Nov/Dec Itinerary Advice Needed

I think that schedule is really pushing it. I get the sense that you are not totally accounting for the time you will lose as you move from place to place, including checking in and out of hotels when you are changing base cities.

It will take you at least 3 hours to get to Erfurt from the Munich airport, and who knows when you'll be ready to step on a train? I'd assume an afternoon arrival in Erfurt even if your plane is due into Munich rather early. If you're immune to jetlag you might manage to cover Erfurt and Weimar in the allotted time, but the camp at Buchenwald is a bus ride outside Weimar, and the bus doesn't run terribly often. That camp was used to house enemies of the DDR after WW II, and there's a lot of interesting material to read about that period. Erfurt itself has a lot of very pretty architecture (including a merchants' bridge) and I think a couple of important churches. I believe there may be some Luther-related stuff to see as well. I wouldn't be able to cover all of that on my arrival day, but perhaps you can.

Berlin is huge; even using the excellent local public transportation, you'll spend a lot of time moving from place to place. By the time you get into town and are settled, you'll have about 3-1/2 days there. How painfiully short that is will depend on your level of interest in the many wonderful and huge museums and the historical sites. I have a special interest in the Cold War, and 6 days was too short for me.

If you head to Dresden on Nov 28, you'll have only about 1-1/2 days there before moving on to Brno. Dresden has some huge museums (I loved the Historic Green Vault, which isn't so big but still took me close to 2 hours), and I don't think that's enough time for Dresden and a side-trip,

A scant 1-1/2 days may be enough for Brno (note that the train from Dresden will take at least 5 hours), but it seems short for Prague. The train from Brno to Prague will take over 2-1/2 hours.

Prague to Nuremberg will be 3-1/2 hours by train, so you'll have about half a day to get to the market and see everything else that inrterests you in Nuremberg.

I see your point on the travel times. What I was actually trying to do was minimize the time spent travelling each leg (ie picking a stop in Nuremburg because it was an hour closer to Prague than Munich), but instead I think I just added too many stops.

I think at this point my best bet is to think about what we want to see this time vs. a potential future visit. Because I have a friend in Berlin, it's somewhere I anticipate traveling to again, so I am less worried about not having enough time there. We definitely will be going to the Reichstag, Stasi Museum and the German History Museum, but didn't have too many other museum-like destinations in mind. I can see adding at least an extra day, though. Maybe the following is better?

• Nov 22 - 26 - Berlin (4 1/2 days; 5 nights)
• Nov 27 - 29 - Prague (2 1/2 days; 3 nights)
• Nov 30 - Dec 2 - Brno (2 1/2 days; 3 nights)
• Dec 3 - Dec 8 Munich (4 1/2 days; 5 nights)

This seems more manageable in some ways, but there are some drawbacks I didn't have in the first itinerary - we'll be travelling further the first day we arrive, the train between Brno and Munich is over 6 hours, and it entirely leaves out Dresden and Erfurt (I'm guessing we could still fit in Nuremburg as a day trip from Munich, since it's only an hour away). I know I have to make some compromises, but I just feel like I'm maybe missing out on the small town experience.

If you're mostly interested in Christmas markets I would drop Prague. It's a beautiful city of course, but your itinerary is packed, and most Christmas markets in Czechia are less than 20 years old and exist mostly to attract tourists. I'm also no fan of Nuremberg, Sure, it's the most famous Christmas market in Germany, but this fame comes from a time when Nuremberg was the most beautiful, and most German, city of the country. But this Nuremberg was leveled in WW2, and todays Christmas market is way too busy and touristy for my taste. In terms of Christmas markets Erfurt is the better stop between Berlin and Munich. As many stalls as Nuremberg, but in a city that survived WW2 almost without losses.

I would add Vienna to your trip. As far as I remember the Christmas markets there start much earlier than in Germany, and they are among the best in the German- speaking world. Maybe you could do Brno as a day trip from there?

Are the flights already booked? Flying open jaw, or starting 3 or 4 days later, would make things easier.

Thank you for pointing out that the Christmas markets in Austria start earlier than the ones in Germany - I wasn't aware that it was that big of a difference, but it looks like that may be the solution. Some start as early as November 15th. I'm also glad to hear your honest opinion on the market in Nuremburg. I'm interested in the city for its history, but it sounds like I would be better off going at a different time of year.