Short break before Christmas ideas?

[PhantomErik]

Hi we’re hoping to have a short holiday 20th - 23rd December but can’t figure out what to go for & would be really grateful for suggestions or ideas.

Budget £2-3k for travel & accommodation. There’s 5 of us, DC are 16,15 & 13 and we are in Cornwall so airports would be Newquay, Exeter or Bristol although doesn’t have to be abroad.

I was looking at Lapland but couldn’t find availability also not sure how much cold weather gear we’d need to buy & for such a short trip not sure if it would be worth it although we’d love to go.

I looked to see if I could find an indoor theme park in Europe (not water park as DD16 isn’t keen) but again no luck.

We haven’t had the means for holidays until recently so I’d like to do some while the DC still want to (& they really do!)

Something with activities, experiences, fun or just different would be great.

If you want to go to mainland Europe (I live here) maybe skip the theme park and go for Christmas markets. Some have fair rides. Many have ice skating.
Wiesbaden has a good Christmas market and ice skating at a palace. https://wiesbaden-on-ice.de
Then travel on (half an hour by train) to Rudesheim, which is a wine town with pretty houses and an atmospheric Christmas Market. If you want to stay in one place this may be a good bet. https://www.ruedesheimer-weihnachtsmarkt.de There are cable cars over the vineyards. Not sure if they run in winter though.
From Rudesheim day river cruises run on the Rhine castle route. If they are not going (flooding, icing) there are still trains. https://www.k-d.com/en/product/winterfahrplan-mittelrhein/

For this I would fly to Frankfurt or Bonn. Not Frankfurt Hahn. Or take the sleeper train up from Cornwall (if you can travel the night before so it doesn’t cut into the travel days) then the Eurostar and connect to the ICE train. Look for advance first class deals.

Amsterdam is always great. There is a light festival. A crazy swing on a sky scraper overlooking the city. Just a fun city for teens.

Copenhagen awesome and there is the Tivoli Gardens theme park in the city.

Can you get flights to Billund? I’d recommend staying at Lalandia (there’s more to it than just a waterpark and it’s magical at Christmas) and taking a visit to the Lego house.

Just had an alert from Holiday Pirates for a 4 night stay in Lanzarote in Dec. It was to a stunning hotel (Arrecife Grand) which is on the beach but also has an amazing spa complex. It was half board (I have eaten there before and food was wonderful) - with flights was £325 a person which is unbelievable.

There are incredible day trips to do (it’s the centre of the island - so no where is very far) - to active volcano landscapes, Cesar Manrique art and architecture, vineyards, boat trips, horse riding, submarine trip, - or you could just stay local and rest up pottering around the old historic part of Arrecife.

Some winter sun and time on the beach is a really refreshing tonic in December.

https://www.holidaypirates.com/packages/Arrecife-Gran-Hotel-and-Spa-Lanzarote-Canary-Islands

How about Copenhagen? Tivoli might suit the teens if they like rides.

City breaks in Amsterdam and Berlin have been winners for us in winter. So much to do and cool markets, shops, art and food in both. No where near as expensive as the Scandinavia options in December.

We are going to Lublijana next month with a day trip to Lake Bled and another to some caves! Not too expensive. We’ve done Copenhagen/Tivoli in winter which was fab but expensive. Vienna and Munich too in recent years. Reykjavik was another fave this time of year but also expensive.

We are going to Lapland on those dates. I think Ryanair recently launched Bristol flights to Rovaniemi?

Winter Efteling is meant to be great. Or there’s an indoor spa/water park near Bucharest that I’ve seen online but not been myself.

These are all brilliant ideas, thank you so much!

Copenhagen would be brilliant. Tivoli especially at that time of year.