LittleLady

Where to begin...

My husband and I are looking to travel to Germany and into Czechoslovakia to see Prague on December 12, 2018 through December 22nd. We're both young (early 30s) and this will be our first time in Europe. Yay! Planning our itinerary is in the early stages and is proving to be a bit overwhelming. So many places to see! Some help narrowing down where to go/sites of note to see would be greatly appreciated. A bit about us and our desires for this trip...

-No kids (yet)
-Active and enjoy walking
-Definitely interested in hitting up Christmas markets
-Love museums of all kinds
-Love architecture (so any must-see castles or cathedrals would be great...bonus points for beautiful
choir music)
-Husband enjoys craft beer/breweries

Thanks in advance!

Fussgaenger

Würzburg, Nuremberg, and Bamberg (beer mecca) meet your criteria, generally-speaking, and lie within an hour or so of one another; train trips between them are direct. Nuremberg-Prague is well served by modern IC buses operated by DB (the German Railway system. It's about 4 hours one way.

Würzburg:

http://www.ferienhof-henn.de/files/i...marienberg.jpg

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/169

http://www.wuerzburg.de/en/visitors/...ees/index.html

Nuremberg:

http://media.belocal.de/120712/1152x768_0,0c.jpg

http://www.schloesser.bayern.de/engl...s/nbg_burg.htm

Bamberg:

http://us.hellomagazine.com/imagenes...137_0007-a.jpg

https://en.bamberg.info/sehenswertes/

https://www.europeanbeerguide.net/bambpubs.htm

PalenQ

Yes trains are great - especially in Germany - from Nurnberg the bus run by the railways is the fastest way to Prague.

If taking several longer train rides investigate the Germany Railpass which also is valid from Nurnberg to Prague.

PalenQ

Oops got posted prematurely - for a few trips or if you don't desire flexibility to hop any train anytime as the pass allows check out the deep discounted fares at www.bahn.de/en- the German Railways site where you can book your own online. Would be cheaper than the pass though such tickets are non-changeable from a specific train at a certain time on a certain date so as full fares are much higher if wanting complete flexibility and taking enough trains look at the pass. For lots on German trains and passes: www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Fussgaenger

Just to clarify - PalenQ's train tips don't apply to the places I suggested - they apply to multiple journeys between much more distant destinations around Germany (maybe like Hamburg - Berlin - Stuttgart - Nuremberg, for example.) The only leg you ought to pre-book from my suggestions is the Nuremberg-Prague bus.

This rail map shows the locations of those 3 German towns:

https://www.bahn.de/regio_franken/vi...liniennetz.pdf

Tickets for the local and regional trains you would use in this area are only partially available at the DB website; you should just buy these tickets and day passes at the station from a ticket machine. Reservations are neither possible nor necessary on these trains. So the DB site is useful to check train schedules and travel times for travel between these towns, but not for tickets.

The Nuremberg Christmas market, btw, is perhaps the most famous in Germany and very well attended. Expect crowds and limited hotel space (book early if you stay there.)

Ingo

Prague is pretty close to *the* German Christmas region - Erzgebirge/Ore mountains where all these famous wooden Christmas items are manufactured. Fantastic Christmas markets there, tours through manufactures/private workshops possible. Towns are Annaberg-Buchholz, Kurort Seiffen, Schwarzenberg, Schneeberg ... and don't miss Freiberg, Dresden (the oldest and one of the largest German Christmas markets plus many others), you could even go a bit farther east to Görlitz with a Silesian Christmas market. It's only 2 hours between Dresden and Prague by train - much shorter than from Nuremberg or Bamberg e.g.

As for architecture, the churches in the Erzgebirge mountains are amazing (late Gothic - Annaberg, Schneeberg! Baroque - Schwarzenberg!) and Dresden and Görlitz have lots of architectural/cultural highlights. Dresden has the famous boys choir Kreuzchor and there's daily Christmas music in abundance.

Beer: A couple of microbreweries in the Erzgebirge, Watzke, Waldschlösschen, Neustadt in Dresden. And lots of them in the Czech Republic, too ... Zatec is famous for the hop/beer.

PalenQ

I highly recommend a visit to Dresden and then short lovely scenic train ride to Prague via Saxon Switzerland.