Journal · Seasonal
Where to go in December
December is the year’s most expensive month to travel, and the rates are honest in some places and a tax on the calendar in others. Snow at Christmas in Zermatt is worth exactly what it costs. A cold afternoon at a Vienna market is not. The whole skill of December is telling the two apart before the deposit goes down.
Where December earns its rates
Snow and the Swiss Alps. The period from Christmas through New Year in Zermatt or Verbier represents a specific experience — a specific light, a specific temperature, a specific mood — that is not available at other times of year and that the rates reflect accurately. The alternative is to go in February at the same ski quality and significantly lower cost. Both are valid. December is the occasion; February is the value.
The Maldives. Christmas week in the Maldives is genuinely wonderful: the air is warm, the water is clear, the bioluminescence is active, and the resort experience is, if anything, more carefully staged for the festive period than at other times. The rates are the highest of the year. Book by September. The properties we recommend for Christmas week are the ones that do the festive dinner with taste rather than excess — this is a real distinction.
Where December doesn’t
European city breaks in December. The Christmas markets in Vienna and Prague and Strasbourg are photographically compelling and experientially pleasant for about two hours, after which they are cold and crowded with fellow visitors who have also seen the photographs. The cities themselves — their restaurants, their museums, their neighbourhoods — are excellent and available at every other time of year at lower rates.
“The Christmas markets are excellent for two hours. The cities are excellent for three days — at lower rates in November.”
Beach destinations without a specific climatic reason for December. If you’re going to Bali in December for the rates, know that December is the beginning of the wet season. If you’re going because you have Christmas leave and December is what’s available, go knowing that and plan accordingly. The northern coast and the highland interior are more weather-stable. The main beaches are more variable.
The Indian festive window
December 25th through January 5th is the window that most Indian travellers target, combining Christmas leave with the New Year. The implication for booking: these ten days are at peak demand across almost every international destination of interest, and the good hotels fill between six and nine months out. A rule of thumb that consistently proves correct: if December travel is in the plan, book in March or April. The conversation about rates at short notice in October is almost always a disappointing one.
December earns its rates only where the experience can’t be had any other month — the snow, the festive Maldives — and nowhere else. Book the ones that earn it by March. Skip the ones that don’t, and go in November instead.
Mentioned in this piece
February: the quiet-excellent month
January from India: five windows that work