Munich area for December - suggestions

PaunchyPirate

PaunchyPirate

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I am itching to go back to Europe in December to include the Christmas holiday and I've been researching Munich since I see some reasonably priced airfare available. I would probably do 10-14 days for the trip. I don't want to deal with a rental car, so will use public transportation/taxi/Uber as needed.

I don't really mind cold weather (I live in it). It would be nice to see the Christmas markets in full swing. But I would not be going just for the markets. I want to do regular sightseeing as well -- cathedrals, castles, views, some museums, etc. I figure I would do day trips and/or spend some nights in nearby places. Going to Salzburg, Austria would definitely be included.

I already found this previous thread for Munich in November.
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/munich-in-november-17882.html

I could expand this to be a more regional trip spending fewer nights in more places such as Nuremberg, Heidelberg, Colmar (France), Strasbourg (France). I just can't decide on the balance of more/less train travel that I want to do. I would probably want to fly round trip Munich since that's the airfare deal. But I guess I could do some more looking into flying into one city and out of another city.

Does anyone have any more suggestions?
 
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We went to Munich some years ago on business. We had some time for visiting too. We ate at the usual places. Hofbrauhaus, Rathskeller, walked Marienplatz, visited the Swan Castel (the town where there are usually a lot of small shops is all but closed in the winter months). One other thing that struck me most was a day visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp, a horrible time in history. Definitely worth the time IMO. I was pleasantly moved by everyone being so somber and respectful while on the grounds of that horrific site. It wasn't the usual tourist chaos. It may not be for everyone.
 
Munich is great, but I would rent a car for a couple of days and also hit Salzburg. There may also be a train to get there. I failed to get to the BMW museum in Munich, so I'll have to get back at some point.
 
I was just there this past December, and I have been very recently to all the places on your list, and they are all fabulous and easily reachable by train.

December is cold, which you already know, but otherwise it was wonderful. I would consider adding Salzburg, Austria to your list as it is also easy to reach from Munich by direct train. The DB (Deutschbahn) app makes researching and purchasing train tickets very simple.

The Christmas markets are wonderful, if for no other reason than to drink hot Gluhwein and enjoy people watching. I sorely wish I'd brought a second suitcase solely to fill up with the enchanting, unique Christmas items sold at the markets.
 
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Thanks everyone. Yes, Salzburg is already on the list as is a visit to the Dachau camp. I'm very comfortable using trains in Europe. So I will leverage them whenever I can.
 
There's bus service to Prague from Munich that leaves from the central train station. Having been to Munich many times, I was looking for something different to do and took the bus to Prague for a 2 day visit. There was at least 8 departures per day and took ~5 hours to get there. No direct train service was available. Well worth it in my opinion.
 
Jimmie said:
There's bus service to Prague from Munich that leaves from the central train station. Having been to Munich many times, I was looking for something different to do and took the bus to Prague for a 2 day visit. There was at least 8 departures per day and took ~5 hours to get there. No direct train service was available. Well worth it in my opinion.
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Thanks, Jimmie. I've already been to Prague, so I won't be doing that again this trip. I totally loved Prague!
 
If you go to Salzburg, you can continue on to Vienna for a few nights. Spectacular city. Hapsburg history, castles, museums, horses, and music. And, if you are really adventurous, continue on to Budapest and fly home from there.
 
HarveyS said:
If you go to Salzburg, you can continue on to Vienna for a few nights. Spectacular city. Hapsburg history, castles, museums, horses, and music. And, if you are really adventurous, continue on to Budapest and fly home from there.
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I've also already been to Vienna. I coupled that with the trip to Prague. Loved Vienna too! I do have Budapest on my list to get too, but don't think I'll try to venture that far this trip.
 
So far, I've loosely mapped out an itinerary for this trip as follows. Nothing is booked or reserved yet as I'm still researching.

