Family Passports: Germany and Austria ~ Christmas Markets and Zugspitze

A week in Europe at Christmas-time - Magical!

Our family decided we needed a little "winter weather" (we live in the Middle East desert). How about the Christmas Markets and snow skiing in Europe? We chose Germany, then Munich (only because the airfare was quite a bit cheaper than Berlin), then a family-friendly ski area, then accommodations for a large family. The planning took me only a day - I'm getting good at this! Plus, I love to travel!

We were too early for snow, but pleasant weather made traveling in southern Germany and Austria quite easy. Here is how we traveled through Bavaria (southern state of Germany) and Austria with 7 kids in tow, ages 1 year - 16 years old.

Day 1
The flight from Dubai was about 6 hours. We picked up a 9 passenger van at the Munich airport from Avis - rented a headed of time, lots of car rental places to choose from. They spoke great English - a huge plus!

We drove to the Novotel Suites on the north side of Munich. They allowed 4 plus a baby in the room, plus half off the 2nd room (family suite). The tram station was right around the corner. Breakfast was included - kids eat free. It was a nice spread, but the same everyday - after 4 days we were ready for a change!

German Restaurant recommended by the hotel

Tram tickets could be purchased from the concierge at the hotel front desk. A group day pass included 5 adults - 2 kids between 2-14 years were counted as 1 adult, kids under 6 were free - we needed one pass for all 9 of us - cost 11 euros. No one ever checked for tickets! I guess they are on the honor system. It was validated by a simple machine near the entrance, but getting on and off the tram was the easiest of any system we've been on in Europe!

Munich Christmas Market at Marienplatz

Bit cold! Apple cider, kinder punch, and Gluhwein taste great

Day 2-3
We spent the next day with friends. If you ever need advice in a foreign country, ask a local - they usually know! One friend suggested the Deutsches Museum - a museum of German inventions. My kids made me promise no museums this trip ... but it was rainy ... so we went to the museum. Everyone loved it! It has a kinder area for smaller kids, and lots of old-fashioned and modern things to look at for older kids. We were there for 3 hours and didn't see it all.

Deutsches Museum

We fed our bellies at a 130 year-old Munich German restaurant famous for their grilled sausages. The waitress recommended some dishes - German food is wonderful! We spent the rest of the day in the Christmas markets.

Grilled Sausages!

St. Nicholas visited the Christmas Market and gave the kids apples and bags of candies!

Stollens of all flavors available! Yum!

We stopped at Cafe Rischart for coffee and a snack. The apple strudel was delicious!

Day 4
The next day we drove about 1.5 hours north to Nuremberg to see the Imperial Castle and the Christmas markets. The castle was built over time, and you can see the differences in the building materials. The curator said the museum inside the castle was all under glass, with an alarm system connected to the police! We decided just to see the outside of the castle! Then we walked into the town and the market area. Nuremberg is famous for the prune people dolls and lebkuchen gingerbread cookies.

Colorful Nuremberg buildings

Imperial Nuremberg Castle

Carriage rides

Prune people

Nuremberg Christmas Market

Christkind the Christmas Angel - a Nuremberg tradition

Day 5
We drove about 1.5 hours south to Grainau, Germany - home of the highest peak in the country, Zugspitze! We enjoyed the Christmas markets there and some great German food. We stayed at Haus Sonnenschein - a home divided into nice apartments with kitchens. How did I find this gem? I googled "family accommodations zugspitze" and found several places. After a few emails back and forth and a bank transfer to hold the rooms, we had a great place to stay in the mountains.

Grainau, Germany

Hotel in nearby Gamiech-

Day 6

There wasn't enough snow on the mountain for the ski runs to be open, but we did take the Zugspitzbahn up the mountain to see the peak. We didn't know what we were getting into, and we weren't dressed for sledding, but the sleds were provided so we jumped on and had fun. We warmed up with hot chocolate before the train ride back down the mountain. We ended the day with a delicious dinner of wiener schnitzel, venison goulash, and fried ham hock.

Lake Eibsee at the base of the mountain

Zugspitze

Church and sledding hill

Snowball fights!

Elevation 2600 meters

Beautiful interior architecture and hot chocolate!

German dinner in a local restaurant recommended by the land lady.

Day 7
Today was a day a dream came true! We went to Castle Neuschwanstein! It has been "our" castle since before we were married, so it was wonderful to get to see it in real life. The weather was extremely foggy, so the pictures are not very good. Of course, we couldn't take pictures of the interior of the castles, but they are decorated with original furnishings and wall paintings. There are two castles on the property: Hohenschwangau (King Ludwig's childhood castle) and Neuschwanstein (his fairytale castle). The path between the two castles takes about 45 minutes to walk, uphill, dragging/carrying small children ... we were sore the next day!

Hohenschwangau

Taking a break on the journey between the castles!

Castle Neuschwanstein

We love to try the local cuisine when we travel, but we don't want to bring extra pounds home. We ended up having breakfast at our apartment, a snack, a late big lunch, then an evening snack. Pretzels and bratwurst in were available everywhere and made great snacks.

Day 8
We went to Austria on our last full day in Germany. Innsbruck is just a bit south of Grainau, and it snowed just enough to dust the trees and make them pretty. The Innsbruck Christmas Market had the best lebkuchen, chocolate covered apples, and pretzels!