first time poster long time watcher

james3035, welcome.

Best to ask the customer service at the tour office - there's a phone number around here somewhere. I'm not sure there are ever any tours that include Christmas Day. In fact, only a few that are in that season, if thats what you mean. Christmas markets are mentioned in some December tour itineraries. There are some City tours that do include New Years Eve.

I did a December tour involving cities that have Christmas markets. Although the Salzburg walking tour did move through the market area, any stopping/shopping at that point was (naturally) discouraged. There was free time in all the stops to do as you wished.

I think the only changes to the itinerary would be if a place is closed a particular day, though plans might be moved around to accommodate. This would all depend on the exact date of the particular tour.

Welcome to the forum!

I have noticed notes in the tour descriptions before about particular tours. For example, "Celebrate Bastille Day in Paris" or "Celebrate Easter in Rome" The tour planners are certainly aware of the holidays while planning, but I don't know if the itinerary changes a great deal unless a location is unavailable. That said, every day has free time built into it. I am sure you could plan your free time to take in any of the festivities during that holiday. The guides also have some leeway on the trips to make small changes that they feel will be of interest to the group.

Were you thinking about a specific tour?

I agree about the free time and the guides will certainly have recommendations on holiday specific venues. IF you are planning something like London over the Christmas period then I'd want to book some things ahead...like the wonderful Kew Gardens Christmas lights display.

I traveled in Sicily at Easter time. The itinerary wasn’t changed per se, but our guide did make a note of parades and processions, etc. that were taking place because of the holiday.

i was pretty much talking about any and all major hoildays

Hi Patricia. I remember that trip! Lunch in that little town was impacted as few places were open but Stephanie figured it out. The pre-Easter parades were great.
We accidentally ended up in Spain at Easter also. Our tour of the Sagrada Familia was moved to accommodate a church service in the morning. Not a big deal.
We have had minor impact from local festivals (bonus) and somewhat bigger crowds due to holidays like May Day or local holidays. The tours were minimally affected.

I’m doing the Rome in 7 days Tour December 20-26, 2022 and hope to go to Christmas Mass - having been raised by an Irish Catholic mom I know she’ll be smiling down from heaven at the thought of Christmas (or Eve) mass in Rome of all places!