A JOLLY HOLIDAY—AWAY | Travel + Leisure
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A JOLLY HOLIDAY—AWAY

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If you're after the full range of festivities and a family feel, an inn or an all-inclusive resort with lots of seasonal activities is your best bet. Keep in mind that Christmas Day can be an ideal time to travel—planes are rarely full, and flight attendants have been known to wear antlers and hand out candy canes.

Our Favorite Places to Spend Christmas

Salzburg, Austria
Streets filled with chestnut sellers, churches glowing with gilded angels. Dirndls optional. Go to the Christmas market, take a horse-drawn carriage ride, and seek out the St. Nicholas church in nearby Oberndorf, where "Silent Night" was written.
STAY AT Hotel Goldener Hirsch (37 Getreidegasse; 43-662/80840; www.goldenerhirsch.com; connecting double rooms from $576), a centuries-old inn that's both cozy and elegant. Christmas Eve dinner brings all the guests together, and there are cookies in every room.

Fife, Scotland
Walks along the North Sea, and crackling fires to come home to. You'll be within easy reach of Edinburgh, which goes all out at its New Year's celebration, Hogmanay (44- 131/473-2000; www.edinburghshogmanay.org), with concerts, film festivals, footraces and a torchlight procession. Book passes to the events well in advance. And think sweaters, coats, and mukluks— even indoors.
STAY AT A house in the countryside rented from Blandings (44-207/947-3290; www.blandings.co.uk; two-bedroom houses from $1,566 a week); ours was Georgian, shared with another family, and filled with Queen Anne antiques.

Munich, Germany
The run-up to the holidays lasts all December, with markets throughout the city selling chocolate crêpes, steamed pudding, and ornaments galore.
STAY AT The Bayerischer Hof (2–6 Promenadeplatz; 49-89/21200; www.bayerischerhof.de; junior suite from $794), a standout in the row of onetime palaces down the street from the central market. Ask for a Landstilroom, decorated with Bavarian painted furniture.

Cruising the West Indies
Holland America (877/724-5425; www.hollandamerica.com; family of four from $4,100 a week) has 14 Caribbean itineraries during winter school vacation. Three generations of our family opened presents on deck, drank flagons of pineapple juice, and lost at bingo. Children trooped to Christmas Eve dinner in their very best, causing parental heart flutters.

Where We Want to Go Next

Siena, Italy
Winter is the quiet season, with panforte, concerts in the cathedral, and Nativity scenes everywhere.
STAY AT La Foce (61 Strada della Vittoria; 39-0578/ 69101; www.lafoce.com; apartments for four from $964 a week)—at this country estate with flats in restored medieval castles and stone farmhouses, the tree and firewood can be delivered to your door.

Strasbourg, France
It's a small city with an ancient heart of crooked streets and half-timbered houses. The irresistible Christmas market has merry-go-rounds, and the shops are stuffed with printed linens and artful children's clothes. Buy a Three Kings' cake at one of the many bakeries and look for the prize inside.
STAY AT Hôtel Beaucour (5 Rue des Bouchers; 33-3/88-76- 72-00; www.hotel-beaucour.com; doubles from $191), an 18th-century house with exposed beams and Internet access—the perfect place to collapse after a meal of sauerkraut and wurst.

Oaxaca, Mexico
Chicken with mole may replace turkey as your holiday favorite, or try the sweet buñuelos with mugs of hot chocolate. During Christmas week (www.christmas-in-oaxaca.com), the streets are filled with processions. December 23 is the Radish Festival, in which the zocalo is given over to carved tubers. And New Year's Eve is all about fireworks.
STAY AT Hotel Camino Real (300 Calle Cinco de Mayo; 52-951/501-6100; www.caminoreal.com; doubles from $250), a 16th-century former convent with shaded courtyards and a lovely pool. — C.C.

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