So wife and I are trying to decide where we want to go over Thanksgiving and the weekend after. She needs to be in Cannes for work the following week, but we're thinking Wednesday - Sunday go somewhere else.

So far in contention (these are all places we haven't been):
- Portugal
- Munich area
- Northern Italy.

Certainly open to any other great ideas for European spots that are particularly good to visit around end of November.

Should add: we don't want too much city time. Maybe a day or 2 in city and 2 or 3 in small town outside of it

Might fly into Zurich and take the train spread over a few days.

Zurich ---- Luzern --- Lausanne --- Geneva --- Lyon ---- Cannes

The site trainline.com is legit and saves a bunch of money in Europe.

I live in Switzerland thus the basis for my info...
The worst month weather wise in Switzerland is November...All Fall colors gone, gets dark early, cold/rainy, etc.
Add to that, for mountain areas, November is a transition time in preparation for winter skiing and winter activities - meaning not much will be open. I would highly suggest not to plan Switzerland unless you were ok with bad weather and were ok with staying in the big cities only.

My advice, go to Spain or Portugal.

Go to London. See a few shows in the West End and the Christmas markets will already be open.

London would work too - perhaps some dreary weather but plenty of sightseeing options.

Late thanksgiving means all Christmas markets are open.

Do Vienna/Prague or Zurich/Basel/Colmer/Strasbourg/Paris.

Spain is fun too but very different.

Portugal is a gem during Christmas season. Cheaper and just as fun.

Bavaria is a gimme if you want to do Munich/Nuremberg/Rotenburg/Neuschwanstein Castle

You can go wrong with a Christmas based itinerary.

Christmas market on Salzburg opens right after Thanksgiving; Munich and Nuremberg right after that

All very helpful. It sounds like we will probably skip Switzerland area then based on your comments FC12.

Does Northern Italy like Bologna, the Dolomites, or Lake Como area towns have similar weather issues or closures that Switzerland does that time of year?

I keep reading a lot of somewhat vague answers on when Christmas markets get going. With Thanksgiving being Thursday the 28th, we are looking at arriving wherever on Wednesday 27th and staying through Sunday Dec 1.

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Portugal certainly a different vibe and not nearly as wintery, but I've heard nothing but great things. Wanted to go last year when we went to Spain, but didn't have time.

We've been to London before (and are going back this summer) but looking for something new... but always do love that city.

The Milkman said:

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All very helpful. It sounds like we will probably skip Switzerland area then based on your comments FC12.

Does Northern Italy like Bologna, the Dolomites, or Lake Como area towns have similar weather issues or closures that Switzerland does that time of year?

I keep reading a lot of somewhat vague answers on when Christmas markets get going. With Thanksgiving being Thursday the 28th, we are looking at arriving wherever on Wednesday 27th and staying through Sunday Dec 1.

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Portugal certainly a different vibe and not nearly as wintery, but I've heard nothing but great things. Wanted to go last year when we went to Spain, but didn't have time.

We've been to London before (and are going back this summer) but looking for something new... but always do love that city.

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Salzburg here (opens Nov 21):



Munich here:




Nuremberg here:




I would do something like Wed - Fri in Munich and take the high speed train (ICE) to Nuremberg for Sat/Sun if you want Christmas Markets

All very very helpful. Thank you!

I think we are leaning towards doing Bavaria/Austria to feel more "of the season" and leaving Portugal for another time.

Salzburg does seem very nice and could be a good hub if we go Vienna or Munich. I am somewhat leaning towards Vienna.

The Dolomites will be the same as Switzerland. They are fantastic in Summer and Winter (December - March). For Lake Como area, it shines in the Summer.

If you have not done a Salzburg / Vienna trip (assuming Christmas Markets are open…I haven't check the schedules) then go for that. All of the markets have published dates up…just ensure you are verifying directly through official city websites.

I initially said Spain or Portugal due to proximity to where you needed to be the following week. However, flights out of Vienna are no problem.

Thank you. Good braining session everyone haha.

Direct from Dulles to Vienna direct is helpful. And Vienna to Nice for her afterwards.

Seems you may have already decided, but Avignon is a great place for Thanksgiving, IMO. Easy train from CDG, and easy for your wife to get to Cannes, after.

Christmas market used to be up and running by Thanksgiving, but last year it did not start until after. No big deal because it is not a great Christmas market anyway.

Aside from being a nice town, Avignon is a great "stepping off" place for Provence. There is a great Sunday market in Isle sur la Sorgue, Aix is nearby, and you can run down to Cassis on the coast for fish soup for lunch.

Vienna is simply incredible

How was your experience with English in this area?
I have the basics of German down for when far outside the cities…French on the other hand I know nothing…

Which BTW, the vast majority of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany and Austria, most people know some level of English. In the big cities, communicating in English is not a problem at all. I would suggest looking some of the dialect differences between Swiss German, High German and what is spoken in Austria. Hallo works everywhere for hello…but in Austria and Bavaria you may hear Servus which is hello too or a greeting.

I pretty much gave up on French a long time ago to focus on Italian. It's never been an issue. Everyone speaks English it seems, or at least enough to get by.

125k points to go Premium Economy there and Polaris back isnt too shabby either. Thanks again yall

Go on.................don't be bashful about elaborating........(heading to Vienna in August)

Turkey?

we just did this trip this past November. We flew into Vienna (Houston to Frankfurt to Vienna) for a few days, then trained to Salzburg, then trained to Munich. Direct flight home from Munich to Houston.

Vienna Christmas markets were open. We loved Vienna and could have spent the entire week there - so much to see and do.

Salzburg - Christmas markets were sort of open but not fully open yet. Still, it's a fun compact city. Augustiner brau is the best bier hall in Europe IMO so that was my daily afternoon spot.

Munich - Christmas markets were not open but no worries because there is so much to see that we didn't have time to even scratch the surface.

Weather was cool to cold at times. Only had rain one evening in Munch so we got very luicky from that standpoint.