One thing you should be doing this Christmas: Booking your next Christmas holiday
Chilling at the beach these holidays? There’s something worth interrupting your traditional Aussie Christmas celebrations for.
Holiday Ideas
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We Aussies love our holiday season in the sun, whether it’s firing up the barbecue for a Christmas Day feast or getting away from it all on a festive break. But there’s something tantalising about the prospect of a cold Christmas.
If your festive dreams are full of snow, start planning for a 2018 White Christmas with this list.
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CHRISTMAS MARKETS OF EUROPE
From Prague to Paris, Madrid to Milan and all over Germany, Europe’s Christmas markets are a wonderful way to feel festive. With stalls selling everything from handcrafted decorations to traditional cakes and sweets, you can’t fail to get into the spirit. Some of the best are the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche in Berlin, which gets around two million visitors each year, the Vorosmarty Square fair in Budapest, the enchanting Tivoli Gardens market in Copenhagen, the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square markets of Prague and the Christkindlesmarkt in Vienna.
Take a tour: If you fancy a different Christmas next year, many travel operators run Christmas market tours, such as Riviera Travel’s The Danube’s Imperial Cities and Yuletide Markets five-day river cruise from Budapest via Vienna, from $939 a person. Trafalgar has a 15-day White Christmas tour that takes in Paris, Reims, Strasbourg, St Moritz, Venice, Florence and Rome, for $6250 a person. Scenic has a 16-day Christmas Wonderland river cruise, from Amsterdam to Budapest via Cologne and Vienna, for $11,440 a person. And Viking has an eight-day Romantic Danube cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest, taking in the Christmas markets, from $3995 per person.
THE ROMANCE OF NEW YORK
If you want to feel like you’re in your own Christmas movie, the holiday season in New York is one of the city’s best. From the Christmas windows in Saks and Bloomingdale’s, to the Rockefeller Center tree and the enormous ice skating rink at the Bryant Park Winter Village, the city knows how to celebrate.
After you’ve done all your Christmas shopping, you can take in a Broadway show – the New York City Ballet’s The Nutcracker, perhaps, or enjoy the traditional razzle-dazzle of the Radio City Rockettes in their Christmas Spectacular, which has been entertaining audiences with tap dancers and flying Santas since 1933.
There’s also the popular theatre bus tour The Ride, where you are seated in stadium-style chairs which look out the towering glass sides of the mega-buses as they tour the city and take in special streetside performances. Tickets are $US69 (about $90) a person.
Take a tour: Collette hosts a five-day Spotlight on New York City Holiday tour taking in all the sights, including Broadway shows and a visit to the Statue of Liberty.
Priced at $3599 a person.
VISIT SANTA IN LAPLAND
You can’t get more Christmassy than meeting Santa in Lapland and Aussies are increasingly making the trip to Finland to do so – according to Expedia.com.au searches for Lapland were up 130 per cent this year.
It’s a magical experience for children who can meet the big man at the Santa Claus Village at the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, where cheeky elves will guide them to Santa’s hut and you can also take husky rides and feed the reindeer. Be prepared though, it’s extremely cold in Lapland – yes, Arctic, even.
Take a tour: Intrepid Travel runs an eight-day Finnish Lapland in Winter tour from Helsinki to Rovaniemi priced from $3395 a person.
FOLKLORE OF ICELAND
The Icelanders know how to party – Christmas there lasts for 26 days – from December 11 to January 6.
They also have not one, but 13 Santa Clauses, or Yule Lads, as they are known locally. The first Yule Lad comes to town 13 days before Christmas Eve and leaves a gift for children every evening until the 12th night.
Iceland is becoming an increasingly popular destination, especially in December. You can visit hot springs, volcanoes and ice caves, go snowmobiling, glacier hiking and see the Northern Lights.
Take a tour: Insight Vacations has a seven day Scenic Iceland and the Northern Lights tour which includes visits to hot springs, volcanoes and waterfalls, the Northern Lights, sightseeing in Reykjavik and a trip to its Blue Lagoon. Priced from $3595.
CATCH THE GLACIER EXPRESS
There are few train journeys as memorable as Switzerland’s Glacier Express, which runs from the chic ski resort of St Moritz to Zermatt and the Matterhorn, through the Swiss Alps.
Switzerland is at its best in the winter, and you can be guaranteed a white Christmas here, with some of the finest skiing in the world.
St Moritz has a charming Christmas market and you can even take a ride down its Olympic bobsleigh run, before retiring for some gluhwein and a slice of Engadiner Nusstorte, or walnut cake.
Take a tour: For a longer journey around Switzerland, Planet Rail has The Glacier Express and Scenic Switzerland in Winter seven-night trip, which starts in London’s St Pancras and takes you across France to Lake Geneva and Montreux.
From there you travel first class to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe.
Afterwards, catch the Glacier Express, followed by the Bernina Express into the Engadine Valley, and then on to Germany along the Rhine Gorge to Cologne. Prices from £1595 (about $2800) per person.
THE LIGHTS OF LONDON
There’s something magical about London at Christmas time – from the lights of Oxford and Regent streets and the Christmas windows of Selfridges and Harrods, to the pubs and bars bustling with locals.
There are beautiful ice-skating rinks all over the city, including Somerset House, Tower of London, Canary Wharf and Hampton Court.
Don’t miss the Christmas carols in Trafalgar Square, Santa experience at The Albert Hall and the enormous Winter Wonderland theme park in Hyde Park.
The Royal Ballet puts on The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and theatres across the capital show the traditional and great fun pantomimes.
A little further out in Ascot, you’ll find Lapland UK, a more accessible version of the Finnish home of Santa, where you can wander through a magical elf village deep in the woods, before finding Mr Claus and giving him your list.
Take a tour: British Airways flies to London from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and offers flight and hotel packages in the capital.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN CANADIAN ADVENTURE
If it’s snow you’re after, then you’ll get the ultimate white Christmas in Canada. Vancouver goes all out at Christmas, with three million lights on display in Stanley Park, a vibrant market and sleigh rides on Grouse Mountain. They’re also big on gingerbread houses with the city’s Hyatt Regency hosting a huge display.
But for a magical experience, head up into the Rockies, to the stunning ski resorts of Whistler, Jasper and Banff where they have festive activities all through December, such as Whistler’s Santa Skate, a Santa cabin at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and an ice festival in Banff. And you can get in a bit of skiing too.
Take a tour: The APT Twelve Days of Christmas rail and coach tour starts in Vancouver and visits Whistler, Jasper, Banff and Calgary and includes a Christmas feast all at the picturesque Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise on Christmas Day.
Prices are $8995 a person.
Originally published as One thing you should be doing this Christmas: Booking your next Christmas holiday
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