hi, im planning to go to Germany in the coming xmas (mid Dec to Mid Jan 2012). Its my first time go there. so basically i have no ideas how to plan my trip is the best.
my friend told me that shops & museums there wont open during the xmas period. And i would find nothing to do there.
i wonder is it true or not..could anyone please give me some advices on it and recommend some places for me to visit?
thanks in advance!
Hi,
of course there will be a lot of things to do! First of all there are the Christmas markets, all of them should be open until the 23th of December incl., others even until the 31st. The most famous are in Nuremberg and Dresden, but every city has one, and the big cities even several like Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart... You should find information about these on the official web-pages of the respective cities.
The 25th, 26th and 1st are public holidays so all shops will be closed. You should plan for some walking around the cities or going around to see some landscape for these days.
Then, museums will probably be closed from the 24th to the 26th and on the 31st and 1st of January. But I cannot imagine they are closed on other days than these, as most Germans take holidays between Christmas and new year, so they have the time to actually go to the museums. Just keep in mind that on Mondays museums are generally closed all over the year. If you have a special museum in mind, in order to be sure concerning the opening times just have a look at the official web page. The big museums certainly have pages in English as well.
As for the trip, I would recommend you some traveling around the south of Germany: Munich, Nuremberg (for the Christmas market), Freiberg, Baden-Baden, Landshut, Passau, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Füssen... There are so many beautiful cities and worth visiting around there. You could also do a day trip to the alps in the train, i.e. to Garmisch-Patenkirchen and Mittenwald. Must be amazing during the winter.
Well, to summarize: I think you have chosen a very good time to travel in Germany. Have fun!
Stefanie
Hi Stefanie
Thanks so much for your advice~
i may change my plan to Germany now. Either go there on xmas or around the early Feb. But i found that the hostel charges more on Feb rather than xmas... i wonder y would this happen as there should be no public holidays on that period in Germany...
Since my limited burget
, i reli need a well-planned trip in Germany...
Please give me some more advices on it, thanks
Rita