Planning the most magical trip of your life and in need of a helping hand?

Good. That’s exactly what I’m here for!

After a decade of visiting Europe’s Christmas markets, I’ve learned the ins and outs of how to plan a festive trip efficiently… condensing all that knowledge into this easy, breezy, step by step guide… which leaves you more time for important things like wistfully plan all the places you’ll be inhaling hot chocolate.

PS: Don’t miss the free trip planner in my VIP Zone as well that you can use throughout this process!

Step 1: Deciding How Long to Go For 

Before we get to any of the fun stuff, I do recommend that your first step is choosing how long you want your trip to be. This will help you be more realistic when it comes to choosing where to go (a heartbreaking task, but one that’s inevitable).

Of course, this will depend on your own circumstances like vacation days, budget, how many destinations you want to cover, and any maximum stay restrictions with your passport, but if you’re coming from overseas, I would recommend a 10 day minimum to make the jet lag worth it.

If 10 days isn’t possible, then I’d advise cutting down the number of stops accordingly, just to make sure you’re not rushing yourself.

Step 2: Choosing Where and When You’re Going

Now onto a real toughie – choosing where and when to plan your trip.

For the indecisive among us, this can feel like sweet gingerbread pain. There are SO many great Christmas market destinations in Europe that choosing just a few can feel like the ultimate first world problem.

If you need a hand, I do have many written resources here that I think might help, including…

• My Top Christmas Market Itineraries
• The Best Christmas Markets in Europe
• The Best Christmas Markets in Germany

(Plus many more written guides about individual markets) – browse them all in my Christmas markets category.

BUT I get it: you want answers now… so, generally speaking, if this is your very first Christmas market trip in Europe and you want to experience the most typical and traditional markets, I would focus your trip around Germany and Austria, choosing one or two cities as a base for minimum three nights each, then exploring other markets if you want through day trips.

This will make it way less stressful than packing up every night to go somewhere else, and forcing yourself to stay in a smaller area means you can explore it more in-depth and likely find some quieter less popular gems as well. 

For me, the ideal itinerary would include at least one big city and also one smaller cozier village, even if that’s through a day trip so you can experience what a smaller market feels like. This experience can feel very different to the big city markets and a lot of people, myself included, actually prefer them. 

Now, if you are on the fence about which markets to visit, I’d recommend you go on a little research binge and star your favourites on a map.

• 1) Hop on your favourite search engine. Skim through the top blogs and listicles to get a sense of the top Christmas markets and just star them on a map 
• 2) Hop on social media, I think TikTok has the best search functions to search up Christmas markets in Europe – again, star them, then 
• 3) Look on local blogs and sites to find lesser known Christmas markets, especially tourism board ones as they’ll often have the most comprehensive listings that include smaller markets that aren’t internationally famous 

After starring the ones that interest you, you can look at the map and see where the clusterings of dots are and let that guide your decision.

if you’re still stuck, it might make sense to skip to Step 4 and have a look at flights. Seeing which cities you can fly into cheaply can greatly influence your decision. 

If I were to pick my favourite bases, I would probably choose…

• Cologne 
• Munich 
• Vienna 
• Strasbourg

Each of these cities has plenty of great Christmas markets of their own and are also very well connected by public transport to other nice markets, including smaller ones so you can have a well-rounded experience.

Now, in terms of WHEN to go, all Christmas markets in Europe have their own separate opening dates but there’s significant overlap. More traditional markets tend to anchor their opening dates around the weekends of Advent, which change a bit every year, but many markets now open earlier, as early as mid-November. 

Do triple check before you book anything though, and be sure to look for official sources like the event website or official tourism board just because 3rd party sites aren’t always reliable for dates. 

I would say usually the earlier you can go in the season, the less busy it’ll be.

And planning to go mid-week as much as possible would be ideal, rather than weekends, though some smaller markets will ONLY be open on weekends. 

NOTE: I would avoid going just before Christmas Eve as that will be the closing date for many traditional markets, since Christmas Eve is commonly the bigger day for celebrations.

Step Three: Figure Out Visas/Documents

Now the next step after deciding your destinations is figuring out what visas or documents might you need to enter Europe for your Christmas market adventure. 

The rules differ depending on the country your passport is from, and also where you’re going, so I can’t give specific advice on this, but if you are one of the 50+ countries who get a visa exemption for the Schengen Zone (including US, Canada, Australia), then you do not need to apply for a visa prior to your arrival.

Do beware though that from late-2026 onwards, those from visa-exempt countries WILL need to apply for a travel pre-authorization through the ETIAS which is very quick to do online and costs a small fee, but that’s not the same as applying for a visa, which is usually a much more time consuming and costlier process. 

Needless to say, the best resource for finding out which visas you need for your Europe trip is your own government’s official website, so be sure to get info from an official source and not a third party that’s simply trying to sell you their visa services.

Alright with your dates, destinations and documents figured out, it’s time to move onto the next step… 

Step Four: Book Your Flights to Europe

For those who want more detailed instructions, I do have a full guide on how to find the cheapest flights to Europe, but here’s a quick summary of my process:

• Hop onto Google Flights
• Enter your departure airport and destination (if you have a specific one in mind). If not, type “Europe” as the destination and it will show you flights across the continent
• Enter specific dates if you have them, or a rough estimate if you’re flexible, then hit ‘Explore’
• Once you’re on the map view, you can see your options, but you can also click on the dates, then hit the ‘Flexible Dates’ tab and choose your parameters (e.g. 1 week trip in December) and hit Done to find the best deals
• Scroll your list of options and if you see one you like, click “See Flights” and from here you can also click the Date Grid that shows you if it’s possibly cheaper to fly out on other dates near that
• Then repeat this process until you’ve found a destination or some dates that you like.
• After you choose your flight, I would always advise booking directly with the airline because this usually ensures you have the best customer support if anything goes wrong.

