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Last year we embarked upon a magical adventure to visit Christmas markets across Europe. And let me just say…it exceeded our expectations. 🤩

The markets lights at night were spectacular, the food was incredible, and we paid just a fraction of the actual cash cost. What more could you ask for?

Here’s a breakdown of what I booked, how I booked it, and how you can plan a trip like this too!

The Itinerary

I knew we wanted to visit at least 2 new countries on this trip, and one of them HAD to be Germany. Their Christmas markets are legendary. So I let some of my flight options dictate what country we flew into since we were flexible on our plans and we didn’t have a preference on what city we visited.

Our plan:

🇳🇱 Stopover in Amsterdam

🇧🇪 2 nights in Brussels

🇩🇪 2 nights in Cologne

🇩🇪 3 nights in Frankfurt

We also made a day trip to Heidelberg during our nights in Frankfurt, and (spoiler alert) it was our favorite!

Outbound Flight

For our outbound flight, we booked KLM business class through a partner airline: Virgin Atlantic. We booked this way because not only was the price better on Virgin Atlantic, but they also had the exact date we wanted that wasn't available on the KLM site! Win-win. 👏🏻

✈️Our route: ORD - AMS - BRU

🎟️What I paid: 97,000 miles and $605 in taxes

💰Cash rate: $11,814

I transferred these points to Virgin Atlantic from Capital One, and as you can see, it was a fantastic value for my points!

Return Flight

One of my goals for this trip was to finally book Singapore Business class, and the easiest way to do this was by booking their 5th freedom route between Frankfurt and New York City. And I was able to make it happen!

I booked Singapore business class through a partner airline: Air Canada Aeroplan. We saved over 20,000 points per person by booking through a partner instead of booking direct!

✈️Our route: FRA - JFK

🎟️What I paid: 120,000 miles and $375 in taxes

💰Cash rate: $5,570

I transferred American Express Membership Rewards points to Air Canada Aeroplan for this booking.

Hotels

We booked three different hotels for our seven night trip across Europe. I booked a mix of Marriott and Hyatt hotels since I had a good stash of Marriott points is wanted to use up!

The Dominican (Brussels), Lindner Hotel Cologne Am Dom (Cologne), Lume Boutique Hotel (Frankfurt)

In Brussels, we stayed at The Dominican, which is a Marriott property.

We paid 73,000 points and $9 in taxes for 2 nights in this room. A total savings of $540.

In Cologne, we stayed at the Lindner Hotel Cologne Am Dom, which is a Hyatt property.

We paid 16,000 points for 2 nights in this room. A total savings of $450.

And for our last city, Frankfurt, we stayed at the Lume Boutique Hotel, which is a Marriott property.

We paid 87,000 points and used 1 free night award. A total savings of $852.

Positioning Flights

Since we don’t live anywhere near Chicago (our departure city) or New York (our arrival city), we booked positioning flights!

👉🏻My go-to for positioning flights is usually Southwest, unless I’m flying into JFK since there is no direct Southwest flight from JFK to Phoenix. For this trip I ended up booking positioning flights on American Airlines for both routes.

✈️ Our route: PHX - ORD

🎟️What I paid: 22,000 miles and $11.20 in taxes (booked through American)

💰Cash rate: $337

For our way home, I booked this American Airlines flight through a partner: Qatar Airways.

✈️ Our route: JFK - PHX

🎟️ What I paid: 32,000 miles and $22.20 in taxes

💰 Cash rate: $347

Train Travel

Getting around Europe by train is so easy, so we opted to take a train between each city we were visiting! We made sure to book our tickets ahead of time and we booked them through trainline.com.

We booked two tickets for our route from Belgium to Cologne, and two tickets from Cologne to Frankfurt. In total we paid $281.

Wrapping Up

Are you ready for the final numbers?! 🌟

Points total: 447,000

Cash rate: $20,191

Total I paid: $1,315

That’s a savings of almost $19,000. WILD. And still one of my favorite trips we’ve ever booked!

If you’re ready to start planning a trip like this, I highly recommend starting with flexible point cards. That gives you so many options and flexibly in your travel planning!

Side note: I cannot say thank you enough for using my links to apply! I earn a commission for those applications at no cost to you, and it helps keep all the free resources and support coming! 🩷

EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

How I Planned a 7-Day Luxury European Christmas Market Trip for Just $1,315