Advice on Christmas Markets in Vienna/Brussels & Prague.

ProudDUB

Hey ya'll

Am taking an elderly relation on her long held ambition to see one of Europe's famous Christmas markets.

So far we have the list down to 3 cities, Brussels, Vienna and Prague. She has a yen to see Vienna for no other reason than it has always sounded "so romantic". I would like to do Brussels so that we can take in Bruges (we both love the movie In Bruges) while we are on the same trip.

Main points are to think about are:

We want a central location close to hotels, bus stops, train stations etc. Neither of us has done much traveling in Europe or speaks any language other than English, so a user friendly city (if that makes sense) for a pair of novices would be good.

Expense? I have heard that Austria can be very pricey. How would Vienna be compared to Prague in that regard?

Proximity of airports to city/markets. We are only going for 2 days, so flying into and out one of those airports beloved of Ryanair that are on the outskirts of the city & take forever to get to and from, would be a factor in where we choose to go.

Overall atmosphere and crack? Which is the best one? We are only traveling with hand luggage so we don't plan on doing much shopping. We are going to soak up the atmosphere more than anything else.

Suggestions for hotels that are close to the action that don't cost the earth.

My aunt is not that steady on her feet. What are the odds of snow/ice being on the ground the first week or so of December & how cold can we expect it to be?

Thanks for any advice.

mel.b

I've been to xmas markets in both brussels/bruges and vienna. Belguim don't seem to be big on the xmas markets - the one in Brussels is very small...maybe 20 or so stalls. The one in Bruges is bigger but you'd still have it done in well less than an hour. However i love Bruges and you could easily spend your two days there. I'd try and fly into the main Brussels airport with aerlingus if you could...much more convient than the ryanair airport which is an hour by bus from brussels. There is a train station at the main Brussels airport, so you can get a train into the city and then change for Bruges and you should be in Bruges in under 2hrs from landing.

When i was in Vienna, the christmas markets were only just starting for the season, so some weren't yet open. There was a massive one at Rathus that was really atmospheric to walk around in the evening, all lit up, but i was dissapointed with the quality of a lot of the stalls. A few with lovely hand made items but a lot of junky side show stuff also.

My fav xmas market is Salzburg so have a look at that as well. If you're going just or a couple of days i'd look at Bruges or Salzburg just because the size of the cities is more managable. The Salzburg market was a great size, lots of lovely xmas things to buy and also handmade things. Nothing trashy or junky. Salzburg is a lovely city and your aunt is probably a sound of music fan so you could do a tour to see where parts of it was filmed which was good and gets you put into the countryside a bit so you are seeing some more of the country as well.

Can't comment on the weather but i've never had snow before xmas when i visited...cold yes!

Shzm

I'd recommend Vienna personally. There's multiple Christmas markets on around the city which are all fairly well within walking distance of each other.. but if you're tired of walking you can just hop on the metro easy enough. The markets themselves are amazing, not overly expensive and the city itself is light up with a 'Christmasy' feel to it. Vienna is also very English 'user friendly'.

The only downside, like Brussels is that if you're set on using Ryanair you're going to be an hour away from Vienna (and in another country) by bus when you land. Aerlingus probably fly in to Vienna though? Not sure - but if so, there's a train right from the Airport to the city (about 20 mins I think).