Best European cities as a tourist on Christmas Day

[Anonymous]

I’m planning a trip to Europe over the holidays this year. My son is 9 and still believes in Christmas magic but not Santa exactly. I know most Christmas observers spend time with family and restaurants tend to shut down. I’m looking for recommendations for places we could spend Christmas Eve/Day being festive while still having options to be out at restaurants/activities. Im pretty open to any city in Western/Northern Europe.

[Anonymous]

In the UK it's also the 26th that's mostly shut down. Pick s place where you can walk around seeing interesting things. Transit also has holiday schedules.

[Anonymous]

NOT London.

[Anonymous]

Have you considered a cruise? It will be festive with decorations, holiday entertainment, etc.

We’ve done Christmas cruises in the Caribbean, but I’m sure they have them departing from Europe. Perhaps you can find a short European cruise and spend time on land pre and/or post cruise? A Caribbean cruise will obviously be easier and potentially less expensive.

[Anonymous]

https://www.arosa-cruises.com/why-a-rosa/family-cruises.html

Here’s a European river cruise line that allows/caters to kids. Check out their Christmas cruises along with YouTube video tours/reviews.

[Anonymous]

In Europe, I have been in London, Paris, Italy at Christmas. Rome would be my pick of the three.
Berlin is a cool city haven't been there for Christmas.

The river cruise would solve the problem of transport and sights being shut because they would work around that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Europe, I have been in London, Paris, Italy at Christmas. Rome would be my pick of the three.
Berlin is a cool city haven't been there for Christmas.

The river cruise would solve the problem of transport and sights being shut because they would work around that.

A cruise also provides a community of friendly people.

[Anonymous]

Finland

[Anonymous]

That's funny - I thought London was fine on Christmas. We did a choral service at 3 pm at Westminster and it was lovely. Walked around after.

[Anonymous]

So I have family in the Netherlands and what I would recommend is getting an Air BnB or similar where on Christmas Day you can have some private time and cook or prep something. A lot of stuff is closed on the 25th but having a little walk around and returning to eat isn't so bad. Just a lighter snack type meal isn't a terrible idea and the you can focus on finding the couple places that are open.

[Anonymous]

Most things are going to be closed so I’d find a hotel with great decorations that also caters to kids. We stayed at the Langham in London, and they even put a small decorated tree in our room. Even though most things nearby were closed, the holiday lights the city does were still up and on, so it was fun to walk around

[Anonymous]

Milan was lovely and lively. Venice was a little quiet.

[Anonymous]

A few years ago we were in Italy for two weeks over Christmas and NYE. We were in Rome for Christmas and Venice for NYE, it was lovely.

[Anonymous]

Copenhagen! Tivoli Gardens is open Christmas Day, it's sooo festive, magical, and there is delicious food. I was there Christmas day one year and it was magical.

Paris is also lovely. I went to a Christmas market on Christmas day and got delicious food there one year.

It's not in Europe, but Quebec City is lovely and feels very magical on Christmas. We spent Christmas one year in Quebec and got a lovely dinner.

[Anonymous]

There was a lot open in Paris on Christmas Day surprisingly, including the Eiffel Tower. Christmas Eve everything is shut down though. We were in Strasbourg before that which was lovely but can’t comment what may be open those specific days.