The Best European Christmas Markets

Cisco and I planned and paid for this trip almost 4 years ago for December 2020. We had booked a River cruise with Viking on their ‘Romantic Danube’ sailing from Dec 8-15. Originally planned, starting in Budapest, Hungary and ending in Nuremburg, Germany, it got cancelled and postponed twice (due to Covid and its variants.) But we finally made it to the European Christmas markets in December of 2022 via Viking’s ‘Christmas Market’ sailing, with virtually the same itinerary!!!

Because I have family in Austria, we decided to fly into Germany (since that’s where the cruise ended), and rent a car to drive through Austria to see some of the beautiful towns and cities that the cruise did not visit, along the way to Vienna to see my family for a few days. We then traveled easily by train from Vienna to Budapest to begin our River-Christmas-Markets Journey. It was a total of a two week trip– one week pre-cruise, and one week of the sailing. And it was the perfect amount of time to soak in as much Christmas Magic as was humanly possible!!!

We started our journey in Salzburg, staying at the beautiful little boutique hotel, Small Luxury Hotel Goldgasse, on the most quaint perfect street, in the center of Old Town Salzburg, just steps away from the awesome Christmas Market- our first taste of Advent Adventure! Both the hostess and the breakfast there were incredible! And set us off to explore the inner city, which was stunning. Make sure to walk down to the river, and also see as many of the smaller Christmas Markets as you can, as they were more intimate and had special crafts.

Unfortunately, we were only in Salzburg one day and evening, and then we drove to Hallstatt, which is about a one and a half hour drive. We arrived to one of the prettiest views we’ve maybe ever seen…

AND one of the absolute WEIRDEST Christmas traditions we’ll likely ever see…

We arrived to Hallstatt just in time to catch the stunning & world-famous view before the sun set…. And the crazy night began…

We happened to be there on the one night of the year that they have the Krampus Run. What is a Krampus? It’s the ‘evil’ counterpart to the sweet Santa Claus— they go hand in hand. While Santa rewards well-behaved kids with toys and sweets, the Krampus— a monstrous horned creature— punishes naughty kids by whipping them with birch branches and even kidnapping them back to their lair in hell. (Fables told by parents in Austria to make their kids behave. Hmmmm. Seems effective. Lol). Anyway, for one night a year, they celebrate the Krampus fable, and we happened to be there the night that the big Krampus production was happening in the town square. Hundreds of locals gather to be terrorized by the many Krampus, who ran around whipping people’s legs and once in a while, stopping to pose for photos. Lol. Not gonna lie— it was terrifyingly fun! And Cisco and I did not manage to escape a mild lashing, but we also made a furry friend.

At the end of the night, St Nick (Santa) comes out with all the Krampus in tow, and hands out treats. Guess that makes up for the prior terror and lashings??? Merry Scary Christmas, Y’all! Hahaha

Later that night, it snowed above Hallstatt, and in the morning, the snow-capped trees covered the mountaintops.

We took the funicular tram up to the top to see what we could see. The clouds were so thick that we couldn’t see the view down to the lake, but the views up there were pretty spectacular! And we got to play in the snow.I would definitely recommend taking the tram, if you have time.

Austria— So far, so amazing…..

I last visited Budapest more than 20 years ago, when I danced here on tour in Hungary with my Ballet Company. But I have never been here in the winter, and the city just glows during the Christmas season!

We got to see some of the festive Christmas markets and holiday-lit streets along with some of the most famous sights of the city. Most impressive was the massive and elaborate Parliament Building, which, when lit up at night, looks nothing short of a miracle. It boasts 691 rooms and 29 staircases and has 332 statues gracing the facade. Freddie Mercury, during his height of fame, visited Budapest and was so taken by the structure, that he tried to buy the Parliament building from the city. They said no. Lol

We had amazing views of the Parliament from the beautiful castle on the Buda side of the river, across from the Pest side… which is how the whole city got its combined name…

We stayed for one night in the trendier Pest-side, in the Frank Sinatra room in the Jazz wing of the stunning music-themed hotel, Aria. The hotel is in the very heart of the city, and the rooftop bar overlooks the interior courtyard, and the famous and stunning St Stephen’s Basilica. And even though it rained while we were there, the water on the ground just doubly reflected all the lights of the city, especially the sparkling ‘FashionStreet’, and it really looked amazing! It’s been incredibly cold though, so we escaped the chill by spending a warm afternoon enjoying the Gellert Baths— one of the thermal baths built 100 years ago, that Budapest is known for.

After two days of walking around the city, we finally got to board our Viking River Cruise where our Christmas Market adventure through Europe continued for the next week….

I must say, traveling via a river cruise isn’t my normal MO. I like to have tons of flexibility, and stay in places for more than a few hours. But for this purpose– to see many different Christmas markets within the amount of time we had, it was absolutely perfect! You only unpack once (for all the different towns and cities you visit), you get the unique vantagepoint of seeing the town from both the outside (and the river views were gorgeous!!!), as well as from within the towns, and many of the towns and Christmas Markets along the Danube were small, and very easy to see in one day. Plus, the food and service and accommodations on Viking were really top notch. We stayed warm in comfort and got to see the best of what three countires had to offer… from land and sea! Plus the staff gave us the history and stories of the various locations daily, so it was wonderful to have some deeper insight into the places we were visiting. For Christmas Markets in Europe, I would highly recommend doing a river cruise. And we would highly recommend Viking!

