Trying to organize our Christmas Market itinerary - Need routing ideas and best places to stay. Your suggestions will be appreciated - we will begin and end in Frankfurt. Going by car to all destinations.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8942 posts
For Frankfurt, there are several near-by markets you can visit that run all 4 weeks of Advent - Mainz, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Limburg, Marburg, Rüdesheim.
Depending on when you will be here, you could also visit these smaller markets which can be very charming.
25.11-22.12 City Forest, Frankfurt
28.11-1.12 Oberursel
29.11-1.12 Bad Homburg
30.11-1.12 Ronneburg Castle
30.11-1.12 Hessen Park Open Air Museum
4-8.12 Büdingen
6-8.12 Idstein
6-8.12 Königstein
6-8.12 Bad Homburg
7.12 Kronberg
7-8.12 Ronneburg Castle
12-15.12 Gelnhausen
13-15.12 Bad Vilbel
13-15.12 Bad Homburg
14.12 Eppstein, 15:00-22:00
14-15.12 Rewe Markt, Hessen Park Open Air Museum
14-15.12 Ronneburg Castle
20-22.12 Bad Homburg
Posted by
Salt Lake City
1481 posts
Traveling by car, Rothenburg makes a decent place to stay to visit markets in the area. It is scenic, has many hotels and restaurants, and provides parking just outside its walls. Its Christmas Market is small but several tourist shops give over to Christmas items for the season. The indoor shops are handy in the rain, which is more likely than snow.
https://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Christmas-Markets-2009/Rothenburg-2009/
https://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Advent-2010/Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber/
Nürnberg is an easy drive from Rothenburg. It is one of most famous markets and a mob scene in the evening. If you want to actually shop I would visit it during the day.
Würzburg is also near to Rothenburg. Its market is more modest and more accessible without such large crowds. I would plan to visit the Residenz and Marienberg Festung (Castle) while there.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you for your advise!
Posted by
Inlet Beach, FL
130 posts
We have a trip planned to the Christmas markets in Germany as well (visiting Poland, too, and Christmas in Prague). We are starting in Frankfurt (Hotel HamburgerHof) as well, visiting Heidelberg (despite Rick not visiting there, it's on our route and I want to check it out),(NH Heidelberg), Rothenberg (Hotel Merian) of course, and Nuremberg (Hotel Victoria). Some of Rick's recommended hotels are booked, or they are 2-3 times the normal rate because of Christmas, I found alternatives on this forum or from others.
We have been to Germany several times and picked our visits based on not having visited there before, but if this is your first trip, there is a ton to see. Folks say it generally rains vice snows, however, we were fortunate to have snow on time when we were there in November at Neuschwanstein castle and it was so beautiful. Also snowed lightly in Salzburg, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for our trip!
Since I haven't done the Christmas markets before, there are lots of recommendations here and on various German websites. Munich is recommended, as well as Cologne, Leipzig, Hamburg. Hopefully someone who has been there will comment---although it's my understanding you can't really go wrong, and it's possible we've booked too much Christmas market and will get Christmas marketed-out!