Winter city breaks: Prague, Vienna and Paris are not the same advice

The part where all three agree

January, February and November are marked low season in all three destinations. Not similar — identical. The same three months in Prague, in Vienna and in Paris.

That is also the whole of what they have in common, which is exactly why "winter city break" is a misleading phrase: it sounds like one piece of advice and it is three.

December is the tie-breaker

In Prague, December is marked peak season — in the same list as July and August. In Paris it is marked peak too, explicitly because of the holidays.

In Vienna, December is not on the peak list at all. More than that: Vienna's own recommendation names December, for the Christmas markets.

So the same month is the busiest and dearest in two of the three, and the recommended one in the third. Booking all three on one instinct gets two of them wrong.

And what each city recommends for itself

Paris is the only one whose own recommendation is winter itself: November to February. In Paris, the low months and the recommended months are the same months.

Vienna recommends December, or April and May — one edge of winter, or spring.

And Prague, probably the city most people picture when they think "European city in winter", recommends March and April. Prague's recommendation is not winter. Cold, beautiful, no crowds, low prices — but early spring, not January.

That inversion is the thing worth taking away: the city that looks the most wintry is the one whose data sends you to spring, and the one that sounds the least so is the one that recommends winter.

In winter the airport transfer counts for more

In summer you can afford to land and improvise. In January, when it is dark by four and the case is heavy, that leg is part of the holiday rather than something before it.

Prague: bus 119 to the metro, about 35 minutes, 40 CZK. A taxi or Bolt runs roughly 250-350 CZK. A 24-hour city transport ticket is 120 CZK.

Vienna: the CAT in sixteen minutes for €12, or the S-Bahn along the same route in twenty-five for €4.30. A taxi is €40-50. Transport passes run €8 for 24 hours, €14.10 for 48 and €17.10 for 72.

Paris: the RER B in about 35 minutes for €11.80, a taxi €50-70, and €35-45 from Orly. A one-day Navigo is €8.65 and covers the airport.

These are the published local fares and they change. What does not change is the order of magnitude, and that is the number to have in mind when two flights look the same.

Winter is a season for things with a roof

In Vienna that is close to a definition of the city. The Kunsthistorisches Museum is €21. The opera sells standing tickets for €10 on the day of the performance. And a Viennese cafe is not a cafe — you may sit for hours over one cup and nobody is counting. In a cold city that is worth more than it sounds.

In Paris the Louvre is €17, and free on the first Friday of the month after six in the evening. For the Eiffel Tower, book two to three weeks ahead; without that it is a queue of two hours or more, and in winter that is a queue outdoors.

In Prague, Charles Bridge at sunrise is very nearly a different city: by midday it is tens of thousands of people. Winter sunrises are late, which makes this the one thing here that is easier to do in January than in July.

And where to sleep

Prague: Žižkov and Nusle at the cheaper end, Vinohrady and Holešovice in the middle, Malá Strana and the Old Town at the top. Vinohrady is quiet and residential, fifteen minutes by metro from the centre and far less touristed than the Old Town.

Vienna: Margareten and Favoriten cheaper, Neubau and Mariahilf in the middle, the Innere Stadt at the top. Neubau is full of galleries and restaurants and is close to everything.

Paris: Belleville and Nation cheaper, Montmartre, the Marais and Oberkampf in the middle, Saint-Germain and Trocadéro at the top. The Marais is lively and central at a moderate price; Saint-Germain is beautiful and considerably dearer.