Originally Posted by
etch5895
Bamberg is a great city, as others have noted.
Regarding Christmas markets: I'd consider basing myself out of Nürnberg for several days if you really want to enjoy the Christmas markets. There are several great markets within the local transport zone that I think you'd find appealing. Rothenberg ob der Tauber is one (also a very famous walled city), Bayreuth and Bamberg will both have markets up, albeit smaller ones and if memory serves there is also a market in Ansbach, which is about 1/2 hour outside of Nürnberg. For transportation, all of these town are within the Nürnberg greater transport area (VGN) and can be accessed via the TagesTicket Plus. This is a 16.20 euro ticket that is good for 2 adults and up to 4 kids anywhere in the VGN zone. It is good until the next morning, and on the weekend, it is good for both Saturday and Sunday. It covers all S-bahn, bus, streetcar and underground lines (and DB regional trains) within the region. Fair warning: Nürnberg's market can be absolutely packed on the weekends.
From Nürnberg, I'd consider a day trip or overnight out to Prague, which has a very large Christmas market with a slightly different flair. You can get a DB bus direct from Nürnberg into Prague, tickets should be about 29 euro per person, each way (4 hour trip, give or take) on a comfortable bus.
Another option is to take the train or fly into Dresden and enjoy not only their very famous and large Christmas market, but the beautiful city as well.
Munich's market is OK but nothing to write home about. You may want to go further south into Austria and see what there is to see there instead.
We got to Nurnberg and Rotenburg last December, but everything was very fast. We'd really like to get to Salzburg for a couple days (small market, but we only had an afternoon, no time for further exploration). I mentioned Munich because I visited for a long weekend the year before (before the Christmas market). Last year, my companion didn't really see Munich because it was all about the markets.
Prague would be excellent (family history in Prague, I've been, companion hasn't).
I should add...I think this might become something of an annual pilgrimage. It's a time of year when it's easy to get vacation time at work, companion really likes Christmas (her birthday is Christmas Day), so any ideas that don't work for this year will get picked up next year (we only have two weeks, Berlin is definitely a must this time, we're guessing 4-5 days).
So it is starting to look like we might do well with a three-'center' itinerary - Berlin for a few days, Nurnberg (looks like it will be a great location to make day-trips from, as well as (?) a trip to Salzburg)? and Dresden?
Is this too ambitious? If night trains are an option, is there a 'best' point in the trip to take one? (ie, scenery isn't stunning, we can combine travel/sleep time). Suggestions for an overall progression? I think we'll probably be arriving on the 25th or 26th. I will have to check opening dates, but depending where we arrive, some local 'pre-market' sightseeing is fine.
I'm guessing we'll fly into FRA. Possibly not ideal, but we avoid east coast/midwest connections, fly ST (DL), probably connect in ATL. I think there are partner options from the west coast (KLM), but on DL we can get E+ (free) and it seems to be a dodgy proposition on KLM.