Where to Go in December: 23 Trips Compared, from Aruba to the Southern Summer

DECEMBER · WHERE TO GO · 23 TRIPS COMPARED

December is the month the travel map splits in two. Half of us want the antidote — a beach where the hurricane season has just closed its books and the trade winds do the air-conditioning. The other half want to lean in: mulled wine in a square in Vienna, fresh corduroy in the Rockies, the aurora over a Norwegian fjord at two in the afternoon. And a lucky few remember the best-kept December secret of all: south of the equator, this is the height of summer.

All of those instincts are right. What follows is the full map of them — twenty-three December trips, organized by what you actually want, each with its numbers, its case, and its catch.

Pick your December in one minute

• Guaranteed sun, zero logisticsAruba
• Sun plus culture and cenotesRiviera Maya
• All-inclusive autopilotPunta Cana
• No passport, big flavorMiami & the Keys
• Nature over loungersCosta Rica
• The Christmas-card version of EuropeVienna or Strasbourg
• Snow without skisQuébec City
• You skiVail or Park City, before the 20th
• Epic lightIceland or Tromsø
• Whales with your beachHawaii
• Actual summerCape Town or Queenstown
• Museums at 75°FMexico City or Luxor
• The movie of the holidaysNew York, first two weeks

Winter sun, close and easy

Cancún & the Riviera Maya, Mexico

78°F days · ~63 mm rain · ~4h nonstop from NYC · $$

December flips the switch on the Yucatán: the hurricane ledger closes November 30, the air dries out, and the sea settles into its winter clarity. It’s the region’s best-behaved month before the January–March high season fully lands.

The move here is to treat the beach as home base and spend every other day out: the cenote sinkholes inland from Tulum, the ruins at Tulum and Cobá before the tour buses, ferry days to Isla Mujeres or Holbox. Best for: first-time Caribbean, groups mixing beach people with ruins people. Skip if: you want quiet — this coast is popular for a reason, and December is its opening act.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

80°F days · brief passing showers · ~4h nonstop from NYC · $$

Punta Cana in December is the resort formula at its most persuasive: trade winds, 80-degree afternoons, palm-lined miles of sand, and an all-inclusive machine that makes the week effortless. Showers pass through and leave; the warmth doesn’t.

Beyond the buffet line: catamaran days to Saona Island, the freshwater lagoons of the Indígena Eyes ecological park, and golf on some of the Caribbean’s most photographed oceanside holes. Best for: families and groups who want zero decisions. Skip if: resort walls make you itchy — this is the most enclosed trip on this list.

Aruba

82°F days · driest sky in the region · ~4¾h nonstop from NYC · $$$

Aruba is the certainty play. It sits south of the hurricane belt — essentially storm-free in the historical record — and December delivers its signature product: dry, windy, reliable 82-degree days on Eagle and Palm Beach while the rest of the Caribbean crosses its fingers.

Rent a jeep for the wild north coast and Arikok National Park’s cactus desert, snorkel the Antilla wreck, and let the trade wind explain why the divi-divi trees all lean the same way. Best for: couples and weather worriers; honeymooners burned before. Skip if: budget leads — certainty is priced in, especially near the holidays.

Costa Rica’s Pacific coast

84°F in Guanacaste · ~15 mm — the dry season opens · ~3h from Miami · $$

December is the hinge of the Costa Rican year: the green season’s rains have just stopped, the Pacific side dries out, and the forests are still at their lushest. You get dry-season logistics with rainy-season greenery — the connoisseur’s window.

Surf lessons in Tamarindo, the cloud forest bridges of Monteverde, Arenal’s hot springs, and sunset boats out of the Papagayo peninsula. Roads that were mud in October are passable again. Best for: active families, wildlife people, surfers. Skip if: you measure vacations in thread counts — the luxury here is biodiversity.

Miami & the Keys, Florida

76°F days · ~41 mm · domestic — no passport · $$

Florida’s dry season runs November to April, and December Miami is its sweet spot: warm ocean air without summer’s steam, Art Deco light, and a city that treats the holidays as a beach event. Drive the Overseas Highway and the temperature barely dips all the way to Key West.

Fill the days with the Wynwood murals, Cuban coffee in Little Havana, kayaking Biscayne’s mangroves, and a Keys sunset that earns its applause. Best for: long-weekenders, food-and-nightlife travelers, passport-less households. Skip if: you want empty — South Florida in season hums.

