For Christmas markets and atmosphere, Vienna, Salzburg, Nuremberg, Prague. Kraków is nice also.

I would avoid the UK unless you would be staying with family/friends and sharing their Christmas experience. It's not just London but all of Britain is flat out dead on the 25th/26th (Boxing Day). Just about everything is closed, the number of restaurants open is minimal and most people are with their families/friends. I've had wonderful Christmases in the UK but it was always because of the family I was with. So if you go to Britain you will effectively lose two entire days from your trip where there's not much to do but go for a walk. Also note that public transit on those two days are also severely limited.

The continental cities have a lot more going on on the 25th and most places are back to business on the 26th. I'd go for Rome of all the cities on your list, followed with Prague. I don't know how long you intend to be away, but Italy is lovely at Christmas and odds of getting several "warmish" days is not bad, and you can easily divide your time between Rome and Florence/Naples/Venice. Prague will be colder but it's a magical city and you can divide your time between Prague and Vienna, or Prague and Berlin.

Anonymous wrote:I was struck by how little daylight there was when I spent Christmas in England a few times (with family). Just something to consider about the more northerly cities on your list. And England did seem totally dead on Christmas Day unless you want to go to church or have a family dinner.

Yes England at xmas is not the biggest joy. Xmas day is like how sundays used to be in the years up til the mid 80s when Sunday trading was made legal for the first time and the stores would be open for 1/2 the day

I was struck by how little daylight there was when I spent Christmas in England a few times (with family). Just something to consider about the more northerly cities on your list. And England did seem totally dead on Christmas Day unless you want to go to church or have a family dinner.

Amsterdam
Brussels
Any German city - esp Hamburg, Berlin, etc
Vienna
Zurich

Basel, Switzerland.

https://www.basel.com/en/Christmas-in-Basel/Christmas-Market

Krakow.

Not Paris. As a Parisian, there isn't much to see and what there is is terribly crowded. Plus it's probably going to rain.

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean actually for Christmas Day itself or before? London is fun in the lead up to Christmas but is almost totally dead on Christmas Day itself. Other v Xmassy places are Vienna, Nuremburg, Strasbourg, Tallinn, Cologne, Prague...

OP here. I was thinking of the season not Christmas day per se. We may go split our time between two cities.

Vienna +1

Do you mean actually for Christmas Day itself or before? London is fun in the lead up to Christmas but is almost totally dead on Christmas Day itself. Other v Xmassy places are Vienna, Nuremburg, Strasbourg, Tallinn, Cologne, Prague...

Florence is awesome. Religious or not, Christmas Eve Mass at the Cathedral is amazing.

Vienna!

Munich. I was there a couple of years ago in December and it was quite nice.

London is always festive in December (and November for that matter, their season starts even earlier than ours).

Going to Copenhagen this year. Tivoli apparently has a light display and there are other Christmasy things.

We aren't religious so things like mass don't matter, and nor do we want "just" a Christmas market but we would like to be in a city that does have that kind of thing.

The following cities so far are under consideration: London, Edinburgh, Bruges, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Prague, Rome.

Any recommendations or other cities you'd recommend?