Were planning a trip in December from the 18th until 3 January 2015 to Europe. We actually want to experience a white christmas with our kids who is 12,9, and 5. And Granny is joining us for this amazing tour.
Our plan so far is
Arrive in Vienna on the 19th of December. Here we will stay 3 days and explore whatever we can.
On 22 December well depart for Munich by train. Here we will stay 2 days and explore places.
On 24 December well depart to Zurich Switzerland to experience Christmas in a different atmosphere than were used to.
on 27 December well depart to Florence to explore
on 29 December well depart for Rome where we will experience new year and on 3 January 2015 well head home.

Any tips on some of these places. Is the train the best options?
Were looking at booking selfcatering accomodation to save us some money and to to make our own suppers.

Thanks

There's usually no snow in Zürich on December 24. You need to head up into the mountains.

Pick a ski-resort in Switzerland if you want a white Xmas. The Zürich area isn't the best for high mountains. South of Luzern would be much better IMO (Engelberg, Wengen, ...)
Or you stay around Munich and look into Austria (Kitzbühel, for instance).
Anyway, whatever you chose, if you want to stay in a ski-resort: book early!

At a quick glance you don;t have as much time in each city as you think. To have a full day in a city you need to stay 4 (FOUR) nights and you have a lot of very short stays and a lot of time in transit.

Also you hae to assume much will be closed on Dec 25 and Jan 1 and many things close early on Dec 24 and Dec 31 - so you will need to search for what is available on those days.

To be sure of having snow you need to be in the mountains - there is no guarantee of snow in the valleys or lowlands - and yes, winter resort are expensvie and you do need to reserve early. (Zurich is primarily a business city and probably will not have any snow, Vienna and Munich have much more to see/do but also snow is unlikely. And any that falls will be quickly cleared away. You really need to spend some time in the mountains for winter sports - or even just for kids to play in snow.

And if it were me I would cut back - too many destinations in too few days - esp given the holidays.

None of these cities is in the mountains, and none of them is high enough to guarantee snow. The probability of a white Christmas in any of them is something like 10-20%, and that's an optimistic estimate. Rethink your plans. You need a winter resort in the Alps to fulfill your dreams, not a large city in the lowlands.

Thanks i think we need to reconsider.how does the train options work.?

One place -- like no other in Switzerland -- where you have a virtual 100% guarantee of a white Christmas is the Kulm hotel in Gornergrat. http://www.gornergrat-kulm.ch/en/kul...nergrat/hotel/

It would be a totally amazing Christmas eve/day experience. Dinner and breakfast are included in their hotel rates and the onsite restaurant for guests only is quite good. Their website doesn't show any availability, but I don't know if that's really true (it might very well be) or if they're not yet taking reservations online for Christmas. From the Kulm, you can catch the special Gornergrat train down to Zermatt and wander the village.

The problem with your white Christmas ski resort option is that most hotels want you to stay for several nights over Christmas and that doesn't seem to be in your plans as listed above.

Also, a Swiss ski resort at the busiest time of the winter season is about the last place in Europe to find budget-friendly accommodations. Anything is possible...

Would you settle for a "view" of the snow covered Alps rather than having the white stuff at your doorstep? That opens up a lot more possibilities. Luzern and Zug, for example. There probably won't be any snow in the cities themselves, but you can make an easy Christmas day trip up one of the mountain trains and frolic in the snow for a few hours, then head back down.

It might be too many countries/cities to visit, especially with kids, you risk spending more time in transit than enjoying these beautiful places. I'd narrow things down a little. If you want the snow, then don't come to Italy, it rarely snows south of the Alps. If you want an authentic experience, you might want to try smaller cities or get out of the city all together...

Only Florence to Roma is a relatively short trip (1 hour 45 minutes, then add the time to/from railway stations, packing and unpacking). All other trips are around 6 hours by train, this means that any leg eats up the better part of a day. Actually, you will have a single day in Munich and a single day in Florence.

Tx for all the replies.
We've decided to extend our stay at each destination with one extra day.
Were also looking in to going into the mountains somewhere to experience the snow.
Isn't their a village high up in the mountains in Switzerland that someone can recommend over Christmas.
Tx WeisserTee for your recommendation. Were looking into that as we'll.