Christmas stopover in Europe

[Thecaravan]

I live in the Middle East with DH and DD1 aged 4 and DD2 aged 2. We are heading back to the UK for Christmas this year and would like to stop off for 2 nights somewhere on the way. Can anyone suggest a 2 night stop over in mid December in Europe please? Somewhere festive and ideally snowy or at least hopefully cold and dry (obviously I know the weather is unpredictable). Thinking maybe Salzburg or Basel? Can anyone suggest anywhere else? Kids are well used to long flights/train trips but for 2 nights don't really want to have to go out of the city we fly into.

Braunschweig is lovely, and it has a gorgeous christmas market
www.europeanbestdestinations.com/christmas-markets/braunschweig/
It also has an airport

Basically anywhere that would behave a hub airport is probably going to be good at Christmas. I spent years flying round Europe in the winter, and cannot think of many places that were a disappointment. Every German city has a decent Christmas market - Munich and Berlin stick in my memory but I also went to Christmas markets in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Stuttgart. Then look either north or east for something Christmassy but a bit different - Stockholm’s Christmas markets were not as good as the German ones but had amazing ice rinks which are free if you have your own skates, or you just hire skates. Vienna is my favourite, it also has ice rinks and the Christmas market at the Rathaus is one of the best in Europe. Budapest will be cold and possibly snowy and you can go to the thermal baths as well as markets. Prague is like a painting, the whole city is pretty and lit up for Christmas. Anywhere Austrian will be amazing, so Salzburg, Basel, etc. I don’t think you can go far wrong in any major city in Europe at Christmas.

Bruges!!!!!

Thanks so much guys! So excited!! 😊