I have always spent Christmas with family, but I often hear from others who opt to travel for the holiday and do their own thing. So I started to think about where I would travel if my family decided to stray from our traditional Christmas celebration.
Here’s my short bucket list of Christmas destinations:
© Chon Kit Leong
North Pole, Alaska
My husband has made me watch countless Alaska shows, so why not see it in person? The town of North Pole is about a 20-minute drive from Fairbanks and is home to the Santa Claus House.
Crystal Serenity luxury cruise ship — Photo 105497737 © Pressfoto – Dreamstime.com
Christmas Cruise
Cruise lines offer a great selection of Christmas destinations with different festive offerings. Norwegian Cruise Line offers a Hawai’ian holiday cruise aboard the Pride of America. Princess Cruises’ December sailings feature a daily snowfall of fake flurries in the atrium, and staterooms have virtual Yule logs. Cunard offers gingerbread village décor, eggnog in lounges and afternoon tea with stollen and European Christmas cakes. AmaWaterways offers Christmas-themed sailings with stops at iconic markets in France, Austria, Germany and Hungary. Royal Caribbean guests can attend an ugly sweater party and gingerbread decorating classes and watch classic holiday movies poolside.
Christmas Market (Christkindlesmarkt) — Photo 64364778 © Photopassjonata – Dreamstime.com
German Christmas Markets
Town squares all over Germany turn into Christmas wonderlands in the month of December. Decorated huts offer handcrafted goods and delicious food. The only problem would be deciding which ones to visit!
Photo 47876878 © Erix2005 – Dreamstime.com
Lapland, Finland
Rovaniemi is known as the official hometown of Santa Claus and is famous for its reindeer. Every year in December it hosts several reindeer races.
So although I won’t travel this Christmas, I plan to keep adding possible destinations to my Christmas travel wish list.
— Tracey Cullen, art director
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