Christmas in Germany with Kids who love history

My first thought was Nuremberg, but after looking it looks like their Christmas Market closes on the 24th as most of them do. There are a few markets open after Christmas, but not many. For military history Nuremberg would fit the bill as would Berlin or Munich with a side trip to Dachau. With a short trip like that I would only look at doing 1 or 2 locations with day trips.

who love military history

What do you mean? Especially which epoche?

We are mainly going for the kids so I can plan another trip for me to shop.

If you are landing in Frankfurt on the 24th, then stay here overnight. The Pealing of the Bells is at 17:00 and the whole downtown will be filled with everyone listening to those. The 25th and 26th are official holidays, so museums and tourist attractions may or may not be open, so check their websites.
I believe Limburg and Speyer have markets that go on after Christmas and there may be one in Berlin too.
For military history, it helps if you tells us which wars, do they want to see battlefields or the equipment used? I would head to Berlin for all of that. The history museum, the Allied museum, and so much more. A visit to Sachsenhausen or Ravensbrück are sobering places, but important to see.

My kids are interested in the World Wars. My younger son is interested in WW1 and my older son is interested in WW2. They said they mainly want to see equipment used but also battlefields, if able. Thank you for all of your advice and tips. I really appreciate it.

Basically something like a triangle Frankfurt -4hrs- Berlin -2hrs- Hamburg -4hrs- Frankfurt comes to my mind. Can be done by train.

For WWII places please read this thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/looking-for-recommendations-for-11-year-old-wwii-enthusiast

Most Christmas markets will be closed after Dec 23rd; but Berlin has a few Christmas markets open between the years.

Near Hamburg there is also tank museum Munster (not Münster) - widely around Hamburg.

A must-do with kids in this age is Miniatur-Wunderland in Hamburg. No war, just fun.

Also in Hamburg the International Maritime Museum can be of interest for your kids.

WW1 did not have much combat places in today's Germany.
And unfortunately German History Museum is under reconstruction.

If you decide to visit Laboe near Kiel (for WWII subway U-995, see link to thread) there is a remarkable WW1 story - the Kieler Matrosenaufstand (often somehow wrongly translated with "mutiny"): at end of WW1 the seaman of the fleet denied the order to re-open the fight on sea. Instead they started protests. That initiative was swapping over to Berlin and ended with the end of the monarchy in Germany. The German fleet was transferred to Scottish Scappa Flow where the remaining officers decided to sink the ships in 1919 before they are handed over to the former enemy. British marine troops mentioned that too late and shot some of the unweaponed German crew members. So the last fallen soldiers of WW1 were German seaman; and they died over one year after WW1's end.

Finally the most successful way of winning power in German history was not war but trade. The story of the Hanseatic League lasted nearly 500 years and is unique in history. The Hanseatic League Museum is located in beautiful Lübeck - close to Hamburg.

Hope this all helps you.

Have a good journey.

As pointed out most but not all Christmas markets will have closed. As to World War 1 and World War 2 battlefields, they are non Existent or limited. The Hurtgenwald in NW Germany and the Seelow heights east of Berlin are notable and worth some trekking to see battlefields. As to World War 1, Germany signed a truce on November 11 and marched home without western allies fighting on German soil. In 1914 the Germans won an impressive victory at Tannenburg against Russian forces advancing from the east. The remains of a bridge at Remagen where allied forces crossed the Rhein is a well known stop too.

Museums in Berlin and Koblenz highlight aviation and armor. The Uboat U-995 is an excellent display in Laboe as well as the Uboat WILHELM BAUER on display in Bremerhaven. The Valentin submarine pen is also open near Bremerhaven.

You are late in the season to do little more than to visit museums or if your sons did some detailed research drive or walk a few battle sites. I’ve been to Hurtgenwald several times and remains of defensive installations there….its a worthwhile battlefield hike although in December pretty rotten weather to be out in.

Germans generally don’t ascribe to memorializing the war so in the end there are limited choices further restricted by traveling around the holidays and always the winter be it rain or snow.

You have options and you can meet your goals with some work but it will be a busy short trip. Good Luck!

