Plan to take a train from FRA to Chemnitz and pick up a car the next day. I am desperate for a B&B or Gasthof this first night and any train info that you might have. I did check the bahn.de web and am not sure what savings fare of 29Eur vs normal fare of 77Eur (needless to say I would like the 29Eur fare). There are two traveling. What are the do not miss cities in Erzgebirge and will two and a half days be enough? Does anyone know when the Christmas Market starts in Seiffen?
Thank you in advance for HELP.

Seiffen:
The Christmas Market opens 1 Dec 10.00 am. A half hour earlier a small Christmas (miner's) parade starts - worth to see.

Opening hours of the Christmas Market: Mon-Thu 10 am to 4 pm, Fri-Sun 10 am to 6 pm. Most museums, workshops, shops/stores are open till 6 pm every day.

If you're there on 30 Nov: 6 pm is Christmas carol singing in the church, recommended. Same on 1 Dec, 2.30 and 5 pm. Highly recommended. Be prepared for crowds on 1 Dec.

Other not to miss towns in the Erzgebirge are Annaberg-Buchholz and Schwarzenberg. Freiberg is very beautiful, too, but at the foot of the mountains and a bit out of your way.

Castle Augustusburg is very worth to see (east of Chemnitz), castle Scharfenberg has a nice small Christmas exhibit and looks cute/medieval. Wolkenstein is a quite picturesque small (!) town with nearby spa centre and nice hotels - would maybe make a good base for your explorations in Seiffen/Annaberg-Buchholz.

As far as I know the 29 Euro fare means you have to take exactly that one train - no refund if you miss it.

As for Chemnitz: I checked the Renaissance Hotel (part of Marriott chain) and they have excellent rooms for 99 Euro per night - I'd recommend this one, quiet location on a hill/residential area, church and museum nearby. The city is not particularly charming and since you'll stay only one night it might be a good choice. Where do you pick up your rental car? AVIS e.g. is close to the railway station and you might find something closer to that - but not as good as the Renaissance Hotel. Of course there are B&B/Gasthof style accommodations available there, but they're probably a bit in the outskirts.

Did you find acc. in the Erzgebirge?

Ingo

Ingo,
Thank you for your kind response. We are to pick up the car at the train station in Chemintz. The only other location near is Hof.
I have not found acc. in Erzgebirge yet. I will try and find something in Wolkenstein as you suggested.
As far as the train, I guess that we will deal with tickets once we arrive.
Thanks for the hotel suggestion in Chemintz.
I appreciate your help.

To assist a little more with acc. in/around Wolkenstein ...

There are some rental apartments available in the town. Well worth to consider - they are really inexpensive. Here are two links:

http://www.fewo-grosswendt.de/haus.asp
http://www.fewo-zum-goldbach.de/

Hotels, B&Bs/Pensions and Gasthauses with acc. are to find in the neighbouring village where the spa is located.

http://www.pensionzurlindenallee.de/
http://www.badmuehle-warmbad.de/41009/home.html
http://koch-landgasthof.de/html/das_hotel.html
http://www.waldmuehle-erzgebirge.de/index1.html

I have not stayed in one of them, but they all look nice and the location is ok. Honestly, I still have to come across a 'bad' acc. in the Erzgebirge.

The first weekend in December they have a 'Schwibbogenfest' (candle arch festival) in Wolkenstein - should be nice.

I.

Here is another place with rental apartments:

http://www.maxenstein.de/

Panoramic views, especially apartment #2! About five minutes walk from the town square.

And here is another nice Gasthaus:
http://www.waldfrieden.de/
(Komfortdoppelzimmer 56 Euro per night)

I.

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