August 1, 2003 -- August is the month to get cracking if you want to visit one of those fabulous Christmas markets in Germany, Austria or nearby countries, as some of the firms organizing tours are already in the giving spirit already, offering discounted prices if you purchase by late this month. Consider Friendly Planet, which offers a $200 discount off its regular $1,499 price, if you book by August 15, 2003. Or Affordable Tours, which says it will give you a ten percent discount, with no time limit.
Christmas markets have been around for centuries, but at first were strictly for the locals, and mostly for selling food for the annual feast day. Genuine markets have arisen around traditional food stalls in such cities as Nuremberg (the Christkindlesmarkt here is the nation's most famous, with two million visitors annually, and probably Germany's second-oldest, with printed records dating from 1628) and Strietzelmarkt, definitely Germany's oldest (1434), in Dresden.
Friendly Planet's "Classic European Christmas Market" trip, lasting ten days (eight nights), costs from $1299 after the discount and has two departures, on November 29 and December 6, 2003. The program includes roundtrip airfare on SWISS (formerly Swissair) out of New York to Munich and returning from Vienna, with visits to Christmas Markets in Munich, Innsbruck, Rothenburg, Nuremberg and Salzburg, first class hotels, ten meals, touring guide and entrance fees and all intra-Europe ground transport and transfers. Additional sights visited include the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, the Palace & Golden Roof in Innsbruck and the Kaiserburg in Nuremberg. Airfare add-on from other airports in the USA ranges up to as high as $170 out of Los Angeles, for example. Contact Friendly Planet at www.friendlyplanet.com or phone 800/555-5765 or 215/572-9594, fax 215/572-9803, email info@friendlyplanet.com.
Affordable Tours, which discounts the offerings of at least eight major operators, offers a 10% discount on General Tours' "Christmas Markets of Old Europe" package, visiting Prague, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Passau, Salzburg, Durnstein, Melk and Vienna. It's a cruise, so you spend your nights on a deluxe riverboat. The package includes roundtrip airfare from New York to Nuremberg, returning from Vienna. You visit two Christmas Markets in Nuremberg (including Germany's oldest and most famous) and several in Vienna, with one each in the other stops (except Melk). Your cabin is guaranteed to be on the outside of the boat, where you spend seven nights. All breakfasts (buffet) are included, as well as six lunches and seven dinners. In Passau's St. Stephan's Cathedral, you can listen to a special organ concert on "the world's largest organ." Departures are December 5, 6, 12 and 13. Port charges of $49 per person are not included. Two itineraries are eastbound, two westbound. For low cost add-ons from cities other than New York, phone General Tours at 800/221-2216. Airport taxes and fees additional. Contact Affordable Tours at www.affordablegeneraltours.com or phone 866/265-2651.
The Far & Wide group, which consists of several top notch tour operators, has a "German Christmas Markets" tour lasting ten days and starting at $1,449, air inclusive. The package includes roundtrip air from New York (JFK), Boston and Newark, and departs on November 29, December 6 and December 13, 2003. Add-on fares are available from about 70 other US cities. Included also are 8 nights at first class hotels with private bath, eight breakfasts, four dinners, and visits to at least six Christmas Markets, including Germany's oldest, the Strietzelmarkt, in Dresden. Cities visited include Berlin, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Rothenburg and Munich. Among other tourist highlights are the old Berlin Wall, the Semper Opera and Zinger Palace in Dresden, Mad King Ludwig's Castle and Linderhof. Contact Far & Wide at www.farandwide.com or phone 866/276-3575.
Other operators have Christmas market packages to Prague, Scandinavia and even France, such as Escorted Tour Operators, reachable at www.escortedtouroperators.com or at 800/942-3301.
Go-Today.com, one of our favorite low-budget tour operators, has four Christmas specials so far, but none to Christmas Markets yet, though they are working on some for the near future. Their current Christmas specials are to London, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam, none of them associated with Christmas markets as such. Contact them at www.gotoday.com.
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