If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to spend an entire month chasing Christmas markets across Europe …

It feels like living inside a snow globe.

Twinkling lights. Mulled wine. Gothic spires. Alpine villages. Train rides through snowy countryside.

Here’s exactly how we did it.

✈️ The Itinerary

London, England – 3 nights
Paris, France – 3 nights
Strasbourg, France – 2 nights with a day trip to Colmar
Nuremberg, Germany – 2 nights
Prague, Czechia – 4 nights (including Christmas Day)
Vienna, Austria – 3 nights with a day trip to Bratislava
Hallstatt, Austria – 2 nights (including NYE)
Munich, Germany – 2 nights
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – 2 nights
Bruges, Belgium – 3 nights
Return to London, England – 2 nights

A true Central European Christmas trail.

🚆 How We Got Around

For most of the trip, we used a 7-country, month-long Eurail Global Pass.

It gave us:
✔️ Flexibility during peak Christmas season
✔️ Access to high-speed and regional trains
✔️ Easy border crossings
✔️ The ability to adjust plans if needed

We used trains between:

  • London → Paris (Eurostar)
  • Paris → Strasbourg
  • Strasbourg → Nuremberg
  • Nuremberg → Prague
  • Prague → Vienna
  • Vienna → Hallstatt
  • Hallstatt → Munich
  • Luxembourg → Bruges

Winter train travel in Europe is magical — snow-covered fields, villages glowing at dusk, and zero airport stress.

🚗 The Alpine Road Trip (Munich → Luxembourg)

Road trip: Neuschwanstein Castle → Liechtenstein → Luxembourg

After Munich, we hired a car for one of the most memorable legs of the journey.

First stop: Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.
Snow-dusted peaks. Icy lakes. That fairytale Disney silhouette.

Then through Austria and into Liechtenstein, stopping in Vaduz for castle views and the novelty of adding another country to the list.

From there, we continued on to Luxembourg, arriving to fortress walls lit with Christmas lights.

This drive added:
• Alpine scenery
• Castle magic
• Flexibility
• And a slower, scenic break from trains

🎄 Favourite Christmas Market Highlights

✨ London, England – Festive storefronts, Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland and that unmistakable classic Christmas charm.

✨ Paris, France – Sparkling Champs-Élysées lights and romantic winter evenings drifting along the Seine.

✨ Strasbourg, France – The “Capital of Christmas” — and it absolutely lives up to the title.

✨ Colmar, France – Storybook Alsace at its most enchanting, half-timbered houses glowing softly in the December dusk.

✨ Nuremberg, Germany – Traditional, historic and beautifully authentic — plus the best hot chocolate mugs we brought home.

✨ Prague, Czechia – Old Town Square illuminated beneath gothic spires. Truly magical at Christmas.

✨ Vienna, Austria – Elegant palace-front markets wrapped in imperial grandeur.

✨ Bratislava, Slovakia – Intimate Old Town markets with a cosy, local warmth.

✨ Hallstatt, Austria – A lakeside Christmas dream straight from a snow globe.

✨ Liechtenstein – Tiny, alpine and wonderfully unexpected on our festive road trip.

✨ Luxembourg, Luxembourg – Cosy, atmospheric and beautifully underrated — and home to our favourite Christmas markets of the trip.

✨ Bruges, Belgium – Medieval charm at its finest — picture-perfect streets and a chocolate lover’s dream.

💡 What We Learned

• Stay central. Winter nights are cold and being able to wander back to your hotel after mulled wine or hot chocolate makes everything easier.

• Christmas markets are best after dark. The lights, music and atmosphere completely transform once the sun sets.

• Book accommodation early — December fills fast, especially in Strasbourg, Nuremberg and Vienna.

• Layer properly. Thermal base layers, a proper jacket, gloves, beanie and good shoes are essential. Europe in December is not Melbourne winter.

• Cash is still useful. Some smaller stalls don’t take cards.

• Smaller cities often feel more magical than big capitals. Strasbourg, Nuremberg, Colmar and Luxembourg felt more intimate and atmospheric.

• Mix transport styles. Trains are effortless between major cities — but hiring a car for the alpine stretch gave us castles, microstates and flexibility.

• Add an extra night wherever you can.

• And one of the most fun traditions? The mugs and steins. At many German, Austrian and Alsace markets, when you order hot chocolate or mulled wine (Glühwein), you pay a small deposit for the mug.
You can return it for your deposit back … or keep it.

We kept them.

Each city has its own unique design — dated, themed and completely different. By the end of the trip, we had a little collection of Christmas market mugs that now come out every December at home.

It’s such a simple souvenir — but one of the most meaningful. Wash them and fill them with socks and they don’t even take up room in your bag!

❤️ Was It Worth It?

Completely.

Europe in December isn’t just festive — it’s nostalgic, cinematic and deeply atmospheric in a way that photos never quite capture.

It’s the scent of roasted chestnuts drifting through medieval squares.
It’s fairy lights reflected in centuries-old windows.
It’s brass bands playing carols beneath gothic cathedals.
It’s that first sip of mulled wine warming your hands on a freezing night.

It’s castles appearing through fog as church bells echo across cobblestones.
Hot chocolate in market mugs you decide to keep.
Train windows glowing amber at sunset as snowy villages roll past.
Frost clinging to rooftops while Christmas trees sparkle below.

But more than the scenery, it was the feeling.

Slowing down.
Wandering without rushing.
Letting entire evenings be spent under lights in a single square.
Watching history and tradition unfold around you.

Spending Christmas in Prague, New Year’s Eve in Hallstatt, and the weeks in between drifting from one beautifully decorated old town to the next — it didn’t feel like a holiday.

It felt like stepping inside a storybook.

The markets were magical.
The landscapes were breathtaking.
But the memories we made — collecting mugs from each city, driving through alpine passes, hearing carols in different languages — those are what will stay with us.

It wasn’t just a trip.

It was a season.
A chapter.
A Christmas we will never forget.

And yes — we would do it all again in a heartbeat.