Quick Answer
Where to Go in December 2026 Without Paying Christmas Prices
Most December advice treats the month as one thing. It is not. The same hotel room, on the same island, is a bargain on 12 December and a splurge on 22 December, and nothing about the weather changes in between.
If your dates are locked to Christmas week, skip the price sections below and go straight to the temperature tables. Everyone else has a genuine choice to make, and it is worth roughly a fifth of the trip.
VoyageHacks last verified the facts and figures on this page on 16 August 2026.
How we built this ranking
No trips were taken to write this page, and none are claimed. Every climate figure is a published normal and every date comes from the body that sets it.
- Air temperature and rain days are the WMO Climate Normals for 1991-2020, the current 30-year reference period, read from each country’s own station data sheet in the NOAA NCEI archive. Where a country has not submitted 1991-2020 data, the figure is that service’s own normal published through the WMO World Weather Information Service, and the table says which rows those are.
- Rain days counts days with 1 mm of precipitation or more, the WMO threshold. A rainy day in Hurghada and a rainy day in Colombo are not the same event, so read the column as a wet-or-dry ranking.
- Sea temperature is the mean of daily sea surface temperature for December 2023, 2024 and 2025 at a point in open water off the main beach, from the Copernicus Marine Service analysis. We calculated these values from that dataset on 16 August 2026.
- Flight times are approximate scheduled nonstop block times from London, rounded. They vary by carrier and season, and rows needing a connection say so.
- Price vs August is seasonal logic, not a measured fare: where December sits inside a destination’s high season the column says higher, and where it sits outside one it says lower. There are no invented percentages anywhere on this page.
Climate normals are 30-year averages, not forecasts. One December can run several degrees either side of them.
The 14 best places to go in December 2026 for winter sun
Ranked by average daytime high, because in December the question is simply where the heat still is.
| Destination (airport) | Avg high Dec | Sea temp Dec | Rain days Dec | From London | Price vs August | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goa, India (GOI) | 33.1 °C | 28.3 °C | 0.5 | approx. 12h, one stop | Higher | The hottest and driest option anywhere |
| Phuket, Thailand (HKT) | 31.3 °C | 29.1 °C | 7.7 | approx. 13h via Bangkok | Much higher | The Andaman coast at its annual best |
| Colombo and the south-west, Sri Lanka (CMB) | 30.9 °C | 28.7 °C | 9.0 | approx. 11h | Higher | Beaches plus tea country and wildlife |
| Barbados (BGI) | 29.6 °C | 28.3 °C | 11.2 | approx. 8h30 | Higher | Caribbean heat before the Christmas wall |
| Cancun and the Riviera Maya (CUN) | 28.2 °C | 27.5 °C | 10.6 | approx. 10h | Higher | Ruins, cenotes and a 27 °C sea |
| Muscat, Oman (MCT) | 26.8 °C | 26.2 °C | 1.4 | approx. 7h45 | Higher | Gulf warmth without Dubai’s crowds |
| Dubai, UAE (DXB) | 26.5 °C | 25.0 °C | 3.4 | approx. 7h | Much higher | City and beach, at peak-season prices |
| Sal, Cape Verde (SID) | 26.1 °C | 24.8 °C | 0.5 | approx. 6h | Higher | Near-guaranteed sun on a six-hour flight |
| Cape Town, South Africa (CPT) | 25.8 °C | 13.9 °C | 6.2 | approx. 11h30 | Much higher | Peak southern summer, cold Atlantic |
| Miami, Florida (MIA) | 25.6 °C | 26.0 °C | 5.6 | approx. 9h | Higher | Warm winter city with a swimmable sea |
| Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt (SSH) | 23.9 °C | 25.3 °C | 0.1 | approx. 5h30 | Lower | The warmest sea within six hours |
| Hurghada, Egypt (HRG) | 23.8 °C | 23.7 °C | 0.07 | approx. 5h30 | Lower | The driest place on this page |
| Tenerife, Canary Islands (TFS) | 23.7 °C | 22.1 °C | 3.2 | approx. 4h30 | Similar | The short-haul default, all winter |
| Lanzarote, Canary Islands (ACE) | 22.7 °C | 21.0 °C | 3.2 | approx. 4h15 | Similar | Sheltered bays, the driest Atlantic island |
Temperature and rain-day figures are WMO Climate Normals for 1991-2020 except Muscat (Oman’s Directorate General of Meteorology), Cancun (Mexico’s national service) and Cape Town’s rain-day count (South African Weather Service), all published through the WMO World Weather Information Service.
