Winter in Australia just doesn’t have the same magic as winter in Europe.
I crave the snow, and for Christmas to be actually cold. Don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing wrong with a classic Aussie BBQ for Christmas get-together, but I really do feel like we’re missing out on that traditional wintery Christmas spirit (just a little).
This year, Rob and I will be heading over to Europe in my uni break, hopefully catching the last touches of autumn before embracing a European Christmas and skiing in the Julian Alps over New Year.
We’ll spend a total of 2 months abroad, and will be working remotely for 5 of the 8 weeks. This means that this digital nomad trip itinerary is a fairly slow one as most of our sightseeing will be done on weekday evenings and weekends.
If you wanted to plan something similar but at a faster pace, this winter Europe itinerary could be completed in 3-4 weeks. Also, if this is your first time to Europe (or just to Germany) it might be worth swapping out Leipzig with Berlin. I absolutely love Berlin but wanted to visit somewhere new in eastern Germany for this trip!
Getting there:
This winter Eurotrip itinerary was influenced largely by the flight options that I could get from Australia with only one stopover each way (I really hate flight connections and try to minimise them wherever possible). I ended up going with Qatar, a Middle-Eastern airline based in Doha, from Sydney to Amsterdam and then from Zagreb back to Sydney.
This kind of ticket is called an open-jaw ticket as it has a gap between the final destinations. You can search for these kinds of flights on booking websites like JustFly – select the ‘Multiple City’ option when searching and it will give you the ability to enter two different destinations.
Within Europe, Rob and I will be travelling overland with a travel time of about 3-6 hours between most destinations. I find it much easier to depart from the main transport station in the city centre and get a somewhat comfy train/bus seat with a bit of legroom than to fuss around with airports and uncomfortable flights (also, travelling via train or bus is much better for the environment).
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is a destination that I have been to before but loved to revisit! To me, the Netherlands just feels like such as easy place to hang out (probably because the Dutch all speak impeccable English).
Seeing as we’ve already done most of the main tourist sites, Rob and I booked an apartment in the trendy suburb of De Pijp and spent our week in Amsterdam drinking tons of coffee and eating stroopwafel and cheese at every possible moment.
We also saw a gig featuring one of our favourite bands (Vampire Weekend) and caught up with one of our good friends who used to live in Sydney but now lives in Utrecht.
Hamburg
Even though Rob and I spent about a month in Germany during our 2013/2014 backpacking trip, we didn’t get around to visiting Hamburg. This city is a hotspot for alternative culture and has some of the best Christmas markets around.
We took an intercity bus from Amsterdam then spent two weeks in Hamburg staying in a private apartment around the hip area of St Pauli. On our weekends we did some sightseeing around the city, including seeking out some historic Jugendstil (German art nouveau) architecture and finding the colossal Hochbunker – a concrete air-raid bunker from WWII that is now an event space.
Leipzig
I’d never even heard of Leipzig until a few months ago when one of our American friends went there on a family vacay. After doing some research, I found out that it’s one of the few remaining German cities with an old town filled with historic pre-war buildings (other cities decided to replace their old buildings with new ones after the war).
Rob and I jumped on the ICE high-speed train from Hamburg then spent a week staying in an apartment near Leipzig’s city centre. I’d heard that the Museum of Musical Instruments is worth visiting, and that the cat cafe nearby has a vegan menu. That’s me sorted!
Munich
Munich is another place that I have been to before, but I was looking forward to a second visit. This city stole my heart with its numerous beer halls and Bavarian charm.
We jumped on the ICE again for a speedy 3-hour train trip from Leipzig, then checked in to our hotel near Munich Central Station. We didn’t spend loads of time sightseeing in Munich – mostly just checked out some of the cool neighbourhoods while working remotely. Of course, we also found some veggie curry wurst sausages and drink a ton of weissbier.
Road Trip
The weekend before Christmas is when our real vacation started… with a week-long road trip through Croatia and Slovenia! We hopped on an intercity bus to get from Munich to Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, where we picked up a hire car for the drive south.
I planned a rough route from Ljubljana, looping down into Croatia to see Plitvice Lakes National Park (which is apparently much less crowded in the winter) and Rovinj on the Mediterranean coast. We then made our way back up into Slovenia stopping in at Piran, Predjama Castle, and the spectacular Lake Bohinj.
Bled
Rob and I visited Bled on a day trip from Ljubljana 5 years ago. I found the town to be unbelievably gorgeous! I later discovered that there are a handful of ski resorts in the Julian Alps only an hour’s drive from Bled, so I knew that we had to go back for a ski trip. Also, lift passes at the ski resorts are about half the price of the ski resorts in Australia! Total bargain.
Somehow I managed to convince a few of our friends from America to hop on over to Slovenia for New Year, so we had a blast watching fireworks over the lake at midnight. We spent a week here, with most of our days on the slopes and our nights in a Slovenian-style vacation home near the town centre.
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is one of my favourite destinations of all time. The whole city has a super relaxed vibe, is adorably weird, and has a variety of colourful facades. A few days here was a great way to wind down after a week of skiing.
We spent time gazing at the castle from our top-floor room at Barbo Palace, visiting markets, and drinking a few glasses of wine at a rooftop bar.
Zagreb
I’d heard really great things about Zagreb. We were originally going to spend a few weeks working in the city, but it just didn’t work out for our itinerary. Instead, we jumped on a bus from Ljubljana then spent a few nights in Palace Hotel Zagreb before flying back to Australia.
My cousin recommended the Museum of Broken Relationships which was wacky and amusing, and the Uspinjača funicular in the old town was totally adorable.
*This post is sponsored by JustFly. Every opinion expressed on AGWT is an honest reflection of my values – I will only recommend products and services that I would use myself.
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