Best holiday destinations for December

A gloomy UK winter is so much easier to endure when a holiday is on the horizon. So we’ve rounded up some great cheap and sunny escapes for a pre-Christmas or New Year’s trip.

Thailand is balmy at this time of year and it’s also affordable – a bottle of beer typically costs just £2.10 on the island of Phuket, while a three-course meal for two with a bottle of wine is around £50.

Even in the depths of December, you can find sunshine in Europe. Lanzarote is the warmest of the Canary Islands – where you’ll discover some of the favourite resorts from our visitor survey.

Or, get into the festive spirit with Christmas markets aplenty and perhaps the chance of snow in Vienna. 

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Best places to visit in December

• Valetta, Malta 17°C 
• Lanzarote 21°C 
• Galway, Ireland 9°C
• Vienna, Austria 3°C  
• Zermatt, Switzerland -4°C
• Thailand 31°C 
• Costa Rica 23°C

Where is hot and cheap in December?

Valletta, Malta

December high 17°C

Heading closer to the equator is your best bet for finding a warm getaway in December. With return flights from London to Valletta at just £36, Malta is a clever choice for a budget-friendly escape from the UK winter.

Don’t expect a beach break — you’ll still have the occasional, albeit brief, rain shower — but Malta’s mild December climes make for excellent sightseeing and hiking. There are shorter queues for temples and other cultural attractions and, because the streets are lit up with Christmas decorations, evening walks are atmospheric and packed with photo opportunities.

If you can’t resist a Christmas market, head to Fairyland on the Piazza Tritoni for rides and ice skating, plus vendors selling roast chestnuts, Maltese sweets, pastries and more. This year, it’s open from 5 December 2026 to 4 January 2027.

Find trips to Malta with Which? Recommended Providers Jet2holidays and Destination2.

Lanzarote

December high 21°C

With the mercury hovering just above 20°C, Lanzarote is typically a little balmier than Gran Canaria and Tenerife this time of year. Fringed with sandy beaches, its volcanic landscape provides the backdrop to sugar-cube houses and otherworldly national parks, such as the red lava fields of the Montañas del Fuego (mountains of fire). 

Playa Blanca – named after its talcum-powder main beach – was crowned the top resort in Lanzarote in our survey. Situated in the south, it’s famed for its yacht-lined marina and upmarket seafood restaurants. 

Both Playa Blanca and Puerto del Carmen have festive markets and December flights from London were as cheap as £36 return when we checked.

Find package deals to Lanzarote with Which? Recommended Providers Jet2holidays or Destination2.

Where’s cheap in December?

Galway, Ireland

December high 9°C

It’s not all about sunshine. If you want to get cosy, why not embrace the lively pub culture in Galway. 

Compact and picturesque, this Bohemian university city is famous for its brightly coloured facades – traditionally painted so returning fishermen could spot their homes through the sea fog. Get snap-happy at the 18th-century Long Walk at the dockside. 

The Latin Quarter is just as vibrant: a warren of cobblestone streets filled with independent shops, quirky cafés and exuberant street performers. 

Galway’s Christmas market will also take over Eyre Square for the entire month. Expect carousels, a Big Wheel and twinkling wooden chalets selling Bavarian and West Coast delicacies. Why not try your Bratwurst with a side of Connemara oysters?

Flights to nearby Knock or Shannon airport are as cheap as £26 return from London. Just pack for chilly, wet weather and be prepared to while away the dark evenings with some live music and a pint of Guinness. 

The best festive breaks in December

Vienna

December high 3°C

The Austrian capital is enchanting at any time of year, but December is the perfect time to wrap up warm and soak up its art, café culture and historic grandeur. You’ll find its cinematic streets crammed with opulent statues, marble fountains and imperial palaces – don’t miss the sprawling decadence of the Hofburg. 

No wonder Vienna’s cultural sights clinched the full five stars in our survey of Europe's best city breaks. Climb the 343 steps to the watchmen’s chamber at the top of St Stephen’s Cathedral to take it all in. 

At this time of year, you’ll also find lamp-lit Christmas markets spread in front of the city’s grandest buildings. The Christmas-tree-dominated offering at Rathaus city hall is its most famous: where artisans sell handcrafted gifts, candied nuts and steaming mugs of festive punch to take the edge off the crisp winter chill.

Find holidays to Vienna with Which? Recommended Providers Jet2holidays.

Zermatt, Switzerland

December high -4°C

This car-free mountain resort in southern Switzerland is the quintessential Alpine dream. Not only does it sit at the foot of the pyramid-shaped Matterhorn – the most photographed mountain in the world – but its twinkling, gable-roofed timber chalets are picture-perfect. 

Hire some snowshoes for a high-altitude hike or take the historic cogwheel railway to the summit of the Gornergrat for spectacular panoramic views. 

For a bucket list experience, the Glacier Express chugs all the way to St Moritz – an eight-hour scenic rail journey past snow-blanketed peaks, frozen lakes and tiny hamlets.

You can relax afterwards with a soak in the hot tub of your spa hotel and a huge steaming pot of fondue. When we checked, return flights from London to Geneva started at £49.

Find holidays to Zermatt with Which? Recommended Providers Inghams and Trailfinders.

Top long-haul December holidays

Costa Rica

December high 23°C

Home to 5% of the world’s biodiversity, Costa Rica in Central America – with its tropical cloud forests and volcanoes – has enjoyed a boom in popularity over the past few decades. And for good reason. 

To the east is Irazu, the country’s largest active volcano (the last eruption was in the 1960s). Spend a morning gazing into its milky blue crater lakes, before hiking in the surrounding misty pine trails. 

Then there are the beaches. You’ll find palm-shaded sandy beaches, dense jungle and soaring cliffs in Manuel Antonio on the Central Pacific coast. 

The forests and mangroves of its national park are teeming with wildlife, including sloths, toucans and scarlet macaws.

No wonder the national motto is pura vida, which means ‘pure life’. The wet season has just ended, meaning you’ll find sunny, dry days and lush green landscapes in December.

Find holidays to Costa Rica with Which? Recommended Providers Audley Travel, Exodus, Hays Travel, Intrepid, Kuoni and Trailfinders.

Thailand

December high 31°C

Winter is the best time of year to visit Thailand, when the weather is cooler and less sticky than in the monsoon months. The starting point for most trips is Bangkok, which offers a heady mix of gilded temples, street markets and air-conditioned shopping malls. 

Thailand’s tropical islands are in the south: palm-fringed Koh Samui, Ko Phangan and Koh Tao off the east coast and to the west, more upmarket Phuket and Krabi with their towering limestone cliffs. In the north, Chiang Mai's Buddhist pagodas, jungle-covered national parks and traditional hill villages await.

Once you’re there, you can easily live on a shoestring budget – particularly if you dine at street food carts and night markets. And you can expect even more bang for your baht when you veer away from tourist hotspots. 

Find package holidays to Thailand with Which? Recommended Providers Kuoni and Trailfinders.

Where is hot in December in Europe?

The hottest destinations in Europe during December are:

• Canary Islands (averaging highs of 19°C) 
• Cyprus (17°C)
• Malta (17°C) 
• The Algarve, Portugal (17°C) 
• Benidorm and Ibiza, Spain (16°C) 

Weather data taken from weather2travel.com