City break between Christmas and new year

[Strumpetpumpet]

Just looking for ideas really, preferably Europe and somewhere which doesn’t shut down during the holidays - we did Reykjavik at this time of year pre lockdown and had a ball but fancy somewhere different so wondered if anyone had any recommendations? Me D H and DC aged 18 and 17. We spent our week long summer hols in Helsinki and Tallinn (following recommendations on here) and had a fabulous time so i know you all have great ideas 😎 xx

Following with interest. We've only done London as a twixtmas break a few times. (Which is great as quite quiet). I would love to venture further afield.

I went to Amsterdam 26 to 30 Dec one year. Was lovely

Paris was great, as was Rome. We are hoping to do Reykjavik this year - would love recommendations @Strumpetpumpet

Rome
Venice
Amsterdam
Vienna
All fantastic in late December. In fact, go for Xmas - I live a European gallery visit on Christmas Day.

I think only in the UK does the country seem to shut down for an interminable time.

Amsterdam is buzzing at that time of year winterfestivalamsterdam.com

Copenhagen, especially Tivoli

Thank you all, lots of great ideas 😎 off for a Google x

We are going to Prague.

We did Madrid at that time and it was great: streets really buzzy in the evenings. Plus there’s the Prado which is awesome.

It’s a fabulous place, highly recommend the citywalk walking tour (we booked in advance) and the golden circle if the weather permits (we had a hire car with snow tyres) - we couldn’t get to the blue lagoon as the road was closed due to bad weather on the day we had booked, but they refunded us straight away and we had a much cheaper lovely swim in the pool round the corner from our accommodation (sundholl, but there are several others too in Reykjavik) xx

Thank you @Strumpetpumpet

I forgot that we went to Copenhagen too - best of all of them!

If being at home on Christmas Day is not a priority, how about going skiing? Because of the way Christmas and New Year fall this year, the week 24-31 Dec has some very reasonable prices - and Christmas in the snow is really magical even for older teenagers. Look at Crystal Ski or Inghams for that week in Austria to get an idea of what's available.

Malaga. The Christmas lights will still be up.
Rome is amazing.

Ooh Prague sounds lovely too. We can’t really be away for Christmas Day as we have my elderly mum, otherwise a ski trip might have been a good option but thank you for the suggestions xx

Budapest.

And we stayed in the Hilton in the old town which is a magical area at night. Cold, crisp, and beautifully lit.

It was several years ago but I think about it a lot!

Budapest is beautiful.

Copenhagen /Malmo
Vienna
Prague
Seville

Madrid?

The main Christmas celebration is January 6 so the Christmas market (which isn't at all like Germany, so food expectations should be severely tempered) is still open, along with the nativity scenes. Loads of good places to eat. Easy to get around on public transportation. Almost everything should be open, except on New Years Eve, when things close around 6pm. There are some world class museums, smaller more intimate museums like the Museo de Sorolla and Museo del Romanticismo.

We stayed at Lake Garda a few years ago & it was great.
Weather was dry & crisp rather than cold.
Venice & Verona are within easy reach

This is a very old thread but I thought I’d pop on thank you all for your recommendations and update that we are just back fro Prague - it was half the price to go before Christmas rather than next week so we changed our plans slightly and we had a fabulous time and were sad to come home. We stayed at the grandium hotel which was a brilliant location, in two interconnected rooms which was perfect for us. Thanks so much to everyone who replied xx

Lovely to have an update! Glad you had a good time OP.

Glad you have a great time!