The most magical time of the year has a habit of transforming destinations around the world: cities get decked out in dazzling decorations, streets teem with local traditions and squares are taken over by pop-up festive markets.
That said, some destinations are great to visit at Christmas for precisely the opposite reason: because you might not even realise it’s Christmas at all. Who hasn’t sometimes wanted to hibernate in the sun until the madness is over?
And so, when considering the best destinations to visit at Christmas, we haven’t just included places with quirky traditions or an unmissable festive atmosphere - there's plenty of Scrooge-appropriate destinations on here too. Dive into our festive travel list below and you’re guaranteed to find somewhere great to spend the season.
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At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.