Where is it hot in December?
Hot here means a mean daily maximum of 28 °C or more across the whole month, the level at which a beach day works from breakfast to sunset without a layer. Only five places on this list clear it: Goa, Phuket, Colombo, Barbados and Cancun.
The sea is the second half of the answer, and it does not track the air. Sea temperatures above about 22 °C feel comfortable for most swimmers without a wetsuit. Grouped by that threshold:
- Bathwater (27 °C and above): Phuket, Colombo and Sri Lanka’s south-west coast, Goa, Barbados, Cancun.
- Comfortably warm (24 to 26 °C): Muscat, Miami, Sharm el-Sheikh, Sal, Dubai.
- Warm enough (22 to 24 °C): Hurghada, Tenerife.
- Bracing (21 °C): Lanzarote, and every Mediterranean beach in Europe.
- Cold, whatever the forecast says: Cape Town’s Atlantic side at Camps Bay, 13.9 °C.
Cape Town is the trap on this list. The land is at peak summer and the water on the city’s famous beaches is colder than the English Channel in September. False Bay on the other side of the peninsula reaches around 18.2 °C, which is the difference between a swim and a dare.
The honest catch on the top picks
- Goa is hot and effectively dry, but December is its most expensive and most crowded month, and there is no nonstop from London.
- Phuket is genuinely at its best. Its Gulf-side neighbour is not: see the failure modes below before you book a Thai island.
- Barbados and Cancun are cheap in the first fortnight and expensive from the third week, more sharply than anywhere else here.
- Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh buy you the driest weather on the page, and the coldest evenings relative to the daytime high. Hurghada’s mean December minimum is 13.4 °C.
- Tenerife and Lanzarote are the only options where December costs roughly what August did. Their season is starting, not ending.
Christmas markets, snow and the Arctic: seven cold-weather picks
| Destination (airport) | Avg high Dec | Sea temp Dec | Rain days Dec | From London | Price vs August | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strasbourg, France (SXB) | 5.9 °C | not a swim month | 10.2 | no nonstop, rail via Paris | Lower | France’s oldest Christmas market |
| Innsbruck, Austria (INN) | 4.1 °C | not a swim month | 8.5 | approx. 2h05 | Higher | A market city with lifts above it |
| Vienna, Austria (VIE) | 4.0 °C | not a swim month | 8.6 | approx. 2h20 | Lower | The longest market season in Europe |
| Prague, Czechia (PRG) | 2.7 °C | not a swim month | 6.2 | approx. 2h05 | Lower | The driest big market city here |
| Zermatt, Switzerland (via GVA) | 1.5 °C | not a swim month | 6.9 | approx. 1h50 to Geneva, then rail | Much higher | Car-free skiing under the Matterhorn |
| Tromso, Norway (TOS) | 0.9 °C | not a swim month | 15.0 | approx. 3h45 via Oslo | Higher | Polar night and aurora hunting |
| Rovaniemi, Finland (RVN) | -4.9 °C | not a swim month | 12.1 | approx. 3h30 | Much higher | Santa, huskies and real Arctic cold |
Rovaniemi is the one to think hard about. It is the coldest destination on this page by five degrees, its December mean minimum is -10.6 °C, and it is also the most expensive relative to August, because a single week of demand meets a small supply of hotel rooms. It is wonderful and it is not a bargain.
When do the 2026 Christmas markets open and close?
The opening date matters less than the closing date, and this is where most trips go wrong. Several major markets shut on 23 or 24 December, before many people even travel.
| Market | 2026 dates | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna | 6 Nov 2026 to 6 Jan 2027 | The one Vienna market open between Christmas and New Year |
| Old Town Square, Prague | 28 Nov 2026 to 6 Jan 2027 | Runs latest of the big city-centre markets |
| Rathausplatz, Vienna | 13 Nov to 26 Dec 2026 | Closes early on 24 December |
| Cologne Cathedral | 16 Nov to 23 Dec 2026 | Provisional dates, and closed on Sunday 22 November |
| Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt | 27 Nov to 24 Dec 2026 | Opening ceremony 5.30pm on 27 November |
| Am Hof and Freyung, Vienna | 13 and 14 Nov to 23 Dec 2026 | Both shut two days before Christmas |
| Strasbourg Christkindelsmarik | Not yet published | Traditionally late November to 24 December |
Strasbourg had not published its 2026 dates on the official Christmas site when this page was checked in August 2026, so treat the pattern as a guide and confirm with the city before booking around it.
