December 2025 Trip

Depends on two big issues. 1) what do you enjoy and 2) where in Germany. If you are a laid back traveler and you can arrange to be in Berlin (or any large German city), then you should have a great time. There will be many good restaurants open on one day or another, there are often theater performcances and concerts, wandering the streets and taking in the ambiance is the same. Better if you are in a visually stunning city ... cause the visual doesnt close (its why my town is so good on holidays ... that and everything else i just mentioned.). If you are a go - go - go sort of traveler, maybe better to wait. A lot will depend on how much planning support you get, because you will have to be a bit more creative.... still I love the holidays when I travel I have done Christmas in London, Paris, Lviv and Budapest. Loved all.

A friend of mine went to Vienna for a week at Christmas in 2023. They went to several Markets in Austria. She was wearing a ski jacket with a Fur Edged Hood...she was still very cold! So, if you dress like you are going mountain skiing you should be OK!

If you arrive on the 20th you'll have two days to do the Christmas markets. The 24th everything will start shutting down at noon. Everything. The 25th may see some things open, mostly restaurants, and only in major cities. The 26th is a Federal holiday in Bavaria. So yes, it will impact what you see and do. But if you stay in a big city like Munich or Nuremberg you will have some options. Stay someplace like Garmisch or Innsbruck you'll have skiing, if there's snow. Still, if you're okay with walking around quiet cities and towns, are okay with limited amenities, and just want to get away for a while there's nothing wrong with Bavaria that time of year. There's things you can do in winter you can't do in summer, and vice versa.

We lived in Augsburg, Germany for four years and were not fond of the long winters. The Christmas Markets were very nice.

If you go in December, I suggest wearing long underwear, wool clothing, layered and a warm jacket, scarf, hat and warm shoes or boots.

Just a note that several Christmas markets in the Tirol stay open past Christmas. Perhaps you could consider Bavaria and places south?

I would wait until summer or another year when you can go earlier in Dec. for more Christmas msrkets. Smaller towns are dead after Christmas. When I went in 2011, temperatures were in the 30s F so not too cold

We were in Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Innsbruck, Hall in Tirol and Fuessen this past December for the Christmas Markets. We were surprised that the temps were “mild” during the days. Meaning the temps didn’t keep us from being outside all day and into the evenings with nothing more than a winter jacket.

The Christmas markets in Salzburg and Innsbruck are open until early January. We enjoyed our trip so much we’re going back this year, same time.

What do people tend to do during this time? For us, we did a lot of the “typical” things tourists do at any time of the year, except visiting the Christmas markets is a bonus! We toured Hohensalzburg, the churches, Mozarts house and wandered the markets, which we loved. Took cable car trips, toured Schloss Ambras, Hohenschwangau castle, etc. The draw for us were the towns decked out for Christmas, the atmosphere at the markets. Can’t wait to do it again.

While i suspect that in general markets are better before than after Christmas, a great many are now open until the first of the year. I was in Europe for the 2024/25 market season and it was wonderful. Think I will be in Europe for the 2025/26 market season too. Well, not like i really have much choice. But do come, do have fun. Its an experience that you can not have in the summer.

My wife and I and our two adult daughters (20-somethings and their husbands) just spent Christmas week in Munich in December 2024. we had a fantastic time. You will need to do some planning, and if you would like to private message me about any of that feel free. But I will tell you this. You will find many Christmas markets in Munich open on December 20, 21, 22, and 23. A few of them will close on December 22. But there will be some open on December 23, and the main Christmas market in Marienplatz is open until 2 pm on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is actually a fun time to visit the Marienplatz. There is often music. We climbed Alte Peter (church tower). Things close down around 2 pm Dec 24 for sure. But many Bierhalle are open (e.g., Hofbräuhaus). We played cards until it was time to attend Christmas Eve service. Then on Christmas Day, there were a handful of museums open. We had no problem filling our day. Make your Christmas day dinner reservations months in advance. You will be glad you did. But there are many restaurants that are open. We had a fantastic Christmas Day dinner at Andechser am Dom in Munich. Our waitress was a delight and shared a round of schnapps with us after our meal. You can also go to one of the more interesting markets on Christmas Day called the Märchenbazar (fairytale bazar). It is in the Olympic park, much of which is also open on Christmas Day. I believe you could go up in the Tower if you wanted. But we did not do that. It is also true that many things are closed the day after Christmas in Bavaria. That was certainly true of Munich. But again, some of the museums are open even that day (but no stores). you just need to check online and see what will be open on December 26 and what will not be open. On the day after Christmas, we took a day trip to Kloster Andechs, which I highly recommend. Public transportation was running just fine Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas in and around Munich. Have a great time!