Bad timing. The 24th, 25th, and 26th are holidays. Almost everything will be closed and most of the Christmas markets close on the 22nd or 23rd this year. Add to that the 29th is Sunday (things are closed) and the 31st is a holiday. You're basically going to have 2 days when things may be open. That kind of limits what can be done. Understand, Europe is not like the USA, when it's a holiday almost no one works. Trucks are forbidden to drive on the highways. Gas stations on the autobahn are all that's open. There are no 24 hour shops. That being said your best bet is one of the big, international, cities. Paris, London, Munich. Paris has some military history available and close by, Munich has the Nazi Rally Grounds and some historical stuff, and good museums, and London has some outstand places too. Plus they will have more open places than any other places I can think of. I'd suggest London first, even if you have to stay a ways out and travel into the city each day. Then Paris, where I think a couple of the markets will be open after Christmas this year.

Thank you for all of the tips and advice. I really appreciate it. Based on the feedback, I decided to book new flights. We will now be in Germany Dec 30 - Jan 8. I understand things might be closed on New Years but are there any other holidays I need to worry about?

That should be much better! New Years Eve is huge in Germany. Expect major fireworks and parties from around 2200 - 0200. Find out where the biggest fest is near your hotel and join the fun.

If you want to see WWI & WWII sites or museums you probably want to think about basing, or traveling, west from Frankfurt.

The tank museum in Munster has been mentioned, it's excellent. Plan to visit. https://daspanzermuseum.de/home/

The Patton Museum in Luxembourg is worth a visit. https://patton.lu/de/

The remains of the bridge at Remagen are probably not foremost on the boys minds, but the museum is interesting, and you could show them the movie for that battle (filmed on site). https://www.bruecke-remagen.de/

You may want to consider a trip to Verdun. Ft Douaumont is going to be cold and wet at that time of year but it's impressive. https://memorial-verdun.fr/

Now the above are (mostly) north and west of Frankfurt, and for Verdun you may want to spend a night there or base out of a bigger city like Saarbrucken or Metz. (Both of which were well fought over but there's not much to see without a lot of effort.)

Something I think would be much more interesting, would be to go east, specifically to Vienna. Plan to stay a few days, and take in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum and the weapons and armor at the Imperial Armoury in the Kunsthistoriches Museum. These are world class, and the boys will love them. https://www.khm.at/en/visit/collections/imperial-armoury/ https://www.hgm.at/

If you combined this with say, Prague, it would be fantastic. They could visit the Zizkov Army Museum and there's more armor on display at the Castle. https://www.vhu.cz/muzea/zakladni-informace-o-am-zizkov/

Prague and Vienna are beautiful in the winter, well worth the visit, and the Vienna Markets are shown to be open until 5 JAN.

You can easily do Frankfurt, Prague, & Vienna by train, and fly home from Vienna. You could even do an overnight in Nuremberg, but the Kristkindlemarkt there closes on the 23rd.

About 2.5 hours southwest into France (Over the border from Saarbrucken) is the Lorraine American Military Cemetery) Where over 10,000 soldiers were buried after WWII. It is really an incredible place to visit. They are closed on Christmas and New Years day. There is a guest house to stop in first, and a memorial as well as walking the grounds.

https://www.abmc.gov/Lorraine

We were there for Memorial Day (my great-uncle is buried there) and it was so moving. Even without the ceremony, it is still worth seeing.

are there any other holidays I need to worry about?

Not in the Northern part incl. Berlin and Hamburg.

Jan 6 (Epiphanias) is a holiday in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt.

Berlin was great for history lovers I think. The Topography of Terror Museum is really well done. And all of the Berlin wall stuff is fascinating. We went out to the place with the last full section of wall with the no-man's land in between... they had some videos of people telling their stories and my kids were glued to it. Also all the checkpoint charlie stuff was very interesting. They had a tower you could climb up as well... don't remember where exactly... that I think was one used to patrol the wall. We also went on the Trabi tour in the scary little cars! This all was many years ago, but I would guess most of it holds.

Some of Berlin's markets were open late... maybe not as late as the 30th but I think we left on 31st and we had seen some while there...

Kim

Bastogne for WW2

Bastogne sucks in DEC/JAN/FEB. That hasn't changed since 1944.