German / Austrian Christmas Markets - One Base & Day Trips by Train
 

The backstory is that we'd like to go on a Christmas Market cruise on the Danube, but the cost is just out of our reach this year.

So, instead, we'd like to fly into Germany(?) and use one city as a base for seven nights. No packing and unpacking. You know, like a reiverboat trip! :-) Then we would like to enjoy the Munich Christmas Markets, as well as take two or three day trips by train to see some of the other markets.

Looking for suggestions of a good location to stay in Munich that will put us within easy walking distance of the main Christmas Markets in Munich, as well as within walking distance to the train station for our day trips.

Any suggestions about which cities, which markets, hotel, feasability of using the trains as I described, etc. are welcome. Also - if you think there is another city (Germany or elsewhere) that might be a better base for a trip such as this I'd appreciate those suggestions, too.

Thank you!

Like Vienna, Munich has multiple markets to enjoy! I'd suggest taking the train to Nuremberg on a weekday to visit the Christmas market there as I have heard weekends are quite crowded. How about taking the train to check out the Salzburg markets in Austria? Those two would make manageable day trips from Munich. Rothenburg would be lovely but is a bit too far out for a day trip from Munich at 2 1/2 hours each way IMO.

I suggest you base in Munich, choosing a hotel near Marienplatz. From there you'll be walking distance to the main market and to the main train station (or you can easily hop on the U-bahn or S-bahn). You can also hop on a train easily enough to visit several others that might be a bit further out. You can get just about anywhere via train in Munich, so it's quite feasible to select a hotel further out, as long as its walking distance to train access, which is pretty easy to do.

Good day trips include Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which also has a small market and access to the Zugspitze, Fussen (think castles), Salzburg (which is about two hours by train from Munich, but even better if you spend a few nights - great market there), Regensburg, Augsburg, Bamberg and Nurenberg.

Details on some of the markets here:

https://www.christmasmarketsgermany.com/munich.php
https://www.christmasmarketsgermany.com/nuremberg.php
https://www.salzburg.info/en/salzbur...ristmas-market

All great ideas, thank you!

Here is the hotel we are considering:

KING's HOTEL Center, Marsstraße 15, 80335 München, Germany

Thoughts?

I'm not familiar with the Kings Hotel Center, but we've booked Kings Hotel First Class this year for our visit in December.

Google Maps indicates Kings Hotel Center is a six minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof, which would certainly work for me.

It looks like the two Kings Hotels are just around the corner from each other, so both very central and close to the train station.

Yes, they look like they're just a few minutes apart.

The Hilton Munich City is a great location and on the train line. You can walk across the bridge into Old Town or just 2 train stops from the hotel. We are also staying a week there and plan on taking 2 day trips. One day to Salzburg (1hr 45min train ride) and another day to Regensburg (90 min train ride). After a week in Munich we will take the train to Nuremberg (1 hr train ride from Munich) for 4 nights and taking one day trip to Rothenburg (1 hr 15 min train ride). Then we will take the train to Vienna from Nuremberg (4 hr train ride) for 3 nights before flying back home.