What would be a good city to visit for a few days in the middle of December. People always say Prague, but a I've already been there. I'm going to be in London for a few weeks so I was thinking of going somewhere totally different like the Baleric Islands of Spain, but would going to a tropical beach location in winter be just a waste?

9/29/2007 12:01:37 PM

Go to Amsterdam

9/29/2007 12:02:26 PM

Sicily

9/29/2007 12:04:17 PM

I went to Berlin for Thanksgiving a while back and it was beautiful.

9/29/2007 1:13:49 PM

Croatian Coast? I don't know how cold it gets there in the winter but its a hotspot for the summer especially b/c its on the Mediterranean.

9/29/2007 1:15:58 PM

Any scandinavian city. Although very cold, I hear it's amazingly beautiful.

9/29/2007 1:21:28 PM

Lublin

9/29/2007 1:46:17 PM

The Alps in Austria are amazing. Salzburg, Innsbruck and Hallstat being among my favorites.

9/29/2007 2:19:47 PM

it'll be dark in northern europe/scandinavia -- pretty high latitude, very short december days

(not necessarily a bad thing, just something to think about)

9/29/2007 11:15:55 PM

it's cold

9/29/2007 11:28:05 PM

i hear moscow is nice. pack shorts.

9/30/2007 12:41:31 AM

Quote :

"Go to Amsterdam"

london is cold and rainy at that time and so is amsterdam

Quote :

"Any scandinavian city. Although very cold, I hear it's amazingly beautiful."

oslo is very cold, stockholm is a bit warmer and copenhagen is a little warmer still--but as was mentioned, it's going to be dark most of the time.

the problem is that at that time, it's not cold enough for snow in most of continental europe, so if you want a "winter" experience, you'll either have to go north or to the alps. i think your best best would be the mediterranean--the temperatures are still pleasant but the crowds will be much lower. it will be the rainiest part of the year, but no rainier than anywhere else--they are mediterranean climates after all.

[Edited on September 30, 2007 at 12:44 AM. Reason : &]

9/30/2007 12:42:17 AM

Paris or Nice are both beautiful during the christmas season

by the way, the northern med regian is definitely not going to feel "tropical" during the winter.

9/30/2007 1:07:46 AM

Paris is lovely in December. And there aren't many crowds.

9/30/2007 8:17:54 AM

most German cities like Munich and Hamburg go all out for Christmas. The entire month of december there will be huge street festivals and outdoor markets. Germans seem to love standing around in the cold, as long as they have something warm to drink like tea or gluhwein (spiced, heated wine)

9/30/2007 10:29:52 AM

We've considered a 30 pound flight to bratislava. Vienna is about an hour away so considering the proximity we may go to both places

9/30/2007 12:58:38 PM

vienna goes nuts during christmas time. as do a lot of cities/countries in that area. lots of christmas markets to get cheap food and useless souvenirs.

9/30/2007 6:23:10 PM

Quote :

"but would going to a tropical beach location in winter be just a waste?"

by definition a tropical beach would have warm weather all season. mean temperature 60 deg or above 12 months a year.

9/30/2007 7:18:28 PM

I visit Sweden almost every winter. The sun comes up at about 10am and sets at about 3pm. Unless you're going for a particular purpose (visit family, ski trip, etc) I recommend that you visit in the summer.

9/30/2007 7:29:51 PM

^ yup. 10-3.
was in Copenhagen in January. didn't see the sun for a week. we would go into the office before the sun came up and leave after if went down. i didn't figure out why i was mildly depressed until the end of the week.

Balearics in winter may or may not be worth it. its a bit cool even though you'll get a lot of sun. probaly the same for the Dalmatians. you get can in some relaxation while the night life will be non-existent.

might be worth going some place in the Mediterranean with historical sightseeing. maybe easyjet it down to Athens. or you could just go to Munich and beer it up for a few days.

9/30/2007 10:38:10 PM

nightlife is nonexistant pretty much anywhere on the Med during the winter

9/30/2007 11:09:29 PM

what do people do then???

10/1/2007 7:51:13 AM

^maybe they just don't visit there, that is why this thread is useful. Theres a ferry that goes from Bratislava to vienna for 25 euros but i don't know if that would even be enjoyable because of the weather.

10/1/2007 11:29:28 AM

what do the locals do in winter

10/1/2007 1:35:39 PM

Forget northern europe, it's not fun in the winter, cold as hell. Stick with southern europe, i recommend Barcelona, when we were there in december the highs were in the 70s, so it was great. Also, Nice, Florence, Rome should be relatively warm.