Thank you all so much for the feedback. Definitely glad I asked but it seems like my concerns specifically around Christmas closures are a non-issue. Now I just need to figure out how to allocate our time.

For those who have spent time around Christmas, just curious how you would split up a trip in the Bavaria region if you had 10 nights ranging from 12/20 - 12/30? I know when we sketched out our summer itinerary we had planned to spend sometime in G-P and Berchtesgaden just not sure we would do as much in the winter since we don't ski. Would it be worth doing a Munich -> Salzburg -> Vienna trip this time of year or save Vienna for a better pairing (e.g. Prague).

Honestly a this point the main thing I'm trying to lock in is airfare due to a sale I'm seeing. So it really comes down to in/out of Munich or if I want to fly in to Munich and out of Vienna.

Thanks again for the advice!

Into Munich and out of Vienna if you have 2 weeks. OR Better, into Munich and out of Budapest.

Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, home. 16 nights minimum. 21 nights ideal.

Thanks. Yeah that's what my gut was telling me. We had originally planned 2 weeks in the summer all around the Bavaria region. So at this point I think I'll just book our Munich/Munich flight and figure out the full itinerary later.

Some examples:

12/20: Arrive, train to Nuremberg
12/20-12/23: Nuremberg (3 nights)
12/23 - 12/27: Munich (4 nights)
12/27 - 12/29: Salzburg (2 nights)
12/29: Munich (1 night)
12/30: Return flight

Alt:
12/20 - 12/24: Munich (4 nights)
12/24 - 12/26: Salzburg (2 nights)
12/26 - 12/29: Berchtesgaden or G-P (3 nights)
12/29: Munich (1 night)

Main difference between these two is basically focusing more on cities vs. the mountains. I would love to spend some time near the mountains but we also don't ski (but do hike) so I'm not sure if it's better to do the first option and take a day trip or two south out of Munich or if we should just go ahead stay a few nights in either Berchtesgaden or G-P. My concern is that if the weather is kind of bad it might be more difficult to find things to do in those places vs. being in an urban environment.

If you are in Salzburg on Dec. 24, you might take the train to the Silent Night villages. We planned on it but it was such a miserable night that we didn’t

OK, we ended up booking the flights.

Arrive Munich: Dec 20th
Depart Munich: Dec 30th

So the trip is happening. I'm thinking of going this route and really hoping for some help. We are avid hikers and in our summer plans had originally sketched out a 2 week or so trip that involved a week between G-P and Berch. I don't think we'll want to spend nearly that amount of time there this time so was thinking of something like this.

12/20 - 12/24: Munich - 4 nights - Christmas markets, things around Munich (maybe BMW), Nuremberg, Dachau, and Regensburg if we can fit it all in. If not... we'll be back eventually in the summer.

12/24 - 12/26: Salzburg - 2 nights

12/26 - 12/29: Would G-P or Berch be a better base for a few nights? Or split? I was thinking of getting a car at Freilassing so we will have more freedom to drive around. Just not sure which would be the best place to stay.

12/29: Overnight in Munich or somewhere near the airport. Our departure flight is at 7:35AM the following morning.

More urban alternative:
12/20 - 12/22: Nuremberg (2 nights)
12/22 - 12/26: Munich (4 nights)
12/26 - 12/29: Salzburg (3 nights)
12/29: Munich or near airport

Provides a more urban base with flexibility to choose day trips to G-P and Berch based on weather of the day. Focus on more indoor-centric itinerary items if the weather isn’t great.

I’d say stay in the Berchtesgaden area (with car) for the Salzburg and Berchtesgaden (GP) nights. Salzburg is an easy 35 or so minute drive from Berchtesgaden.

Berchtesgaden is a lovely old town and its Advent Markets are open until Jan 3, 2026.

https://www.berchtesgadener-advent.de/en/home-en/

Salzburg has markets open until Jan 1, 2026.

https://www.salzburg.info/en/salzburg/advent/salzburg-christmas-market

FYI. We stayed here in Dec. 2024 and plan on staying again this year.

https://www.urlaub-ramsau-bayern.de/