The Best Places to Visit in December: From Christmas Markets to Tropical Beaches
Estimated reading time: 15 mins
December is the month with a split personality, and I love it for that. Half the world is stringing up lights, mulling wine and praying for snow. The other half is slapping on sunscreen and heading to the beach. Your job is simply to pick a side.
I’ve done both. I’ve stood under the aurora in Lapland with frost on my eyelashes, and I’ve also spent a December day swimming in the Caribbean wondering why anyone bothers with winter at all. Both were brilliant. Both felt like completely different planets.
So this guide covers the best places to visit in December from both camps: the fairy-lit market squares of Europe, Santa’s actual hometown, and the big festive cities, plus the tropical escapes where December means dry season, warm seas and long, lazy evenings. Costs, timings, honest opinions, the lot.
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Best Places to Visit in December: Quick Facts
Best for festive magic: Rovaniemi, Vienna, Nuremberg and New York City
Best for winter sun: Phuket, the Maldives, Dubai, Cape Town and Sydney
Cheapest window: the first two weeks of December, before schools break up
Priciest window: roughly 20 December to New Year, pretty much everywhere
Christmas market season: most European markets run from late November to 23 or 24 December
Aurora odds: strong in Lapland and northern Scandinavia, with long dark nights on your side
Book by: September at the latest for anything touching Christmas week, earlier for Lapland
Tinker's Tip: The first two weeks of December are the sweet spot. Markets are open, decorations are up, flights and hotels haven't gone silly yet, and the crowds are a fraction of Christmas week. Same magic, smaller bill.
How to Choose Your December Trip
Before you start booking anything, ask yourself one question: do you want to lean into winter or escape it entirely? Everything else flows from that.
The lean-in camp gets snow, markets, mulled wine and that cosy glow you only get when it’s freezing outside. The escape camp gets dry-season beaches across Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, high summer in the southern hemisphere, and reliable desert sun in the Gulf. Neither is wrong. I flip between the two depending on how the year has treated me.
A few things worth weighing up:
- Daylight: Lapland gets a couple of hours of proper light in December. Cape Town gets about 14. That changes how a day feels more than the temperature does.
- Crowds: Christmas market weekends and the week between Christmas and New Year are the busy bits. Midweek in early December is calm almost everywhere.
- Budget: Long-haul beach trips over Christmas itself can double in price. Fly out in early December or early January and the numbers look far friendlier.
Here’s the whole month at a glance, so you can see the contrast in one place.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| Destination | December weather | The vibe | Budget feel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rovaniemi, Finland | -4 to -11°C, snowy | Santa, huskies, aurora | High |
| Vienna, Austria | 0 to 5°C, crisp | Imperial markets, concerts | Mid to high |
| Nuremberg, Germany | 0 to 4°C, cold | The classic Christkindlesmarkt | Mid |
| New York City, USA | 0 to 7°C, changeable | Big lights, big energy | Very high |
| Dubai, UAE | 25 to 27°C, dry and sunny | Beach plus desert glamour | Mid to high |
| Phuket, Thailand | Around 31°C, dry season | Beaches, islands, street food | Low to mid |
| The Maldives | 27 to 30°C, dry season begins | Lagoon life, pure switch-off | Mid to very high |
| Cape Town, South Africa | Around 26°C, high summer | Beaches, wine, Table Mountain | Low to mid |
| Sydney, Australia | 22 to 26°C, summer | Harbour, beaches, NYE fireworks | High |
Good to know: December is one of the few months where "cheap" and "expensive" can describe the same destination. The 5th and the 27th of December are different financial universes. Your dates matter more than your destination.
Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland: Santa's Actual Postcode
Let’s start with the big one. Rovaniemi sits right on the Arctic Circle and is the official hometown of Santa Claus, which sounds like a marketing line until you’re standing in Santa Claus Village watching grown adults get emotional. I was one of them. No regrets.
December here is deep winter done properly: reliable snow, temperatures between -4 and -11°C, husky sledding, reindeer farms, snowmobile safaris and, if the sky plays ball, the Northern Lights. Seeing the aurora ripple above the forest remains one of the best things I’ve ever witnessed while travelling, full stop. Our guide to where to find the Northern Lights covers the best viewing spots if aurora hunting is your main mission.
Two honest caveats. First, daylight is short, maybe a couple of usable hours around midday, so plan your big activities early and lean into the cosy darkness after. Second, Lapland in December is not a budget trip. Expect roughly €160 to €320 per person per day (£140 to £275 / $175 to $350) once activities are in the mix. Read our essential tips for visiting Finland before you go, because availability disappears fast in peak season. If you’d rather have the logistics handled, you can book a Rovaniemi aurora day tour via Viator and let someone else do the driving while you watch the sky.
