Most Christmassy place?

[Julynian]

Posting here rather than on the Travel board, because if you’re here in August you must love Christmas 😊

Where is the most Christmassy festive place you have been? I want to go somewhere in December, either a day trip, weekend or short break. I want it to be wonderfully festive, not just a Christmas market, it must be Christmas from beginning to end.

Not Lapland - done that several times already - but anywhere else at all.

We’re actually staying in Villars because there’s a better chance of snow in December but looking forward to the monsters market and taking the train up to see Santa in the snow

All over Germany. Frohe Weihnachten.

Came to say the same im doing 4 days in December in Germany, then off to venice for christmas.

I went to one, and they had medieval knights duelling with broad swords in the street.

Lubliana which I can’t spell is apparently quite magical according to dh,

Sydney at Christmas might be enjoyable. A barbie on Bondi Beach.

I think music is important to getting that Christmas feeling, so somewhere with a really good carol concert. Or go to see Andre Rieu or the nutcracker.

That would be the very opposite of what op is looking for

New York

Bruge was magical , literally covered in fairy lights .

Winchester is lovely , not huge but very festive . The downside is it is elbow room only which becomes tiresome

👍🏻😂

Friends, I have booked Salzburg! Four days in December. It looks wonderful and I can’t wait. There will definitely also be some day/evenings at national trust type places with light shows. And a lot of the other suggestions are going on a travel wish list for future.

You could combine some of these suggestions with a weekend in the Peak District - visit Castleton, Chatsworth house is always decorated beautifully at Christmas, there are some lovely places to eat & I know you don’t want a Christmas market but the one at Haddon Hall is great (not at all like some of the others.)

I have been to Sydney, only briefly as a stopover on my way somewhere else. Can’t imagine it at Christmas but would very much love to spend more time there. I never thought I could feel so much love for a bridge, but I spent literally hours gazing at that bridge as the sun set and the lights came on. Completely loved it!

Sounds amazing OP

Just seen your update - have a wonderful time x

Disneyland Paris was superb, we went over New Year and it blew me away. I love Christmas. Disney I've always been impartial and never got the hype. That break was one of the best things I've ever done. The parade is unreal.

For something extremely Christmassy and unique, go to the Valkenburg underground caves Christmas Market. Carousels, and traditional markets above ground, but underground is just stunning.

@MademoisellePraline were the crowds insane & was it freezing?

My home or Disneyland Paris , fantastic place at Christmas and we took our children the week before Christmas every year so it holds some brilliant memories for us .

No, it wasn't insane. It was naturally very busy, but not omg I can't breathe busy like some of the UK ones.

Actually yes the caves with their displays and stalls got colder the more you go in. They are sandstone caves, not something out of Jurassic park looking. I think I took a ski jacket and furry boots. Above ground not that freezing, but I remember all the cute little cafes etc having fur skins on their chairs for toasty bums 😁

@bobby81 Not that I don’t want a market, just that I have found from some previous trips that some places have a Christmas market and not much else. I want a whole Christmas experience 🤩 Salzburg looks quite magical just even to walk around the streets plus potential for other things to do.

Castleton looks so pretty! Someone at the top of the thread suggested it too. I am now thinking, a late autumn trip, stay in Castleton, a long walk somewhere in the Peak District, a day at Chatsworth House (Christmas from early November apparently!), with cosy pub dinners in Castleton in the evenings.

@MademoisellePraline thanks thinking about it for this year

They do a Christmas Market on two weekends in Dec in Oslo, its on their museum island in the folk museum so everyone is in costume, the houses are all old worlde and it's set across the whole place. It's Christmassy but also got a few differences which make it feel different too, with lots more craft type stalls and of course real snow as its Norway in winter. There's a bus to it but my husband and I walked there from town and the winter light was so glowy, people put big stars in their windows there at Xmas and the reflections in the water were stunning. There's another Market in the town centre too which is the usual type you see here, but the one at the folk museum is special.

You can get a metro a few stops out the city and be in the nordmarka, a pine forest which looks like a winter wonderland.

Chatsworth is unreal at Christmas