A market is a lights-and-food evening: roasted chestnuts, hot chocolate, wooden ornaments and a choir. Dress for standing still in 4 °C rather than walking in it, which is the single most common mistake, and see our Christmas market packing list . If you would rather not fly, the Christmas markets by train guide covers the rail routes between them, and our winter and Christmas travel tips cover the closures.
Where can you ski in early December 2026?
Resorts publish their own opening dates and change them with the snow, so the useful question is not when a lift company hopes to open. It is when snow actually lies.
Zermatt’s WMO 1991-2020 normals answer that precisely. At the village station, 1,638 metres up, snow lies on the ground on 27.5 days in an average December against 14.6 days in November, and 20.8 of those days carry 10 cm or more, against 5.3 in November. Average December snowfall is 56.9 cm. In other words the mountain roughly doubles its reliability between the two months, and most of that gain happens in the first fortnight.
Three practical consequences:
- Before roughly 10 December, take a glacier. Austria’s Hintertux Glacier states that it operates 365 days a year, which is as close to a guarantee as skiing offers.
- From mid-December, high resorts are a reasonable bet, not a certainty. Zermatt records 10.6 December days when the temperature never rises above freezing, which is what keeps a base intact.
- Book flexible rates in the first half of the month. The cost of being wrong about snow is far higher than the cost of a refundable rate.
Before you go, our ski trip packing list covers the layering, which ski gear to buy before you rent covers what is worth owning, and winter sports travel insurance covers the part people skip until they need it. The Switzerland guide has the regional picture.
Is early December really the cheapest fortnight of the year?
Eurostat publishes a harmonised monthly price index for the whole EU, which settles part of this and cannot settle the rest. Here is December measured against the same year’s November and August.
| Eurostat HICP category (EU) | Dec vs Nov, 2022 to 2025 | Dec vs Aug, 2022 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger transport by air | +9.8% to +18.9% | -8.6% to -15.0% |
| Package holidays | +6.6% to +14.3% | -10.4% to -12.4% |
| Accommodation services | 0.0% to +0.9% | -13.4% to -15.1% |
Three things follow from that table.
Flights and hotels behave completely differently in December. Air fares jump by up to a fifth against November in every one of the four years. Hotel prices, across the whole EU, do not move at all. The Christmas premium in this data is an airline premium.
The index is monthly, so it cannot show the split inside December. What it can show is a month that averages far above November for flights while accommodation stays flat, which is what you would expect if a very cheap opening fortnight is being averaged with a very expensive final ten days. The school-holiday dates below are the harder evidence for where that line falls.
Demand is not the whole story either. Eurostat counted 511.5 million nights spent in EU tourist accommodation in August 2025 and 162.6 million in December 2025, so occupancy is under a third of the summer peak, yet published room rates fall only about 14 percent. Hotels would rather run empty than reset a rate card.
One structural point sits underneath all of it. December falls inside the Winter 2026/2027 airline scheduling season, which the FAA’s own notice confirms runs from 25 October 2026 through 27 March 2027. That is the timetable in which winter-sun routes to the Canaries, Egypt and the Gulf exist at all, and summer-only Mediterranean routes do not.
If Christmas week is the trip you actually want, the booking timing is its own subject, and it is in our guide to booking Christmas flights .
December school holidays and public holidays 2026
This is the calendar that sets the price, verified against each country’s own source.
| Market | Holiday | 2026 dates |
|---|---|---|
| Wales, and most of England | End of autumn term | Fri 18 Dec 2026, back Mon 4 Jan 2027 (Welsh Government directs identical dates for all 22 authorities) |
| United Kingdom | Bank holidays | Fri 25 Dec, Mon 28 Dec (Boxing Day substitute), Fri 1 Jan 2027; Scotland adds Mon 4 Jan |
| France | Vacances de Noel | From the end of Friday 18 Dec 2026 to Sunday 3 Jan 2027, identical for zones A, B and C |
| Netherlands | Kerstvakantie | 19 Dec 2026 to 3 Jan 2027, identical for all three regions |
| Germany | Weihnachtsferien | Starts 21 Dec (5 states), 23 Dec (most) or 24 Dec (Bavaria); ends between 31 Dec and 12 Jan by state |
| Spain | Constitucion and Inmaculada | Sun 6 Dec, moved to Mon 7 Dec in most regions, plus Tue 8 Dec: a four-day bridge |
| Spain | Navidad | Fri 25 Dec nationally; 26 Dec is a regional holiday in Catalonia and the Balearics |
| United States | Christmas Day | Fri 25 Dec 2026, the only December federal holiday |
| Japan | None | No public holiday in December 2026: the list runs from 23 Nov straight to 1 Jan 2027 |
| Brazil | Natal | Fri 25 Dec 2026, the only December national holiday |
Two patterns are worth planning around. Spain moves first, on the 5 to 8 December bridge, well before anyone else. Everyone else moves at once, in the 72 hours after schools close on 18 and 19 December, which is why fares on the 17th and the 21st are not remotely the same fare.
