There are plenty of ways to visit Europe’s Christmas markets in December. This one comes with four onboard craft workshops, a week of handsome Danube cities and the useful advantage of only having to unpack once.
Departing Nuremberg on 8 December 2026, Travelmarvel’s seven-night sailing follows the Danube through Germany and Austria before finishing in Budapest, with stops in Regensburg, Passau, Linz, Melk, Dürnstein and Vienna along the way. It’s a route full of medieval streets, grand architecture and winter landscapes, with Christmas markets providing the seasonal backdrop.
For Gardens Illustrated readers, though, the most appealing addition may be what happens between ports.
Actress, presenter and keen crafter Julie Peasgood will join the sailing to host four optional festive craft workshops while the ship is underway. They’re designed as relaxed sessions rather than a test of technical prowess, giving guests the chance to spend some of the quieter hours on the river making something of their own.
It feels particularly well matched to the rhythm of a winter river cruise. Days ashore can be spent wandering through historic centres and Christmas markets, while the sailing time becomes an opportunity to sit down, make something and watch the Danube pass by outside. For anyone who enjoys the decorative side of Christmas, the combination makes rather more sense than returning home with another mug and a suitcase full of increasingly fragile purchases.
The itinerary itself moves through some of central Europe’s most atmospheric cities. Nuremberg starts the week with its famous festive market before the ship continues to Regensburg and Passau, then into Austria for Linz, Melk and Dürnstein. Vienna brings the most imposing architecture of the trip, before the journey ends in Budapest.
Travelling between them by river also removes much of the less romantic side of a multi-city Christmas break. There’s no repeated checking in and out of hotels, no wrestling suitcases onto trains and no need to decide whether that delicate decoration really was a sensible purchase before moving on to the next stop. The cabin simply travels with you.
The fare includes return scheduled UK flights, overseas transfers, seven nights aboard a Travelmarvel river ship, meals, selected drinks, sightseeing, port charges and gratuities. Di’s brief is for the piece to direct readers through to Travelmarvel for bookings.
For anyone drawn to Christmas as much for the making and decorating as the markets themselves, it’s an unusually pleasing way to spend a December week.
