After spending last Christmas in Europe, my husband and I decided to give our mother a special gift this year: a holiday trip to Germany’s legendary Christmas markets. What better way to spend some quality family time than eating traditional German delicacies such as marzipan and sweetbreads at stall after stall, while sipping mulled wine under the glow of thousands of colorful lights?
(Just kidding. It’s impossible to get drunk from the wine because it comes in cute little boot-shaped cups.)
Our mother certainly liked the idea. They live across the country and don’t always get to see us on vacation; plus, they don’t travel often, and one of them has never even been abroad.
But they were both living on a tight budget as they planned for retirement, and they couldn’t afford to spend a week or more in a European hotel during the peak holiday season, and we couldn’t afford that for four of us. Thankfully, points and miles saved us thousands of dollars on flights, lodging, and transportation so we could share the magic of a German vacation with two of our favorite people.
Air ticket prices
If you and your family (or friends) live close to each other, it shouldn’t be too difficult to book flights with points—assuming you all collect the same currency, especially one that allows you to combine points and miles.
If you and your loved ones are scattered across the country, you have several options. You can book separate flights and meet at a destination, or have some people book targeted flights to where others are so everyone can travel together.
Our little family is spread across three cities: My husband and I live near Denver International Airport (DEN), while our mom lives near the smaller Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) in North Carolina and Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Hartford, Connecticut.
We considered flying mom to Denver so we could go to Germany together since DEN offers direct flights to several German cities. However, most of the direct options were flying United, and neither of our moms had United MileagePlus miles available. My mom has access to about half a million Delta SkyMiles (which my dad accrued over decades of flying and working on Delta), and my mother-in-law has about $1,000 in cash-back rewards on her Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards credit card.
Our mission? Find flights from three different airports with three different award types that arrive in Germany on the same day (ideally around the same time).
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Ultimately, this is where we – pardon the pun – end up:
- My husband and I used United miles (and Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to United) to book a United flight from DEN to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and a Lufthansa flight from Munich Airport (MUC) to DEN. Total cost: 80,000 miles (we saved 30% by using the United Credit Card, which offers bonus discounts) plus $196 per person.
- My mom used my dad’s accumulated Delta miles to spend good money on Comfort+ seats for her flights from AVL to FRA and MUC to AVL, both of which connected at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Total cost: 136,800 miles (she automatically saves 15%*) Delta SkyMiles American Express Gold Card) plus approximately $152.
- My mother-in-law discovered that Delta flights from BDL to FRA and MUC to BDL also connected in Atlanta so that she and my mom could take the transatlantic flight together. Total cost: $1,449 for a main cabin seat. She offset about $1,000 of the cost with cash back rewards, and we upgraded her to the Comfort+ as our Christmas gift.
Booking flights with different awards from different airports is a challenge, but it helps that we start our search early (seven to eight months in advance) and stay flexible with dates and destination cities.
Germany has several large airports offering a variety of flight options. Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin are good places to start your search, but you could also consider Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart, which have direct flights to some U.S. cities. Don’t forget that many other European destinations also have wonderful holiday markets.
European Christmas markets usually open in mid-to-late November and remain open until late December, providing a broad tourism window. Keep in mind that most German Christmas markets close on December 23rd or 24th. After booking a flight between Christmas and New Year’s we realized this too late – but thankfully as we hadn’t booked a basic economy ticket we were able to reschedule the flight for free.
*Cardmembers can save 15% when using miles to book Delta flights through delta.com and the Fly Delta app.
Related: How to use points and miles to fly to Europe
stay
Although we considered sharing a vacation home, my family opted to book multiple hotel rooms so we each had our own space to retreat to after a long day. It might be more than the price of a single Airbnb, but for us it was worth it—after all, we wanted to still be in love with each other at the end of the trip.
So we look for reasonably priced hotels and use points to offset the cost when possible.
We’ll start our nine-night trip with a two-night stay at the recently opened Kimpton Main Frank in Frankfurt, which I’ll be reviewing for TPG. My mom used cash back rewards from her Bank of America FlexPerks® Travel Rewards Visa Signature® Card to pay for her stay, while my mother-in-law paid cash (a total of €524, or about $607 USD).
Information for the Bank of America FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Card is independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Next, we stayed at the Category 4 Hyatt Regency Cologne for three nights, with a base room priced at €247 ($286), or 15,000 World of Hyatt points for the day. The value of each Hyatt point is above average at 1.9 cents.
