Ryanair credit to use. Considering European christmas markets

[Comeinsideforacupoftea]

After cancelling a flight this summer I now have £400 credit to spend on ryanair flights (such a pity....) I'm considering a city break with our 8YO girl and the most logical I think would be a Christmas market trip. On my shortlist is Tallin, Copenhagen and Strasbourg. I think there's pros and cons to all the above. Tallin I feel would be most authentic but could just be cold, dark and miserable if there's no snow... And possibly not as much for kids to appreciate? Copenhagen to me looks the most reasonable bet, guaranteed in your face Christmasness and probably the cheapest. Strasbourg looks incredible but would be quite a drive from the nearest airport in Germany then massively overpriced accomodation. Has anyone done any of the above that can share thoughts? Or I'm open to wildcard suggestions. NB We have done lapland previously. It was out of this world but the flights would be too expensive to repeat the trip. Thanks

Nuremberg? They have several Christmas markets, one of which is a children’s market. I don’t know where you’re flying from though and Ryanair stopped flights there from my local airport.

Prague is lovely for a winter break too.

The other thing you’ll need to look at is the timing of the flights. There’s every chance around Christmas time that she’ll have fun days at school she won’t want to miss so for me it would depend where I could fly to late on Friday

Wroclaw in Poland is lovely for this. Good market and Christmas lights, nice city to wander around and you can see the lamplighter on Cathedral island. There's also a waterpark in the south of the city, accessible by tram.

Copenhagen is a good option for the market and Tivoli.

Another option would be Salzburg, which has a large festive Christmas market and is served by Ryanair.

Copenhagen we found expensive.
Munich was good. Vienna was better. Lublijana was smaller but beautiful and an hour from Lake Bled, maybe less child friendly though.

Strasbourg is very doable from Basel airport, around an hour on the train. I have friends who went to the market in Colmar (easy train from Basel) and thought it was magical. Just a thought.

What time do you think you want to go? A weekend in school time means a very late Friday flight and Sunday back. If she has any hobbies which do Christmas parties/camps/shows do take that into account.

When is she breaking up for Christmas? Could you do it just before Christmas, returning on the 23rd? Most Christmas markets close on the 23rd anyway.

I am German originally and we did our share of really fast turnarounds, even Saturday am to Sunday pm one year. It's really hard and you need an airport without needing transport to go to the city itself.

Maybe Hamburg? There are several markets, you can also squeeze other things in, less picturesque than other towns though but maybe more affordable. There is a tube from the airport into the city.

Vienna was recommended by friends recently and is on our list.

Salzburg is a nice Christmas market.

I second Wroclaw, we had a fabulous time and the market was only one of the many things we did!

Poland without a doubt, they have the right idea - and there is unlikely to be any nastiness at their Christmas markets.

I've never seen anyone describe Copenhagen as cheap, it's very expensive once you're there.

It defo isn't cheap!