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European vacation spot for December with older teens/young 20s?

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I'm looking for a place for our family to visit in Europe for Christmas through New Years. We are not interested in skiing. Most of us have been to Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Scotland, and Rome/Florence/Venice. Given that many places are closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years, we loose some days but would enjoy a nice resort with activities on those days. We would be open to Rome, but don't know what to combine it with since we don't want to do Florence/Venice again. 1) Any suggestions for other favorite post-Christmas European locations? 2) Any suggestions for other cities to combine with Rome? Thank you.

Posted by
3 posts

I can personally vouch for Copenhagen, though there are definitely some pros and cons to it. The biggest pro is that Christmas season is absolutely magical there. There are several adorable Christmas markets throughout the city, and in general the entire city is just very spirited for Christmas. The holiday speciality food (æbleskiver, canided walnuts, etc) is also sold all over the place and is absolutely delicious! The main con to going to Copenhagen at this time of the year is the weather and very short days. You will only have about 6 hours of daylight, and when it is light out it is dimmer than in areas further south (it almost seems as if there is a piece of paper covering the sun so it does not shine as bright). Additionally, a lot of places close a bit earlier there. However, there is a very fun amusement park in the middle of Copenhagen called Tivoli Gardens that I absolutely recommend for taking away the seasonal-affective disorder dulldrums. It is also open pretty late, so you can head there after other places have closed.

If weather is not a deal-breaker, I absolutely recommend Copenhagen. Be sure to check out all the castles and get a cinnamon roll while you're there!

Posted by
1565 posts

This is going to be a unusual year for tourism over the Christmas/New Years holidays due to 25 DEC and 1 JAN both falling on a Wednesday. Christmas markets are already showing a tendency to close on 22/23 DEC, 24 DEC is a holiday (or at best a half day) almost everywhere, 26 DEC is a holiday in most of Europe, and the 29th will be a Sunday, and Sylvester (New Years Eve) will be the following Tuesday. That's a lot of days with minimal services open at best.

My recommendation would be to pick a 4-5 star hotel near whatever city you decide to visit for New Years, as that's the most public celebration of the week. Zurich is usually good, or you could try Mainz and book a river cruise for New Years Eve. Or, not to far from the Rhine, the Steigenberger Hotel Bad Homburg would give you all the amenities and access to the spas. I have friends who have spent the holidays there.

Posted by
1959 posts

Kristen my family and I almost pulled the trigger on a January trip to Europe this year, but were invited to go skiing in Japan with friends, so we took that opportunity.

But our choice was going to be Sicily. We've lived in Seattle for more than 30 years, and so winter-in winter-out deal with the reality of cruddy wet cold weather. I have no interest in going to a northern European place in the winter that will likely be wetter and colder even. I have all the right clothes, and my attitude about going outside in bad weather is far better than most people's, but on vacation I don't want to psyche up for yet another wet dark cold day out, and I don't want to hide in the room too much.

So we were considering at Sicily. Sicily looks absolutely wonderful, super interesting, and it's likely that there will be tolerable pretty okay weather even in the depths of winter.

We also thought about off-season Greek Islands and Crete. They don't fully shut down and are pretty darn nice outside of the high season.

Have a great trip!!

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