Weather note: Cold in Lapland is a dry, still cold, which feels kinder than a damp British zero. But -11°C still bites. Proper insulated boots, thermals and mittens (not gloves) are the difference between magic and misery.
Vienna, Austria: Christmas with an Imperial Upgrade
Vienna doesn’t do Christmas by halves. The city hosts more than 20 official markets, and the whole thing feels like a costume drama someone forgot to end. The Rathausplatz market glows in front of the neo-Gothic City Hall, Schönbrunn Palace hosts stalls in its courtyard, and the smell of glühwein and roasted chestnuts follows you everywhere.
Most Viennese markets open in mid-November and run to 23 December, with a handful (Rathaus, Schönbrunn, Belvedere) trading through Christmas and a couple lasting into the New Year. That makes Vienna one of the few market cities that still works if you travel after the 25th.
What sets Vienna apart from the German markets is the indoor programme. This is the city of Mozart and Strauss, and December is packed with Christmas concerts, opera and the start of ball season warm-ups. Do a market by evening, a coffee house by afternoon, a concert by night. Repeat until your flight home. Our full Vienna travel guide has the coffee house picks and costs.
Must do: Glühwein at the Schönbrunn Palace market as the lights come on, around 4pm. Baroque palace, twinkling stalls, steam rising off your mug. It's the single most festive fifteen minutes Europe has to offer.
Nuremberg, Germany: The Original and Still the Best
Germany is my favourite country and I will happily die on this hill: Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt is the Christmas market. Around 180 red-and-white striped stalls fill the Hauptmarkt beneath the Frauenkirche, and the rules are gloriously strict. No plastic tat, no mass-produced imports, only traditional and locally made goods. The market opens with the Christkind reciting a prologue from the church balcony, a tradition that pulls thousands of spectators.
It runs on a simple evergreen rule: from the Friday before the first Advent Sunday until 2pm on Christmas Eve. So late November to 24 December, every year, no guesswork.
Eat the Nürnberger Rostbratwürste (three little sausages in a bun, protected by law, and rightly so), then a slab of proper lebkuchen, then tell yourself you’ll skip dinner and don’t. The wider city deserves a full day too, with the Imperial Castle, Dürer’s house and some heavyweight history at the Documentation Centre. Our Nuremberg travel guide covers the lot, and if you’re building a bigger festive route, our roundup of the best Christmas markets in Europe pairs Nuremberg with Munich, Cologne and friends.
Fact: Nuremberg's market was first recorded in 1628 but is thought to be older, and it now draws around 2 million visitors a season. Saturday afternoons are shoulder-to-shoulder, so go midweek or first thing in the morning.
Here's how the big festive cities compare, dates-wise, so you can plan a route without twelve browser tabs.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| City | Typical market season | Signature thing |
|---|---|---|
| Nuremberg | Friday before Advent to 24 Dec | Christkind opening, lebkuchen, no plastic allowed |
| Vienna | Mid-Nov to 23-26 Dec, some to Jan | Rathausplatz plus palace markets and concerts |
| Strasbourg | Late Nov to 24 Dec | The self-styled Capital of Christmas on the Grande Île |
| Prague | Late Nov into early Jan | Old Town Square markets that outlast Christmas |
| New York | Nov to Christmas Eve, Bryant Park longer | Holiday shops, skating rinks, the Rockefeller tree |
Recommended Tours from GetYourGuide
New York City, USA: The Festive Blockbuster
New York in December is a film set that lets you walk around in it. The Rockefeller Center tree with its Swarovski star, skaters gliding below, the Fifth Avenue window displays, Broadway in full holiday swing, Bryant Park’s Winter Village with its rink and holiday shops. It’s loud, it’s over the top, and it’s completely wonderful.
My advice from experience: build your days around neighbourhoods rather than sights. One day for Midtown and the classic hits, one for downtown and Brooklyn (Dumbo with the skyline twinkling across the river is quietly the best festive view in the city), one for museums and Central Park. Trying to do the tree, the windows and a show in a single evening is how people end up hating Midtown forever.
The honest bit: NYC in December is eye-wateringly expensive. Realistic mid-range budgets sit around $250 to $350 per person per day (£195 to £275 / €230 to €325) with hotels doing most of the damage. It’s worth it once. Maybe twice.
Money saver: Stay in Long Island City or downtown Brooklyn instead of Midtown. You'll save 30 to 40 percent on the room, and you're one subway stop from the action. The tree looks the same either way, I promise.
Dubai, UAE: Guaranteed Sun Without the Long-Haul Slog
Now we swap the bobble hat for sunglasses. December is arguably Dubai’s finest month: highs of 25 to 27°C, near-constant sunshine, cool evenings, and the entire city dressed up for the festive season in its own maximalist way. Christmas trees dripping in crystals, festive brunches, beach clubs playing carols. It’s surreal and quite good fun.
