Christmas in Germany

Christmas Markets are mostly before Christmas. We have traveled the first week of December for the last 3 years. We have had sun, clouds, rain, cold and snow during our visits. Just take layers to wear to include a water proof jacket/coat, a warm sweater or fleece, and something to keep your feet dry. Stuttgart in Rain: http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Christmas-Markets-2009/Stuttgart-2009/Booth-Stuttgart/747510482_j38ic-M.jpg Rothenburg on a clear, cold night: http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Germany-2008/Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber-2008/Plonlein2/433656478_iwoYP-M.jpg Regensburg in Snow: http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Advent-2010/Regensburg/a-Regensburg-from-Stone-Bridge/1122470226_csBQE-M.jpg We have loved traveling this time of year. Lots to do, not too crowded.

We are just back from the Christmas Maarket tour started on the 13th in Strasbourg - Rothenburg - Nurnburg - Munich - and home from Prague. When I get a little more time I will post more information under Christmas in Europe. It snowed everyday for the first seven days and was generally cold in the low teens every day. In three weeks we saw the sun for a total of maybe six hours. The sun comes up late - around 9 AM and sets early around 4 PM. When visiting the markets you will spend a long periods of time outside. We were well prepared so it was not a problem for us since we are used to being in the mountains. For someone from Texas it probably would be very cold. Absolutely loved the markets, the very festive atmosphere, glugg wine and the food. If you have specific question, PM me until I can get a more complete report posted. The Christmas markets in Germany absolutely closed about 4 0m on Christmas eve. In Prague they were open till Jan 6th. PS -- We also found that we needed/used less clothing than we used during summer travels. Next time we will travel much lighter.

The medium to larger cities begin their Christmas markets at the beginning of Advent, often on the Wed. before. Smaller towns may only have their markets on one weekend during these 4 weeks. If you want to avoid the bad weather, than perhaps think about coming over the end of Nov. rather than the middle of Dec. I went to lots of Christmas Markets this year. My favorite small ones were Idstein, Büdingen, and Seligenstadt, because of how their markets wandered through the town and all the decorated fachwerk houses and historic buildings and churches. Frankfurt has a GREAT party atmosphere and Wiesbaden had a nice atmosphere too, but it was snowing such a wet, heavy snow that it was hard to see. Bad Homburg was really good too, with plenty of stands, and the setting in the courtyard of the Kaiser Palace and surroundings was pretty. Rüdesheim has a good location on the Rhine and the decorations there were great, but I thought the stands left a lot to be desired. The plus there, were the many cafes with really reasonably priced food and drink where you could warm up, as well as being able to ride the chairlift up to Germania. There are medieval markets which can be fun, neighborhood markets in all the big cities, markets in castles and abbeys and palace churchyards. I would write a trip report if there was a catagory on the Helpline for one.

Jo, that is what Christmas in Europe on the Graffiiti Wall is for. That is where I will put our trip report. Just have to take time to write it.

Ok, my trip report is posted over on the Graffiti Wall, but imagine it will get lost there, as I don't think a lot of people look over there very much. Plus the archive stuff is soooo old. Have asked the webmaster to either delete the archives, or start anew. Most of the posts in the archived section are 8-12 years old. Not very relevant. I think it would just be nice to have a dedicated section for trip reports for people to read. Look up "Christmas Markets in the Rhine Main Region"

Thanks to everyone for their replys and thanks Jo! I will search through until I find it......I really enjoy your posts. Lesley

They're not in Bavaria, but the two best Christmas markets I saw this year were in cities that I would never recommend anyone travel out of their way to visit- Mannheim and Darmstadt. Mannheim actually had two separate markets. One was more of the traditional type around the main city landmark, the Wasserturm, and the other was more upscale a few blocks away. Darmstadt had a huge market that just blew me away with all the elaborate lights and decorations. On Jo's recommendation, I went to Seligenstadt (we were there the same day but managed to not see each other). The market itself was about average, but I could not imagine a more picture-perfect Christmas setting... well, actually I could, if there had been snow that day...

I don't know Tom, Darmstadt has some really interesting sites to visit. The Hundertwasser Spiral building, the Mathildehöhe, the Russian Chapel, all kinds of Jugenstil architecture and museums. I think it would be worth a day there. Will keep Darmstadt in mind for next Christmas though. Thanks for the tip! As to Seligenstadt, the Abbey is what made the Christmas market special for me and I don't think you made it over there.