Christmas Markets

There is a lot of info already posted here on the Forum. Do a Search at the top of the page.
Welcome to the Forum and safe travels!

I love Germany's Christmas markets and have been to a good number of them. I do think that a visit to Germany should be undertaken for other reasons, however. December is a better time than most to explore Germany's historical sites, museums, palaces, castles, old-world towns, and great cities. And while you're doing all that exploring, you can absolutely spend some time at the Christmas markets wherever you happen to be. If you organize the trip around markets, you'll probably miss out on a lot and encounter a lot of repetition.

"But I also like the idea of basing ourselves in one or two cities and doing day trips from that city to other cities and markets."

This is a good way to go. There are several popular destinations that serve as transport hubs and are close to other towns of interest - places that also have Christmas markets. In southern Germany you might look into Würzburg, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Mainz, and Frankfurt to see which places interest you most. There are good Christmas markets in and near each of these too. A group of 4 will find a good choice of regional day trips by rail from these bases, and at very reasonable prices - figure about $12 each per day or less for the Bayern Ticket day pass or other "Länder" Tickets.

https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/regional-day-ticket-for-bavaria
https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets

Local transit authorities offer similar day passes for small groups too.

English is widely spoken in Germany. You'll find English signage in public places like the rail stations, and its extensive/efficient rail system makes it an easy country to get around in independently anyway. If you plan to enjoy those steamy adult beverages at the Christmas markets, or patronize the local brew pubs, there's even more reason to use the trains.

I love visiting the Christmas Markets by river cruises! I have done it 5 times! The Rhine, the Danube, and the Main.

CAjan, what lines have you traveled on? Thanks.

Stuttgart and Nuremberg would be two good choices

We take a Xmas Market River Cruise every other year - we have been on Viking, AMA, Uniworld and Tauck - -- Tauck is the BEST, it's all inclusive, top shelf alcohol anytime, all tips, excursions, port charges included. The service, food and guides are 5 star. We have been on many of them and we LOVE the Danube one the best -- Vienna, Melk, Salzburg, Passau, Regensburg and Nuremberg.

The Nuremberg market is one of the oldest and largest and we LOVE that town. We always stay a few days after the cruise ends - we love Hotel Victoria.

We usually take the train to Munich and fly home from there, but the Xmas Market is Munich is very UNDERwhelming.

Feel free to PM me with questions. We are going in 2022 and 2023. If you plan to do a River Cruise, you better book ASAP - 2022 is almost full and 2023 is already booking.

If we were going to base out of towns and NOT do a cruise - I'd say Vienna, Salzburg and Nuremberg.

You can take the train to Munich as it's easy to fly home from there and there is a great day trip from Munich to Regensburg Xmas Market with Radius Tours (recommended in the RS Munich book) - it is worth it!!!

I have cruised on Uniworld and Grand Circle. This year I have a trip booked on Gate 1. If you are thinking of a trip I encourage you to read the boards on CruiseCritic.com. Look for the river cruise section as most of Cruise Critic is about big ocean cruises. I loved the Rhine, but it goes through 4 countries; some Danube cruises go through 3-4 countries. With all the COVID restrictions this year the Main might be the best as it is all in Germany.