Opinions on Christmas market itineraries

Just looking for some opinions from people who may have been there and done that. This will be my first river cruise and I have decided on AMA, I presently have the "Christmas on the Rhine"(Amsterdam,Cologne,Rudesheim,Speyer, Strasbourg,Breisach,Basel,Lucerne & Zurich) on hold, but now I'm second guessing myself whether I should change it to "Christmas Time"(Prague,Nuremberg,Regensburg,Passau/Linz,Melk,Vienna & Budapest). I realize that everyone has their own individual tastes - just looking for opinions. I will be traveling by myself (early 40's), have never been to any of the mentioned places, love winter and Christmas and want to get the most out of the markets and the scenery.

Kaerofan:

We did our first river cruise on Avalon last December, and traveled from Basel to Frankfurt, with stops in Speyer, Breisach, Strasbourg. The Christmas markets were in full swing, and it was interesting to see between the German markets and French. I thought it was a very good introduction to river cruising. We've seen Christmas markets before, so we knew where/when to expect crowds, etc.

We were able to take an excursion to the Black Forest and to Heidelberg as well. We're looking forward to more river cruising, and will probably do the Vienna/Budapest/Prague trip next.

Fred

Just did the budapest-Prague this past Dec. with AMA---it was wonderful except for the group of 40 who did not appreciate some of the evening entertainment--the best we have experienced on a river cruise and number 15 is in Oct. The other one was Nurnberg-Koln. Again it was very good and Vantage did a fine job--thought the food wad mediocre Whicever one you chose, it is a magical time on the rivers. Koln has 7 markets--we only had time for 4. Don't forget the glugwein and the souvenir mugs. Pat

We did the Budapest to Regensburg a couple of years ago on Uniworld and it was great. Ship, food, cabins and service were perfect. Christmas markets were a lot of fun especially comparing the gluhwein from town to town. We gave the biggest thumbs up to the gluhwein stands run by the Lions Clubs. In most towns their gluhwein was "fortified".

THis year we are going on the Uniworld Christmas market cruise from Nuremberg to Frankfurt. Should be a lot of fun.

The largest Christmas market is in Nuremberg, it also attracts huge crowds because it is the most famous. The markets in Vienna, Passau and Prague are also very beautiful.

Cologne and Strassburg are also very nice.

It is a personal decision really....

I'm very interested in this thread. I have a "dump document" into which I put all sorts of advise and comments and the Christmas markets cruise is on my to-do list .

1. what exactly is the difference between the French and German markets?

2. do most of the markets, regardless of nation, have their own crafts or are there markets in which Chinese or other Asian goods have arrived and are those goods clearly marked?

3. do the ships generally stay at the markets long enough in the evening to be able to see the lights?

4. if you were telling your best friend "don't miss this market city whatever you do" which one would that be? (knowing that this is very subjective)

5. when do the Christmas markets begin? As a general rule, the last week in November or later than that? (trying to figure out when to go to be able to see everything and still get back to the States in time for own Christmas!) I know that I can look at the "sailing dates" but if we went in late November/early December would we see what people see later in December?

Thanks for everyone's help. I did "dump" some threads from last year so I do have a little information.

We considered doing a Christmas markets river cruise. Then I started looking at flying into Munich and visiting a number of markets from Munich to Nuremburg to Salzburg and Dresden, Prague, Budapest, and a couple more. When I checked into the hotels I wanted and train tickets, I found I could spend 18 days doing Christmas markets for the same price as I could do a one week river cruise! It is easy to use the train to go from place to place, and I would have 2-3 days in a city instead of one day, and I would be there overnight and see markets at our leisure. For me, there was no contest. I am going the train route. Less luggage, too. No dressy clothes to bring. We can bring 2 less suitcases.

I've been doing tons of research on this and am awaiting Caviargal's reflections and also Steamboats and Fred's. They seem to be experts, and highly experienced which is the kind of advice I'm looking for.

Since my husband is A+++personality he would stress about getting the car, driving conditions, and parking, etc so probably wouldn't enjoy doing a rental car vacation. I want him to have only to worry about which lens to use!!

cbb - just my thoughts here (realizing I have only done 1 Christmas market cruise... on the Rhine).

We did find much of "the same" at many of the markets. But, you do need to realize that the markets are primarily for the locals - not developed just for "us tourists"... But - there are unique items if you look.

Some items are off shore imports, and no - they are not always well marked. But - one of my favourite items wasn't German or French at all, but a carved wooden Santa from Russia. We bought it at a stall in Strasbourg - where they have a store that sells Russian items. They just brought some of their seasonal items out of the store into the market.

Some stops are into the evening - others are not. We stayed late in Mainz, and Rudesheim. And extra time in Cologne - as that was our starting place. Easy to walk to from the boat. Our stop in Koblenz was during the day - so markets just opening as we were leaving.

