Christmas around the world: traditions and where to go

Christmas looks completely different depending on where you are in the world. Some countries go all-in on snow and markets, others celebrate with midsummer barbecues, and a few have traditions so distinctive they’ve become bucket-list experiences in their own right. If you’re thinking about where to spend the festive season, here’s a guide to Christmas around the world and what makes each place worth the trip.

Rovaniemi, Finland: the home of Santa Claus

If there’s one place that takes Christmas seriously, it’s Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland. This is the official hometown of Santa Claus, and the experience here goes well beyond a theme park. The town sits right on the Arctic Circle, which means real snow, frozen rivers, and genuine darkness lit up by the possibility of the northern lights overhead.

Santa Claus Village is the main draw, where you can meet Santa himself, go reindeer sledding, and take husky safaris through pine forests. For children, it’s genuinely magical. For adults travelling without kids, the appeal is equally real: snowshoeing, ice fishing, and the rare quiet of a Finnish winter night. The Sami culture of the region adds another layer, with traditions rooted in the land long before Christmas became a global celebration.

Strasbourg, France: where the Christmas market tradition began

Strasbourg claims one of the oldest Christmas markets in the world, with records dating to the 16th century. The Christkindelsmärik spreads across the city’s old town, filling the squares around the cathedral with wooden stalls selling mulled wine and handcrafted decorations. The cathedral itself is lit up each evening, and the reflection on the canals of the Petite France quarter is hard to forget.

What makes Strasbourg work as a Christmas destination is the city itself. The half-timbered buildings and the canals create a backdrop that feels genuinely festive rather than constructed. Tarte flambée and a glass of Alsatian Riesling in a warm brasserie are as much part of the Christmas experience here as any market stall.

Vienna, Austria: classical Christmas in the imperial city

Vienna has multiple Christmas markets, each with a different feel. The one in front of the Rathaus is the largest, but the market at Schönbrunn Palace and the quieter one at Spittelberg are worth the trip on their own. The city’s classical music culture bleeds into the season too, with churches and concert halls putting on festive performances throughout December.

Austrian Christmas traditions include the figure of the Krampus, a horned creature said to punish naughty children while St Nicholas rewards the good ones. Krampusnacht celebrations in early December, where people dress in elaborate Krampus costumes and parade through the streets, are as much a part of Austrian Christmas as the markets themselves.

Oaxaca, Mexico: posadas, radishes, and fireworks

Christmas in Oaxaca is one of the most visually spectacular celebrations you’ll find. Las Posadas, the nine nights of festivities leading up to Christmas Eve, fill the streets with candlelit processions and the breaking of star-shaped piñatas. Each night re-enacts Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter, moving from house to house through neighbourhoods decorated with paper lanterns and marigolds.

On the 23rd of December, the city holds its famous Noche de Rábanos, the Night of the Radishes, where local artists carve enormous radishes into elaborate nativity scenes and tableaux. It sounds unusual, but it draws crowds from across the country and has been celebrated since the 19th century. Christmas Eve itself ends with a midnight Mass followed by fireworks over the zócalo, Oaxaca’s central square.

Bethlehem, Palestine: Christmas at its source

For a different kind of Christmas experience, Bethlehem draws pilgrims and travellers from around the world to the place where the story of Christmas is said to have begun. Manger Square fills with visitors on Christmas Eve, and the Church of the Nativity, built over the site traditionally identified as the birthplace of Jesus, is one of the oldest continuously functioning churches in the world.

The town’s Christian community keeps traditions alive that stretch back centuries, including a procession led by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem on Christmas Eve. The atmosphere in the square, with the church bells ringing and the crowd gathered from dozens of different countries and traditions, is unlike anything else.

Reykjavik, Iceland: thirteen Yule Lads and a Christmas cat

Icelandic Christmas tradition is genuinely its own thing. Instead of one Santa Claus, Iceland has thirteen Yule Lads, mischievous trolls who come down from the mountains one by one in the thirteen days before Christmas, leaving gifts or rotting potatoes in children’s shoes depending on behaviour. Each has a name tied to a specific prank: Spoon Licker, Door Slammer, Sausage Swiper.

Then there’s the Yule Cat, a giant feline said to roam the countryside on Christmas Eve eating anyone who hasn’t received new clothes before the holiday. The tradition, while dark, has practical roots in encouraging people to finish their wool work before winter. Iceland’s Christmas season also happens to be the best time to see the northern lights, with the long polar nights giving more hours of darkness and frequent aurora activity.

New York, USA: the festive city in full swing

New York in December is exactly what the films suggest, and that’s part of its appeal. The Rockefeller Center tree goes up in late November and draws visitors until early January. The window displays on Fifth Avenue from stores like Saks and Bergdorf Goodman are genuinely worth stopping for. Bryant Park Winter Village has an ice rink and market stalls. The Dyker Heights neighbourhood in Brooklyn puts on a residential lights display that locals plan trips around every year.

New York’s festive atmosphere is loud and commercial and completely absorbing. It’s not a place for quiet contemplation, but for Christmas energy at full volume it’s hard to match.

Kyoto, Japan: a secular Christmas with its own character

Japan is not a Christian country, but it has developed its own Christmas culture over the decades. In Kyoto, December brings illumination events in temple gardens and along the canal streets of Gion, where rows of lights reflect in the water beside the old machiya townhouses. The festive atmosphere is calmer and more aesthetic than in European cities, tied more to winter beauty than to any religious tradition.

Christmas Eve in Japan is typically celebrated as a romantic occasion, similar to Valentine’s Day in the West, with couples booking restaurants and exchanging gifts. Christmas cake, a light sponge with white cream and strawberries, has been a Japanese tradition since the mid-20th century. Walking through Kyoto’s historic districts in December, with lanterns lit and the winter air carrying the smell of roasting chestnuts from street stalls, is its own kind of festive experience.

Cape Town, South Africa: Christmas in the summer sun

For travellers from the northern hemisphere, the idea of Christmas on a beach takes some adjustment. In Cape Town, the 25th of December falls in the middle of summer, with long sunny days, warm seas, and barbecues replacing the roast dinner. Camps Bay and Clifton beaches are busy with families. The V&A Waterfront has decorations and markets, and there’s a festive atmosphere that simply operates at a different temperature to what most Europeans are used to.

Cape Town’s Christmas is also shaped by the Cape Malay community’s traditions, including a distinctive style of carolling and communal gatherings tied to the Kaapse Klopse carnival, which follows shortly after Christmas. The mix of communities and their different ways of marking the season gives Cape Town a festive culture that’s genuinely its own.

There’s no Christmas quite like someone else’s

Every country on this list treats Christmas differently: not just the food or the weather, but the whole logic of the celebration. Spending it somewhere new doesn’t mean missing out on what the season means to you. If anything, going somewhere new for Christmas makes it feel more like Christmas, not less.