Christmas Markets Holidays
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5 Days Frankfurt to Basel
Operator: Avalon River Cruises
7 Days Nuremberg to Vienna
Operator: Avalon River Cruises
7 Days Vienna to Nuremberg
Operator: Avalon River Cruises
Discover Must do highlights on a tour of Europe's Christmas Markets
Rothenburg and the Romantic Road
Visit picturesque Rothenburg on the Romantic Road with cobblestoned streets, and alleyways filled with quaint Christmas Markets stalls. The Christmas Shop is famous for its stunning displays.
Christmas Market River Cruise
River cruise along Europe's mighty rivers, crossing up to five countries, stopping along the way to enjoy the colourful Christmas markets, from Budapest to Paris.
Vienna's Christmas Dream Market
There are many Christmas markets in Vienna but the Vienna Christmas Dream Market, in front of the City Hall, offers an unforgettable winter festive scene.
Warm Christmas Treats
Roasted chestnuts, mulled wine or steaming hot chocolate; decorative cookies and pastries, warm and fresh from the bakery. Sample each region's unique festive specialities as you explore the Christmas Markets for trinkets and trimmings for your tree.
Strasbourg, France
Take a walking tour of the Christkindlmarkt, host to 300 wooden stalls that light up the heart of the World heritage-listed Grande Île. Fairly lights and Christmas cheer light up this ever popular French Christmas market.
Recent Reviews What our clients are saying about their European Christmas Market tours
The tour guides were wonderful and the crew on board were excellent and all spoke fluent English. The 160 guests were wonderful and met English, Canadian, American, Australians on board. The shore excursions were excellent and a wealth of so much history and knowledge dating back to 1200 centuries. It was such a fantastic time. Thank you so much Georgie for booking this trip for me and going out of your way for making it a perfect Xmas holiday. I would definitely recommend the Xmas market cruise and I will definitely be booking future trips with Georgie again.
Having sailed on an Avalon river cruise before, it ...read more was difficult not to compare that experience with this European Christmas markets river cruise with Viking. Overall, I would prefer Avalon over Viking with the caveat that I sailed Avalon just before Covid and I don't know what their standard is like today. I will know soon as I'm already booked for another Avalon river cruise next Aug.
We found the Viking crew not as proactive in engaging with passengers, especially when there is an expectation that we be well informed of pertinent details to do with docking and departure times for each day of sailing. While most of what we needed to know was available somewhere, it took effort on our part to hunt down information. A number of passengers also mentioned the same observation.
Our cabin was also smaller than the Avalon equivalent making movement quite restrictive. Certainly the in-room TV channels were inferior in terms of variety with mainly news channels dominating. As far as meals go, again they were lacking in standard and variety with very few standout dishes compared to what we remember getting from Avalon. Another area of disappointment for us was the absence of two-seater dining tables for occasions when we wanted a quiet dinner by ourselves, in contrast with what Avalon offered, though not sure if this ship's dining room was configured differently to other Viking ships.
When it came to shore excursions, the crew was mostly disorganised and caused confusion among the travellers as to which group or bus they should be on. This happened a lot during our journey. That aside, the holiday was great outside the ship and I managed to tick this cruise off my bucket list. If you've never experienced an European Christmas markets tour, this itinerary could be the one.
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