These Christmas Towns Have Been Rated, Ranked, and Checked Twice for Their Holiday Spirit Making Them Worth Visiting
by Heather Cassell
Nothing warms the heart more than holiday lights, gifts wrapped up with red bows in shop windows, at Christmas markets, and under the Christmas tree. Topping off the holiday glow a fire burning in the hearth and a cup of hot chocolate while the “Sound of Music” plays on TV.
These things all conjure up classic European Christmases as crowds stroll through the brightly lit Christmas markets in Salzburg, Austria; Cologne, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; Venice, Italy; or Paris, France.
The last two years have been challenging leaving the bustling European Christmas markets with no one to admire the lights and holiday windows and empty seats around the dinner table.
Covid-19 has been a scrooge challenging travelers the world over and dampening the festivities for those looking to capture the holiday spirit.
The day after Thanksgiving, nearly three weeks after borders started opening to leisure travel, the coronavirus introduced a new variant, Omicron, to the world. The variant believed to be more contagious than all previous variants, including the Delta variant, was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization. Nearly three weeks later, Omicron has rapidly spread around the world. Experts believe it is now in most countries with the variant evading current vaccines and some boosters.
The ongoing pandemic’s ever-changing travel restrictions across continents, countries, states/provinces, and local mandates have hampered Americans hopping across the Atlantic Ocean for some holiday cheer and tradition.
To fill the void, Americans are discovering they can still get the European feel with Christmas towns right in their own backyard. There are a lot of opportunities to capture that Christmas spirit, 152 to be exact, that were rated and ranked by MyDatingAdvisor.com.
Girls That Roam perused the list and chose our 10 favorite Christmas towns worth traveling to this holiday season (and I am bias, as a native Northern Californian who regularly visits family in New York City … there are one or two listings I was super happy to see on the list).
No matter how near or far your sleigh takes you this season, Girls That Roam reminds you to enjoy a safe journey and mind the pandemic health safety guidelines and mandates.
1. New York, New York
There is no place like New York City during the holidays. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade kicks off the festivities as the city goes into holiday overdrive. Overnight the streetlamps are adorned with sparkling lights and store windows are dressed up in holiday cheer. The angels and skaters are out at Rockefeller Center under Christmas trees and at the ice rinks in Central Park and at Bryan Park Winter Village where New York City Opera singers sing Christmas carols. Across the mouth of the East River through the Cary Tunnel in Brooklyn is the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights, a holiday festival of lights that can be enjoyed by walking or bus tours.
2. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea was only an hour drive away from my own seaside town, Santa Cruz. It was always a treat to drive down to Carmel and walk along the European inspired town that grew up around the Comstock Cottages, one man’s ode, Hugh Comstock, to his wife, Mayotta Brown. The 21 fairytale cottages sprinkled out around the town only add to its legendary charm, especially when it’s lit up for the holidays. Carmel has attracted artists, bohemians, and celebrities such as photographer Dorothea Lange to actress and singer Doris Day to the very wealthy during the better part of the 20th century into the present day to the Pacific Coast seaside town. It has been a haven for artists and designers who showcase their works in the windows of their studios and boutiques to chefs catering to elevated palates and wine tasting rooms demonstrating the region’s best wines.
3. Solvang, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea is an adult playground where Solvang is a child’s fairy tale land among the Danish-style architecture. As a child, Solvang played up my curiosity and wanderlust about far away European villages. There is no better time to tap into that youthful spirit than during the holidays when the charming Danish town sparkles with lights, bells, wreaths, and Christmas trees and Danishes and other sweets call out from the frosty decorated windows. Your inner child and children will be delighted.
4. Ogunquit, Maine
On a different coast 3,000 miles away from California, Ogunquit, Maine lights up with holiday cheer with Christmas parades, song in the streets with Christmas carolers. And a Sea Bonfire and Fireworks at the sandy coast. The historic seaside town takes its name from the local Native American tribe, Abenaki’s language, meaning “beautiful place by the sea.” The charming town is lovely year-round, but it truly becomes a delight on the North Atlantic seashore for the holidays.