The American mild-winter escapes

San Diego & Palm Springs, California

63°F and sunny · ~6 rain days · domestic · $

Not tropical — better described as eternally pleasant. December San Diego pairs 63-degree beach walks with taco crawls; ninety minutes inland, Palm Springs adds desert light, mid-century pools and mountain-backed golf. For West Coast travelers it’s the no-jet-lag reset.

Balboa Park’s museums, the La Jolla sea lions, Joshua Tree day trips, and the palm oases of Indian Canyons. Best for: couples, golfers, anyone allergic to winter but not to a light jacket. Skip if: swimming matters — the Pacific is bracing year-round.

Hawaii: the beach with a bonus

Oahu

78°F days · ~57 mm in passing showers · ~5¾h from LAX · $$$

December Hawaii is two shows at once: 78-degree beach weather, and the humpbacks arriving from Alaska — the whales build toward their January–March peak, and boats are already meeting them. On Oahu, December also means the North Shore’s big-wave season, when the surfing world converges on seven miles of coast.

Waikīkī for ease, Lanikai for the postcard, the Pearl Harbor memorials for the history, and a dawn at Diamond Head before the crowds. Best for: first Hawaii trips, surf spectators, whale hopefuls. Skip if: the flight budget is tight — peak-season Hawaii is a commitment.

The Big Island

74°F on the Kona side · rain varies wildly by coast · ~5¾h from LAX · $$$

Same whales, wilder stage. The Big Island in December is the road-tripper’s Hawaii: snorkel with mantas off Kona in the morning, stand on new earth in Volcanoes National Park by afternoon, and — some years — see snow on Mauna Kea’s summit while the coast holds 74°F.

Stay on the dry Kona side; let Hilo and the waterfalls be a day’s drive through eleven climate zones. Best for: second Hawaii trips, drivers, volcano romantics. Skip if: you want one resort and a towel — this island rewards motion.

Christmas-market Europe

Vienna, Austria

39°F days · ~9 rain/snow days · ~8–9h nonstop from the East Coast · $$$

Vienna in December is the reference version of European Christmas: markets filling the squares from mid-November to Christmas Eve, punch steaming in front of the Rathaus, concert season in full dress, and café culture built precisely for 39-degree afternoons.

Walk the Christkindlmarkt circuit — Rathausplatz for the spectacle, Spittelberg’s lanes for charm — then thaw at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and a grand café with a slice of Sachertorte. Best for: couples, classical-music lovers, atmosphere collectors. Skip if: you need daylight — sunset lands before 4:30pm.

Strasbourg, France

42°F days · damp — pack for drizzle · via Paris (TGV ~1¾h) · $$$

Strasbourg has called itself the “Capital of Christmas” since its market began in 1570 — one of Europe’s oldest — and in December the whole Alsatian old town plays the part: half-timbered lanes, a giant spruce on Place Kléber, vin chaud in hand under the cathedral’s rose façade.

Add the villages of the Alsace wine route — Colmar, Riquewihr — dressed like ornament sets, and you have the densest concentration of Christmas atmosphere on the continent. Best for: the full storybook; combining with Paris. Skip if: crowds spoil magic — this is a pilgrimage, and it looks like one.

Prague, Czech Republic

39°F days · ~10 rain/snow days · via European hubs · $$

Prague delivers the Vienna mood at Central European prices: markets on the Old Town Square under the astronomical clock, trdelník smoke in the cold air, and the castle floating above a city that needs no decoration to look medieval.

Cross the Charles Bridge at first light, climb Petřín for the skyline, and duck into cellar pubs where the beer costs less than the cocoa elsewhere on this list. Best for: budget-minded market lovers, photographers. Skip if: you’ve no tolerance for tourist density — the Old Town square in December is beloved and knows it.

The lights of the far north

Iceland

~37°F · wintry mix · ~5¾h nonstop from NYC · $$$

Iceland in December isn’t a beach substitute and doesn’t pretend: 4 hours 17 minutes of daylight at the solstice — all of it golden hour — wrapped in long aurora-hunting nights, steaming lagoons, and ice-cave season under the glaciers.

Base in Reykjavík for the Golden Circle, the south-coast waterfalls in their frozen costumes, and the blue ice caves at Vatnajökull (guided, and worth it). Best for: photographers, couples, bucket-listers who own base layers. Skip if: darkness weighs on you — the day is a rumor here.

