Winter Solstice Christmas Celebration

Just a few days before Christmas, RTT invites you to embrace the holiday season upon the Winter Solstice. This budget-friendly trip, with a late morning departure, is the perfect way to introduce visiting friends and family to some of the most beautiful scenery in the Rhineland and jump-start everyone’s holiday spirit just a few days before Christmas!

The Mainz Christmas Market began over 200 years ago as Nikolose Markt, and is famed as one of the most beautiful and historic Christmas markets in Germany, decorated to the hilt with Christmas lights you won’t likely see anywhere else. Amidst the backdrop of the iconic St. Martin’s Cathedral, an abundance of cozy wooden huts offer traditional Christmas wares, decorations, and delicious holiday snacks. You will also find the massive Christmas Pyramid filled with figurines of local legends and the largest hand-carved Nativity scene of its kind in Europe. Close to the main market are several other smaller festive markets that have come to be known as “Mainzer Winterzeit” (Mainz Winter Time).

In Rüdesheim, a wealth of traditional festivities, delicious hearty German cuisine, Christmas stalls filled with local crafts for sale and popular Christmas music that will tingle your senses and jingle your toes! Famous for winemaking, especially of Riesling wines, the town offers spectacular views of the Rhine River, the surrounding valley, and vinyards. Christmas lights reflecting off the river offer a prefect view and ambiance to enjoy while you sample a delicious glass of hot mulled regional wine to warm heart and fingers. Stroll and shop the Christmas Market of the Nations set against the charming wood frame houses, and be sure to visit the Drosselgasse where you will find wine shops, taverns and restaurants and have the chance to stock up on the amazing selections of wine, just in time for Christmas.