Erie03

My husband and I are trying to plan a trip to Germany to celebrate my 30th b-day. We plan to arrive November 22 and leave on November 28. We would like to visit some Christmas Markets, but it looks like the Munich Market will not open until after we leave (we want to travel over Thanksgiving to take advantage of the extra days off). Fortunately, I think the Nuremburg market will open while we are there and hopefully a few others.

Do you have any suggestions for places to stay around Nuremburg or any other markets in small towns near there that would be nice to visit? I would love to stay in an old castle that has been converted to a hotel or in a charming little village. Does anyone have any suggestions? If so, we will probably have to rent a car. Is it better to take the train to Nuremberg and rent a car from there instead of driving all the way from Munich?

We’ve both been to Munich before and loved it and would like to spend a few days here again but also want to see some smaller towns. Thanks for any advice you might have!

RufusTFirefly

I think the Nuernberg market starts December 1 this year.

Some that I have read will be open by November 28 this year (some as early as November 17): Oberhausen, Hamburg, Dortmund, Essen, Frankfurt, Rostock, Aachen, Bonn, Koblenz, Monschau, Kempten, Potsdam, Berlin, Hildesheim, Passau, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Erfurt, Freiburg, Trier, Ulm, Weimar, Munster, Lubeck. Probably some others as well.

RufusTFirefly

I just checked with the Bamberg tourist office (a lovely town just north of Nuernberg), and they say the Bamberg Christmas market starts 11/23. But I've seen other sites that show later dates. Seems that there is a lot of confusion over Christmas market opening dates as they do vary from year to year depending on the timing of Advent and how much a locality is trying to cater to tourists.

mvor

We were in Germany last year over the same time period. I relied on this site for hours/info and then followed up by looking on specific towns' websites, typically reached by adding .de to the town name.

http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/index1.htm

We enjoyed the market and town of Bamberg a great deal. We also liked the markets in Trier (too far for you), Dinkelsbuhl (tiny), Bad Wimpfen (good mix of local products and very few tourists), and Nuremberg (great selection of crafts and food).

Erie03

Thanks for all of the information. Yes, the dates are very confusing. One site originally listed Nuremburg as opening while were are there but now says Dec. 1. I guess we will have to find out more information before we book our trip or at least decide if we still want to go if most of the markets aren't open yet. Although, markets or no markets, I'm sure winter in Germany would be wonderful!

pef1234

Erie03:

I'll be taking 70 people to the Christkindl Markets this year and have been in contact with the organizers in all of the places we plan to visit to determine their opening dates. From what you've written it looks like none of the major markets you list will be open during your time frame. Nürnberg, Munich and Passau open on Friday, December 1st, Regensburg opens November 30th, and Bamberg on the 23rd of November. Have you considered Vienna, which opens on November 18th and Salzburg which opens November 23rd? Vienna has several Christmas Markets and the main one in front of the City Hall is huge. This is where we're starting our trip this again year on November 26th and then going west along the Danube, stopping at Melk, Linz, Salzburg, Passau, Regensburg, Nürnberg, Oberammergau and Munich.

If your screen name has anything to do with where you live please Email me! We've been doing the Christmas Markets for several years and I may be able to help you. The 70 people we're taking this year are all from Erie!