Armchair Christmas Markets

May I suggest Plan C? Fly in Hamburg and out Hannover. All stops 2 nights except one last night in Airport. Stops:
HAM Airport
Lübeck traditional Christmas Market (day trip)
[visit Miniatur Wunderland]
Historical Christmas Market at Rathausmarkt in Hamburg
Bremen Schlachte Embarkemt (day trip)
Hildesheim
Quedlinburg
Goslar
HAJ Airport

I did 80% of your plan A last year. I did not go to Limburg, but I spent time at all the others.

Koblenz - Market in town was okay, but the real attraction was the Winter Garden at Fortress Ehrenbritstein, which was really good!

Neustadt (Weinstraße) - Pretty good, but I found myself comparing it with the towns Winelesefest (27 SEP this year!), which is better. Note the Glühwein here varies, as the different vintners make their own, and people do have favorites, unlike places not in wine country where every stall sells the same blend.

Speyer - Nice. Speyer is very walkable, and much more attractive than Koblenz. Went with a friend and included several hours at the Technical Museum for a really good day.

Mainz - Mainz really goes all out the closer you get to Rosemontag and the end of Fashing, but the Christmas market is good, and there's always a stage full of live music, sometimes more than one. The areas in front of the Gutenberg Museum and around the "Fountain of Fools" are particularly festive after dark.

Thanks Mark for your suggestions. In my mind we want to go to 2 trips to this area of Germany. In the 1980's we were stationed on Bremerhaven and our daughter was born there. In addition to the places I listed above, we want to visit Bremen/Bremerhaven, Lüneberg and Lübeck (your Plan C). We want to save this second trip for when our Granddaughter (3yrs old) is a little older. My daughter would very much like to see the city where she was born.

Thanks KGC. I thought about Neustadt (Weinstraße) after a recent post of yours. I will look at the cities on the Winelesefest. I was stationed in Landstuhl in the 1970's and have long thought of returning to this area for a visit. Thanks for the tip on the Winter Garden at Fortress Ehrenbritstein.

I’ve been to most of your towns on both of your lists but not for their Christmas markets. I would choose B for Christmas but add Wernigerode one evening from Quedlinburg. We’ve spent 3 weeks in both of these towns for summer/fall visits. We had friends from Quedlinburg gift us with a home made Angel decoration they made for the special, one weekend inner hof market so you might check to see if they are still having the all local craft market within the whole town market next year. In Wernigerode a couple of years ago I bought more felt and hand sewn birch ornaments in a small dead end side street off of the main square one summer. I can only imagine how special these Harz town’s markets are during the winter.

EDIT: it is 10 minutes closer and with no changes to connect Wernigerode and Goslar (30 min) than to go from Quedlinburg to Wernigerode.

Well Speyer and Neustadt are about an hour, by train, from Landstuhl, so you're close. Don't bother with Ktown, the market there sucks. There's still a lot of Americans around Landstuhl, not as many as when you were here, and that kind of impacts the Christmas festivities.

Heidelberg is the biggest one within an hour south of Mainz, and it's a very good, spread out, party.

You might want to also consider Trier, say between Koblenz and Neustadt. They have a good market and it's a great city to walk around.

Thanks Mona. I might just spend one night in Wernigerode and one Quedlinburg. I prefer changing hotels to day trips.

Thanks again KCG. I looked at Trier; I have spent a couple days there on a spring trip. It would add a lot of travel time by train in a season when the days are very short.