I do agree that there are many who have travelled extensively through the markets - I am sure they will have great insights for you.

Fran

franski,

thank you so much for your comments. I really appreciate them! I don't mind buying the crafts of other nations--i just want them to be marked; your Christmas Santa sounds adorable!

I've spent hours trying to discover some agreement of which route to take. I'll worry about cruise line after I figure out which towns I'm most interested in! It does seem that several of the cruise lines are adding more itineraries every year.

I'm in hopes that this thread becomes one of the "good ones" as so much of the Christmas market stuff is spread throughout this board and a researcher can become overwhelmed trying to trace all of the info.

Thanks again!!! c

Kaerofan, there are no bad choices, but since you asked, I vote for the second itinerary. I have been researching cruise critic on this Christmas topic and I have discovered that more people favor Nurnberg and Regensberg fornthe Markets. You also get Prague, Budapest and Vienna, all quite different from each other. How can you pass up Prague at any time of the year? Consider the joy of sailing into Budapest all lit up at night and the opportunity of soaking in one of their Thermal Baths outdoors in the winter with the locals! On that trip you could also theoretically spend a few days pre-cruise in Munich, another amazing city with extensive Markets. Plus I feel that Amsterdam is better enjoyed in the warmer months when you can experience the canals, bicycling, and flowers, etc. I know I sound opinionated, but I felt that's what you were after.....I have a better idea: do both trips ( this year and next year)! Don't you have a lottery in Canada you could win? Sometimes I feel we get so overwhelmed with choices (cruise line, itinerary, excursions, cabins, hotels, which direction on the rivers, what to wear, etc.) that the more we research, the more stressed out we get!

Jesterscourt, I think you must have read my mind? (and yes I've been buying lottery tickets) - totally overwhelmed with research and the reasons for your "vote" are the reasons for the "second guessing", the 2nd itinerary seems to offer a bit more variety but I keep reading wonderful things about Strasbourg and Switzerland has always been on my to do list. Thanks again everyone!

We have done both the Rhine and the Danube at Christmas. We loved them both but at thought that the Rhine was more varied. Strasbourg is decorated everywhere. A real plus for the Rhine is that the region is stunning. This Christmas we are going on the Main.

We have done the Markets both by cruise and by train and are doing that again this year. One week + before the cruise to Bavaria and Austria and a few days after the cruise to Cologne, Heidelberg, Mainz,etc. While we like both ways, the cruise is our absolute favorite. No worries about schedules, packing/unpacking, etc.

My wife's favorite market is Budapest. Everything at that market was locally made and we didn't find anything there at any other market. Brataslava was also different. It is the newest of the markets that we visited. There were a lot of food stands (the smell was unbelievably good) and a stage where local kids groups were singing for the market goers. Nuremberg is supposed to be the largest although I thought the market in Vienna near city hall was larger. Nuremberg has the prune people, which are kind of strange, but a good present to bring back.

Regensburg has a great market near a "castle" that you pay a small amount to get into, but looks like what a market must have been hundreds of years ago. That was my favorite market. A lot of hand made things were sold there.

Most of the markets sell the same type of things. You will see some "made in China" items but it is very easy to pick out the local things.

I can't tell you the difference between French and German markets since we have never been to French markets.

On the Danube market trip, the ship did spend time in the towns in the evenings. As I recall, the ship usually left around midnight and we were docked the next morning. Only time we did something different was when we left early and stopped in a very small town that had its market on a boat that we docked near. We didn't spend a lot of time on the market boat but there were a few stands on shore that sold really nice wood carvings and other locally made things.

Tough answering the question about which market not to miss. I would say Munich. Strange answer but here is my thought process. We always fly into Europe a few days before a river cruise so we get over jet lag and do a little sightseeing. Munich has a great market and is a super city at Christmas time. You can go from their very easily to Salzburg, Garmish, and Ludwig's castle. After several days there, it is very easy to take a train to wherever your cruise starts.

Hope this helps. You won't go wrong whichever Christmas Markets cruise you select.

We have done 2 market tours. The first Nurnberg-Cologne very nice. We had no really cold weather, but some snow. It was early in the season and Nurnberg was delightful---spent most of the day there and at the WWII sites. And don't forget the prune people--a great favorite of mine. The markets in Cologne are wonderful--there were 7 the year we were there. We just hopped on the train and visited 4 of them. What a great day. Our second trip was Budapest-Prague--another wow. The port of Budapest was closed while we were there, so AMA took us to the boat about 1/2 hour away. We got there early and visited all the markets in Budapest, and of course the trip wasn't complete without a trip to the Central Market. We stayed at the Marriott Millenium apartments pre trip and it was a very nice place to stay. We didn't go to the Abby at Melk--had already seen it, so we spent the time in the town itself--found a lovely cafe/wine store and just walked the town. Linz at nite is amazing--fairlyland of lights in the market area. Prague is lovely anytime of year. We did this extension on our own and loved the markets--there where beautiful items not seen anyplace else--handpainted glass ornaments.

