When I was initially tasked with planning a trip of my choice using $2,000 and 200,000 points, I almost started to panic. How are you supposed to choose just one place?? Do you go with the best deal or your favorite destination or somewhere you've never been?
It was honestly a little paralyzing.
But then I started thinking about where I'd like to be in late November... and the answer was obvious: in the middle of a European Christmas market eating all the food.
My camera roll from my last Christmas market trip is almost entirely pictures of me proudly holding up food so this 100% checks out.
Exhibit A
And I won't apologize.
Because Europe all dressed up for Christmas is pretty magical, with a steaming cup of gluhwein and a warm snack in your hand.
Final tally: 103,000 points and $1,658. Two people, three cities, six nights, one card.
Two things I want on the table before we start, because I'd rather you hear them from me:
One: I moved the trip. This one lands in late December instead of Thanksgiving week, because the markets don't care about our challenge dates and I wasn't going to fly to a city where the whole thing had already packed up. Read this one for the strategy, not for the calendar.
Two: my Salzburg redemption only works because of a transfer bonus that was live when I priced it. Transfer bonuses expire. I'll tell you what to do if it's gone.
Let’s get into it…
First, the ground rules
Quick refresher on the challenge: two travelers, and the whole trip has to fit inside a fixed window over Thanksgiving week. The budget is 200,000 points and $2,000, and the points come from a maximum of three cards.
Mine: one card, doing all of it.
Here's the itinerary:
Dec 23: Chicago (ORD) → Munich (MUC), 24,000 points + $330 for two
Dec 24–26: Two nights at the Le Méridien Munich ($523)
Dec 26: Train to Salzburg, 1.5 hours
Dec 26–27: One night in Salzburg (16,000 points at the Holiday Inn, or 87,000 at the Hotel Goldener Hirsch)
Dec 27: Train to Vienna
Dec 27–30: Three nights at the Hyatt Regency Vienna (39,000 points)
Dec 30: Flight home, 24,000 points + $555
Let's go through it.
The biggest downside: Christmas Market Math
The biggest downside is what I'm calling Christmas Market Math.
Knowing that you want to sip gluhwein in a chilly Christmas wonderland is the easy part. First, you must navigate when each of the many, many markets open.
It will do you no good to be in Zagreb, Croatia ready for Advent Zagreb in mid-November if the markets don't open there until November 28th. Going to Strasbourg, France, after Christmas Eve will find you sorely disappointed because the Christmas magic will have packed up and gone home.
Some markets open early in November, others stay open late through early January, and some are only open for select weekends. Even within the same city, market dates can vary quite a bit.
There's truly some algebra — and a lot of research — that goes into planning a Christmas market trip.
Not to mention, accommodations and hotels should have been booked months ago, so you're facing an entirely different kind of math to determine if you can even get to the markets you so lovingly researched.
See? Math. 🤮
You can avoid a lot of this math by planning a trip for weekdays in early to mid December, dodging major holidays, and booking everything 6-12 months out.
But alas... that is not this challenge, is it? 🫠
Find the award flights
I tried really hard to find flights over the weekend. I did.
And I found some.
These flights from Chicago (ORD) to Munich (MUC) were 50,000 points and $335.80 total for two people on December 22nd. 👇
Which is fine.
But I could get tickets for two for 24,000 points and $330 just one day later, flying out on December 23rd. 👇
Work a half day. Fly out that afternoon. Save 50% of your points. I beg you.
Bring your boss back some lebkuchen — that will inevitably get broken and crumbled in your suitcase — and ask forgiveness later. 🙏
And you can fly back the exact same way, though the fees will run you more when departing from Europe. 👇
Now we're down 48,000 points and $885 for our flights. Those surcharges really hurt.
Two nights in Munich
The Munich Christmas markets open in mid to late November and are scattered throughout the city. But the most well-known, Münchner Christkindlmarkt, is located at Marienplatz and opens on November 20th. 😊
When booking hotels, I wanted something walkable from both the main train station and the sites I was most interested in.
There are a few decent Marriott hotels right outside the train station, so I'd probably pick one of those, like this Le Méridien Munich. 👇
Personally, I'd opt to pay cash here because I have the room in the budget and I prefer to save my UR points for other redemptions.
From here, you can walk to the main market at Marienplatz, continue to the nativity market (known as Kripperlmarkt), and stroll to the historic Hofbräuhaus for a beer.
After two nights here, for a total of $523, I would then take a 1.5-hour train ride to Salzburg, Austria.
One night in Salzburg
Salzburg is known for being the birthplace of Mozart and is a popular tourist destination for lovers of The Sound of Music, as many scenes from the movie were filmed there.
It's also the location of my favorite Christmas market in Europe. (I obviously haven't been to all of them, but it's holding strong in first place until I experience a better one.)
The main market is located in the Old Town, in the plazas (Domplatz and Residenzplatz) around the historic cathedral.
The market itself feels intimate, but still offers almost a hundred stalls to explore, with more variety in vendors, homemade goods, and food options than some larger markets, in my opinion.
We wandered from the main market back to our hotel and stumbled upon a few smaller markets in different parts of Old Town, and we didn't even venture to Hellbrunn Palace or Hohensalzburg Fortress, that both have markets of their own.
