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Salzburg, Austria
WHY: "Silent Night" was written just down the road. Add snow sifting on Baroque angels, carriages with jingling bells, and lots of Lebkuchen (spiced honey cookies), and you'll feel as if you're walking in a Christmas card.
WHERE TO STAY: Hotel Goldener Hirsch (37 Getreidegasse; 43-662/8084; www.goldenerhirsch.com; doubles from $570) has atmosphere (red and green loden—jacketed staff, eiderdowns on the beds), as well as up-to-date comforts (lavish marble baths).
CHRISTMAS DINNER: At Hotel Schloss Mönchstein (26 Mönchsberg Park; 43-662/848-5550; www.monchstein.at), high above the town, there's a full-dress dinner with carols sung by a children's choir, mass in the hotel's own chapel—and views from mountaintop to mountaintop.
HOW YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA: Take the Sound of Music bus tour: Dance in that gazebo! Enumerate your favorite things! (Salzburg Panorama Tours, 43-662/883-2110.)
MUST-HAVE SOUVENIR: Skip the red dirndl and opt for street vendors' clever marionettes.
WHAT YOU THINK YOUR CHILDREN WILL ENJOY, BUT THEY WON'T: The Salzburg Marionette Theater. Uncut. German. Opera.
WHAT YOU THINK YOUR CHILDREN WON'T ENJOY, BUT THEY WILL: Midnight mass at Peterskirche with choirs of painted angels and, afterward, a night walk to the sound of church bells.
TO STUFF THOSE STOCKINGS: Comb the Christmas Market, in the Domplatz, for carved baby angels, spun-glass birds, and walnut shells with tiny mice nestled inside.
TO STUFF THOSE FACES: Head for cafés like Tomaselli (9 Alter Markt, 43-662/844-488)—nearly 300 years' practice serving the best poppyseed strudel and hot chocolate heaped with frothy cream.
FUN FOR FREE: Listen to a brass choir (5:30 Christmas Eve, by the Mönchsberg), and go to Franziskanerkirche (Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse) at 10 p.m. to hear the mass written by Franz Gruber, in which the original "Silent Night" is played.
—Catherine Calvert