Tromsø, Norway

25°F · snow · no US nonstop — 10h+ via Oslo · $$$$

Tromsø goes further than Iceland dares: inside the polar night, the sun never clears the horizon from late November to mid-January. That’s the appeal — aurora over the fjords at 2pm, husky sleds by blue twilight, whale safaris in the dark-bright channels.

It’s the most logistical trip on this list and the most otherworldly. Best for: the second aurora trip, polar romantics. Skip if: connections annoy you — there is no easy way here from the US, only a worthwhile one.

Snow, two ways

Vail & Park City, the Rockies

30°F · ~354 in of snow a year · domestic · $$$–$$$$

The giants open mid-November — Vail and Park City both target pre-Thanksgiving starts — so December is the first full-mountain month, with holiday-week glitter in the villages after the 20th. Altitude and snowmaking make them the reliability picks of early winter.

Vail brings the vast back bowls and a purpose-built village; Park City counters with real-town Main Street and the largest lift-linked terrain in the country. Best for: skiers, obviously — and their non-skiing partners (spas, sleighs, Main Street). Skip if: Christmas week is your only window and you haven’t booked — it books itself.

Québec City, Canada

26°F days · real snow, reliably · ~1½–3h flights from the Northeast · $$

For snow without skis, nothing on this continent beats Old Québec in December: the walled city under fresh powder, the Petit-Champlain’s lanes strung with lights, toboggans running beside the Château Frontenac. It’s the Christmas-market feel of Europe at a fraction of the flight.

German Christmas market stalls, ice bars, snowshoe walks on the Plains of Abraham, and French onion soup that finally makes climatic sense. Best for: families, long-weekenders from the East Coast. Skip if: 13°F nights end the conversation.

The southern flip: it’s summer down there

Cape Town, South Africa

75°F and dry — high summer · long-haul via Europe or nonstop from EWR · $$$

While the north huddles, Cape Town throws its finest month: dry summer air, Table Mountain sharp against blue sky, beach clubs at Camps Bay, and vineyards an hour away pouring in the sun. The catch is the journey; the reward is a full summer in December.

The cable car up Table Mountain, penguins at Boulders Beach, the Cape Point drive, and long lunches in Stellenbosch. Best for: ambitious travelers with 10+ days, food-and-wine people. Skip if: flight time is the enemy — this is the far end of the list.

Queenstown, New Zealand

64°F long southern days · ~13h LAX–Auckland + hop · $$$$

December in Queenstown is early summer on the shores of a mountain lake: bungee jumps and jet boats in shirt sleeves, hikes under peaks still striped with spring snow, and daylight past 9:30pm. It’s the anti-December, wrapped in Southern Alps scenery.

Milford Sound day trips, the Otago wineries (world-class Pinot), and every adrenaline sport the town invented. Best for: honeymooners, adventurers, the trip-of-the-year crowd. Skip if: you have a week or less — the Pacific eats two days of it.

Patagonia (El Calafate & the far south), Argentina

57°F with famous wind · peak trekking season · via Buenos Aires · $$$

December opens Patagonia’s high season: eighteen-hour days at the bottom of the world, the Perito Moreno glacier calving into its lake, condors over Fitz Roy’s spires. This is expedition-flavored summer — wind included, mosquito-free.

Base in El Calafate for the glacier, El Chaltén for the trails, and add Torres del Paine across the Chilean line if the calendar allows. Best for: hikers, photographers, once-in-a-lifetimers. Skip if: you want warm — southern summer here means upper 50s and wind-chill honesty.

Culture at 75 degrees

Mexico City

69°F dry-season days, cool nights · ~5h from NYC · $$

December is the dry season’s heart in the capital: crisp mornings, 70-degree afternoons, and a city layering Christmas — piñatas, ponche, the Alameda’s lights — over the Aztec and colonial stack it already is. Museum weather, taco weather, walking weather.

The Anthropology Museum alone justifies the flight; add Teotihuacán at opening time, Coyoacán’s plazas, and December’s poinsettia displays — the flower is a local, called nochebuena. Best for: food obsessives, museum marathoners, budget-savvy culture trips. Skip if: altitude bothers you unprepared — the city sits at 7,300 feet.

Marrakech, Morocco

66°F sunny days, chilly nights · via European hubs or ~7h East Coast nonstops · $$

Marrakech in December is the desert city at its most civilized: warm afternoons for the souks and gardens, cool evenings made for tagines on rooftop terraces, and the snowcapped Atlas rising behind the palms — a backdrop summer visitors never see.

