Christmas in Germany and Austria

Stores will all be closed on 25 & 26th. Some museums may also be closed or have shortened hours, so check their websites. Public transportation will run on a holiday schedule both of these days, which is usually the Sunday schedule. Restaurants may be busy.

December 26 is a major holiday in Germany (the 2nd day of Christmas). It is the only time I've ever seen SRO on and ICE.

A couple of years later I rode the same ICE on a normal day in March. There were three or four other people in the entire coach.

Aaah, Christmas in Bavaria! I went to Christmas Eve Mass with my Bavarian Catholic boyfriend and his father at Munich's iconic Frauenkirche (that's the one with the double domes). It was a powerful experience - the church was completely filled, there was an orchestra up in the balcony, it sounded like Bach himself was playing the booming organ, priests and cardinals were dressed up in their full regalia, probably 100 sisters of all different orders fully dressed out for this Holy Night, children's choir, someone swinging chained orbs of smoking incense to and fro, and in the center aisle, a huge huge conifer, decorated with ornaments. That was Christmas 40 years ago, but I bet nothing has diminished. Catch a church service on Christmas Day in Munich if you can.

Tell us, have you found an open restaurant for this day?

Thank you both for the information! We will definitely look into services at one of the iconic cathedrals. As of today, we found a website listing museums opened and closed during the Christmas period (http://monkeysandmountains.com/german-christmas-munich) but, have not made any progress on a restaurant for dinner on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we are going to Hofbrauhaus. We will continue to research and are open to suggestions!

Zum Duernbraeu in Munich is taking reservations for Christmas Eve.

www.zumduernbraeu.com

Thank you Joe - I will look them up! Now that the weekend is here it's back to trip planning in earnest :)

Oh, and I see that Restaurant Zum D has Trip Advisor's "Certificate of Excellence" which I trust. Had a look at its menu, too - looks good.

We also relied on the TripAdvisor reviews - dinner reservations have been made for both 24 and 25 December. Thank you for the help!

Perhaps we'll see you at Dinner! We have reservations for 7:45pm...Hopefully in full Liederhosen!

Tagging on and asking a similar question. We will be in Munich the Dec 21-26. Going to Nurnberg on the 24th for a short day trip, then daytripping to Neuschwanstein the 26 and then taking the train to Cologne that evening. Someone mentioned the rails run on Sunday schedule. Is there anyway to see exactly what the schedules will be for 24-26? We're staying at a friend's apartment in Steinebach as he'll be back in the states for Christmas, so we'll the need the S-bahn to get into the city and then the regional transport to get down to Neushcwanstein. Thanks!

Klewalle: "...then daytripping to Neuschwanstein the 26 and then taking the train to Cologne that evening."

No matter which day you travel, and even starting out from Munich's main station, the public transport alone (trains + buses) to N'stein and back will require nearly 5 hours. Then in Munich you would fetch your bags and take the train to Cologne, a minimum of 4.5 hours (and that's using the fastest possible route, which bypasses the Middle Rhine Valley.) None of that time includes the time you'll spend on foot getting to the castle from the final bus stop or the walk back, or the actual tour time (30 minutes) or any meals along the way. There are only so many hours in a day. So you probably need a different plan. (N'stein is a late 19th-century palace with a fake castle exterior, btw.)

The 30-minute tour of N'stein IMO isn't worth the 5+ hours additional hours it will take to see it. I suggest you catch a morning train out of Munich in the direction of Cologne and see Marksburg Castle (in Braubach) instead. The 1-hour tour of a genuine, never-destroyed medieval castle, set in the scenic Middle Rhine Valley, is very good and is doable on the way to Cologne. Marksburg is open 11-4. The 7:27 or 8:52 trains out of Munich will get you to Koblenz in less than 5 hours. You can stow your bags in a locker there and take the 10-minute train ride to Braubach for the castle - then return to Koblenz, fetch bags and head to Cologne. Have a meal in Braubach or in Koblenz. The Zum Goldenen Schlüssel in Braubach's attractive old town center serves good, traditional German food.

You can find all the possible train connections for any day of the year at the DB itinerary search page: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Personally, I would make it even easier on myself than I just suggested. Make the train trip to Koblenz and check in there for the night. Then do the castle trip and return to Koblenz. Travel to Cologne the next morning.

Visiting Marksburg (like Neuschwanstein or any castle you have to walk up to) will depend to some extent on weather conditions.

Whether you visit Marksburg or not, it is probably a good idea to route yourselves to Cologne along the Middle Rhine Valley to catch a glimpse of the 40 castles that dot the cliffsides between Bingen and Koblenz. To ensure that you get a travel schedule for the trains along this route, enter a stopover in Koblenz at the DB site with 00:00 stopover time. That will get you routed through the MRV on the way to Cologne.

I saw on another thread someone said Neuschwanstein was closed Dec 25-26 so please double check before you plan that! :)

Kim

Dec. 27 and 28 should be pretty normal days here in Vienna. There are actually 3 markets open on your dates - the large one at the Rathaus, the one at Maria-Theresien-Platz and the one at Schonbrunn. All three have different atmosphere, so all are worth visiting.

I would also recommend using the Westbahn train between Salzburg and Vienna. Tickets are purchased on-board.

Hello again! Thank you for all of the wonderful input! We have decided to skip Salzburg in order to stay in Munich one additional day. We will definitely be checking out the different Markets and I will double check the opening dates for Neuschwanstein.

If anyone is interested in church services the Frauenkirche calendar is at http://www.muenchner-dom.de/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=2342&token=0bc1e3550b70d48659cd2f3498ea71bf259cc49c. The Christmas Eve mass begins at 2200 (10pm).