The real appeal is how much you can pack in. Morning on the beach, afternoon in the old souks or the Dubai Mall, evening desert safari with dinner under the stars. For travellers from Europe it’s a 6 to 7 hour flight with no jet lag worth mentioning, which makes it the easiest serious-sun option of the month.
Mid-range budgets land around AED 600 to 1,000 per person per day ($160 to $270 / £125 to £215 / €150 to €250). It can be done cheaper with metro travel and food courts, and it can be done for ten times that if a suite in a sail-shaped building calls to you.
Timing tip: The first half of December is noticeably cheaper and calmer in Dubai. From around the 20th, hotel rates climb hard toward New Year's Eve, when the fireworks push prices to their annual peak.
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Browse the shopPhuket and Thailand's Andaman Coast: Dry Season Perfection
December kicks off Thailand’s cool, dry season, and the Andaman coast (Phuket, Krabi, Ko Phi Phi, Khao Lak) is where the weather behaves best. Expect around 31°C, roughly eight hours of sunshine a day, calm seas for island hopping and that golden late-afternoon light that makes every photo look staged.
I visited Thailand in high season and finally understood the fuss. Perfect weather, night markets buzzing, longtail boats everywhere, and food so good and so cheap you start planning your next meal during the current one. Beyond the beaches there’s snorkelling around the Similan Islands (which only open in the dry season), Old Phuket Town’s shophouse streets, and easy boat trips to Phang Nga Bay.
The value is the quiet superpower here. Even in peak season, a comfortable mid-range day costs around $50 to $90 per person (£40 to £70 / €45 to €85), and budget travellers can go far lower. Just don’t confuse coasts, which brings me to the warning below. And wherever you land, staying connected is cheap and painless if you grab an Airalo eSIM before you fly rather than hunting for a SIM stand at midnight in arrivals.
Watch out: December is not the month for Ko Samui and the Gulf coast, which can still be in their wet season. Stick to the Andaman side (Phuket, Krabi, Phi Phi) for the reliable sunshine you flew all that way for.
The Maldives: The Ultimate December Switch-Off
If your December fantasy involves an overwater villa, a lagoon the colour of mouthwash and absolutely no plans whatsoever, this is it. December marks the start of the Maldives’ dry season, with temperatures of 27 to 30°C, clear skies and superb visibility for snorkelling and diving. Manta rays, reef sharks, turtles. The underwater show alone justifies the flight.
The bit most people don’t realise: the Maldives no longer has to be a lottery-win trip. Local island guesthouses on islands like Maafushi and Dhigurah offer rooms from around $60 to $120 a night (£47 to £95 / €55 to €110), with day trips out to sandbanks and reefs. Resorts, meanwhile, run from roughly $400 a night to numbers I refuse to type. Both versions get the same ocean.
One planning quirk: everything is boats and seaplanes here, so your resort or guesthouse transfer needs booking with your room, not as an afterthought. You can compare December stays on Booking.com across both resort islands and guesthouse islands to see which version of paradise fits your budget.
Reality check: Christmas and New Year in the Maldives come with mandatory gala dinner charges at many resorts, sometimes $150 to $400 per person on top of your room. Check the small print before you book the festive week, or travel in early December and skip the surcharge entirely.
Cape Town, South Africa: High Summer with a Side of Everything
December in Cape Town is peak summer: around 26°C, roughly 11 hours of daylight, and a city in full outdoor mode. Beaches at Camps Bay and Clifton, sundowners with Table Mountain glowing pink behind you, the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek winelands humming with tastings, penguins waddling about at Boulders Beach. Few places on earth pack this much variety into one trip.
It’s also one of the best-value big trips of the month. Once you’ve swallowed the long-haul flight, daily costs are gentle: think $70 to $130 per person per day (£55 to £100 / €65 to €120) for genuinely nice accommodation, excellent restaurants and wine that costs less than the water back home. World-class food at pub prices, basically.
December is also when Capetonians themselves are on holiday, so the city has a proper festive buzz. Book the Table Mountain cablecar and any big-name restaurants ahead, and keep a flexible morning spare, because the mountain closes when the wind gets bolshy.
Quick win: Do Table Mountain on your first clear morning, not your last day. The weather decides when the mountain is open, not your itinerary, and first-morning bookings mean you can rebook if the cablecar closes.
Sydney, Australia: Christmas in Swimwear
Christmas Day on Bondi Beach is one of travel’s great plot twists. Santa hats and surfboards, barbecues instead of roast dinners, carols by candlelight in shirt sleeves. December in Sydney means 22 to 26°C, long summer evenings, harbour swims and the slow national wind-down toward the beach that Australia does better than anyone.
Then there’s the main event. Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks over the Harbour Bridge and Opera House are the most famous on the planet, and the city knows it. Vantage points fill from early morning, paid viewing spots sell out months ahead, and accommodation for the last week of December is the most expensive of the year. If NYE is your reason for going, book everything absurdly early and consider it money well spent. Once in a lifetime genuinely applies here.
