Conlet

Has anyone taken one of these? Am looking at both cruises (Vantage) and land tours. We are not really tour group people, but maybe it's a more efficient way to do it in the winter months. If you have done one (or both) of these, please give your opinions. Also, how cold is it in that area of Germany/Austria during December?
Thanks in advance,

LarryJ

I don't do tours but I often go to Christmas markets in Strasbourg, Colmar, Freiburg, Heidelberg, and other cities in Germany. I live in northeast Ohio when not in Paris and to me the weather is not bad at all. Mild even. On the other hand if you come from LA or southern Florida you may freeze your.......you may be uncomfortable.

Larry J

suesnothome

I did this cruise last December from Vienna to Nurnberg with Grand Circle Tours. They have their own boats/ships (?) and the accomodations were so much nicer than I expected. It's really not a tour as they dock and you do your own thing. The towns were all right there, within walking distance.

www.gct.com

I did take an optional tour to Salzburg as I wanted to see it in December with all the snow.

Some days were warmer than others and mostly it wasn't too bad. A couple of days were very cold. I am from near Palm Springs CA so I'm a wimp.

I really loved the Christmas Markets and would love to go again. Enjoy!

Susan

dwzemens

We took a Christmas Markets on the Rhine trip with Grand Circle Travel in December 2005. We are not "tour" people either, but loved this trip. Great boats, terrific food, good company and a nice mix of sightseeing and free time. The weather was just above freezing, but nice with little snow or rain.

Underhill

I also did the GCT Danube cruise in December and had an absolutely wonderful time, against my expectations--guided tours are not my thing, as my husband and I usually get a car and head off on our own.

But this tour was terrific. DH stayed at home (doesn't like ships or shopping), and I enjoyed myself with a like-minded friend. The ship was amazingly comfortable, and the food...ah, the food! It was like eating in a Michelin-starred restaurant every day.

The port tours were nicely done, and the markets were very convenient. My only complaint was that I could have used two big suitcases instead of one to take home all that I bought.

dwzemens

Underhill,

Weird how we both liked those GCT tours even though we are not "tour people". I guess we need to modify the definition of "tour people". I did notice that the price is much higher this year than last, and for fewer days! We paid so little for our ten nights on the GCT ship last year that it was almost criminal!

BTilke

Nothing against the GCT experience, but tt would be VERY simple to build your own tour. Land in Frankfurt, train down to Nuremberg for two or three nights, day trip to Bamberg, train down to Munich (one or two nights), train over to Salzburg (only 90 minutes away by train) for a few nights, then on to Vienna for the remainder. Fly home from Vienna. Or train from Vienna to Passau or Regensburg, spend a night or two there, then up to Frankfurt for final night before flight home.
Train service to these areas is very frequent, you can find reasonably priced hotels in all of them (Nuremberg would be the toughest since it's the most famous Christmas market, take care of that reservation first). It's very easy to find people in all of those cities who speak at least some English.
This route is so well traveled and services along it are so efficient, it's probably one of THE easiest European trips to organize on your own.

dwzemens

BTilke,

You are probably right, but it sure was nice leaving the Captain to get us where we wanted to go and having great food and drink served to us. All that training around looks like hard work, this GCT trip was a real relaxation trip!

Dave Z

Underhill

Exactly why I enjoyed the cruise so much!

Conlet

Thanks for all the comments. We have never taken a group tour and are a little hesitant to do so; we much prefer driving, but I'm not sure that winter is a good time to do that in Germany. Will have to think some more about this...but, thanks for all your help.

Underhill

suesnothome, which cruise were you on? I was on the one that left Vienna on December 6th (I think!).

RufusTFirefly

Be sure to look at the schedules carefully. We looked at several of the river cruise line schedules and some of the stops are just silly for the short amount of time they allow in a town before you have to be back on the boat.

Plus they are pretty expensive compared to what you can do on your own--generally pretty close to double what our self-planned European vacations cost.

However, if you just need to relax and get away from life's pressures and aren't concerned about how much you really get to experience on land, then a cruise could be just what you need. Sometimes an "involved" vacation is just too much to deal with.

luvtotravel

I'm sure I'm going to look pretty stupid here, but what's a Christmas market?

polly229

My husband and I had never done a tour before, besides a couple of one-day things we regretted, but on the spur of the moment (well, 2 mo., but that's spur for me) we took a GCT river cruise to Danube markets last Dec. So cheap we could scarcely turn it down. Loved it. Cabins much better laid out than I expected, food good, and staff was wonderful - from the captain to the waiters and particularly the program directors. (I'm not always so much of a people person, so that's a high compliment from me.) It's really not much of a tour per se since on our itinerary we docked and were free to go off on our own. We joined in on a couple of included local walking tours led by locals and those were enjoyable and only about 90 min. Only port we weren't right in town was the 1st, Nurnberg, so we found out where the bus returning to the ship in the afternoon was picking up, then took a taxi into town.

We're from central FL and have been here 28 yrs., so we're a bit sissy now. I finally found the best place for locating wool sweaters was eBay, got several, and along with my wool slacks (which we can find here for some odd reason, just not sweaters) and lightweight silk long johns under a cloth coat with zip-in liner, I was just fine. My husband swore he'd be fine with no long johns and his short leather jacket with a quilted lining, but I don't think he was as fine as he could have been. We had a little dusting of snow here and there but according to someone on the trip who checked the weather daily, it was warmer than in Chicago. Coldest part was Dec. 15-17 when we stayed in Vienna before coming home - rain, snow and wind much of the time. But not unbearable since we knew soon we'd be back with 70 degrees and sunny skies.

Since then we've done several independent trips including Greece in May where we drove. In 3 wks. we're leaving for Amsterdam, Bruges, and Antwerp (where we won't drive). So we're not about to give up independent travel. But I'd do another European river cruise in a heartbeat.

SusanEva

Hi luv,

Researching for our own trip in December and saw that no one answered your question.

Christmas markets - Nov & Dec - in town centers (large and small). Hand crafted items, food & drink, music/concerts.

Here's a UK site that describes:
http://tinyurl.com/3zlpq

suesnothome

Underhill, we were a week ahead of you. I believe we left somewhere around Nov 28th I LOVED IT!!

Sorry this answer is so late....

Susan

W9London

Sounds like the cruises offer great cuisine, but please save some space in your stomach for market stall foods. Many markets have regional specialties. Plus all those baked things and sweets--like Marzipan and stollen in Dresden. For non-drinkers, you can get the grapejuice (traubensaft) version of gluehwein.

suesnothome

I didn't think I'd like the gluehwein (sp?) but it was delicious and helped to keep you warm!!