5. Seneca Falls, New York
Seneca Falls is iconic Americana in more ways than one. The small New York town not only served as the site for the first women’s national convention, the Seneca Falls Convention, in 1848, but also as the inspiration for the holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The movie directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart and Donna Reed turned the hamlet in the Finger Lakes Region into the fictional quintessential postcard American town, Bedford Falls. Seneca Falls and museum that has the 1946 movie’s title as its namesake is celebrating the 75th anniversary of “It’s a Wonderful Life” this year. The museum opened in 2010 and celebrates bringing cast members who are still alive to its annual festival. If this isn’t the quintessential Christmas town, what is?
6. McAdenville, North Carolina
The answer is, McAdenville, which is has officially named “Christmas Town USA” in 1993. Starting December 1, this North Carolina town glows during the holidays with its impressive light displays featuring Santa, reindeer, snowmen, and more. The display of more than 400 lighted trees glittering with Christmas ornaments attracts more than 200,000 people annually to take in the dazzling Christmas show. The tradition started in the 1950s with nine decorated trees and continues to grow every year.
7. New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans goes out all for the holidays decking the streetcars and steamboats, lighting up bonfires along the levees, and decorating the French Quarter, and hosting an annual holiday parade down St. Charles Avenue. Families living in the French Quarter and Garden District mansions open their homes to the public for the holidays. Ride through a winter wonderland aboard a train chugging through 25-acres of old growth oaks that are 600 years old at Celebration in the Oaks in City Park. Sing along with Carolers singing holiday favorites while aglow from the candle’s flame at the Candlelight Caroling in Jackson Square in front of the oldest continuously operating cathedral in United States, St. Louis Cathedral. Set sail on the Mississippi River aboard the Steamboat Natchez with Santa and enjoy tea at the Teddy Bear Tea at the Roosevelt. Shop for gifts in the French Quarter and at the Art Warehouse District and on Magazine Street. And, of course, feast on traditional New Orleans’s cuisine with Reveillon dinners, a centuries-old Creole tradition decadent four-course holiday meal prepared by the cities best restaurants.
8. Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland has the Christmas spirit in spades. The midwestern city on Lake Erie is not only the site of the beloved “A Christmas Story,” which the house in the movie has been memorialized as a bed and breakfast and museum at A Christmas Story House and Museum. It is also where the props of Christmas movies past are on display at the Castle Noel. These round out about eight Christmas themed events in or around Cleveland, including the Ashtabula County Lights on the Lake and the Christmas Cave, which are a daytrip from the city.
9. Helen, Georgia
Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Helen is a German-inspired town that is often the site for Christmas movies. The mountain town invokes a European holiday with its traditional Christkindlemarkt perfect for shopping for handcrafted gifts and historic sites, especially the Hardman Farm Historic Site. The Italianate mansion built in 1870 by Captain James Nichols for his daughter, Anna Ruby Nichols, on 173-acres features a Native American burial ground that forms a mound topped by a gazebo. The site takes guests back to Victorian Christmas celebrating holiday traditions from the period courtesy of reenactments of Captain James and Anna, the namesake of Anna Ruby Falls, holiday party, a horse and carriage ride, and libations and foods from the period.
10. Williamsburg, Virginia
Step back in time to Christmas in during the colonial era at Christmas in Williamsburg, Virginia. The historic town is the site of the pivotal moment founding of the United States and is a living museum. Williamsburg is where General George Washington assembled the Continental Army and defeated the British Army led by General Charles Cornwallis in nearby Yorktown. The battle ended the Revolutionary War and birthed the new nation. The town is authentic in the fact that 90 of its buildings date back to the town’s founding and another 400 are recreations of the original buildings. Actors reenact the daily lives of early Americans in the town. For Christmas, Williamsburg lights up with a cedar tree decorated on Main Street, parades, including a Lighted Boat Parade; a Christmas Market on Main and the Yorktown farmer’s market is transformed into the Mistletoe Market, an ice skating show, and a Christmas Town Express Train making for a unique holiday experience.
This list is only 10 out of 152 Christmas Towns rated and ranked by My Dating Advisor. To get into the holiday spirit and find a Christmas Town near you, check out the list.
Book your next Intrepid women-only vacation with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
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