10 Things You Want to Know When Planning a European Christmas Market Trip
Want to spend Christmas break at the European Christmas Markets?! Here is all the important info you’ll need to know to plan your dream Christmas trip!
It is not too late to plan a trip to go in December 2024! You can pull it off! If you are more of a planner, some people start planning as early as a year in advance.
If you have any questions about planning your trip, message me on Instagram and I would love to help!
Here are my top 10 tips to help you get started planning your European Christmas adventure!
1. Decide how many days you can take off
I suggest trying to take at least 10 days on this trip. This is because the first and last day end up being travel days.
You could do as short as a week, but I recommend longer if you can.
Our family was gone for three weeks, but I know this is not typically a feasible amount of time.
2. Pick your dates
Decide if you want to be home for Christmas or not! There will be markets from the end of November to beginning of January (less options after Christmas).
Be sure to look up the dates of the Christmas markets for EACH market! They all have different dates!
Many markets close around December 22-23.
If you have flexible dates, choose your dates based on flight prices! You can use Google Flights to compare flight deals.
Be flexible on where you start and end your trip when looking for the best flight prices. I recommend flying into one city and out of another so that you can cover as much ground as possible!
Since so many cities are so close together in Europe, check for flights in cities nearby where you want to visit. You might be able to find other deals nearby.
I love using Rome2Rio to plan out trains and other modes of transportation to get between cities.
3. Stay in each city at least 2 nights
If you are packing up and moving every night, your family might get a little burned out and tired.
You could arrive in the evening, spend the next day exploring, and head out the next morning or afternoon.
4. Consider transportation between each city
I recommend picking cities no more than 2-3 hours apart (by train or car)
You don’t want to spend all your time traveling, so pick a route where you can stop at cities not too far apart.
We took trains and private vans to travel between cities.
We loved hiring the private drivers because we got to make fun stops along our routes.
Trains are also amazing! They’re easy to use and allows you to relax and enjoy the views.
5. Book accommodations
Putting in the extra hours of planning accommodations is well worth it (in my opinion). Finding a place that best suits your family will be worth it on your trip.
If this doesn't sound fun to you, there is always the option of hiring a travel planner to figure out all of these details for you.
We used Aribnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com to plan our accommodations.
We prefer to stay in an Airbnb or Vrbo because we have 6 people in our family. It ends up being way cheaper than staying in a hotel.
My biggest tip when choosing where to stay is to look near the city center! You want to be close to the markets so you can see as much as possible.
I would choose places to stay within walking distance of the markets.
6. Decide what to do on your trip
I don’t like to plan every minute of every day. I like to leave time for relaxing and spontaneous activities.
Leave unscheduled time so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. Trust me, you will never run out of things to do.
However, some attractions require reservations, such as museums. These are tickets that I will book in advance.
7. What to pack
Bring lots of layers! It was cold, but not as bad as we expected. The temperatures were in the 30-40s (farenheit).
Take as little as possible, and check if your housing has laundry.
If you’re worried about rewearing clothes in pictures, they’ll end up getting covered by your jacket anyways.
Here is a more in depth description of what I’d pack!
8. Food
Most of the markets had very similar food options.
We ate lots of sausages, potato based dishes, crepes, cider, and hot chocolate.
Definitely plan on snacking at the markets! Our family usually ate a bunch of market food for breakfast/lunch.
For dinners, we always sat down at a restaurant. After a busy day we were all very hungry and it was nice to relax and eat a good meal.
We did not usually make reservations, there were always lots of restaurant options.
9. Shopping
We did not get as much as I thought we would. No one in our family bought much.
Me and my girls each got our own spinning nativity and we got a few ornaments, but that’s really it.
Window shopping was more fun than expected!
If you plan to buy a lot, make sure to pack an extra bag!
10. Relax
I talked about this earlier, but it deserves its own discussion. Take time to sleep in sometimes or hang out and play games at the Airbnb.
This is a busy trip, so don’t burn yourself out! Take time to enjoy the company of those you’re with.
Check out my other Christmas Market episodes!
All the Magic You Can Expect on a European Christmas Market Vacation
A Simple & Practical Packing List for a European Christmas Market Vacation
My Top Tips for Making Your European Christmas Market Trip the Best
What to Expect, See and Do in 5 European Christmas Market Cities
What to Expect, See and Do in 5 More European Christmas Market Cities