European Christmas Market Anticipation
Join me this week to learn all about the planning process for visiting European Christmas Markets!
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What is a European Christmas Market?
I recommend heading over to Instagram and searching “European Christmas Markets”! This is a great place to see recent images.
These markets are so charming and full of vendors selling decorations and delicious food.
How can I visit the markets?
If the planning process seems too daunting, there are options to visit the Christmas Markets with a tour group.
I don’t have any recommendations as I’ve never been on a tour here, but there are so many options if you Google “European Christmas Markets Tour”.
These tours usually range from 1-2 weeks.
Go on a river cruise!
There are options to take cruises through the rivers in Europe.
This option takes care of your accommodations and travel arrangements.
There are specific river cruises that focus on visiting Christmas Market towns.
Plan your own trip
I started planning this trip in March (9 months before the trip). However, we’ve also had friends start planning 1 year in advance, and another family planned it 3 months before. So it’s never too late (or early) to think about the trip.
How do I plan my own trip?
The first thing I did was choose an itinerary. I knew that I needed to choose which cities to visit before we could figure out other details.
I took a survey of my family to find out which cities were priorities to them.
Go online and look at blogs or social media posts to figure out which markets are your top choices.
There are SO many market options. Don’t get too stressed picking cities. Just remember that no matter where you go, it is going to be amazing.
Use Rome2Rio to help you figure out a good route between cities!
This helped me figure out the distances between cities, and what was possible or not.
I was able to come up with tons of different itineraries using Rome2Rio.
Choose your dates and how long you can be gone.
Once you know your availability, you can plan out your route more precisely.
Be aware that a lot of the Christmas Markets end around December 22-23
Now you can buy your flights!
Remember that you can fly into one city and out from somewhere else.
Next, book your accommodations
Click here to read my post all about how I like to book accommodations!
One additional tip is to look for places near the city center if you don’t want to rent a car.
Figure out transportation between your final cities
I used Rome2Rio again to figure out the best ways to travel between each of our cities.
I also like to use My Day Trip! This website allows you to book drivers to get between cities.
It also suggests stops to take along the way!
Look for activities that you want to do in each city
Make sure that you pay attention to the dates that tickets for each attraction open!
Print off any tickets and boarding passes that you need
I know this seems old-fashioned, but you might not always have great service to pull up tickets once you’re on your trip.
I like to bring a small folder with all of these important documents.
Our Family’s Itinerary
London, England
Manchester, England
Paris, France
Strasbourg, France (Google Strasbourg Christmas Markets! They are the cutest!)
Stuttgart, Germany
Heidelberg, Germany
Luxembourg City
Brussels, Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands