Methods to ebook a vacation journey to Germany on factors and miles

After spending final Christmas in Europe, my husband and I made a decision to get a particular present for our moms this 12 months: a festive journey to Germany’s legendary Christmas markets. What higher strategy to spend high quality household time than by consuming our means by stall after stall of conventional German treats, like marzipan and stollen, whereas getting tipsy on sizzling gluhwein (mulled wine) beneath the glow of 1000’s of fairy lights?

(Simply kidding. It is unattainable to get tipsy on gluhwein as a result of it is served in tiny, cute boot-shaped mugs.)

Our moms, in fact, liked the concept. They stay throughout the nation and do not at all times get to see us over the vacations; plus, they do not get to journey fairly often, and one in all them has by no means even gone abroad.

However they’re each residing on tight budgets as they plan for retirement, and so they could not afford to spend every week or extra in European lodges throughout the peak vacation season — nor may we afford to pay for all 4 individuals. Fortunately, factors and miles saved us 1000’s of {dollars} on flights, lodging and transportation so we may share the magic of the German vacation season with two of our favourite individuals.

Airfare

If you happen to and your loved ones (or pals) stay shut collectively, reserving airfare with factors should not be too laborious — assuming you all gather the identical currencies, particularly ones that permit you to pool your factors and miles.

If you happen to and your family members are scattered across the nation, you have got a few choices. You would ebook separate flights and meet at your vacation spot, or have some individuals ebook a positioning flight to the others’ location so you may all journey collectively.

Our little household is unfold throughout three cities: My husband and I stay close to Denver Worldwide Airport (DEN), whereas our mothers stay close to the smaller Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) in North Carolina and Bradley Worldwide Airport (BDL) in Hartford, Connecticut.

We thought of having our mothers fly to Denver in order that we may all journey to Germany collectively, since DEN presents direct flights to a number of German cities. Nonetheless, many of the direct choices are on United Airways, and neither of our mothers had United MileagePlus miles accessible. My mother had entry to round half one million Delta SkyMiles (amassed over a long time of my dad flying Delta Air Traces for work), whereas my mother-in-law had round $1,000 in cash-back rewards on her Capital One Quicksilver Money Rewards Credit score Card.

Our mission? To seek out flights from three completely different airports, with three several types of rewards, that arrived in Germany on the identical day (and ideally across the similar time).

Finally, here is the place we — forgive the pun — landed:

• My husband and I used United miles (and Chase Final Rewards factors transferred to United) to ebook a United flight from DEN to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and a Lufthansa flight from Munich Airport (MUC) to DEN. Whole value: 80,000 miles (we saved 30% by having a United bank card, which supplies entry to award reductions) plus $196 per particular person.
• Utilizing my dad’s hoard of Delta miles, my mother splurged on Consolation+ seats for her flights from AVL to FRA and MUC to AVL, each of which join at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL). Whole value: 136,800 miles (she saved 15%* mechanically along with her Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Specific Card) plus roughly $152.
• My mother-in-law discovered Delta flights from BDL to FRA and MUC to BDL that additionally linked in Atlanta — permitting her and my mother to journey collectively on their transatlantic flights. Whole value: $1,449 for a fundamental cabin seat. She used her cash-back rewards to offset roughly $1,000 of the price, and we upgraded her to Consolation+ as our Christmas present.

Reserving flights from completely different airports with completely different rewards was difficult, however it helped that we began our search early (seven to eight months upfront) and saved our dates and vacation spot cities versatile.

Germany has a number of massive airports, providing a wide range of choices for flights. Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin are good locations to begin your search, however you may also contemplate Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart, which have direct flights to pick U.S. cities. And remember that many different European locations host fabulous vacation markets as effectively.

European Christmas markets sometimes open in mid-to-late November and stay open till late December, providing a large journey window. Simply remember the fact that most German Christmas markets shut for the season Dec. 23 or 24. We realized this too late, after reserving our flights between Christmas and New 12 months’s — however fortunately, as a result of we hadn’t booked fundamental economic system tickets, we have been capable of reschedule our flights without charge.

*Cardmembers save 15% when reserving Delta flights with miles by delta.com and the Fly Delta app.

Associated: Methods to fly to Europe utilizing factors and miles

Lodging

Though we thought of sharing a trip rental, my household opted to ebook a number of lodge rooms so that we might every have our personal area to retreat to after a protracted day of togetherness. This might in all probability value greater than a single Airbnb, however it was price it to us — in spite of everything, we wished to nonetheless love one another on the finish of the journey.

So, we looked for fairly priced lodges and used factors the place attainable to offset the price.

We’ll begin our nine-night journey with two nights on the just lately opened Kimpton Foremost Frankfurt, which I will be reviewing for TPG. My mother used the cash-back rewards from her U.S. Financial institution FlexPerks® Journey Rewards Visa Signature® Card to cowl her keep, whereas my mother-in-law paid money (524 euros whole, or about $607).

The knowledge for the U.S. Financial institution FlexPerks Journey Rewards Visa Signature Card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.

