We toured the Alsace wine route, the vines bare, of course, after the harvest but the little wine towns of Kaysersburg and Riquewihr were simply ravishing.

For one afternoon we popped over the Rhine to the pretty university city of Freiburg in Baden-Wurtemburg for great shopping and a look at the gorgeous high-Gothic Munster. In the Christmas markets there we sampled hot bratwurst in crusty rolls, currywurst and 'dampfnudel' - a suet pudding with a cherry sauce and custard.

Then we drove north and back over the border for an evening in Strasbourg and dinner in the shadow of its famous cathedral.

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Visit Colmar in the region of Alsace for the Christmas markets and pop into Germany for the afternoon! That's what we did with our kids (aged 10 and 8) just before Christmas.

We flew BA to Basel-Mulhouse, hired a car and stayed for 3 nights at the (cheap) Novotel on the edge of Colmar.

The town was breathtakingly decorated and boasted not one but five Christmas markets selling festive produce from decorations to outdoor food and lots of vin chaud. Yes, some of the merchandise was a bit tacky, but the markets were fabulous for families and Christmas lovers like us! The weather was cold but gloriously sunny.

All in all a great little pre-Yuletide trip and a much more cost effective way of getting in the mood than Lapland!

christmas.site.voila.fr/

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