What most people do: a Christmas market in a cheap city, two to three hours from Dublin. Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Prague and Budapest.
If money’s no object: Brussels, Cologne or Paris, under two hours away.
Sun instead: Tenerife, 23° in December. Dearer at Christmas, so book it now and stop looking at me.
Every year it’s the same. Somebody says “wouldn’t it be lovely to go away for Christmas?” and the whole kitchen goes quiet. Then himself says “and who’d do the dinner?” Would you go away out of that. The dinner does itself. It did it last year, and I’d say you couldn’t tell me who peeled the sprouts.
I’ll tell you what I’d do, and I’m only telling you because you asked.
Get yourself to a market
They open from mid-to-late November and run up to Christmas, and some of them go into January. These are the nearest ones to Dublin, with the flight time and the average December high. Anything under two hours, you’d barely have the flask poured.
| Where | Direct from Dublin | December high | What’s there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brussels | 1h 30m | 6° | A market and a light show around the Grand-Place |
| Paris | 1h 40m | 8° | Lights on the Champs-Élysées and markets around the city |
| Düsseldorf | 1h 45m | 6° | Old Town and Heinrich-Heine-Allee |
| Cologne | 1h 50m | 6° | By the cathedral, in the Old Town and on Neumarkt |
| Hamburg | 1h 55m | 5° | City centre and Rathausmarkt |
| Frankfurt | 2h | 5° | The Römerberg |
| Zurich | 2h 00m | 4° | One of them is inside the main train station, would you believe |
| Munich | 2h 10m | 4° | Marienplatz |
| Prague | 2h 15m | 3° | Old Town Square, running to early January |
| Zagreb | 2h 40m | 5° | Rated one of the best in Europe |
| Kraków | 2h 40m | 2° | The Main Square |
| Budapest | 2h 50m | 4° | St Stephen’s Basilica and Vörösmarty Square |
| Riga, Tallinn | around 3h | 0° | Medieval squares. You’ll be perished |
Those are long-term averages, and flights change, so check what’s running before you book anything.
What most people do (because we’re not made of money)
Sure we’re not, and not after the shopping either. I’m after seeing the bank statement. So I’d go east. Kraków, Wrocław and Poznań are 9 out of 10 for value on our own list, and Prague, Budapest, Bratislava and Riga are 8. They’re all two to three hours from Dublin, and once you’re there, the dinner, the drinks and the hotel cost a lot less than they would in Paris or Zurich. Those score 4 and 2, and I wouldn’t go to Zurich unless somebody else was paying. Not a hope.
Now listen to me. Go early in December, or midweek. The weekend before Christmas is bedlam, and you’d spend it in a queue for a sausage. Hand luggage only (here’s what I’d put in it), and wear the big boots on the plane. And put the bag and the seat on to every flight before you compare them, because the cheap one isn’t always the cheap one. I wrote that one down too. Stay a small bit out of the centre, near a tram. The market is the same wherever you sleep, and the hotel isn’t.
Eat where the locals eat. If the menu has photos on it, keep walking. And bring a bit of cash, in small notes, because a lot of the stalls only take cash and there’s nothing worse than the child crying over a pretzel.
What to wear (and I mean it)
You’ll be outside for hours, and you’ll feel every minute of it. Thermals, a hat, gloves, and boots with a good grip. Layers, not one big coat, because the shops and the trams are boiling and you’ll be roasted by the second stall. And don’t be wearing anything with a leather sole on a cobble. I’ve seen it, God help the woman. It wasn’t pretty.
Many markets give you the mulled wine in a mug with a small deposit. You can hand it back or you can keep it. I’ve a press full of them at home, and your father thinks they came free with the petrol.
If you’ve the money
New York is 7h 45m direct and 6° in December. The Rockefeller Center tree, the shop windows and the ice rinks are every bit as good as the films. It’s very dear, so go in with your eyes open. Do your ESTA on the official US government site and nowhere else, weeks before you fly. I’m after telling you.
Lapland is −6° in December, and Santa Claus Village is at its busiest. The children will never forget it. It’s dear, and the trips sell out by the summer, so it’s one for the people who have the Christmas booked before the schools are even out. It isn’t on our direct list from Irish airports, so you’d be connecting.
If you’d rather go and sit in the sun
Tenerife and Gran Canaria are 23° in December, and Lanzarote and Fuerteventura 22°. All four are about four hours direct (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura). Tenerife is “dearer at Christmas” on our own score, because half the country had the very same idea. Go early in the month, or book it now. Bring a jumper for the evening and put the factor 50 on in the day, whatever month it says on the calendar. See where’s warm in December for the full list.
Before you go
Book the hotel before the flight, because the good ones go first. Check what’s open on Christmas Day itself, because plenty of Europe shuts. Ask somebody to mind the house, and tell them where the good scissors are, because they’ll ring you. The rest is in the Christmas and New Year guide.
And mind yourself. Wrap up.
A scarf does more good than any hot drink.
Temperatures are long-term averages for December. Flight times are typical and change by season. Opening dates, prices and rules change, so check each market and the official government pages before you travel.
