Luxury Christmas Travel & Unforgettable Experiences

Christmas markets in cathedral squares, grand hotels that do the whole production for you, guaranteed snow, or a warm escape — the luxury map for a December done beautifully.

There are two ways to do Christmas travel in style. The first is to go where Christmas is done biggest — the markets, the lights, the grand hotels dressed to the rafters. The second is to hand the whole production to professionals: a hotel that hangs your stockings, serves the dinner, and clears it all away while you watch a Christmas movie by a fire you didn't build. Both are wonderful. Here's the honest map.

The Grand Christmas Markets of Europe

Vienna, Strasbourg, Cologne, Prague, and Budapest run the definitive markets — centuries old, in cathedral squares, with mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, and crafts worth the suitcase space. Stay in the old town, go on weekday mornings before the tour groups, and treat the market as grazing, not shopping: the best stalls feed you. Book the good hotels by early autumn; December weekends in these cities are a seller's market.

The Great-Hotel Christmas

Legendary city hotels — Claridge's in London with its famous artist-designed tree, the grand hotels of Paris and New York — treat Christmas as their showcase season: carol singers in the lobby, set-piece afternoon teas, Christmas Day lunch with all the ceremony and none of the washing up. Country-house hotels in Britain and grand lodges in the American mountains do the residential version: arrive on the 23rd, leave on the 27th, celebrate everything in between. These packages sell out earliest of all — regulars rebook for next year at checkout.

Snow, Guaranteed

If a white Christmas is the point, altitude is the answer: Alpine resorts in Austria and Switzerland, Lapland in Finland for the full Santa pilgrimage (book a year out for the premium cabins with glass roofs for the aurora), or the high Rockies and Quebec in North America — Old Quebec City in December is the closest thing to a European Christmas market town on the continent, with better poutine.

The Warm Escape

Luxury also means permission to skip the cold: a Caribbean resort's Christmas week, a desert spa, Sydney's midsummer Christmas. The top resorts decorate, feast, and carol regardless of latitude, and a Christmas morning swim is its own tradition. Half the pleasure is the contrast — and the photos.

Experiences to Book Anywhere

Not traveling? The home-city luxury list is rich: premium seats for The Nutcracker or a beloved Christmas production, a private chef for Christmas Eve, a chauffeured lights tour of your city's best streets, a string quartet for your own party. These are also the strongest gifts in our luxury guide — because nobody has ever returned an unforgettable evening. Book performance tickets the day the season is announced; the best December dates go first.

What to Book First, In Order

Luxury Christmas trips fail in the booking order, not the destination — the right pieces sell out in the wrong sequence. Book the hotel first (grand properties release their Christmas inventory earliest and the best rooms go to the earliest bookers), then the impossible table: Christmas Eve dinner and any chef's-counter experiences, which in serious restaurants open months ahead and vanish. Third, the private elements — guides, drivers, market tours, after-hours museum access — because the best local operators take one group a day. Flights come fourth, not first; premium cabins on Christmas routes hold their prices far longer than the experiences do.

One last piece of sequencing wisdom: arrive by December 22 at the latest. The 23rd is a travel day of maximum chaos and minimum charm everywhere on earth, and a luxury trip should never begin with an airport ordeal. Arrive early, wake up in the beautiful place on the 23rd with nothing to do but wander into the market for the first glühwein of the trip — that morning alone justifies the entire budget.

Shop This Article

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — thank you for supporting the site.