2011 Christmas Market Roundup

My dad at the Strasbourg Marché de Noël

I’m just going to come right out and admit it. I’m a Christmas market junkie. I love the wooden chalets, I love the lights, the festive tunes, the holiday bustle, the treats and of course, the glühwein (or vin chaud, depending on where you’re sipping it).

Last year, in addition to Luxembourg Ville, we enjoyed visiting the markets in Trier, Kassel, Bad Hersfeld, Strasbourg, Maastricht, Valkenburg, and (pausing for a breath) Montreux. If you’re heading to any of those for the first time, I’m happy to share thoughts or recommendations for all of them if you e-mail me at luxemblogger@gmail.com.

On tap for us this December: Köln, Brussels, small towns in Alsace and the Black Forest, Stockholm, Paris and Besançon – whew! (Something tells me that I’m going to need to borrow a pair of pants from Santa Claus himself by the time this month is over…)

If you have nearby markets to add to the list or any tips, recommendations or maybe a glühwein recipe to share, please contribute to the comments section below!

Joyeux Noël!

User’s Guide: Getting to Germany for a Klein Price

Over the past several months, I’ve shared tips for getting to Paris (and the rest of France) on the cheap, I’ve told you how to get to and from Luxembourg on Ryanair, and I’ve told you how to visit wineries in Provence via public bus.

Now, it’s Germany’s turn. And there are a lot of wunderbar deals to be had on the Deutsche Bahn (DB). Of course, the standard rule applies: the earlier you can book, the better your chances of scoring a cheaper ticket from Luxembourg. But there are several ways you can be creative about booking your travel, and several options for last minute trips from Luxembourg Ville.

Trier & Cochem: The Ultimate Day Trip

Whether you’re in search of castles, vineyards, charming villages or outdoor adventures paired with astounding views, there are loads of great places to visit in and around Luxembourg. But if you’re going to leave the Grand Duchy in search of a cross-border outing, I’d argue that there’s no better bang for your buck than a day trip to the German towns of Trier, Germany’s oldest city, and Cochem, a postcard-perfect wine town on the Mosel.

Before you read on, though, I think I should give you fair warning: this is almost too much blog for one post.

You see, when I take friends and family on day trips, I typically take them to Trier or to Cochem – or to both, on separate days – because there’s a lot of ground to cover in both places. But when my good friend Kelly came to visit last month, calendar constraints meant that I had to rise to the challenge of squeezing both places into one jam-packed (or in our case, Reisling-packed) German adventure. Here’s a rundown of our trip, in case you’d like to attempt the same feat:

User's Guide: Getting to Paris (and the rest of France) on the Cheap

What do Big Foot, Sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster and the 25€ Luxembourg to Paris TGV special have in common? You’ve got it: none of them actually exist.

At least, that’s what I thought. But then I spent an afternoon clicking around the web site of France’s national train service, SNCF, and made a life-changing discovery: even though the 25€ Lux to Paris special never, ever appears when you try to book a ticket, there actually are ways to get to Paris on the cheap, for very close to 25€.

In addition to that, if you’re willing to make a few extra clicks on the SNCF web site, there are ways to get to other places in France for much less than you’d expect. And there are other inexpensive ways to explore places in France that are a little closer to home, too.

So, Francophiles: read on for my roundup of cheap ways to get to France:

The Ryanair Experiment

Balanzza: the best gift ever.
(Thanks, Mom!)

One of the very best gifts I have ever received is a Balanzza, an impressively accurate hand-held scale that lets you weigh your suitcase before you get to the airport; allowing you to avoid awkwardly unpacking and repacking your belongings at the check-in counter when told you have exceeded the maximum weight for checked airplane baggage...a pre-Balanzza situation I've found myself in far too many times. Which is to say, I am the kind of traveler who likes to pack 20lbs of you-know-what into a 10lb bag.

And this is the reason that I have been utterly, completely terrified of flying Ryanair.

Ryanair is one of several low-cost airlines operating in Europe that lure passengers by offering ridiculously inexpensive flights. Then, they nickle and dime these same unsuspecting, unprepared travelers at every possible travel day opportunity with strict luggage restrictions, confusing rules, and hefty fines for forgetting things like printing your boarding pass at home. If you read the fine print, you'll be okay, but it is still a pretty intimidating process.

Flying in and out of Luxembourg is not cheap, however, so I knew that it would only be a matter of time before I had to figure out the deal with low-cost carriers in the region. And last weekend became the weekend that I would finally learn to overcome my fear of Ryanair. But if I can do it, you can, too. So, if you'd like to fly to or from Luxembourg on the cheap, read on...

The Köln Special

Whether you spell it Köln or Cologne, it's worth the trip from Luxembourg if you're looking for a night out of town. And right now, Luxembourg's rail system (CFL) is offering a Köln Spezial, reducing the ticket price to just 19€ each way, so there's really no excuse not to go - especially since the famous Cologne Carnival season is well underway. More on Carnival in a minute. First, let me give you a little bit of background on the town: