12 of the best places to spend Christmas
December 18, 2014 -- Updated 0643 GMT (1443 HKT)
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| For Finns, Rovaniemi's location just north of the Arctic Circle is Christmas headquarters. Children make gingerbread cookies with Mrs. Claus, enroll in Elf School and write wish lists with a traditional quill. |
From Mexico to Malta, northern lights to sunny skies, these places are doing Christmas better than the rest this year.
Bath, England
There are few cities in
the world where you can celebrate the birth of Jesus and the birth of
Jane Austen with the same amount of fanfare, but Bath happens to be one
of them.
The Theatre Royal,
which Austen mentions in "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion," is home
to a musical celebration accompanied by mince pies and mulled wine in
honor of the literary doyenne.
There's also a varied program of holiday drama, musicals, opera and concerts, including Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin.
A seasonal favorite, the
18-day Bath Christmas Market has over 170 wooden chalets selling
distinctively British handmade crafts in a quaint Georgian setting.
Straddled between the
imposing Bath Abbey and the venerable Roman Baths, the market offers a
festive way to discover the character of Bath, which is the only entire
city in the UK to have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Bath on Ice is a great excuse to bundle up and lace up your skates, while the Thermae Bath Spa is
the perfect reason to strip down and savor the steam emanating from the
thermal mineral-rich waters of an open-air rooftop pool with
spectacular views over the city.
When there's snow on the ground, New York can feel like the capital of Christmas.
New York
Rockefeller Center lies at the core of the New York Christmas.
Across the street, Radio City hosts the annual Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes.
On the southwest corner of Central Park, Columbus Circle hosts more than 100 vendors selling clothes, gifts, snacks and drinks at the Holiday Market.
Central Park has two ponds for skating and horse-drawn carriage rides.
Fashion's biggest names join in the festivities, setting up impressive Christmas window displays.
The most glamorous
cases, at the Fifth Avenue flagships and department stores like Saks and
Bergdorf, are impressive enough to melt the heart of Anna Wintour.
Malta's nativity experience includes grazing live animals.
Malta
Visiting presepju, or nativity scenes, is an integral part of Christmas in Malta.
Every year, residents
proudly open their shutters, and sometimes even their garage doors, to
display their holy crib confections to the public.
On a grander scale, the Bethlehem f'Ghajnsielem is a life-size nativity experience spread over 20,0000 square meters of formerly abandoned fields.
Inhabited and animated
by over 150 actors comprised of entire families, the village takes
visitors back in time to Judea of 2,000 years ago, complete with oil
lamps, turn mills, grazing animals, crafts areas teaching traditional
skills and folklore, a tavern, and of course a grotto housing baby
Jesus.
Downtown Valletta is
also home to a lively Christmas spirit, with carolers singing outside
the Baroque St. John's Co-Cathedral during advent, and a dizzying
display of Christmas lights on Republic Street.
The Manoel Theater is well known for its annual Christmas pantomime -- this year Pinocchio themed.
A visit to the privately owned Museum of Toys
featuring dolls, soldiers, train sets, and clockwork tin trinkets
dating as far back as the 1790's, is a heartwarming homage to childhood.
Barcelona, Spain
If you can manage to
extend your Christmas holiday until Three King's Day (January 5),
there's no better place to catch up with Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar
than Barcelona.
On the evening of
January 4, they arrive at the city's port on the Santa Eulalia -- their
very own ship -- in bearded and velvet-robed splendor.
Canons are fired,
fireworks are set off, and as the mayor hands them the keys to the city,
the magic of the Magi officially commences.
They parade through the
streets in a magnificent cavalcade of floats that includes camels,
elephants, giraffes and dazzling costumes.
Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland
While legends dating as
far back as the 1820s cite the North Pole as the official home of Santa
Claus and his jolly missus, the Finns would have us believe otherwise.
For them, Rovaniemi, Lapland, located just north of the Arctic Circle, is Christmas HQ.
Here, children make
gingerbread cookies with Mrs. Claus, enroll in Elf School or take a
calligraphy class and compose their Christmas wish lists with a
traditional quill.
Other area attractions include the Ranua Zoo, home to baby polar bears, wolverines and moose; Sirmakko reindeer farm,
where visitors can take a sled-led reindeer safari; and the Arktikum, a
science center where the mystery of the northern lights is revealed.
Those in search of a truly frosty experience can stay in the Arctic Snow Hotel, made entirely of snow and ice, but equipped with saunas and hot tubs in which to thaw.
Nuremberg, Germany
The Nuremberg Christmas market (Nurnberger Christkindlesmarkt) is a German institution, pulling in more than 2 million visitors each year.
Highlights include a giant carved wooden Ferris wheel, old-fashioned carousel and steam train.
Unlike all those "fake"
Christmas markets that have been popping up in the region, Nuremberg's
Christmas Market Council is serious about making sure only traditional
handmade toys and holiday goods are sold.
No mass-produced plastic garlands here.
The market's 200 select vendors also put up fantastic displays as they compete for the Most Beautiful Stall Design award.
The top three walk away with a gold, silver or bronze "Plum People" awards.
Adults can enjoy Nuremberg spicy gingerbread and mugs of mulled wine.
For kids, there's the Toy Museum, while the German Railway Museum is a hit with everyone.
Quebec City, Canada
If you're the type who
likes to celebrate Christmas around a tree made from recycled sheet
metal, with lights powered by the pedaling of nearby cyclists, Quebec is
your destination.
A haven for
environmentally friendly, outdoor enthusiasts, the city bustles with
activity, offering holiday programs for all tastes.
Modern-day Victorians
can enjoy a candlelit evening of stories from Charles Dickens,
recounting the Christmas traditions of yore.
Sausage and roast chestnut lovers can browse the wares at the German Christmas market.
The more religiously inclined can wander an exposition of nativity scenes from around the world.
The nearby Sentier des Caps de Charlevoix offers family-friendly hiking, snowshoeing and skiing, while speed devils can zoom around in a snowmobile from Nord Expe.
Iceland delivers a festive Christmas.
Reykjavik, Iceland
When it comes to Christmas celebrations, Iceland has a few peculiarities.
Among these, 13
"Yuletide Lads" (scruffy Santas) are said to bring gifts to nice
children for the 13 nights leading to Christmas.
Rows of small, beautiful huts make up the Yule Town Christmas market on Ingolfstorg.
Here, visitors can pick up colorful Christmas gifts, decorations and treats.
The shopping differs day to day as some craftsmen and designers set up stalls for only one day.
Beaming down onto a city covered in snow and Christmas lights, northern lights displays add to Reykjavik's festival feel.
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Piñatas, posadas and
ponche sum up the festivities in this colorful Mexican city, where
Christmas is both a solemn and celebratory affair.
Leading up to December
24, you're likely to stumble upon Mary and Joseph strolling the streets,
as locals make pilgrimages from home to home, singing to "ask for
posada" or "beg for shelter" as they reenact the journey to Bethlehem.
Pinatas and ponche (a
mulled fruit drink) cap a long evening of peregrinations around this
cobblestoned city, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its
wealth of grand churches, well-preserved architecture and grand zocalos.
Santa Claus, Indiana
Christmas is a year-round occasion in this town of fewer than 3,000 residents.
Santa Claus, Indiana, receives thousands of letters a year from children trying to reach St. Nick himself.
A group of volunteers called Santa's Elves was set up in the mid-1930s to reply to each letter.
The Land of Lights display is a 1.2-mile drive around the Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort.
Among various Christmas-themed events, Santa hosts a buffet dinner at the Christmas Lodge every Friday leading up to Christmas.
Strasbourg, France
Strasbourg's series of themed Christmas villages morph the city into a visual and gastronomic wonderland.
Visitors can head to the
Village of Alsace Farmhouse to taste prune, apricot and other
holiday-inspired variations of farm-fresh foie gras.
The nearby Village of
Bredle is supplied with its namesake traditional Christmas biscuits and
copious amounts of mulled Alsatian wine.
From the Strasbourg Philharmonic
to gospel to Django Reinhardt-inspired gypsy jazz, Strasbourg's
Christmas program is packed with concerts and cultural events from
Croatia, the guest country of Strasbourg's Christmas celebrations this
year.
Valkenburg, The Netherlands
This small town is the Dutch center for Christmas festivities.
Valkenburg's Velvet Cave
is transformed into a Christmas Market and the residence of Santa,
where visitors can see his room of presents and reindeer sleigh.
The cavern houses sculptures and an 18th-century chapel, as well as preserved mural drawings that date to Roman times.
Marlstone products and traditional Polish handicrafts are a few of the unique items exclusive to Valkenburg's Christmas markets.
Best way to reach the Christmas town? A Christmas Express train that runs regularly between Simpelveld and Valkenburg.
Originally published December 2013, updated December 2014.
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