Bavaria and Austria: the Christmas Markets from Nuremberg to Innsbruck

1. Day 1: Arrive in Munich

   Munich Airport to your hotel in central Munich, then Marienplatz

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Munich
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Munich Airport (MUC); most overnight flights from North America land in the morning. A driver meets you in arrivals for the drive of about 40 minutes into the city, and your room is ready from mid-afternoon (we hold your bags if you arrive earlier). Rest, or walk out on your own: the hotel is central, within walking distance of Marienplatz. At about 4 pm, as daylight goes and the Christmas lights come on, your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week, then walks you into the Christkindlmarkt on Marienplatz, set beneath the neo-Gothic New Town Hall, with a tall tree in the square and stalls selling carved figures, glass ornaments and hot drinks. We stay long enough to get our bearings and spot the stalls worth coming back to, then sit down together to a welcome dinner of Bavarian dishes at a traditional restaurant in the old town. The evening ends early on purpose, since most of you will have flown overnight.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Munich Airport (MUC)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk to the Christkindlmarkt on Marienplatz
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the 4 pm briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by early afternoon to join the evening walk.

2. Day 2: Munich: the Residenz and the old markets

   Munich Residenz, Frauenkirche and Viktualienmarkt, then Wittelsbacherplatz and Rindermarkt

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Munich
   Day 2 details

   We are at the Munich Residenz when it opens at 10 am, before the tour groups build. For four centuries this was the palace of the Wittelsbach dukes, electors and kings of Bavaria, and the museum route runs through the long Renaissance Antiquarium, the Imperial Hall with its gilded coffered ceiling and chandeliers, and the court chapels. Your guide takes you through the highlights in about two hours, then leads the short walk past the twin domed towers of the Frauenkirche to the Viktualienmarkt, the open-air food market, where lunch is your choice from the stands and the small restaurants around it. The afternoon is free: the Deutsches Museum of science and technology, the tower of St. Peter's Church for the view over the roofs, or a slow coffee out of the cold. At about 5 pm we meet again for Munich's smaller markets after dark: the medieval market on Wittelsbacherplatz, with traders in costume and food cooked over open fires, and the Kripperlmarkt on Rindermarkt, given over to nativity figures. Dinner tonight is your own.

   Included

   • Munich Residenz Museum with your guide, including the Antiquarium and the Imperial Hall
   • Walk past the Frauenkirche to the Viktualienmarkt
   • Evening walk to the medieval market on Wittelsbacherplatz and the Kripperlmarkt

   Optional experiences

   • Deutsches Museum
   • Dinner at a Munich beer hall

   Easier option: Skip the evening walk and return to the market on Marienplatz, a few minutes from the hotel.

   More active option: Climb the tower of St. Peter's Church in the free afternoon.

   Free time: Free afternoon and dinner

   

3. Day 3: Nuremberg: the Imperial Castle and the Christkindlesmarkt

   Munich to Nuremberg, then the Imperial Castle and the Hauptmarkt

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Nuremberg
   Day 3 details

   We leave Munich at about 9:30 am for the drive north on the A9 to Nuremberg, about 170 km and under two hours, through the hop country of the Hallertau. We check in first, so the afternoon is spent walking rather than waiting, and lunch is your choice in the old town. At about 1:30 pm we climb to the Imperial Castle (Kaiserburg) on its sandstone ridge above the roofs, where the Holy Roman emperors stayed when they held court here. Inside are the imperial hall and chapel, the Deep Well cut into the rock, and the Sinwell Tower, with a view across the whole walled city. We walk down past Albrecht Dürer's house as the light fades, timed to reach the Hauptmarkt at dusk, when the red-and-white striped roofs of the Christkindlesmarkt stalls are lit. Your guide leads a tasting at the stalls: Nürnberger Rostbratwurst, three in a bun, Nuremberg Lebkuchen, and a mug of mulled wine or children's punch. Then the evening is yours, with the sister-cities market, where Nuremberg's twin towns run their own stalls, a short walk away.

   Included

   • Nuremberg Imperial Castle (Kaiserburg), with the Deep Well and the Sinwell Tower
   • Old-town walk past Albrecht Dürer's house to the Hauptmarkt
   • Guide-led tasting at the Christkindlesmarkt: Rostbratwurst, Lebkuchen and a hot drink

   Easier option: Skip the Sinwell Tower stairs and wait in the castle courtyard.

   Free time: Free lunch and evening

   

4. Day 4: A day in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

   Nuremberg to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and back

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Nuremberg
   Day 4 details

   We leave Nuremberg at 9 am for Rothenburg ob der Tauber, about 85 km and a little over an hour west. Arriving ahead of the day-trip coaches, we meet a local guide in the Market Square for a two-hour walk: the Town Hall, the clock on the Councillors' Tavern, the half-timbered corner of the Plönlein, and the Castle Garden, where the town drops away to the Tauber valley. We finish in St. Jakob's Church at Tilman Riemenschneider's carved Holy Blood Altar. Lunch is together, a sit-down meal of Franconian cooking in the old town. The afternoon is free, and the town is small enough to roam on your own: walk the covered parapet of the town wall, browse the Christmas shops and the German Christmas Museum, or try a Schneeball, the local fried pastry. At about 3:30 pm, as the light drops, the Reiterlesmarkt fills the squares around the Town Hall. We leave at about 5 pm and are back in Nuremberg by about 6:15 pm, with the evening free.

   Included

   • Rothenburg old-town walk with a local guide
   • St. Jakob's Church and the Holy Blood Altar
   • The Reiterlesmarkt at dusk

   Optional experiences

   • German Christmas Museum

   Easier option: Stay in Nuremberg for a slow day; the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and the market are a short walk from the hotel.

