Cologne or Vienna for Christmas market trip?

[lucadore]

We like: good food, interesting things to see, cafes, and of course somewhere lovely and festive at the end of November. Vienna is 3x the price of Cologne for hotel and flights but heard some great things about it. We went to Berlin last year and enjoyed that. Which would people suggest?

Try Budapest!

Nuremberg is lovely. And when we went we got very cheap flights on ryanair.
It’s so easy to get into town the other end. Lovely little city.

I didn’t know Ryanair flew there! Which airport?

Oooh hadn’t thought of it, is it Christmassy at that time of year?

@lucadore
manchester. But this was pre pandemic.

Yes Budapest is lovely and Christmassy. I’ve been twice at Christmas time. It is SO cheap, eating out, staying there, drinks etc. it’s fab. I’ve been 3 times and will happily go back again

@lucadore Loads of food options around Cologne generally, good typical German market options available at the market - DD loved the waffles that were made in the shape of the cathedral!

It was really lovely that the locals would meet at the food places after work and have a drink / meal. It snowed when we were there so that helped with the festive spirit! The booths were covered in tiny fairy lights and it just looked beautiful. Also the market information guides were dressed as angels

Following.. particularly keen to travel by train so Brussels sounds potentially good

Thank you! Hope they still fly

Aww that sounds so lovely and cosy! Thank you

Different as in
Cologne was historically in West Germany and has a lot of old buildings including old blocks of flats, rather than concrete prefab type buildings.
Berlin does have old world charm in some areas but in others, felt more like a small Czech town than the Germany I lived in.
I absolutely loved both places.

Cologne always feels quite ritzy to me. People seem relaxed and going out to dinner, you're around lots of locals.
There are cultural things to do but you can also people-watch.

In Berlin it was harder to find that kind of vibe but it was there.the city centre was very built up and more modern.
In Berlin I went to a lot of museums and did more cultural things.
I've only been that one time. So you'll probably know as much as me.

I've been visiting Cologne for about 25 years so it's more familiar.

Cologne is quite easy to get to by train as well, as it's only a couple of hours from Brussels.

And such a fancy train! The menu was amazing.

We are doing Wroclaw

Hahaha....we were Interrailing and brought our own sandwiches 😆 What I loved about that particular ICE train was that it was so polyglot! We worked out it crossed 3 language zones, all of which were represented on board, although happily for us it seemed a lot of people had also decided to use English as a common language.

It depends if you are solely focused on the markets or want to do other things? I enjoy the thermal baths in Vienna, especially during the winter holidays where they sell gluwein by the outdoor pools. It is also nice to take the train for a day trip into the mountains for a winter walk. The train ride to Semmering is stunning! It is also only an hour or so from Vienna to Bratislava if you wanted to visit two cities.

Have you considered Dresden? Very traditional Christmas market (Strietzelmarkt), stunning architecture, galleries, loads of history, Moritzburg Castle... Ryanair currently fly there directly a couple of times a week. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/dresden-capital-of-christmas/index.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2021/08/a-guide-to-dresden-eastern-germany

Cologne is lovely! You also have the Lindt Chocolate Museum and Shop there too, which is great.
The Engelmarkt is my favourite market (at Neumarkt). It's all done out in white lights and angel-themed. If you're lucky, there are angels walking round, some on stilts.
There's at least two 4711 shops (eau de cologne) and a mustard museum (near the Lindt Museum).
You can climb the Cathedral tower (about 500 steps); the most famous and biggest market is right next to the cathedral. There are boat trips on the Rhine that you can do too.
Everything is walkable, but there is a little train that takes you around some of the markets.The main shopping street is just near the cathedral.
I've been many times on school trips (German teacher) and independently. Aachen is also really lovely.

I agrée Cologne is great - based on my experience quite a few years ago. Perfect if you can fit in Aachen as well - lovely town but the Christmas market was always rammed, be warned! In Cologne there was more space to move. I used to live in Düsseldorf, which also had good markets - they used to be spread all over the town but it's not a massive town and is well connected by trams.