My mom recently added Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) to her wallet, earning a bunch of Chase points from the welcome bonus (and giving me 10,000 points as a referral bonus). After I showed her how easy it was to transfer Chase points, she set up a World of Hyatt account and transferred 45,000 points to book a stay.
I also accumulated a lot of Chase points so I used them to book my own room and my mother-in-law’s room. I used my annual free night voucher World of Hyatt Credit Card (See Rates & Fees) Pay for one night and redeem the rest with a combination of 75,000 Chase and Hyatt points.
Since Hyatt doesn’t charge taxes on award stays, we don’t have to pay out of pocket.
We will end our trip with four nights in Munich. There are plenty of points hotels in the Bavarian capital, but very few that are conveniently located around the Christmas markets in the city center. We chose an independent hotel called Stay Kooook Munchen City which was centrally located, reasonably priced and had a fully equipped kitchen. (I like hotels with kitchens.)
Even better, Capital One Travel offers Stay Kooook, which earns you 10 miles for every $1 spent with the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. I booked a room for me and my mother-in-law for $656 per person, earning over 13,000 miles in the process. My mom booked a room on Hotels.com and since she clicked on the Rakuten shopping portal, she will get some cash back at the end of the stay.
Exploring points Christmas markets is relatively easy in large European cities, where there are plenty of points hotels to choose from. Some hotel programs (including IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt) let you transfer points to friends and family so you can combine rewards. On the other hand, if one of you has all the points, you can usually use your points to book a stay for the other person.
However, if you’d rather explore small town Christmas markets or stay in boutique hotels, you might consider taking advantage of cash back rewards to save money. You can also redeem points through credit card travel portals to book independent hotels, or, if you pay with cash, earn extra rewards on your purchase.
RELATED: I Rarely Stay at Big Hotel Chains—Here’s How I Maximize My Award Travel
transportation
If you’d like to visit multiple Christmas markets (and perhaps other attractions), there are a few ways to plan your trip. You can rent a car and explore the countryside, visiting the markets in various towns along the way. Alternatively, you could base yourself in a large city with several markets to choose from and take day trips to nearby towns and attractions.
During our trip we decided to visit three cities and ride Germany’s excellent train system in between.
Since we only needed two long-distance train tickets, it made sense to buy them a la carte from the Deutsche Bahn website (where you can find the best prices). Tickets are dynamically priced based on factors such as time of day, train station and demand, and you can save a lot of money by purchasing your tickets in advance. We took the direct journey which was slightly more expensive but saved money by choosing a cheaper station and departure time. We paid a total of about $150 each for admission, including our mother’s senior discount.
If you’ll be traveling by train for at least three days (consecutive or non-consecutive), you may want to consider a rail pass, which starts at $265 per adult for three consecutive days per month. You can look at a la carte train ticket prices and rail pass prices to see which one makes the most sense.
We also booked a car rental for the day in Munich because I decided to visit Neuschwanstein Castle (the inspiration for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle), which is about two hours outside of the city. We considered booking a full day bus tour to the castle, but renting a car was much cheaper than four tickets and we could pick up the car very close to the hotel. I booked this car through Capital One Travel for $163 using my Venture X travel points, so I didn’t have to pay a dime.
There are several ways to book a rental car using points and miles, and you can take advantage of cash back travel rewards to pay for public transportation. Or, if you’re willing to pay cash, be sure to use one of the best cards for general travel purchases.
Another (albeit more expensive) option is a Christmas market cruise.
RELATED: The best European routes you should take the train rather than fly
bottom line
Traveling with your extended family or a group of friends can be uniquely rewarding, and points and miles can help make that happen.
For my husband and I, it was a way to share our love of travel with our moms, who wouldn’t have been able to afford this amazing trip without the help of points and miles. Now that they’ve dabbled in the travel rewards world (and learned the value of transferable points), they’re excited to unlock future travel.
All told, the four of us saved about $8,000 through airline miles, hotel points, free night certificates, and credit card rewards. Our nine-day trip to Germany during the peak holiday season cost us a total of $1,042 per person, which left plenty of room in our budget for Christmas market snacks and souvenirs.
If you need me, I’ll be at the gluhwein booth.