   More active option: Walk the covered town wall from the Röder Gate in the free afternoon.

   Free time: Free afternoon in Rothenburg and a free evening in Nuremberg

   

5. Day 5: Lake Chiemsee to Salzburg

   Nuremberg to Lake Chiemsee, then Salzburg

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Salzburg
   Day 5 details

   This is the longest drive of the trip, about 320 km and a little over three hours on the road, broken in the middle. We leave Nuremberg at 9 am and take the motorway south around Munich to Lake Chiemsee, the largest lake entirely within Bavaria, where we stop at about 12 pm, after roughly two and a half hours, for a sit-down lunch by the water. From there it is under an hour to the Austrian border and Salzburg, arriving by about 3 pm with time to settle in. At 4 pm your guide walks you through the old town on the left bank of the Salzach: the narrow Getreidegasse with its wrought-iron shop signs, Mozart's birthplace at number 9, and the squares around the cathedral, where the Salzburg Christkindlmarkt spreads across Domplatz and Residenzplatz beneath the fortress. The evening is yours. The stalls stay open into the evening, and the old town is small enough to find your way back to the hotel on foot.

   Included

   • Sit-down lunch at Lake Chiemsee
   • Salzburg old-town walk with your guide: Getreidegasse, Mozart's birthplace and the cathedral squares
   • The Christkindlmarkt on Domplatz and Residenzplatz

   Free time: Free evening

   Activity: The only drive over three hours, with a lunch stop at the halfway point.

6. Day 6: Salzburg: Hohensalzburg and Hellbrunn

   Hohensalzburg Fortress, then Hellbrunn Palace in the evening

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Salzburg
   Day 6 details

   We ride the FestungsBahn funicular up to Hohensalzburg Fortress when it opens in the morning, ahead of the crowds. The fortress has stood over the city since the 11th century, and from its walls you look south to the Alps and down over the domes and spires of the old town. Your guide takes you through the princes' state rooms and along the ramparts, and we come down by funicular before noon. Lunch and the afternoon are free: Mozart's birthplace, the cathedral, a coffee in one of the old cafés, or an optional trip to the Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf, built on the site of the church where the carol was first sung in 1818. At about 4 pm our van takes us 15 minutes south to Hellbrunn Palace, where an Advent market fills the courtyard and the palace windows are lit as a giant Advent calendar. The Hellbrunn market runs on set days through the season, confirmed when we book your dates. We are back in town by about 7 pm, with the evening free.

   Included

   • FestungsBahn funicular, up and down
   • Hohensalzburg Fortress with your guide
   • Evening at the Hellbrunn Palace Advent market, with van transfer

   Optional experiences

   • Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf
   • Mozart's Birthplace museum
   • Salzburg Advent Singing at the Grosses Festspielhaus, on the dates it is performed

   Easier option: Skip Hellbrunn and stay with the market on Domplatz, a short walk from the hotel.

   More active option: Walk down from the fortress on the footpath instead of taking the funicular.

   Free time: Free lunch, afternoon and dinner

   Activity: If the Hellbrunn market is closed on your date, we go to the Christmas market on Mirabellplatz instead.

   

7. Day 7: Innsbruck: Ambras Castle and the Golden Roof

   Salzburg to Innsbruck, then Ambras Castle and the old town

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Innsbruck
   Day 7 details

   We leave Salzburg at about 9:30 am. The quickest road to Innsbruck runs briefly back through Bavaria and into the Inn valley at Kufstein, about 185 km and two hours with mountains on both sides. After a free lunch in Innsbruck's old town we drive about 10 minutes up to Ambras Castle, the Renaissance residence of Archduke Ferdinand II. Its Spanish Hall is a long banqueting hall under a carved wooden ceiling, its walls painted with full-length portraits of the rulers of Tyrol; the castle also holds a chamber of art and curiosities and an armoury. Ambras closes every November, one reason our departures are timed so this day falls in December. We are back in the old town by about 4 pm for the Golden Roof, the balcony roofed in gilded copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I around 1500, with the Christmas market crowded in below it. The farewell dinner is Tyrolean cooking at a restaurant in the old town. Innsbruck is the trip's only single night, so we keep this day unhurried.

   Included

   • Ambras Castle with the Spanish Hall
   • Old-town walk to the Golden Roof and the Christmas market below it
   • Farewell dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Nordkette cable car from the city centre to Seegrube

   More active option: Take the Nordkette cable car up to Seegrube for the view over the city instead of Ambras Castle.

   Free time: Free lunch

   

8. Day 8: Innsbruck to Munich Airport

   Innsbruck to Munich Airport (MUC)

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   Breakfast in Innsbruck, and a last walk through the old town if you are up early, while the alleys are quiet and the mountains show above the roofs. At 9 am we load the van for Munich Airport (MUC), about 200 km and two and a quarter hours back down the Inn valley and past Rosenheim, arriving at about 11:30 am. Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm. Your guide travels with you and sees you to the right terminal before saying goodbye. If you would rather fly from Innsbruck Airport (INN), about 10 minutes from the old town, or stay on in the Alps for a few days, tell us when you book and we drop you at that airport or leave you at the hotel instead. Before you pack: glass ornaments travel best wrapped in clothing in your checked bag, and jars of jam, honey or schnapps over 100 ml must go in checked luggage too, not in your carry-on.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Munich Airport (MUC), or Innsbruck Airport (INN) on request

   Activity: Book a flight from Munich leaving after about 2 pm.

Wildlife and weather: Expect daytime highs around 0 to 5 °C and nights below freezing, with snow possible anywhere and most likely around Innsbruck. Daylight lasts about eight hours, which is why the sights fill the mornings and the markets fill the evenings.

• Munich2 nights
• Nuremberg2 nights
• Salzburg2 nights
• Innsbruck1 night