Two years ago, I got the idea to travel to Germany and Austria to visit Christmas markets. I envisioned walking down cobblestone streets, sipping mulled wine in cozy markets, perhaps a bit of snow. Everything was booked for my wintry adventure, but like so many other trips during the pandemic, it was canceled.
Last month, I decided to try again. I booked the G Adventures Christmas in Central Europe tour, and I’m happy to report that my December trip to Germany and Austria was a festive success!
We Begin in Berlin
The plan was the same as last time: join a tour group starting in Berlin and heading for a bunch of Christmas markets in Germany and Austria. After a series of flight cancelations and delays (sigh), I eventually landed in Germany’s capital with a bit of daylight left to explore the city.
I took the S-Bahn train down to the historic center and took an obligatory selfie with the Brandenburg Gate. It’s one of those places that reverberates with history. You can see where the Berlin Wall once ran right next to the gate. Nearby, I walked through the Holocaust Memorial. It’s a city block full of plain, uneven concrete blocks that stands as a reminder of the atrocities carried out by a government based just around the corner. Not a cheery start to the trip, but I was glad to gain some insight to the stories that come together in Berlin.
That evening I met up with my tour group, an instantly likable crew of travelers anxious to explore the markets ahead of us. Berlin first, then south towards Munich and into Austria. We set out the next day and began with the market at Alexanderplatz.
If you’ve never been to a German Christmas market, there are some features common to basically all of them. First of all there’s glühwein, Germany’s take on mulled wine. The basic version is warm red wine with orange slices and spices, but there are many variations. Delicious! Then there’s hearty food to eat: I had a bratwurst and started eyeing various types of fried potatoes. We browsed around the market a bit too. There was a hut selling beautiful wooden ornaments, another selling scarves and gloves, and so on.
We stopped by a few more markets around different squares in Berlin, all unique variations on the theme.
The Famous Nuremberg Christmas Market
The next day, we set off for the city with perhaps the most famous Christmas market in Germany: Nuremberg. The city center has a very medieval feel; it was heavily bombed during World War II but rebuilt to look much as it had for centuries. During the holiday season, Nuremberg is home to a huge Christmas market that fills the main square and sprawls out into the surrounding streets.
The market definitely lived up to its reputation with plenty of festive treats. I loved the blueberry glühwein and the lebkuchen, a type of soft gingerbread that originated in Nuremberg. The city is also famous for its bratwurst, which are mini-sized and taste a bit like American breakfast sausage.
Despite the treats, I couldn’t resist leaving the market to look around the old town. I walked up to the castle and took in the view, the rooftops covered in a dusting of snow. And I popped into the St. Lorenz Church, with its high vaulted ceiling and intricate stone carvings.
My Return to Munich
After our short stop in Nuremberg, we continued on to Munich for the evening. The city had been hit by a big snowstorm a few days earlier, and the sidewalks were still covered in a thin layer of snow and ice. I was glad I had a backpack instead of a suitcase.
I visited Munich on a previous trip to Germany, so I was excited when our group planned to visit the Hofbräuhaus for dinner. Hofbräuhaus is the most famous beer hall in Munich, with delicious Bavarian food and a band playing oom-pah music every night. And lots of beer. It’s a touristy cliche of a place, but I really enjoy it.
Seeing Munich during the holiday was magical too, especially the Christmas market at Marienplatz. We enjoyed glühwein in front of the gothic facade of the Neues Rathaus and strolled around the market huts decorated with evergreens. I climbed the tower of Old St. Peter’s Church (over 300 stairs!) to enjoy the scene from above.
Krampus Sightings in Salzburg
Soon we headed for Salzburg, stopping at one of the coolest Christmas markets of the trip at Hellbrunn Palace. The grounds of the palace are transformed into a wonderland of Christmas trees and lights, creating a fairy-tale setting for all the huts with holiday treats.
But there is a darker side to this tale, an area of the market called the Krampuswelt. For those unfamiliar, the Krampus is a monster of folklore who is said to accompany St. Nicolas around Christmas time and punish children who misbehave. Krampuswelt features a display of these demon-like figures set up to entertain and horrify visitors. What fun!
That evening we visited the main Christmas market of Salzburg’s old town. With a brass quintet playing holiday tunes, we passed a huge Christmas tree and searched around the lively square for something called a feuerzangenbowle. This nigh-unpronounceable drink was our guide’s favorite Christmas market beverage. Feuerzangenbowle is similar to the standard glühwein, but sweeter and spiked with rum that’s lit on fire! (Make sure to blow out the fire before you drink it.)
Later, we headed to a brewery for dinner and got an unexpected visitor. Partway through our meal, we heard clanging and loud voices from the front of the brewery. It was the krampus! Multiple krampuses actually, with grotesque faces and horns poking up from their fur-covered heads! They menaced our table until St. Nicholas, whose face looked suspiciously youthful beneath the long white beard, arrived to call them off.
Coffee, Cake, and Christmas
The final stop of our Christmas market adventure was Vienna. We took a sightseeing walk through the old town, down elegant shopping streets and toward the mighty Hofburg Palace, former residence of the Habsburg monarchs. Then we ducked into a cafe for coffee and fancy cake, a Vienna tradition. You may have heard of the Sacher Torte, the most famous of these old-school layer cakes, but I picked a different one with more frosting and nougat involved.
By this point of the trip, I had made friends with some fellow travelers and was mostly interested in spending the last day hanging out with them. There were plenty of museums to pick from, but we decided to go a different direction: Ferris wheel.
Vienna’s giant Ferris wheel is an icon, built in 1897 and still offering great views of the city today. We loaded into a large gondola, big enough to walk around and look out different windows as the wheel slowly lifted into the air. Once our moderately thrilling ride was complete, we stopped by the Christmas market at the surrounding amusement park for a well-deserved glühwein.
After nearly a week of Christmas markets, the only logical thing to do was visit one more, right? We took the metro to Schönbrunn Palace, the opulent summer palace of the Habsburg dynasty. The outside is incredible, a massive facade that nearly rivals Versailles. Unfortunately there were no more tickets to tour the interior. (Sad face.)
But the company and the overall vibes of the Christmas market carried us through. Or was it the glühwein? Before long, it was time to wrap up the tour with a final group dinner.
Vienna: The City of Music
I gave myself a couple extra days in Vienna for some solo sightseeing. Honestly, it felt a bit lonely without my friends from the tour. But I was in Vienna, the City of Music. For a classical music fan like myself, there were exciting things to do still.
First of all, I got a standing room ticket to the Vienna State Opera. That evening’s performance was Elektra by Richard Strauss, a perfect opera to see in the place where Strauss himself was once principal conductor. It was ferociously dramatic, with the orchestra rising to meet the powerful singers and accentuate the murderous events onstage.
Next, I headed out for a Sunday morning of top-notch music. At the Hofburg Palace chapel, music for Sunday mass is sung by the Vienna Boys’ Choir and members of the opera chorus. I snuck in the back to listen as their exquisite lines of Renaissance polyphony filled the air. Afterward, I hurried over to the Augustinian Church nearby for another excellent mass with choir, orchestra, and a sonorous pipe organ.
For my last night in town, I squeezed in one last musical sight at the Haus Der Musik (“House of Music”). It’s a museum dedicated to, well, music. The museum is really interactive, culminating in an experience called the Virtual Conductor. Basically, it’s a VR video game where you grab the baton and conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. I stood on the podium of the virtual orchestra and conducted a fitting finale to my musical day.
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