Pre-Christmas in Europe

I’m thinking about a family (wife, teen daughter) trip before Christmas to Europe. We’ve done this in past years to Vienna, Prague, and Munich - enjoying both the city and the Christmas markets.

Any other cities to recommend (we’ve been to Paris and London a decent amount so probably looking for something new)? Swiss cities come to mind, among others.

This is for Xmas 2020, not this year. Probably a 5-6 day trip, so could do two cities.

Copenhagen? Good Christmas markets and a great food scene.

In less obvious choices, I’ve heard that the Tallinn and Krakow Christmas markets are amazing. I also think the classic German towns would be great: Rothenberg, Bamberg, etc. (perhaps other Romantic Road towns), plus maybe Nuremberg – or something like that.

I love Alsace at that time of year.

So many places. Sevilla and Cordoba come to mind. We spend a NYE if Sevilla a couple of years ago that was fantastic. We did Amsterdam which was sort of meh for xmas. Brugge was great. We did Lisbon also. Loved it. I like to get out of the really cold weather. :slight_smile:

George

We enjoyed Ljubljana post 12/25.

Strasbourg

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Tallinn is only a few hours away from Helsinki by a really nice ferry so you could visit two nice cities with no fuss. Also if you really feel like exploring you could fly from Helsinki to Rovaniemi and visit Santa Claus Village

Porto - fabulous city in every way.

Berlin is (also) great around Christmas. And it could easily be combined with Copenhagen which is less than an hour away by airplane.

I’ll second Strasburg and Krakow and add Zurich. (I’ll be in Krakow for a few days right before Christmas myself.)

Since you mentioned two cities, I’d suggest your consider a Zurich and Krakow combo. Two “very different” experiences that are sure to be fun and provide some food for thought. I did both during Christmas season a couple of times recently and the contrast is certainly thought-provoking. Not sure going to Auschwitz is in keeping with the Christmas spirit, but taking kids (teens or older I’d suggest) to a fancy city like Zurich and their first-class Christmas market and then to Krakow for its hearty, traditional Catholic style festivities and its WW2 era life lesson visits…well, that could be a special trip. Let me know if you want more specifics on either city, I have spent many months in Krakow over the past several years (my partner lived there until recently) and a bunch of time in Zurich for work and friends.

+1 Strasbourg

I would second both the Nuremberg and Strasbourg rec’s.

And from Nürnberg there is also the option to visit the nearby Bamberg, a Unesco World Heritage Site and the home of the Aecht Schlenkerla brewery famous for their smokebeer (rauchbier).

Great city to visit. Not just Schlenkerla either. Something like 9 breweries within a 2kms of each other. I particularly like Mahrs. A former Pope and a former Holy Roman Emperor are both buried in the Dom.

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Alsace.

From Strasbourg, to all small towns all the way south to Colmar. Spent Christmas until New Year about 3 years ago and ambiance, decor and Christmassy fun facor is way up there.