lexluther

trip is scheduled for dec 20-25.

Planning on 3 nights in Strasbourg with day trips to freiburg, black forest (one day) and obernai, selestat, riquwihr (another day)

Luxembourg 2 nights with a day trip to vianden, echternach and diekirk.

Will these places be dead at this time of the year or will there be christmas markets activities etc.

Any cheap flights from Paris to Strasbourg?

artstuff

Hi Lex -

The only destination that I can comment on is Luxembourg and Vianden. And having only been there in April, I can't comment on Christmas markets, etc....

However, I would imagine that Luxembourg City would have some kind of holiday festivities, just because it's a larger community. I think just seeing how they would decorate for the holidays would be charming in itself. You could check their websites for a calendar of events -

www.luxembourg-city.lu
www.luxembourg.co.uk
www.visitluxembourg.com

Vianden, with it's wonderful castle on the hill, was a sleepy little hamlet when we were there in April, - but that was part of the charm - so I imagine there won't be alot of activity in December, but again, I'm sure the town would be lovely, and the castle would be interesting to see especially if it was decorated for the season. You can check out websites for Vianden at:

www.tourist-info-vianden.lu
www.castle-vianden.lu

We had planned to visit Echternach, it sounded like a charming and historical little village, unfortunately, the buses weren't running on the day we were in the area, and we were travelling on public transportation.

I will, however, highly recommend Clervaux with it's Chateau where you can visit the Battle of the Bulge museum (if I remember from another post, your wife is into WWII stuff?), and the wonderfully, moving FAMILY OF MAN exhibit. I can't rave enough about this incredible collection of photographs. Here's a link to info on Clervaux -

www.tourisme-clervaux.lu

Hope this helps in your planning. Peace.

Robyn

lexluther

Robyn, thanks for the info on clervaux. Yes my wife is interested in the WWII stuff (I am too). We don't mind sleepy places - stayed in St Goar for 3 nights in December once - only guests in the hotel, only place to eat was the hotel restaurant.

By the way thanks for the email with the belgium holland info. As you can see my trip keeps getting longer

Gardyloo

Have a nice trip.

Next time, put some spaces in your title - the lack of them goofs up the left-hand panel. Thanks.

Sue4

Can't rate those places for you, as I haven't been yet. However, I will be going to Strasbourg in October, and plan on visiting the Alsace villages. I'm staying 3 nights in Strasbourg, and 4 nights in Dambach-la-Ville. I'm planning on taking a daytrip to Nancy from Strasbourg, but don't know where else I will go.

I'm flying direct to Strasbourg from CDG on Air France. The roundtrip fare was $126.00, on the internet. I checked both Air France site,and Travelocity, and ended up booking with Travelocity, as it was a little cheaper. However, that fare is extremely restricted - no changes whatever! Hope I don't miss the flight, as I've got a fairly close connection from the US, on American.

JulieVikmanis

I've been to all except Diekirk. I'd put Riquewihr and Obernai at the top, then Strasbourg, then Vianden and Echternach and finally Freiburg. I just think the Black Forest is very overrated. Alsace, however, is fabulous and I would imagine that the towns there are even better at Christmas. Luxembourg is a far away second. Freiburg, in my opinion, isn't worth leaving the others to go to.

mikemo

2'nd JulieV.
M

Riffic

Been to all except Luxemburg:

1) riquewihr

a close 2) obernai

3) freiburg

the Black Forest is really too general to rank, as there are many villages located throughout. I would recommend counting Freiburg as your Black Forest stop and skipping the rest of the BF (especially given the time of year--too cold for the woods!)


Selestat is at the very bottom of my list--nowhere near the charm of riquewihr/obernai. I also heartily recommend ribeauville and kaysersberg in the Alsace.

Re Christmas Mkts - I've only visited those in Bavaria, but there is plenty of info on the web. In general, they close shop early on the 24th and are not open on the 25th.

From the web (http://gofrance.about.com/cs/festiva...asmarket.htm):

Strasbourg - Nov. 29 to Dec. 24 - This is one of the largest Christmas markets in France, and the setting in front of Strasbourg Cathedral is breathtaking. In its 431st year, this market in Alsace is the oldest Christmas market in France.

Alsace - The Alsace region in general is home to 35 Christmas markets. While it's impossible to list or detail them all here, be sure to check with the Alsace Tourism Office for details.

lexluther

riffic, thanks for the great reply. Planning on doing Strasbourg for 3 nights with a day trip to freiburg one day and a day trip along a little of the route du vin on the other day (will definitely check out obernai and riquewihr). Then onto Luxembourg for 2 nights with a day trip to vianden, echternach diekirk. Thanks for the great web site info.

StCirq

I like Obernai a lot better than Riquewihr, which I find almost over-the-top as far as kitsch and charm go. Strasbourg is a great city, but I also liked the day I spent in Freiburg - as a university town, it has a lot of bustle and activity that's appealing. Haven't been to the others yet.