Frankly, you could — and should — spend more than one night here.
But in this rushed itinerary, not everything can make the cut.
As for the stay itself, I went back and forth on my choices here.
Salzburg is a smaller city but still a very popular tourist destination. During the summer and peak Christmas market season, hotels book out pretty far in advance, and there aren't as many points options here as in other cities.
There is, however, a Holiday Inn, and while it's an option that I normally might not consider, IHG currently has a 70% transfer bonus.
This room prices at 27,000 points a night, but with the transfer bonus would be ~16,000 points for a night. 👇
It is, however, a more dated property and a 25-minute walk from the markets, the main point of interest for this trip.
There are a few Marriott properties in Salzburg as well, including the June Six, which is still about a 25-minute walk away, the very popular Sheraton Grand Salzburg, which didn't have any award night availability, and the Hotel Goldener Hirsch.
In the interest of a more walkable, upscale stay, the Hotel Goldener Hirsch, a Luxury Collection Hotel bookable with Marriott Bonvoy points, might be my preferred choice. 👇
The luxury hotel dates back to the 1400s, is widely reviewed to have excellent hospitality and customer service, and is just an 8-minute walk from the main market in Old Town.
At 87,000 points a night, it's the most expensive redemption for the whole trip but makes for a convenient stay while adding a little luxury and history to your time in Salzburg.
After Salzburg, it's time for one more train to Vienna, home to some of the best Christmas markets in Europe.
Three nights in Vienna
Imperial palaces and the beautiful city hall (or Rathaus) serve as impressive and gorgeous backdrops for Christmas markets in Vienna.
Beautifully illuminated, ornately decorated, and very popular.
In addition, the city of Vienna itself has enough museums and attractions to keep you busy for at least a week. For this trip we've saved just 3 days to explore the city and pop from market to market.
Going with what I know here, I'd stay at the Hyatt Regency Vienna. I stayed here a few years ago on Christmas Eve when it was an Andaz, and it was a great home base for our time there. 👇
Within walking distance of the train station and Belvedere Palace — now an art museum — and close to a stop on the public transit tram system.
Plus, the rooftop bar looks over the city and is a nice way to wind down with a cocktail if you're tired after hitting the markets all day.
Three nights here were running between 12,000 and 15,000 points a night and totaled 39,000 points for the dates at the end of my trip. 👇
I hoped to have plenty of points left to book a couple of nights at the Park Hyatt Vienna, but there wasn't award availability for the entire Viennese Christmas market season.
Once you're settled, time to head out and explore the city.
Vienna must-dos
Ice skate at the famous Viennese Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz, visit the art museum housed in Belvedere Palace, and take a tour of Schönbrunn Palace, with plenty of food options at the market out front after it opens.
Stop by St. Stephen's Cathedral for a market in the plaza and Weihnachtsdorf (The Christmas Village) at Maria-Theresien-Platz and keep an eye out for more markets around the city — though note that Belvedere Palace seems to have cancelled its usual market for 2026.
Catch a classical music concert, visit the Imperial Riding School, pick a museum — art, imperial treasury, preserved apartments of a former empress; you name it — Vienna truly has a ton to do.
And that's before we even get to the food faves Vienna is known for: coffeehouses, wiener schnitzel, sacher torte.
But since the markets are the focus of the trip, you could eat your way across Vienna with all the kartoffelpuffer, kaiserschmarrn, käsekrainer you can stand.
And a mug of gluhwein to wash it down.
The damage
Adding it all up:
Points: 48,000 (flights) + 16,000 (Salzburg) + 39,000 (Vienna) = 103,000
Or 174,000 with the bougie Salzburg option.
Cash: $885 (flights) + $523 (Munich) + ~$250 (trains and public transport) = $1,658
All doable with this one card (or this version, you'd just pay a few more points for the hotel in Vienna).
I'm actually well under budget and could easily add another night or consider paying more for hotels or flights if I wanted, after factoring in trains and public transportation, which should easily be under $250 for two.
What I'd actually do (if I wasn’t planning so last-minute)
Plan this trip a lot further in advance. You could snag better flights, and you'd likely use more of the budget.
Make it longer. And importantly, this should ideally be a longer trip. While Christmas market trips tend to bounce from place to place as you try to see all the markets, I think it would be more enjoyable if you could spend multiple nights in Munich and Salzburg, maybe detour to Lake Hallstatt or Linz, before ending the trip with a few days in Vienna. Or continue to Prague or Budapest for those Christmas markets.
Get a hotel card instead. Another thing I considered for this trip was getting this card and using Free Night Awards to cover my hotel stays in Munich and Salzburg. I don't usually like to use UR points for Marriott stays, as they go a lot further at Hyatt or for certain airline transfers, but I would definitely use Free Night Awards if I had them at my disposal. So, if you're looking for a hotel card to get you easy free nights, this card could be a better option.
What didn't make the cut: the Park Hyatt Vienna, the Sheraton Grand Salzburg, and much needed extra night(s).
The bottom line
Can two people eat their way through three European Christmas markets on 103,000 points and $1,658, using one card?
Yes. Just don't try to do it during Thanksgiving week.
