Munich- Prague for Christmas

Christmas markets in Munich will start closing around noon on Christmas eve and completely done by Christmas day - amazing at the speed they disappear. Prague will stay open pass New Years so that could affect your planning. Weekends are worse but weekdays especially the week before Christmas are pretty packed also. I would look into flying into Munich and home from Prague -- called open jaw or multi-city. Probably cheaper when you factor in the cost of returning to Munich. Remember that is peak travel time so it will not be cheap no matter what you do. What is you home city?

PS Quick check as an example RT Dallas to Munich is around $1500/1600 coach. Into Munich and home from Prague is around $1600/1700. Only about a hundred dollars difference. You cannot get back to Munich for that. This was roughly week prior to Christmas and returning Monday after New Years.

Thank you all so much.

We are definitely going to try and see the Christmas Market in Nuremberg but the plan is to stay put 3 nights in Munich and make side trips. I like the idea of Salzburg too.

Thanks for the tip about open jaw. We did it after I read this.

Now we are thinking (to accommodate others in the group) of also going to Vienna and Bratislava and then heading to Prague to spend New Years Eve. I read that it is much more exciting than Vienna at New Years Eve.

We have 17 days but haven't yet finalized how many days in each place. We already visited Munich and Strasburg one summer, so would like to add new places along the way to Vienna and Bratislava. Looking at prices of accommodations in Bratislava I'm inclined to even spend Christmas there and then head back to C. Republic afterwards.

Thanks, Ashley.
Would Vienna be more interesting to spend 5 nights 21st-25th December, and then do a day trip from there to Bratislava? I see there is a train ticket with a day pass for transport in Bratislava, from Vienna. Appreciate your feedback. Definitely going to spend New Years Eve in Prague!

Is 3 nights too much for Munich? We are now planning a day trip to Nuremberg to see some of the historical things and a quick look at the Christmas market there.

Is this 3:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m.? The Bayern ticket.

From Mon-Fri, your ticket is valid from 09:00 to 03:00 of the following day; on Sat, Sun and public holidays, it is valid from midnight to 03:00 of the following day. Please enter the surname and first name of all travellers before departure.

In 2011 I made a loop from Munich thru Salzburg, to Prague, to Nuremberg, and then Regensburg before flying back out of Munich. Looking back I would probably go the other way around if I did that again and was using something other than a car, just because the rail works better that way.

I wouldn't do trips from Munich. Stay there, see what you want locally, and then move on. But be advised, you can't begin to see any of these cities in 2-3 days; you're kidding yourself if you think you can. I lived in that part of Germany for 4 years, and have been back a dozen times since, and I still haven't seen it all. And I can easy draw you strip maps of almost every major city east of Vienna.

KGC I know that I can't see all of a city in a few days, but we were there in summer a few years ago. This is mainly some history and Christmas markets as we are all quite bored with what we call Christmas in the States. Shop til you drop before and the next day back to shop sales. My best Christmas memories are being in other countries.

I hate that we can't take day trips on those days in Vienna. That was the part of the reason to spend a longer time there. What are my alternatives? Was planning 21st-26th. We only want to see some markets, the top museum/castle sort of thing and take day trips to one or two places. We have intentions of returning during summer to explore more in depth.

I also see that there is a costly tourist card for attractions in Vienna. Not sure if we should just pick the 3 top places to see and forget about the card. Thoughts?

As always with any "city card," you have to do the math yourself. Add up the cost of all the places you are definitely seeing and possibly seeing, add in the cost of a transit pass by itself, and see how it compares to the cost of the tourist card.

Last time I looked (a while ago), it was hard to make Vienna's tourist card pay off. But each person's calculations will be different.

Harold, thanks. I will look for the prices and figure out what is most important.

Have you been to the Spanish riding school? I see there is a day ticket to see them exercise.