What can go wrong in December, and what to do
The wrong side of Thailand. Phuket on the Andaman coast averages 86.4 mm and 7.7 rainy days in December. Ko Samui, on the Gulf side, averages 263.1 mm and 11.6 rainy days in the same month. This is the single most common Thailand booking mistake. Go Andaman. Our Phuket guide has the beach breakdown, and the Sri Lanka guide covers the other December-friendly coast.
Calima in the Canaries. Saharan dust reaching ground level is called calima, and it cuts visibility and air quality for a day or two at a time. AEMET publishes a mineral dust intrusion forecast for the islands. It is a nuisance rather than a trip-ender, and it explains a hazy week that follows a clear one at the same temperature. Costings are in the Canary Islands budget guide .
Cold Red Sea evenings. Hurghada’s mean December minimum is 13.4 °C and Sharm’s is 15.6 °C, against daytime highs near 24 °C. That is a 10-degree swing after sunset, and plenty of older resorts have unheated pools. See the Hurghada guide .
Dubai’s New Year wall. The Dubai guide covers neighbourhoods, but the December rule is simple: the last ten days are the most expensive of the UAE year, and mid-month is the value pocket.
Christmas closures across Europe. Shops, many museums and most restaurants close on 25 and 26 December in Catholic and Protestant Europe alike, and public transport runs a Sunday timetable or less. City breaks over Christmas itself need an itinerary built around walking, parks and the few things that stay open, not around opening hours.
Arctic darkness, priced honestly. Rovaniemi gets 3 hours 45 minutes of daylight on 1 December 2026 and 2 hours 14 minutes on the 21st. Tromso gets none at all: the Norwegian Meteorological Institute has the sun setting for the last time on 27 November 2026 and not rising again until 15 January 2027. That is the aurora trade-off, and it is also why nobody should book a sightseeing-heavy Lapland itinerary. For a milder northern-lights alternative, see the Iceland guide .
Caribbean weather is fine, and the price is not. The Atlantic hurricane season ran from 1 June to 30 November, per NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, so December carries no storm-season caveat. It carries a Christmas one instead: Barbados and the Mexican Caribbean are excellent value until roughly the 15th and then are not.
Cape Town’s cold water and full calendar. The South Africa guide covers the regions. December is peak domestic holiday season there as well as peak international, so it is the one destination on this page where booking three months out is not early.
Travelling across several countries this month? Roaming outside the EU gets expensive fast, and our guide to the best eSIM for Europe covers what works where.
Sources
- World Meteorological Organization, Climate Normals for 1991-2020, single station data sheets, archived by NOAA NCEI: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/ (checked August 2026)
- World Meteorological Organization, World Weather Information Service, normals supplied by national meteorological services: https://worldweather.wmo.int/ (checked August 2026)
- Copernicus Marine Service sea surface temperature analysis, daily values for December 2023, 2024 and 2025 via the Open-Meteo Marine API: https://open-meteo.com/en/docs/marine-weather-api (checked August 2026)
- Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Sunrise 3.0 API, sunrise and sunset for Tromso and Rovaniemi, December 2026: https://api.met.no/weatherapi/sunrise/3.0/documentation (checked August 2026)
- Eurostat, HICP monthly index (prc_hicp_midx), COICOP CP0733, CP096 and CP112, EU27 and euro area, index 2015 = 100: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/prc_hicp_midx/ (checked August 2026)
- Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments, monthly (tour_occ_nim): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tour_occ_nim/ (checked August 2026)
- Welsh Government, Approved school term dates 2026 to 2027: https://www.gov.wales/approved-school-term-dates-2026-2027-html (checked August 2026)
- GOV.UK, UK bank holidays: https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays (checked August 2026)
- Ministere de l’Education nationale (France), Calendrier scolaire 2026-2027, open data: https://data.education.gouv.fr/explore/dataset/fr-en-calendrier-scolaire/ (checked August 2026)
- Rijksoverheid, Overzicht schoolvakanties 2026-2027: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/schoolvakanties/overzicht-schoolvakanties-per-schooljaar/overzicht-schoolvakanties-2026-2027 (checked August 2026)
- Kultusministerkonferenz, Ferien im Schuljahr 2026/2027 (Stand 09.10.2025): https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/Ferienkalender/FER2026_27.pdf (checked August 2026)