You can't go wrong with wharever trip you take. Pat

wow....these comments are exactly what i was looking for. I "dumped" all of Fred's comments and most of Pacmom's and Jestercourt's. All of the information is what I need to make a decision. As this tour grows in popularity I'm hoping some of the cruise lines really step up with adding ports and dates.

Thanks again everyone and keep 'em coming! c

I stepped away from the Christmas market scene for one day for the sake of my DH... (after all, he was very understanding about my choice of a warm store as a place to try to "unthaw" .... found and spent money in a shoe store!!)

When we docked in Speyer, the excursion that day was a trip to Heidelberg. But the CD mentioned the Technology Museum during the port talk the night before, and my DH's eyes lit up.

We had already visited a number of markets, and the cruise was more my choice than his. So, I volunteered to bypass the trip to Heidelberg so that we could do the museum, and then we wandered around Speyer.

I understand that the people who went to Heidelberg enjoyed it - but commented that it was very crowded. It was an hour away by bus.

It was actually nice to be able to walk off the boat and into the town, and to the museum. Speyer itself is small, but nicely decorated.

One couple that we met debated on staying in town as well... but the wife did want to see Heidelberg. The husband offered to do the museum with my DH - and then I could do Heidelberg with his wife... but in the end we stayed with our spouses for the day. I figured I could always come back to Heidelberg... and hopefully visit when it wasn't so cold!! (We experienced very cold weather when we went...)

Fran

We have enjoyed eight or so trips to Europe during the Advent season. We love the markets for the ambiance, added festivities, decorations, food and more.

We have enjoyed our independent land trips where we traveled by train to our base cities and the local buses and ferries to other areas. We love the markets at night and many river cruises do not offer much opportunity to visit the markets in the evenings.

Of the three river cruises we have done during Advent, our favorite was the itinerary that includes Wurzburg, Bamberg and Regensburg. All three are delightful mid sized cities with much to see and with good markets.

We are not fans of Nuremberg and last trip that had a stop there we just hopped the train and went to Munich for the day and had a great time.

We do not let ourselves be bound by the stops offered. We have hopped a train in Passau and trained to Salzburg for the day, meetings he boat that night in Linz. If you are abit adventurous you can see more than just what is onthe itinerary.

I would recommend studying the itinerary carefully to see how long you will be in the ports visited. And I would definitely recommend a week on your own before or after or split to really enjoy some time in a particular area of interest.

On a recent river cruise, we flew to Berlin, a city we love and which has awesome markets, and spent four days before hopping the train to Frankfurt to meet the boat. On the return, we trained to Munich and spent a few nights, taking day trips to Chiemsee, Tegensee and other delightful places.

We spent Christmas in Prague last year and loved it.

Lots of great options depending k the kind of experience you are seeking.

thanks everyone for all these great comments. Caviargal, did you make train reservations before you left home? I was wondering if it would be difficult to purchase tickets the day you wanted to travel.

We love Budapest but the Avalon Christmas cruise we're looking begins in Vienna and ends Frankfort so didn't know about purchasing train tickets at Christmas for a Budapest pre-cruise extension. Last time we trained from Budapest to Vienna we bought the tickets at home. Another Avalon is Prague to Zurich which also hits many of your favorites. We have sailed this itinerary before but not at Christmas.

Viking has a longboat cruise from Budapest to Prague (extension) that looks great but we haven't sailed with Viking before. Still at the planning stage!

Thanks again everyone for your help.

For the long train rides, we do purchase ahead and get seat reservations as this offers considerable savings plus helps us plan. We have also used passes which worked very well. At 90 days prior to travel you can buy discount on the DB site which is very user friendly and you really can save a substantial amount. For our day troups we have a destination in mind but sometimes change due to weather or just being spontaneous and have ne'er had an issue getting tickets day of. We generally just use the kiosks if we do not have a pass.

Our favorite two market trips combined Germany and Austria. One used Munich and Salzburg as bases for a nine night trip. We made lots of wonderful day trips. Another started in Berlin for four nights and ended in Vienna, one of our least favorite cities overall but it worked for our itinerary.

We are doing Budapest to Prague this year on the new AmaCerto based on how much we enjoyed the cruise with them last year. We are doing Budapest for three nights on our own and Prague as well independently at the end.

I would love to rent a car one of these days but am not interested in driving and neither is my husband. We love the trains and have found public transport to be easy and efficient.

Caviargal....thanks so much for confirming what we thought about getting train tickets from home; it is what we've done in the past. We also would not rent a car since it wouldn't be any fun for my husband, the driver. I'd say "honey, look at that" and his response would be "I can't, I'm driving!" so we'll let others do the driving, steering, whatever!!! c