Thanksgiving Week Destinations

Not knowing where you have been or what you want to do, I would suggest Paris

We do the same except our sons put a two hour flying limited on our destinations. So the circle around Denver and SF is pretty tight. We are looking into Mexico this year. Will be interesting to see your responses.

Italy. Still decent weather in Rome at the end of November.

We have traveled as a family to London and Amsterdam previously. My husband I have traveled much more extensively in Europe but almost all of it in summer. Flying from Denver.

I was wondering about Rome, so thanks for that suggestion. My 16 yr old is particularly smitten with Italy

When I worked for the airlines, I use to travel to Europe the day before or on Thanksgiving Day which were my favorite trips. I would start out in the Piedmont region of IT before moving on. Places I stayed were: Florence, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Krakow (it was cold), Prague (dress warm), Berlin, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Budapest, Munich (it was cold there too), Salzburg (really cold), Paris, London and Edinburgh. What I loved is that there were no crowds, no museum lines and I was able to enjoy the company of locals.
After working for the airlines, I began traveling during peak season when the crowds were over whelming making you want to move on instead of hanging around. Aim for big cities so you can enjoy the opera, theatre, museums and exploring on your own. I dream of doing this again.

Italy or Spain

I think it is a great time of year if your interested in the Xmas Markets and the symphonies. We had to cancel last years trip but we have our tickets for this year. The markets make up for the lack of sun with it's beautiful lighting and the different Christmas booths. We're there for 33 days starting in Budapest and ending in Cologne. This will be our third trip for the markets, can't wait for the Glühwein.

Excellent suggestions. Thanks for the variety MaryPat.

TravelLady -or others- is there an online resource to see locations/dates for the Christmas Markets?

I see two directions you could go
-focus on places with great indoor sights and activities. Theater, museums, restaurants. The weather won’t matter so much. I’m thinking London or Paris. Vienna or Madrid maybe.

-find warmer places. Lisbon or southern Spain maybe.

-or the best suggestion, go to Rome for both! It’s not too cold usually but if it is there are museums and churches galore.

online resource to see locations/dates for the Christmas Markets

Here's a few I looked at:

https://christmasmarketsineurope.com/category/german-christmas-markets
https://happytowander.com/the-best-christmas-markets-in-germany
https://www.eurocheapo.com/blog/germany-christmas-markets-bavaria.html

They start up usually end of November and run through a few days before Christmas (some ay start earlier, some may end later) ... there are so many good ones all around Germany alone with some cities (Cologne and Dusseldorf to name a few) having as many as 7 different markets ... and if you get your fill of gluhwein, there are sights you can visit in those cities ... you can stay within a region like Bavaria or North Rhine - Westphalia and easily see 7-10 markets which will save travel time ... I've had a trip planned and ready since 2020 but of course we couldn't go (thanks a lot Covid), hoping we can go this year ... 12 markets (and the ChocolART festival in Tübingen) in 8 days ... I am soooo ready.

Just wanted to come back to share the family gathered Mother's Day weekend and settled on Barcelona this year! We have reserved a beautiful VRBO and have tickets booked. Thanks for all the great suggestions. I will reference them for future years.

They start up usually end of November

They usually start on Advent Sunday, which is the 27th this year.