Outside the fireworks frenzy, budget around A$200 to A$330 per person per day (£105 to £170 / €120 to €200 / $130 to $215) for a comfortable trip. Coastal walks like Bondi to Coogee are free and frankly better than most paid attractions anywhere.
Check this first: December is Australia's peak domestic holiday season, so internal flights and east coast accommodation sell out early. Lock in Sydney before you plan the rest of the route, not after.
December Costs Compared: What You'll Actually Spend
Numbers time. These are realistic mid-range daily budgets per person, covering accommodation, food, local transport and a paid activity most days. Flights are extra, and Christmas week pushes everything up. Prices correct as of 2026.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| Destination | Daily budget (per person) | Value verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Phuket, Thailand | $50-90 (£40-70 / €45-85) | Best value sun of the month |
| Cape Town, South Africa | $70-130 (£55-100 / €65-120) | Luxury feel, sensible bill |
| Nuremberg, Germany | €130-180 (£110-155 / $140-195) | Festive Europe without capital-city prices |
| Vienna, Austria | €150-200 (£130-170 / $160-215) | Pricey but earns it |
| Dubai, UAE | $160-270 (£125-215 / €150-250) | Mid-range possible, splurge tempting |
| Sydney, Australia | A$200-330 (£105-170 / €120-200 / $130-215) | Fair, until NYE week |
| Rovaniemi, Finland | €160-320 (£140-275 / $175-350) | Expensive, unforgettable |
| The Maldives | $120 guesthouse to $500+ resort (£95-395+ / €110-465+) | Two trips in one destination |
| New York City, USA | $250-350 (£195-275 / €230-325) | Brutal, worth it once |
A few booking rules I've learned the hard way:
- Christmas week is its own market. Anything from 20 December to 2 January needs booking months ahead, ideally by September.
- Lapland sells out first. Family-friendly dates in Rovaniemi can be gone by summer.
- Winter travel means disruption risk. Snow, storms and packed airports make December the month where cover earns its keep, so sort your travel insurance with VisitorsCoverage when you book, not the night before you fly.
Small print: Budgets above assume two people sharing mid-range accommodation. Solo travellers should add 20 to 30 percent, mainly for the room. Festive-week supplements, gala dinners and NYE events are all extra.
So, Where Should You Go This December?
Honest answer? Pick the version of December you’re craving, then commit fully. Half-hearted December trips are the ones that disappoint.
If you want the full festive fantasy, it’s Nuremberg or Vienna for markets, Rovaniemi for snow and Santa, New York for spectacle. If you want out of winter entirely, Phuket and Cape Town give you the best sunshine per pound, the Maldives gives you the deepest switch-off, Dubai gives you the easiest sun, and Sydney gives you Christmas turned completely upside down.
And if you’re still torn, do what I do: markets in early December, beach in January. The best places to visit in December don’t all have to be visited in the same December.
For more month-by-month ideas, head to our inspiration hub, browse our full guide to the best places to travel at Christmas, or start comparing festive city breaks with our Christmas markets and light shows guide. Happy planning, and happy December.
Adventure on,
The Travel Tinker Crew 🌍✨
FAQs
Where is hot in December?
The most reliable heat is in Southeast Asia (Phuket and the Andaman coast at around 31°C), the Indian Ocean (the Maldives at 27 to 30°C), Dubai at 25 to 27°C, and the southern hemisphere summer in Cape Town and Sydney. The Canary Islands offer the closest mild option for Europeans, around 20 to 22°C.
When do European Christmas markets open and close?
Most open in the second half of November and close on 23 or 24 December. Nuremberg runs from the Friday before the first Advent Sunday to 2pm on Christmas Eve. A few, including some Vienna markets and Prague’s Old Town Square, continue into early January.
Is December an expensive month to travel?
It’s two months in one. The first two weeks are often shoulder-season value, especially for city breaks. From around 20 December to New Year, prices peak almost everywhere, with long-haul beach destinations and NYC hit hardest. Travel early in the month and December can be surprisingly affordable.
Where can I see the Northern Lights in December?
Finnish and Swedish Lapland, Tromsø in Norway and Iceland all offer strong December odds thanks to long, dark nights. Give yourself at least three or four nights to allow for cloud cover, and get away from town lights for the best show.
Which December destination is best for families?
Rovaniemi is the obvious winner for younger kids, because meeting Santa in actual Lapland is hard to top. For sun, Phuket and Dubai both combine easy beaches with plenty of activities, and Cape Town adds penguins, which in my experience outrank most theme parks.
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Nick Harvey
Hi, I am Nick! Thank you for reading! The Travel Tinker is a resource designed to help you navigate the beauty of travel! Tinkering your plans as you browse!
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