I cannot seem to find the answer - we are planning a white christmas (leaving sunny Australia) - where should we go in Austria Thanks

We were in Garmisch-Partenkirchen last year from Dec. 27 to Jan 3 and during the same dates this year in Salzburg and Vienna. Had plenty of snow in all three places. Don't know how it is historically, however. Hope someone else with more continuous experience will come forward to advise you. I can tell you that all 3 places are absolutely beautiful in the snow.

We have made two Christmas/New Year's trips to Germany/Austria/Prague. One was this past Christmas and the other was Christmas 2002.

This winter is one of the snowiest that Europe has had in years. We saw snow in every city that we visited. In fact, the snow in Vienna delayed our plane enough that we missed our connection and had to spend 24 hours in Paris (!).

In 2002 we were in Vienna the last few days of December and in Salzburg for the New Year. Austria was having a very snow-less stretch, and people from the ski resorts were coming to tour the cities because the skiing was suboptimal. We took the train from Prague to Vienna and while there was snow on the ground all through the countryside along our route, there really wasn't any in Vienna itself.

Salzburg was about to host some sort of snowboarding competition, and there was a slope constructed in the middle of the town, but no snow. They had to truck it in and spread it manually. I even took some video of the trucks coming into the square and dumping their loads of snow. The city of Salzburg is so lovely that even if you were to miss the actual white stuff it would still be very pretty. (I have heard that every visitor thinks he has seen Salzburg at the most beautiful time of year.) We hired a driver for a day to explore the countryside outside Salzburg. We went up a mountain on a cable car where there was plenty of snow and a gorgeous view.

Without a crystal ball, your best bet is to research weather, and go for averages. Most guidebooks have climate information. You could also start with something like Yahoo Weather:
http://weather.yahoo.com/regional/AUXX.html
From many of these cities, you have the option of clicking "records and averages." It seems that much of Austria doesn't get reliably below freezing in December/January to guarantee snow. I would imagine that towns in the mountains and ski resort towns might give you more chance of seeing the white stuff than the biggest cities. On the other hand, you want to investigate what is open and closed at your chosen destination on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day (and also New Year's Eve(Silvester)/New Year's Day if that applies to your itinerary). We were in Regensburg, Germany for Christmas this year. Christmas Eve is the biggest celebration day in Germany. All of the shops and most of the restaurants closed at 1:00pm Christmas Eve. Our hotel did not serve dinner on December 24 or 25. Before our trip, I called several highly recommended restaurants, and none were open on the 24th. I did manage to get a reservation for the 25th. We may have been able to take a chance on a pub being open the evening of the 24th (some were open at least until 4:00pm it turns out), but I wasn't up for researching that. Instead, we went to the markets and bought fixins for a Chrismas Eve picnic in our room. Fresh food from the butcher, cheese shop, bakery, friut stalls in the square. And a tiny Christmas tree I found in the square for a few Euros. On Christmas Day, a Sunday this year, everything in town was closed up, with the exception of a few eating establishments, and on the Monday everything continued to be closed, I guess because it was the legal/bank holiday. I did a lot of outdoor walking tours of the old city and window shopping. Bottom line: of our 3 days in the city, shopping and attractions were closed for 2.5.

In contrast, in 2002 we arrrived in Prague on December 25, and found it bustling and open. In Vienna, on New Year's Day (Sunday this year) all of the museums were open at 10:00 am, so we were able to fit in a wonderful day of art. On the other hand, the shops were closed (they always are in Austria on Sunday), and many closed early on New Year's Eve. I was determined to purchase some traditional trachten, and was barely able to do that before the shop closed at 1:00pm.

I'd guess that in a mountain resort town you would be able to find restaurants open over the holidays.

If you go to http://worldatlas.com/webimage/count...or/atcolor.htm and look at the Tauern mountains and the Alps, marked in green, you will see places with snow in December. In the Alps that gives you Schruns, Nauders, Obergurgl, and the way between Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass, in the Tauerns Schwarzach St Veit, Selzthal, and Hieflau, and in both ranges plenty of other towns and villages, easy to reach by train, then bus. To halve your costs take a train and sleeper overnight for 200 euros return to any national park in Serbia, see http://www.serbia-info.com/enc/parks/tara.html, then click in Go, or to the ski resorts of Romania, see http://www.skiromania.com/

Ben Haines, London
[email protected],

Vienna - who knows (chances are 50/50 or less)? If you want guaranteed snow in December you need to go to the mountaintops.

Sorry - you may not be aware - Vienna is not in the mountians - it's in the middle of the central european plains.

Even Salzburg - near to the base of the mountains may not have snow - if you go to 8-9,000 feet ski resorts you should get snow.

thanks for all the great replys