Step Five: Build Your Itinerary

After you figure out which airports you’ll be flying into, now it’s time to build a more concrete itinerary. 

Again, my personal recommendation is to pick a handful of bases depending on the length of your trip, and stay at each for 3 nights minimum. Then, you can do day trips out to other markets if you wish, rather than have to unpack and move around constantly. 

I don’t usually mind a fast-paced trip but something about doing it in the winter with the giant coats and short daylight hours just isn’t the right vibe. 

Plus, doing things this way will give you way more flexibility when your trip actually comes, because day trips are much easier to coordinate closer to the trip, whereas booking hotels for different places that far in advance really forces you into a set itinerary. 

Step Six: Book Your Accommodation

Alright, after booking your flights, it’s time to decide where to rest your head after a face-numbing day of sightseeing. 

In many destinations, Christmas market season is a peak season so you can expect accommodation to be quite pricey. That’s why you should aim to book as early as possible.  

Overall, from cheapest to most expensive, your accommodation options are..

• Hostels
• Guesthouses 
• Hotels
• Vacation rentals like Vrbo and Airbnb

Usually, I would say to choose whatever option suits your budget, but for Christmas market trips specifically, I do think there’s a strong case for picking accommodation with a more permanent front desk presence like hotels, just because it’s way easier to drop off your bags before check in or after. This is essential if you want to make the most of your Christmas market exploration time. 

Of course, there are still other places you can store bags – many large train stations will have lockers for instance, and there are other services where you can pay to leave bags like Bounce, but I find hotels are especially fun during Christmas market season because they often decorate for Christmas or have fun extras for the festive period.

Plus, daylight hours in the winter are relatively short so you’ll probably end up spending more time at the hotel, making comfort an event greater priority.

For those who want a more detailed explanation, I have a full guide on how to find the best hotels in Europe, but here is a quick summary of my process:

• Decide if my priority is price, location or hotel quality, then set the max budget for my stay
• Hop on aggregators like Booking.com to see what the options are, usually using the Map view to select places in central locations, and making a shortlist of places as I go
• Pick my top favourites from the shortlist and read through their Google reviews before choosing one
• Book directly with the hotel to potentially get a discount or additional perks

Step Seven: Choose How You’ll Get Around

Alright, now with your flights and hotels booked, it’s time to decide how to get from place to place!

First off – unless you’re planning to go to a bunch of smaller villages, I’d say try your best to avoid renting a car.

This is because parking can be a huge challenge in European cities, and especially during Christmas market season, there will be lots of pedestrians and zones that are blocked off, so it’ll be way less hassle if you rely on public transport instead… or at the very least just save the car rental for the one or two days you plan to explore, rather than getting one for the entire trip.

Public transport is generally quite good in major European cities, so you probably won’t need a car. 

For larger distances, let’s say between cities, then I like to hop on Omio to quickly compare the prices of flights, trains and buses going from Point A to Point B. It sorts everything by cheapest, recommended, shortest, etc. and is totally free!

I’d say trains are overall the best option getting between places on a Christmas market trip because it’s fairly comfortable and reliable, with the likelihood of delays from weather disruptions not as high as flying or buses. 

Plus, depending on the company and route, long distance buses can often be delayed and have you waiting outside in the cold which is not ideal for a winter trip. 

Trains can be among the pricier options though so booking ahead is probably your best defence and do try to reserve a seat if you can just for ease of mind. Winter time is a busy travel season and you don’t want to be left without a seat lugging your giant coat. You can learn more in my guide on How to Travel Europe by Train.

Now, another mode of transport that might be worth considering is going by river cruise. I’m a huge fan of river cruises in Europe – I actually spent a summer working on them and think they’re such a great way to get from place to place. You unpack once and arrive in the middle of the city – so great if you’re looking for convenience.

Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with Christmas market cruises myself, but do know that can be a fun option if you don’t mind going to some of the more popular destinations and of course being part of the crowds because your ship will bring the crowds.

Step Eight: Making a Festive Game Plan

Now, a lot of haters will say once you’ve seen one Christmas market, you’ve seen them all… and while it’s true that many large Christmas markets can often sell the same sort of goods, you can have a fun and varied experience if you put the work in to do some proper research. 

If there’s one thing I learned after a decade of Christmas market hopping, it’s that usually in big cities there will be the super famous main Christmas markets that everyone knows about, but there will also be smaller markets and pop-ups as well that have way more unique things to offer. 

In addition to Christmas markets, I like to research fun winter things to do in that place. Usually things I’ll research and then star include… 

• Nice cozy cafes for a hot chocolate or coffee 
• Restaurants with nice festive decor 
• Pretty light installations
• Festive bars or pop-ups
• Skating rinks and other fun winter activities 

Depending on where you’re going, some of the more popular pop-ups and restaurants will book up in advance, so that’s why it’s important to research this stuff before you go. 

Generally, here’s my process for finding these kinds of activities: 

• 1) Hop on Google. Skim through the top blogs and listicles to get a sense of the top attractions and the most well-known things to do. 
• 3) Hop on social media, like TikTok (a great tool compared to Instagram, especially for food and drink spots).
• 4) Look on local blogs, especially event and news ones because then you can see if there’s any cool pop-ups or special events happening during your trip
• 5) Save them on Google Maps. I like to use Lists with custom emojis so you can easily tell what your saved spots are, so a coffee cup for cafes for instance

I Hope This Guide to Planning a Christmas Market Trip was Helpful!

Let me know in the comments if you have any more questions, and head to my website’s free VIP zone for a free trip planner which includes a European winter packing list.