France/Germany Christmas trip report!

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12/26/2022 19:15

Subject: France/Germany Christmas trip report!

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Anonymous

Finishing up our Christmas trip to Germany/France with my kids 4&7. We visited heidelberg, Colmar, Riquewhir, Strasbourg, and Paris.

Heidelberg: beautiful city, definitely visit the castle and the Christmas markets are all within walking distance. Didn’t make it ice skating but looked beautiful!! Fun kids rides but they are intended for young kids. They had tons of great food options including substantial and treats. I loved the kinderpunsch for the kids and of course the gluewein for the adults! They came in nice mugs and we got to keep one

one thing to know that is important: cash is king in Heidelberg!!! If you travel with a credit card only, request a pin in advance, otherwise don’t forget your debit card! Chase will not give you a pin over the phone unless your credit card is new. If you find yourself in a bind, the banks will NOT allow a cash advance despite chase saying they will. Go instead to a western union and the can just charge the cash to your credit card and actually the exchange is awesome, better than the atms. (Lesson was learned for us). You cannot buy anything at the markets without cash. For a family
Of 4, probably bring 150 a day to be safe!

Colmar: cash is not king and you can in fact use your credit card basically everywhere (almost). I LOVED Colmar with kids!!! It is PERFECT with young children 4-8 or so. The rides are fun, festive, but not super thrilling but fun enough for the littles. There are Christmas rides that seemed magical!! They are scattered all through the markets which makes visiting markets awesome. They have hot apple juice for kids and hot chocolate. The food in the markets was mostly prepared foods for gifts, bretzels, but some tarte flambee. They also have a gourmet food market that was open later and they had awesome food!! We ate there several times and got Alsatian dishes, some speciality dishes like a chestnut soup, escargot, foie gras, and lots of wine tastings! They had a dj one night and people broke out dancing in the square! My youngest joined in and lived his best life! Lol.

I really recommend visiting their ice skating rink, going to the carousel bar next to it and then the mini roller coaster (SUPER fun day!!). They had very fancy drinks.

There’s lots of great shopping both indoor and outdoor and while it was crowded at times, it was not overwhelming and that was right before Christmas. People were very friendly!! Walkable city. I did a little solo shopping and they had the cutest shops all close to the old city. I love a womens store called NafNaf but there were cute stores for kids too! I’m France, the kids often wear a solid one-piece scarf/neck warmer that matches their hat/gloves. It was too cute.

Riquewhir is a tiny town and we arrived by about 9:30 (so early before the markets opened) and we had no problem finding parking. I think if we came much later, it would have been a different story. The whole town was like Christmas exploded and was magical!! We got lots of tasty food and tbh, they had some ADORABLE shops. There was one shop off a side road that had the sweetest stuffed animals I think I’ve practically ever seen and they weren’t crazy expensive, about 25 euros. I did not see any other store with such well made and adorable stuffed animals and they looked so French and soft. I’m obsessed. The town got pretty busy by about 12-1pm and we left.

Strasbourg: I’ve been to strasbourg many times and LOVE the city but tbh, it was overrated with kids. We visited with a friend in Strasbourg first and so didn’t make it to “homme de fer” in Strasbourg until about 4pm and it was INSANE. We felt overwhelmed and there was hardly space to catch your breath. The food and drinks were great, decorations beautiful, and the cathedral magnificent as always but the crowds were intense!! They didn’t have a lot of kids rides but we really loved the carousel next to the cathedral. Place kleber Christmas tree was gorgeous too! It’s worth visiting but a few hours is enough, especially with young kids.

Paris: I was nervous but it was awesome. People have been very kind and helpful, giving my youngest a seat on the metro (a lot), we got to cut lines with young kids, and the kids got a lot of smiles! They got free treats at a patisserie. The playgrounds are awesome and often have a cafe with some hot drinks next to it and they are often enclosed. French parents did in fact chat with me a bit-in French and English (they initiated). There’s no need to actually eat in a restaurant with young kids unless you really want to…being there at Christmas helped. A few recommendations based on my few days here:

-visit the Louvre at 9 am. They let you skip the line with young kids. Check out the Mona Lisa before the line gets too long, check out some other areas and then head up to Angelina’s on the other side of the louvre (richlieu) and snag a spot when they open at 10. We were just looking for a tearoom we remembered visiting and discovered it and had a fabulous view and treat! We walked to notre-dame and sainte-chapelle and that was fun (you don’t need long, 45 min-1 hour total).

-take the vedettes du pont neuf “snacking” river cruise. It’s for families and they provide goodie bags with lots of yummy goodies for the kids and cute coloring books. Adults get a little adult goodie bag too and a hot coffee. My kids loved it!

-Christmas markets: Tuileries is huge and we didn’t see it all but they had TONS of food options. So much good food! There’s also a very small market near trocodero and you can see the Eiffel Tower. There’s a childrens train, a few games, and some Swiss food including raclettes and mulled wine. Despite what google says, I can verify that there is no ice skating rink at a Christmas market around the Eiffel Tower on any direction. The little market is great for lunch/dinner with kids though! The tiny market near Notre-dame is fun too! No rides but coloring activities and Santa.

-Musee des arts forains: awesome Christmas festival with Very cool performances to showcase the arts. Very family friendly, beautifully decorated, lots of live music, tasty food (onion soup over a hot fire, mulled wine over a fire, crepes, sandwiches, kettle corn, and cotton candy). You get to ride the super old carousels. It was awesome!!! 10/10 recommend but it’s really a day trip! We were exhausted after!