- Boletin Oficial del Estado, fiestas laborales para 2026: https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2025-21667 (checked August 2026)
- Cabinet Office of Japan, national holidays for 2026 and 2027: https://www8.cao.go.jp/chosei/shukujitsu/gaiyou.html (checked August 2026)
- Presidencia da Republica (Brazil), Lei 662/1949 as amended by Lei 10.607/2002, national holidays: https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l0662.htm (checked August 2026)
- Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt, official 2026 dates: https://www.christkindlesmarkt.de/en/ (checked August 2026)
- Vienna Tourist Board, Christmas markets 2026 dates: https://www.wien.info/en/now-on/christmas/christmas-markets-342664 (checked August 2026)
- Prague City Tourism, Old Town Square Christmas Market: https://prague.eu/en/akce/old-town-square-christmas-market/ (checked August 2026)
- Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market, 2026 dates (provisional): https://www.colognecathedral.de/christmas-market.html (checked August 2026)
- Hintertux Glacier, year-round operation: https://www.hintertuxergletscher.at/en/ (checked August 2026)
- NOAA National Hurricane Center, tropical cyclone climatology: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/ (checked August 2026)
- US Federal Register, FAA notice confirming the Winter 2026/2027 scheduling season runs 25 October 2026 through 27 March 2027: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/23/2026-12593/ (checked August 2026)
- AEMET, Saharan mineral dust intrusions: https://www.aemet.es/en/eltiempo/prediccion/polvo_mineral (checked August 2026)
What changed
- 2026-08-16: first published, with WMO 1991-2020 December climate normals, Copernicus December sea surface temperatures for 2023 to 2025, Eurostat price and occupancy data through 2025, and verified 2026 Christmas market and school-holiday dates.
- Known upcoming change: Strasbourg had not published its 2026 Christmas market dates when this page was written, and the Cologne cathedral market dates are marked provisional by the organiser.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is it warm in December in Europe?
The Canary Islands are the only part of Europe with dependable December beach weather. Tenerife Sur averages a daily high of 23.7 °C with 3.2 rainy days and Lanzarote 22.7 °C. Mainland Europe does not come close: Vienna averages 4.0 °C and Prague 2.7 °C. All figures are WMO 1991-2020 climate normals.
Where is hot in December for a beach holiday?
Goa averages a daily high of 33.1 °C in December with 2.5 mm of rain, Phuket 31.3 °C and Colombo in Sri Lanka 30.9 °C. Barbados reaches 29.6 °C and Cancun 28.2 °C. Closer to Europe, Sal in Cape Verde manages 26.1 °C with half a rainy day in the whole month.
Is December a cheap month to travel?
Only in its first half. Eurostat’s harmonised price index for the EU put December air fares 8.6 to 18.9 percent above the same year’s November in every year from 2022 to 2025, while accommodation stayed level with November. VoyageHacks reads that as a cheap opening fortnight averaged with a very expensive Christmas week.
When do European Christmas markets open in 2026?
Vienna’s Rathausplatz market runs from 13 November to 26 December 2026 and Cologne’s cathedral market provisionally from 16 November to 23 December. Nuremberg opens on 27 November and closes on 24 December, and Prague’s Old Town Square market runs from 28 November 2026 through to 6 January 2027.
Where can you ski in early December?
Glacier areas are the only guaranteed option, and Austria’s Hintertux Glacier states that it operates 365 days a year. Lower down, snow builds through the month. Zermatt at 1,638 metres records lying snow on 27.5 days in December against 14.6 in November, per WMO 1991-2020 climate normals.
Pick the half of December you travel in
Everything on this page reduces to one decision. Travel before 18 December and you get November prices with December atmosphere: the markets are open, the first snow is down, and the Red Sea and the Canaries are the cheapest they will be all winter. Travel after the 19th and you are buying the most expensive ten days of the year, so choose a destination whose season is genuinely peaking rather than one that merely looks warm.
If your dates are fixed to Christmas week, aim long haul, where the premium is a smaller share of a bigger fare. If they are flexible by even a week, that week is worth more than any destination swap on this list.
Read next: the when to go hub for every month, where to go in November and where to go in October for the cheaper months either side, where to go in September for the last of the warm sea, budget hotels in Prague for the market city that rains least, and the flights and hotels sections for the route and city guides.
Compare December fares across the two halves of the month