The Jardin Majorelle early, the Bahia Palace, sunset drums on the Jemaa el-Fna, and a day trip into the Atlas valleys or out toward Essaouira’s coast. Best for: couples, photographers, market wanderers. Skip if: you expect beach heat — pack a real sweater for the nights.

Luxor, Egypt

73°F and rainless · via Cairo · $$

The monuments that are furnace-hot in July are perfect in December: Karnak’s forest of columns in mild morning light, the Valley of the Kings without the shimmer, feluccas drifting the Nile at golden hour. Winter is precisely why the classic Egypt season exists.

Hot-air balloon over the West Bank at dawn, Luxor Temple lit at night, and a Nile cruise toward Aswan if the itinerary allows. Best for: history pilgrims, multigenerational trips. Skip if: you want spontaneity — Egypt rewards the organized.

The city holiday itself

New York City

~45°F and falling · domestic · $$–$$$$

New York in December is its own genre: the Rockefeller tree (lit in the first days of the month), the Fifth Avenue windows, ice under the skyline, Broadway in full swing. It’s cold, and that’s part of the bit.

Skate at Bryant Park, walk the Dyker Heights lights in Brooklyn, and book the holiday shows early. Prices peak with the crowds between Christmas and New Year’s; the first two weeks deliver the same spectacle with room to breathe. Best for: the movie version of the holidays. Skip if: crowd-dread outweighs sparkle — Midtown in late December is a contact sport.

All 23, in one table

Budget tiers are relative December signals (flights + typical rooms), not quotes; the Dec 19–27 window pushes every line up a tier. Temperatures are 30-year December averages for each destination’s reference point.

December’s moments, worth planning around

The markets’ clock: most European Christmas markets open in mid-to-late November and close on December 24 — arrive the third week of December and you catch peak glow; arrive the 26th and you find plywood. The whales’ clock: Hawaii’s humpbacks arrive through November and build all month toward the January–March peak. The sky’s clock: around the solstice, Reykjavík holds 4h17m of daylight and Tromsø none at all — book aurora nights early in the trip so weather gets several chances. The snow clock: big Rockies resorts open mid-November, but early-season coverage builds through December — the back bowls fill in as the month does.

The calendar trap, quantified

American school calendars converge hard: the big districts break from roughly December 21–24 through New Year’s, and the fare data is unambiguous — the week of December 19–27 is the most expensive stretch of the winter to fly. The two escapes: travel in the first half of the month (same destinations, lower tier), or use the quirk the data keeps confirming — flying on December 24 or 25 itself, when demand and prices dip together.

Quick answers

Where is it genuinely hot in December? Aruba, Punta Cana and Guanacaste hold the low 80s; Cape Town matches them with summer. Warmest without a passport? Miami and the Keys at 76°F, Hawaii at 78°F. Cheapest week? The first ten days of the month, by a wide margin. Best single trip if I love Christmas itself? Vienna for grandeur, Strasbourg for storybook, Québec City for the closest version. Is December good for Europe’s big capitals generally? For markets and museums yes; for daylight and terraces, no — plan indoor-heavy days that end at a market. One wildcard the internet under-recommends? Mexico City: dry season, 70s, world-class food, and December’s own traditions.

Sources & data for this guide

• Climate figures: 1991–2020 December normals per destination, computed from Open-Meteo Climate/ERA5 archive APIs (grid-cell reanalysis; one call per destination) — checked Aug 31, 2026
• Hurricane season dates — NOAA National Hurricane Center; Aruba’s position outside the belt — aruba.com — checked Aug 31, 2026
• Hawaii humpback season — NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary — checked Aug 31, 2026
• Florida dry season — National Weather Service · Costa Rica Pacific dry season — ICT/IMN — checked Aug 31, 2026
• Solstice daylight — astronomical calculation (sunrise-sunset.org): Reykjavík 4h17m; Tromsø polar night Nov 27–Jan 15 — checked Aug 31, 2026
• Ski openings and snowfall — Vail Resorts announcements and resort pages (Vail Nov 13, Park City Nov 20 targets; ~354/355 in annual) — checked Aug 31, 2026
• Rockefeller tree lighting (first week of Dec), NYC DOE & LAUSD school calendars, fare seasonality (Hopper analyses incl. ~−26% flying Dec 24) — checked Aug 31, 2026
• Strasbourg market since 1570 — city of Strasbourg tourism; market opening/closing conventions — official market pages, to re-verify each season