Europe in January

You do realize that the weather could be very difficult at that time of year for the areas you are suggestion. Especially for someone from AL that may not have the clothing or experience with coping with very cold weather. With that thought I mind I would encourage you to move further south perhaps southern Spain, France, Italy. You should review the postings under, Timing for Vienna, Salzburg, Munich.

Yes, in January temps will be hovering around the freezing mark in Vienna. So if you decide to come, dress warmly. That having been said, there is still plenty to do: Tour the inside of the Hofburg & Schoenbrunn palaces. Visit the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Hang out in coffee houses, heurigen, and Gasthauses. But, of course, the main thing that gets Viennese through the cold, dark days of winter is the Ball Season. There will be many Balls held all over town. Many take place in Palaces. Some are at the big hotels. Ladies go all out with some pretty amazing Ball gowns. Men strut out in tuxedos. Typically you meet friends at a fancy restaurant or home for dinner, and then you go to the ball at 9:00 pm or so and dance till 3 or 5 in the morning. Here is the calendar of Viennese Balls for January 2012... (reservations recommended, although some might also sell tickets at the door if they haven't sold out beforehand. You can reserve seats at a table or many have runner tickets at a lower price.) http://www.austria.info/uk/people-places/vienna-s-glorious-ball-season-1133900.html

Thank you both for your suggestions...I did look at the recent posting about Vienna/Salzburg/Munich. Obviously, since it will be cold weather, are all museums and other types of indoor things open in January in Vienna and Salzburg? Our other main concern would be winter weather delaying trains and public transport.
We might just stick with heading south in France...however, even though I'm from Alabama, I detest hot weather and I'm really wanting to experience some good cold, wintery weather!

We were in that area Munich, Prague, etc. over Christmas/New Years this past year. It was cold and snowed nearly every day. Being from Colorado we had the clothing, know how to dress, so we were comfortable but there were people around us who were unprepared and very uncomfortable. Local public transit always ran but the trains between cities can be greatly affected. A hour train between Munich and Numberg took over two hours. One other day we had a lot of train delays because of ice. The train system is very intertwined so problems in an area far away can affect your train. We had anticipated these problems so we had a lot of slack in our travel schedule. You may dislike heat but it is far easier to adjust to heat than to cold. You need to anticipate temperatures in the teens and be very happy if the temps are in the 30s.

OK thank you Frank, that info on the train delays and temps is very helpful! If we decide on that area, I will be certain to pack my ski coat and boots! :)

To have realistic expectations of weather in January, go to this site http://www.wunderground.com/tripplanner/index.asp and input your dates in time span format (for example, Jan 10 to 20) plus a location of interest, and it will give you the last 15 years of weather at that location during that time span. Sunrise is later and sunset earlier in January especially at central and northern European latitudes. The shorter amount of daylight affects how much you can do. Go here http://www.timeanddate.com/ for info on that.

And ski coat and boots are the last thing you want to pack. They are bulky and heavy.