A big part of the reason I booked this trip was to see my Austrian family, and to finally introduce them to Cisco. The river cruise stopped in Vienna for two days, where we got to see the city at night, in all its twinkling glory, and covered in snowflakes!! But we also stayed with my Mom’s family for three days before the cruise even began.

They showed us around Vienna during the day, took us to Schönbrunn Palace in the evening, and organized a wonderful dinner with some of my dozens of cousins. My cousin bought us a famous (and incredible) dessert, called Kaiserschmarrn, at one of Vienna’s most famous Patisseries, ‘Demel’, where my Mom worked when she was 16! If you are ever in Vienna, you should definitely try it! They have a ‘Take-out’ window, because it’s so popular. At night, we walked down the chandelier-draped Graben street, and ended up in front of the spectacular St Stephan’s Cathedral.

My heart felt full and soothed from being in my Mom’s hometown, surrounded by my sweet family.

Next we headed down the Danube to our next stop….

When our cruise docked in Vienna for two days, we had the opportunity to hop over to another country for a day tour. So, we went to nearby Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia!

We walked around the pretty streets, visited the Christmas Market (of course), and warmed up with Glühwein— the traditional hot spiced wine, cider, or rum, served at most every Christmas market in Europe. They come in differently decorated mugs and cups in each market in each city, and we’re starting to amass a mini collection.

We cruised through the gorgeous Wachau Valley from Krems to Passau, on our way to Germany….

Our last stop in Austria was the beautiful little town of Krems, which is in the stunning Wachau Valley, a UNESCO world heritage site. We walked through the pretty town of Krems, which had some incredible galleries and art exhibits, and then sailed down the river past some beautiful castles and palaces and historical ruins.

Up above the incredibly picturesque town of Dürnstein, Austria, are the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lionheart was held prisoner in the late 12th century for months after returning from the Crusades, by the Austrian Duke Leopold V. Over 20 years ago, my Mom and I did a 5-day bike trip along the Danube and hiked up to that castle. It was pretty awesome seeing it from the vantage point of the river this time.

We sailed onward, leaving Austria and entering Germany, docking in Passau— an incredibly charming town known for its gothic & baroque architecture. Relatively undamaged from the bombings of WW II, it retains its old world feel, but also hosts many modern artist studios. The Christmas market here was so quaint and lovely, with pine trees everywhere and the spiced smell of hot Glühwein wafting through the super chilly air.

And as we left Passau, that’s where the snow really began.

The last day before our cruise ended, Cisco and I had booked a day trip to see nearby Nuremberg— known for its beauty and history as well as for hosting one of the oldest and most famous (and probably the largest) Christmas market in Europe. Because of a delay in docking, we only had about 2 hours in Nuremberg, so we bounced around, seeing as much of the market as possible, but also meandering along the wooden bridge and hidden streets that were full of charm, to see the historical buildings and waterways that run through the city.

Our cruise on the Danube finished in newly snowy-white Regensburg. While Nuremberg was wonderful, I waaay preferred the older city of Regensburg, with its incredibly beautiful, genuinely charming and much more fantasy-wonderland Christmas markets, set amongst the stunning colorful medieval town.

This preference was hugely in part because we had the most perfect tour guide who knew every nook, cranny, and incredible spot to take us to.

Sweet Benita, a very close family friend, and someone who was incredibly dear to my Mother, grew up nearby and showed us the most authentic Regensburg experience— how it was truly meant to be seen and tasted…..

We ate the famous town bratwursts in a roll, warm pretzels, bacon-covered dates, roasted chestnuts, cinnamon crusted hot spiral dough stacks called chimney cakes, and a half-meter long spiced sausage. We drank Glühwein out of tiny boots, and saw the city from the most amazing viewpoints.

She showed us the tiniest chapel in Regensburg (which seats maybe 12 people), and the largest most impressive St Peter’s cathedral. We listened to carolers and saw views of the walled city from the Steinerne Bridge, which was built a thousand years ago and opened trade routes to the city, putting Regensburg on the map as a place to be. The old town of Regensburg looks much like it did during the middle ages, since the city has carefully preserved the medieval buildings and also structures from the Roman era.

We wound our way through town taking all the narrowest of quaint cobbled streets, and each church and courtyard we ended up at was better than the last.

My absolute favorite sight though, amongst all the beautiful Christmas markets we saw there, was the incomparable winter wonderland Christmas market within the grounds and courtyards of St Emmeram Castle. The castle is still the home to a noble family, and every year they host the most genuine and stunning market with some of the most beautifully unique handcrafted goods and ornaments. It really felt like a dream. And there were llamas there!!!!!

Thank you, Benita, for this amazing day!!!

…and some craziness!!

Our last stop, and my other favorite, next to Regensburg, was awesome Munich! I think this is once again because Benita gave us the ‘locals’ tour (it’s where she now lives), and took us to the most amazing sights!

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…. But!!! The single most insane sight was the river surfing. They do it all year round, but this particular weekend, these dozen dudes (and a woman or two) were surfing a wave created by an aqueduct, on the ice cold river that runs right through the center of metropolitan Munich city…. in the freezing cold (25°F), surrounded by snow and frost. I couldn’t believe it was possible when she told me, but I saw it with my own eyes— and couldn’t peel them away. We watched them all rip these waves until our noses and fingers got numb, and wondered how in the hell they could ever do that….