Subsequent, we’ll spend three nights on the Class 4 Hyatt Regency Cologne, the place fundamental rooms value 247 euros ($286) or 15,000 World of Hyatt factors on our dates. That comes out to an above-average worth of 1.9 cents per Hyatt level.

My mother had just lately added the Chase Sapphire Most well-liked® Card (see charges and costs) to her pockets, incomes a giant pile of Chase factors from the welcome bonus (and giving me 10,000 factors as a referral bonus). After I confirmed her how straightforward it’s to switch Chase factors, she arrange a World of Hyatt account and transferred 45,000 factors to ebook her keep.

I had accrued loads of Chase factors as effectively, so I used them to ebook my very own room and my mother-in-law’s. I used the annual free evening certificates from my World of Hyatt Credit score Card (see charges and costs) to cowl one evening and redeemed a mix of 75,000 Chase and Hyatt factors for the remaining.

Since Hyatt does not cost taxes or charges on award stays, we paid nothing out of pocket.

We’ll spherical out our journey with 4 nights in Munich. The capital of Bavaria has loads of factors lodges, however few are conveniently positioned across the central Christmas markets. We opted for an unbiased lodge referred to as Keep Kooook Munchen Metropolis, which supplied a central location, cheap charges and full kitchens. (I really like a lodge with a kitchen.)

Even higher, Keep Kooook was accessible on Capital One Journey, the place I can earn 10 miles per greenback spent with my Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card. I booked my room and my mother-in-law’s for $656 every, incomes over 13,000 miles within the course of. My mother booked her room on Resorts.com, and since she clicked by the Rakuten buying portal, she’ll earn some money again on the finish of her keep.

Exploring Christmas markets on factors is comparatively straightforward in bigger European cities, the place you may discover loads of factors lodge choices. Some lodge packages — together with IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt — allow you to switch factors to family and friends, permitting you to mix your rewards. However, if one in all you has all of the factors, you may often ebook stays for others with your personal factors.

Nonetheless, when you’d quite discover Christmas markets in smaller cities or keep at boutique properties, you may contemplate leveraging cash-back rewards to economize. You may also redeem factors by bank card journey portals to ebook unbiased lodges — or, when you pay with money, to earn bonus rewards on the acquisition.

Associated: I hardly ever keep at main lodge chains — here is how I maximize my reward journey anyway

Transportation

If you happen to’re hoping to hit a number of Christmas markets (and perhaps different sights), there are a number of methods to plan your itinerary. You would hire a automotive and discover the countryside, hitting markets in numerous cities alongside the way in which. Or you may base your self in a single large metropolis, which can have a number of markets to select from, and take day journeys to close by cities and points of interest.

For our journey, we determined to go to three cities and take Germany’s glorious practice system in between.

Since we solely wanted two long-distance practice tickets, it made sense to buy them a la carte from Deutsche Bahn’s web site (the place you may discover one of the best costs). Tickets are priced dynamically primarily based on components like time of day, practice station and demand, and it can save you important cash by shopping for your tickets upfront. We opted for direct itineraries, which value a bit of extra, however saved by selecting cheaper stations and departure instances. We paid roughly $150 per particular person in whole for our tickets, together with the senior reductions for our moms.

If you happen to’ll be touring by practice for not less than three days (consecutive or not), you might wish to contemplate a rail move, which begins at $265 per grownup for 3 nonconsecutive days in a month. You may examine a la carte practice ticket costs and rail move costs to find out which makes probably the most sense.

We additionally booked a rental automotive for someday in Munich as a result of I used to be decided to go to Neuschwanstein Fortress — the inspiration behind Disneyland’s Sleeping Magnificence Fortress — roughly a two-hour drive outdoors the town. We thought of reserving a full-day bus tour to the citadel, however the rental automotive was less expensive than 4 tickets, and we may decide it up very near our lodge. I booked the automotive for $163 by Capital One Journey with my Enterprise X’s journey credit score, so I did not need to pay a dime.

There are methods to ebook rental vehicles with factors and miles, and you may leverage cash-back journey rewards to cowl public transportation prices. Or, when you’d quite pay money, make sure to use the most effective playing cards for basic journey purchases.

One other (albeit costlier) choice is a Christmas market river cruise.

Associated: Greatest European routes the place you must take a practice as a substitute of a aircraft

Backside line

Touring together with your prolonged household — or a bunch of pals — could be uniquely rewarding, and factors and miles can assist make it occur.

For my husband and me, it was a strategy to share our love of journey with our moms, who could not have afforded this magical journey with out the assistance of factors and miles. And now that they’ve dipped their toes into the world of journey rewards (and discovered the worth of transferable factors), they’re excited to unlock future journeys.

All informed, the 4 of us saved round $8,000 with a mix of airline miles, lodge factors, free evening certificates and bank card rewards. Our nine-day journey to Germany throughout peak vacation season value a grand whole of $1,042 per particular person — leaving loads of room in our budgets for Christmas market snacks and souvenirs.

If you happen to want me, I will be on the gluhwein stall.