Fly into Munich (2 full weeks on the ground in Germany)
Daytrip to Neuschwanstein and Lindenhof
Daytrip to Dachau Concentration Camp

Salzburg
Nuremberg
Rothenburg
Dresden

Back to Munich (for the actual holiday period of December 24/25/26)

Fly home from Munich
 
Dinkelsbuhl is also a very nice stop on the romantic road. Less touristic vs. Rothenburg, which may or may not be a good thing vis a vis Christmas markets.

The salt mines in Berchtesgaden are a nice trip. This town also has the Eagles Nest, a WW2 historic site.
 
Bamberg is one of my favorite cities and it's less than two hours by train.
 
HarveyS said:
Dinkelsbuhl is also a very nice stop on the romantic road. Less touristic vs. Rothenburg, which may or may not be a good thing vis a vis Christmas markets.

The salt mines in Berchtesgaden are a nice trip. This town also has the Eagles Nest, a WW2 historic site.
Click to expand...

I had hoped to get to see the Eagles Nest. But it closes down for the winter months. I do have the salt mines on my list as a potential site while in the area though.
 
braumeister said:
Bamberg is one of my favorite cities and it's less than two hours by train.
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I'll look into Bamberg. I'm not sure I wanted to venture as far east as Dresden, and substituting in Bamberg might make more sense. Thanks for the tip. I've seen Bamberg referenced a couple times now, so I'll read up on it.
 
HarveyS said:
If you go to Salzburg, you can continue on to Vienna for a few nights. Spectacular city. Hapsburg history, castles, museums, horses, and music. And, if you are really adventurous, continue on to Budapest and fly home from there.
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Yup! If you have the time, I agree with Budapest. Best suggestion I've seen on this topic.
 
A native of Bavaria recommended the Hotel AM Markt to me in Munich. I stayed there last spring, nice place and great location. Backs up to the Viktualienmarkt, two minute walk to Marienplatz and the train station. Rooms are clean, compact, but nicely updated. Affordable prices and helpful staff. Have a great trip.

https://www.hotel-am-markt.eu/
 
PaunchyPirate said:
I had hoped to get to see the Eagles Nest. But it closes down for the winter months. I do have the salt mines on my list as a potential site while in the area though.
Click to expand...

We planned to visit the eagles nest/ Kehlsteinhaus on our last trip, but it was closed. Instead, they recommended we drive the Rossfeld Panoramastrasse. It was absolutely stunning.
 
UPDATE: I booked the airfare and hotels for this trip yesterday, so it's a GO!

I'm flying first/business class from Pittsburgh to Munich (via Charlotte). I land in Germany on December 13 and depart on December 27, so 2 full weeks to explore.

I have hotels reserved in Munich, Salzburg, Nuremberg, and Strasbourg (France). In addition to those cities I will be doing some day trips to castles south of Munich, Dachau, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Colmar (France), and possibly Bamberg.

I will see a lot of Christmas Markets in addition to the normal tourist attractions in these locations. Fingers crossed for good weather.

I recently got the new Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard, and I needed to spend $10,000 in 3 months to get 100,000 American Airlines miles as a bonus. So in addition to buying the airfare, I decided to book and pay for my hotels in advance too. All the reservations are fully refundable up to various dates in December prior to my trip, so there is minimal risk in doing this. I'm using American Airlines hotel booking partner website (Rocket Travel) to do the bookings. Each stay gives me additional American Airlines miles as a Rocket Travel booking bonus. Then for each booking, I also get 10x times the amount charged to my Citi credit card in miles as a card benefit. The card also gets me 4x the price of the airline ticket in miles.

Including the miles given directly by American Airlines for flying, the Rocket Travel bonuses, and the Citi card bonuses, I come up with 100,023 miles that will be credited to my American Airlines frequent flyer account. This is in addition to the 100,000 miles given for reaching my $10,000 spend.

With those 200,000 miles, I'll plan my 2024 travel.
 
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