Munich
Crafts stalls surround a glittering 100-foot Christmas tree on the oldest of Munich's Christmas markets Marienplatz, which is filled with Muncheners munching on sausages and potato pancakes, gulping glühwein, and crunching gingerbread. In the Town Hall, the Heavenly Workshop keeps children engaged with arts, crafts and baking. Every evening at 5:30, from the Friday before Advent to the night before Christmas, a brass band and Alpine choir peal out carols from the balcony of the neo-Gothic Rathaus (Town Hall). There are also small themed markets sprinkled around the city, including the famed Kripperlmarkt (Crib Market) on Rindermarkt, a dedicated manger market provides all the elements required to create a Nativity scene, and a Medieval Market on Wittelsbacher Platz. Also keep your eyes peeled for the Christmas tram that trundles through the old city serving spiced wine and gingerbread.

In all there are a further 20 Christmas Markets located throughout the city of Munich, including a Medieval Christmas Market with gospel singing at the Wittelsbacher Platz, a gay pink Christmas Market (Stephansplatz) and if you have forgotten anything before leaving for home there is even a Christmas Market with ice skating facilities at Munich?s international airport.

Operates: Late Nov. - Dec. 24

Mon-Fri 10am-8.30pm
Sat 9am-8.30pm
Sun 10am-7.30pm
24 Dec 10am-2pm

Vienna
Come Christmas, the Viennese love to wrap up in furs, sip glühwein and nibble crescent-shaped Christmas cookies (Vanillekipferl) on the city's decorated market squares. Vienna's venerable Christkindlmarkt on Rathausplatz flings open its stall shutters in mid-November, and three million visitors flock here each year for beeswax candles, wooden toys, and glass ornaments. Shoppers snack on cream-filled pastries, candied fruit, roasted chestnuts, and Weihnachtspunsch (a spiced "Christmas punch" of wine, brandy, or schnapps sweetened with warm fruit juices). This market puts a premium on tradition: there are precious few tacky stands selling plastic toys, and Santa Claus, whom many locals view as the Hollywood harbinger of a commercialized Christmas, is strictly verboten. Instead, there's the traditional Wiener Christkindl, the official Christ Child?invariably played (following an odd Teutonic custom) by a young woman with long blonde curls. There's another market of luxe Christmas wares in the baroque forecourt of the suburban Schðnbrunn Palace, and a more intimate and sophisticated market lining the narrow cobblestone streets of Vienna's Spittelberg district. The "Christkindlmärkte? in Vienna, Austria is a popular seven hundred year old Christmas market. It?s a very traditional event with an emphasis on nostalgia, fun and romance. There are also, more than three-dozen Advent season concerts. The city of Haydn and Strauss invites choirs from around the world to perform Christmas music in the Rathaus every weekend (Friday to Sunday) from late November to Dec. 24 as part of the Internationales Adventsingen festival.

Operates: Mid-Nov. - Dec. 24