10/1/2007 2:05:28 PM

^^ work, spend time with family and friends, etc.

10/1/2007 3:58:53 PM

i'm going to paris dec 30 - jan 6. imo and hopes, new years will be a blast/

10/1/2007 4:55:06 PM

Austria

10/2/2007 3:15:06 AM

Good Lord, I was proud of myself for having visited a few places outside of the United States.

Now I come to find out that entire portions of the Western world don't go out at night during the winter?!?!?

That's fucking weird. And how come I didn't know this?

10/2/2007 5:58:43 AM

I was in Hamburg last Christmas and loved it. Like someone else said there are tons of outside markets with food and glühwein (though i didnt really like it) It was too early for snow but was still a lot of fun.

10/2/2007 7:27:53 AM

Quote :

"i'm going to paris dec 30 - jan 6. imo and hopes, new years will be a blast/"

i was there for new years in 2006, stayed in pigalle and went to sacre coeur at midnight

10/2/2007 8:33:16 AM

Anyone have any advice on Vienna and Bratislava?

10/4/2007 11:53:08 AM

Vienna and Bratislava were both really cool. What kind of recommendations are you looking for?

I think the hotel we stayed at in Bratislava was the Hotel Kyjev - it used to be the baller ass place back in the communist period...of course it still looks and feels like it. We did dinner one night in the resturant on top of the bridge which was really cool (and cheap like everything else in Slovakia). Spent a lot of time in Old Town, Castle Bratislava, and Devín Castle. But for the most part, we spent our time in the countryside and up in the Tatra Mountains (Štrbské Pleso).

In Vienna, it was the end of a 3 1/2 week trip, so we balled out at a really nice hotel for a couple of nights. Did dinner on the TV needle (it rotates and has nice views). Coolest thing we did there was go up to the top of the cathedral spire...amazing views from there. Mozart chocolates are the bomb (get some Mozartkugeln and a bottle of the Liqueur to bring home with you).

10/4/2007 1:34:47 PM

Well we will be in each city for about 2 days so we unfortunately just have time for the highlights.

10/4/2007 2:17:28 PM

there should be plenty to do in two days in each

BTW, it's a nice drive from Vienna to Bratislava (if you will be returning to the city)

10/5/2007 3:31:29 PM

^we would be taking the train. I was looking at http://www.ryanair.com and seeing what their cheapest fares are and they have fares to belfast and frankfurt for less than $1 that are on sale. Any recomendations on these cities?

10/8/2007 10:50:27 AM

Ryanair & Easyjet are your friends

10/8/2007 3:40:59 PM

Quote :

"Forget northern europe, it's not fun in the winter, cold as hell. Stick with southern europe"

10/8/2007 10:12:20 PM

I spent a really cold winter in Munich, from Jan 19 to June 5th, it didn't break 70 degrees until the last week in May.

You kinda get used to the cold as far as getting around town, but I never got used to bundling up and being active outside for anything other than skiing. And it's also kind annoying walking/riding and working up a little bit of a sweat and then going into a warm building with 5 layers on.

10/8/2007 10:25:02 PM

Quote :

"Now I come to find out that entire portions of the Western world don't go out at night during the winter?!?!?"

If anything, in Ireland, we drink more in the winter Christmas is like drinking season. There's a solid two weeks from around Dec 18 where you can actually go out every night and people still won't think you're an alco

Quote :

"seeing what their cheapest fares are and they have fares to belfast and frankfurt for less than $1 that are on sale. Any recomendations on these cities?"

I live in Ireland and I've never been to the north. It's a lot better than how it used to be, but Belfast is still pretty dodgy. You stumble into the wrong neighbourhood and you're the "wrong" religion and you could easily get attacked. Though they'd probably leave Americans alone! I'd give it another few years before considering it.

I've heard good things about Frankfurt. It's Germany's main financial centre and they've a lot going on. Seems like a good option.

If you're going with Ryanair, it's best to keep checking or to sign up to their mailing list. They're constantly doing new flight deals, so something might come up closer to the date.

You're not going to find too many properly warm places in Europe in December, but the south of Spain, Portugal or Italy would be your best bets.

[Edited on October 10, 2007 at 7:12 AM. Reason : if you're going to visit Ireland, go for Dublin, Cork or Galway]

10/10/2007 7:10:47 AM

I lived in Austria for about 5 years when I was younger


Salzburg has been voted the place to be during Christmas, if you are there during the Holiday, I highly suggest visiting there. If it's just normal winter, Prague, Vienna, Berlin, are all very nice places to visit.

10/11/2007 11:06:12 AM