 3 different Christmas markets. Tubingen is a short train ride away. The weather when in Dec when we were there in 2011 was around 32F in the downtown and a few degrees colder on the top of the hills (it snowed on the hills while there was a mix of rain/snow in the city center).
Posted by
OP
Malta, Malta
42 posts
Thank you all for your suggestions. Now I have to chose between Lyon > Strasbourg > Paris versus Munich > Cologne > Frankfurt.