Where To Celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in Europe—For Every Type of Traveler

Wondering where to spend Christmas in Europe? From Cologne to Dresden, Germany knows how to do Christmas markets right. But, with more than 100 Christmas markets spread throughout the city, Yuletide visitors to Berlin are especially spoiled for choice, and you can enjoy many of them on a walking tour.

One of the best Christmas markets in Berlin is held in front of the majestic Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg), where around 250 wooden stalls display traditional Christmas crafts and sweets such as stollen (fruity bread) and marzipan loaves. And while the adults sip mulled wine, the kids can enjoy the Ferris wheel and carousels.

The city of Copenhagen transforms into a winter wonderland during the festive season. A distinctly Danish sense of hygge (coziness) is abundant throughout the capital, but nowhere more so than the much-loved Tivoli Gardens amusement park. Here, traveling families can enjoy the light shows and fireworks, find vendors selling sweet snacks, and experience family shows in the Glass Hall Theatre and Tivoli Concert Hall over the Christmas period.

New Year is a big deal in Scotland, and Edinburgh goes all out for Hogmanay—what the Scottish call New Year’s Eve. Starting on December 29, the city parties for four days and nights, celebrating with a torchlight procession, concerts by big-name musicians, street parties, ceilidhs (traditional Scottish dances), family parties, and fireworks. While many of these events are free and unticketed, the bigger events require booking tickets in advance.

Related: 8 Ways To Celebrate Scotland's Hogmanay

Even if you’re traveling solo, you’ll never feel lonely in the friendly Irish capital. Dublin rings in the new year with so many parties, club nights, and concerts that you’ll never be bored. The next day—if the hangover allows—blow off the cobwebs with a swim (or quick dip) at the Forty Foot, a coastal area on the southern tip of Dublin Bay. People swim in the chilly water here year-round—it’s a storied Christmas Day tradition. And if you can brave the freezing frigid temps, there’s something special about marking the start of the year with an icy plunge.

Twinkling Christmas lights illuminate the city streets all across London, but the most impressive are typically concentrated in the West End. Regent Street started the city-wide trend of hosting spectacular festive light displays in 1954 and continues the tradition today. Stretching from Langham Place to Waterloo Place at the southern end of Regent Street St James's, the Regent Street lights sparkle between historic buildings and iconic department stores, creating a magical Christmas canopy. You can explore them on foot (and do a spot of shopping along the way), take to two wheels, or enjoy the scenes from the back of a Black Cab.

For couples, the City of Love is always a good idea. And Paris is even more romantic during the festive season. The City of Light really lives up to its name, and is beautifully illuminated in the weeks leading up to Christmas, from the light installations on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées to the window displays at Galeries Lafayette.

You and your partner can get into the spirit by exploring the city’s many pop-up markets and ice skating rinks, taking a Christmas bike tour, or soaking up the magical atmosphere by gliding along the Seine on a special Christmas lunch cruise.

Finnish Lapland is a perennially popular snowy European destination, particularly the region’s capital, Rovaniemi—the home of Santa. Travelers with kids can meet Father Christmas at the Santa Claus Village theme park while others can wrap up warm and take their pick of wintery activities, such as reindeer safaris, chasing the northern lights, or admiring polar bears bumble around at Ranua Wildlife Park.

The temperatures may be mild during Funchal’s holiday season, but the celebrations are just as fun as any cold-weather destination. For the entire month of December, Madeira celebrates Christmas with parties, concerts, fireworks, and markets, the most popular of which is Funchal’s Mercado dos Lavradores (farmers market), typically held on the evening of December 23. The evening consists of enjoying festive foods and drinks and shopping, and you can join the locals in singing Christmas carols, drinking, and dancing late into the night. And after having your Christmas fun, you can get to grips with the island on a private tour.

If you’re looking for a European winter vacation without the crowds, consider Vilnius. The capital of Lithuania is especially enchanting during the Christmas season, when vendors selling traditional Lithuanian food and crafts spread across Cathedral Square and Town Hall Square.

You won’t find big crowds jostling for space at this Christmas market, which is much smaller and cozier than the popular markets in bigger European cities. But you’ll still find plenty of Christmas spirit, with a large Christmas tree and nativity scene set up in Cathedral Square and an ice-skating rink in Lukiskes Square (Lukiskiu Aikste). After doing some shopping and skating, you can immerse yourself in more of the festivities on a Christmas-themed tour of this underrated city.