Christmas and New Year 2026

Why people travel then

For many families Christmas is the one week a year everyone is free, so it is less a single day than a season of travel: home for the 25th, away somewhere for New Year. In the Holy Land the feast is local news: Nazareth’s Christmas Eve parade and Midnight Mass at the Basilica of the Annunciation draw pilgrims from around the world.

This year has an extra date. 2027 is a Holy Year on the Camino de Santiago, and the cathedral’s Holy Door opens on the evening of 31 December 2026, so New Year in Santiago is also the start of a pilgrimage year. Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on 7 January, which keeps Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter festive for two more weeks.

What you will see on the routes

• Old Nazareth on Foot: Basilica, Souk and the Living Village

  On Christmas Eve a parade with scouts and bands climbs to the Basilica of the Annunciation, and the old market stays open late. Book a room early: the city fills up.

• Jerusalem: A Walk Through the Old City's Four Quarters

  The Christian and Armenian quarters are decorated from mid-December to mid-January, covering Western, Orthodox and Armenian Christmas. Jaffa Gate has a Christmas tree, and the Christmas Eve procession of the Latin Patriarch sets off from here for Bethlehem.

• Edinburgh: The Royal Mile and Arthur's Seat

  Hogmanay runs from the Torchlight Procession on 29 December to the Street Party on Princes Street on the 31st. Climb Arthur’s Seat on New Year’s Day morning for a quiet city below.

• The Camino Francés: Seven Iconic Stages to Santiago

  Arriving in Santiago for 31 December puts you at the cathedral for the opening of the Holy Door, the first moment of the 2027 Holy Year. Winter on the Camino Francés is quiet, cold and wet, and many albergues close.

• Rome Historic Center: Ancient Rome to the Baroque Heart

  The Pope celebrates Christmas Midnight Mass in St Peter’s and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing at noon on 25 December. Nativity scenes (presepi) fill the city’s churches, and Piazza Navona has its Christmas fair.

• Westminster to the Tower: A London City Walk

  The walk is at its emptiest on Christmas morning, but plan for it: the Underground and buses do not run on 25 December, and almost every sight is closed.

How it changes travel

• 25 December and 1 January are the two most closed days of the year across Europe and North America: museums, shops and many restaurants shut, and public transport runs a holiday timetable or none at all.
• Airfares and hotel rates peak for the weekends of 19 to 20 December and 2 to 3 January; flying on 24, 25 or 31 December is often cheaper.
• In Israel 25 December is a normal working day outside Christian towns; Nazareth, Haifa’s Wadi Nisnas and Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter are where the holiday is visible.

Travel window: 19 December 2026 to 7 January 2027. School holidays in Europe and North America run roughly from 19 December to 3 January; flights and hotels peak on both weekends.