Thoughts on Amsterdam and London during Christmas week?

[Anonymous]

Will too many things be closed for it to be worthwhile? If you've been during this time, what have you enjoyed? Any other suggestions for places in Europe for Christmas week in particualr?

[Anonymous]

IMO Europe and UK kinda suck Christmas to New Years. A lot is closed, not just on the 25th, public transportation may not run. Better to go before.

[Anonymous]

Go to one country and venture beyond the biggest city.

[Anonymous]

A lot is closed over the holiday. Christmas is taken seriously as family time, not like here where the consumer economy has made it a consumer holiday.
The Far East doesn't shut down for western Xmas so give that a try.

[Anonymous]

In the UK, many rail and subway services will be limited between Xmas day and New Year's eve for track maintenance of various kinds.

In London, some tube lines often will have less frequent service or partial route shutdowns during that period for the same reasons.

[Anonymous]

We did Paris Christmas week and London over New Year’s last year. It was great, there were actually many things open in Paris including some on December 25, and everything in London was open after the 26th.
We spent a couple of days in Oxford between 12/27-12/29 and then were in London until the 4th and had zero transportation issues. We took the Eurostar and then trains in the UK and the tube and busses in London. I noticed a few minor changes listed in stations but nothing that affected our travel plans.

[Anonymous]

Arrived in Amsterdam on Christmas. Next days went to Anne Frank House (reserve a ticket if you want to go, we didn’t and line was long) walked around town and ate (Dutch pancakes) rented bikes, Van Gogh museum, Rijks Museum, canals boat tour and, at the time, a few movie shoot spots kids were interested in. It was a fine time to be there.

[Anonymous]

So my family is part Dutch and just be prepared that it starts getting dark around 4 during the winter there. I used to go more in the summer and take advantage of the longer days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did Paris Christmas week and London over New Year’s last year. It was great, there were actually many things open in Paris including some on December 25, and everything in London was open after the 26th.
We spent a couple of days in Oxford between 12/27-12/29 and then were in London until the 4th and had zero transportation issues. We took the Eurostar and then trains in the UK and the tube and busses in London. I noticed a few minor changes listed in stations but nothing that affected our travel plans.

+1. I think the closures and disruptions are overblown.

[Anonymous]

Note the above focuses after the sucky 12/24-26 period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Note the above focuses after the sucky 12/24-26 period.

We were in Paris then and everything was lovely - a number of Boulanger and cafes were open in the morning on 12/25, we made reservations to skate at the grand palais de glace for late morning and then walked to the Christmas market at the place de la Concorde midday which was fully open as were the other Christmas markets. Went back to our apartment for rest and a light meal of foods we had bought the day before and then did a sunset boat ride with champagne for the evening. It was a lovely Christmas Day. Nothing was closed at all on the 24th or 26th in Paris and I expect Amsterdam would be similar. London is pretty shut down 12/25-26 but other than that it was fully open and bustling.
I haven’t been to Amsterdam at that time of year but I think with a bit of planning and the expectation that you’ll need reservations for meals on the holidays you’ll be fine. We were with our kids ages 10-15 and didn’t want to eat out for every meal so we stayed in apartments and bought semi-prepared things for certain meals.
In London on NYE we went to see a west end show in the evening and then walked back to our apartment amid lots of festivities but we were all so tired we went to bed before midnight! There were some road closures near Westminster for NYE but we were able to easily get around to get back to our apartment in Pimlico.
We all had a fabulous time and my kids would love to repeat this year!

[Anonymous]

Dark, dreary, closed. I have lived in both places. It is absolutely perfect and I loved it for family time at home next to a fire with a dog and some games. I think it would be terrible as a tourist trying to see the sights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Note the above focuses after the sucky 12/24-26 period.

We were in Paris then and everything was lovely - a number of Boulanger and cafes were open in the morning on 12/25, we made reservations to skate at the grand palais de glace for late morning and then walked to the Christmas market at the place de la Concorde midday which was fully open as were the other Christmas markets. Went back to our apartment for rest and a light meal of foods we had bought the day before and then did a sunset boat ride with champagne for the evening. It was a lovely Christmas Day. Nothing was closed at all on the 24th or 26th in Paris and I expect Amsterdam would be similar. London is pretty shut down 12/25-26 but other than that it was fully open and bustling. [b]
I haven’t been to Amsterdam at that time of year but I think with a bit of planning and the expectation that you’ll need reservations for meals on the holidays you’ll be fine. We were with our kids ages 10-15 and didn’t want to eat out for every meal so we stayed in apartments and bought semi-prepared things for certain meals.
In London on NYE we went to see a west end show in the evening and then walked back to our apartment amid lots of festivities but we were all so tired we went to bed before midnight! There were some road closures near Westminster for NYE but we were able to easily get around to get back to our apartment in Pimlico.
We all had a fabulous time and my kids would love to repeat this year!

Isn't London crazy busy on Dec 26 with all the Boxing Day sales?

[Anonymous]

We did Rome xmas 2018. Got an apartment in the city. It was great!

[Anonymous]

We went to London week after Christmas. Nothing was closed that we wanted to do and streets were all bustling.