11 festive destinations to celebrate the holiday season

Aptly known as “The Sweetest Place On Earth,” Hershey, Pennsylvania pays homage to the cocoa bean 365 days a year, with specially designed chocolate-inspired activities for the holidays. Visitors can delight in such festivities as Decorating with Mrs. Claus, visiting Hershey’s Holiday Chocolate House or by hopping on the Holly Jolly Trolley. Of course, each activity contains an element of delectable chocolate.

This spa town in the Derbyshire hills – the joint highest market town in England (a title shared with Alston in Cumbria) – has beautiful Georgian and Victorian architecture and is surrounded by the Peak District on three sides.

This December in Coastal Mississippi, travelers can unwrap the magic of the season as the 62-miles of coastline transforms into a winter paradise. With sandy beaches, beautiful shorelines, twinkling lights, and surfing Santas – Coastal Mississippi promises a unique holiday experience for residents and visitors alike. “The holiday season in Coastal Mississippi sees festive cheer across our destination from the bayou to the beaches,” said Judy Young, CEO of Coastal Mississippi Tourism. “We hope that all travelers to the region during this jolly time can find an event, or three, to spread holiday cheer and truly experience why we call ourselves a coastal winter paradise.”

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark offer stunning natural landscapes and outdoor activities that entice travelers from around the world. From the dramatic fjords of Norway to the forests of Sweden and the picturesque Danish coastlines and cycle routes, opportunities for outdoor activities in Scandinavia abound.

The Pacific Northwest’s much-loved holiday tradition, Snowflake Lane, will return for the 19th year on Nov. 24 to transform downtown Bellevue into a magical winter wonderland through Christmas Eve.

Forget the traditional holiday mall crawl and the awkward Santa lap-sit; this year, one hotel is during the festive dial up to eleven. Welcome to Hardy's Holiday Village at Nemacolin Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania, where the usual holiday cheer is swapped for something akin to a Broadway-level extravaganza. It's over-the-top, it's dazzling, and it's everything you didn't know you needed this festive season.

The largest ski resort in the United States is now one of the nation's most accessible. 

Explore Greek Flavors

Florence (Italian: Firenze) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany known as the "cradle of the Renaissance" (la culla del Rinascimento) for its monuments, churches and buildings.

This year marks the first time that the companies have operated scheduled services and trips to Christmas Market destinations from Bristol and London Stansted Airports. 

Over the last decade or so, Lisbon has emerged as one of Europe’s top tourist destinations.

Described by BBC Radio as “the best jazz festival on the planet,” the annual EFG London Jazz Festival, created by international music producer Serious, provides the ideal antidote to November’s dreary weather and shorter days. With over 300 shows across more than 70 venues, including some stellar free gigs, this month’s festival attracted a live audience of over 100,000. The ten day, citywide event featured big names and major concert halls like Sergio Mendez at the Barbican and The Symphonic Music of Wayne Shorter at the Royal Festival Hall but perhaps the pure joy for jazz fans was the discovery of rising stars and lesser known musicians at more intimate locations. Here are few of the many highlights from this month’s festival and musicians to seek out at future gigs.