Overwhelmed.

We went last year and this was our plan. We flew in and out of Frankfurt and saw the market there and in Mainz which is just a short train ride from Frankfurt. We spent five nights in Nuremburg as our main home base and did short day trips to towns that were short train rides away (Regensburg, Rothenberg, Bamberg, and Wurzberg). We loved the home base approach and seeing different markets each night. We did it all by train and every town we went to was walkable.

I am trying to plan a trip to Christmas markets and am totally
overwhelmed.

Visiting Germany at anytime can be overwhelming with all the choices of what to see and do. Adding markets makes planning even more complex!

IMO the two most important planning factors are 1) have you been to Germany before and this trip is to see markets and only markets and 2) do you want to focus on one or two home bases or stay in a new place every night?

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/christmas-markets-switzerland-france-germany-2019

Perhaps my 2019 Trip Report will have some helpful info regarding the German markets. I also attached a Search from here on the Forum, as there's been extended discussion. I did find that hotels book up early, and found some fully booked by the June before. How big is your travel group? In any case, have a magical time. Safe travels.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Christmas+markets&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Welcome to the forum, foxyhomer. Interesting screen name. With 7 days, I think you max out at 2 bases for the trip. If Cologne and Nuremberg are what you want to see, then I would suggest using those two cities as your bases and supplement with nearby markets. Trier seems like the proverbial bridge too far.

I've been to the Nuremberg market. It's nice but crazy, crazy packed... especially at night and especially on the weekend... like unable-to-move-for-extended-periods-of-time packed on weekend nights.

Trying to get a little taste of different markets but not be stressed
rushing around.

If it's your first trip for Christmas markets and you are open to ideas on where to go, I'm partial to the Stuttgart area, which has 3 very nice markets that each have a distinct flavor to them; a stay in a single city allows for very diverse Christmas market experiences. The Stuttgart market is an enormous big-city market with decorated rooftops. Nearby Ludwigsburg has a Baroque Christmas market, playing off the Baroque palace in the town. In the opposite direction is Esslingen. It's more of a town than a city, and its industry is away from the town by the river, so it escaped WWII bombing and has gorgeous half-timbered houses. It has a really, really cool medieval market that is fun to visit after dark. My trip report from 2017: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-christmas-markets-in-and-around-stuttgart

I agree with Dave's recommendation in the his last paragraph. What he describes is a magical experience. Safe Travels!

I appreciate the responses. I think you are right that a base with day trips makes the most sense given my limited time frame. Cologne had sounded appealing because of the cathedral market.

Of the three you mention Cologne is, to me, the least appealing. Almost every major city has a market around the cathedral. I prefer Mainz to Cologne. The advantage to places like Trier and Nuremberg is that there's so much more to do, and the markets are best in the evenings, which means you have to keep yourself entertained during the day.

The major problem with your choices (from my point of view) is that Cologne and Nuremberg are not close together, and there's a lot between them. I'd seriously look at Nuremberg, Wurzburg, Bamberg, and maybe Bayreuth for 7 days without a lot of wasted travel time. Or Luxembourg, Trier, Heidelberg. Or Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Mainz. There are a lot of smaller towns and cities on any of these three paths, and a number of other attractions too.

Trier is a good looking city in the Baroque center, must be quite charming after dark in winter at the Christmas market :)

Cologne has some impressive sights (or really, one big one). Have visited literally 8 times. But it also always feels like a big city with a bit of big city grubbiness, even in the historic quarter. Not really anything wrong with the place, but on a short trip I'd stay elsewhere. BUT! You can visit the cathedral and Christmas market very easily in a couple-few hours by train, even with your luggage (good locker system, cathedral literally next door to station).

Second not doing more than 2 bases in 7 nights. Just too much travel with bags esp given time of year.

We love Cologne for the markets. We’ve done 3-4 Xmas market trips and it’s our favorite place to stay (and we aren’t really city people). We stay at Stern am Rathaus (book early). Cologne has like five different markets; you can easily do two full days there if you also do the cathedral, chocolate museum/cafe, etc. We especially like how central it is. Bonn is only 25 minutes away and has a nice market, and the fabulous Aachen market is an easy day trip. We’ve also day tripped to Essen, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, and Trier from there. Plus all the towns on the rhine if the weather is good.

With 7 days I’d split 3/4 between Cologne and Nuremberg (or somewhere close to Nuremberg). N also puts you within train distance of RodT and Bamberg as well, maybe heading to N first and ending in Köln so you can catch an easy train back to the airport home (assuming flying in and out of FRA; otherwise if you can fly into Fra and out of N that would be ideal)