Sometimes the best Christmas present isn’t something you wrap. It’s getting out of town for a few days, seeing somewhere new and actually having time to enjoy the season.
A Christmas getaway can be a full vacation, a long weekend or even a quick road trip somewhere close enough that you don’t have to spend half your holiday getting there.
If you’re looking for Christmas getaway ideas this year, we’ve rounded up a few different ways to plan a festive trip, including snowy mountain escapes, big-city Christmas weekends and, of course, a Christmas trip to Las Vegas.
1. Plan a Classic Snowy Christmas Getaway
If your idea of Christmas includes snow on the ground, a fireplace and a reason to wear the winter coat that’s been sitting in the back of your closet, head somewhere that fully embraces winter.
Mountain towns and ski destinations are great choices for a Christmas weekend getaway because you don’t necessarily have to ski to enjoy them. Book a cozy cabin, find a local Christmas market, go sledding, drink something warm and enjoy the fact that you temporarily live inside a Christmas card.
This is also a fun option for families coming from warmer climates who want the kids to experience an actual snowy Christmas.
2. Make It a Big-City Christmas Weekend
There’s something about a city completely decked out for Christmas that makes walking around feel like part of the vacation.
Look for destinations with big Christmas trees, decorated shopping districts, holiday window displays, seasonal shows, outdoor ice skating and Christmas markets.
The best part about this kind of Christmas getaway is that you don’t need a packed itinerary. Grab coffee, walk around, look at the decorations and stop whenever you find something that looks fun.
Sometimes that’s the whole plan.
3. Take a Christmas Road Trip
You don’t have to get on a plane to make Christmas feel different.
Pick a destination a few hours away, make a Christmas playlist and turn the drive itself into part of the trip. Look for small towns with decorated downtown areas, drive-through Christmas lights, tree-lighting celebrations or holiday festivals.
For families, a short road trip can also be much easier than coordinating airports, luggage and holiday travel with kids.
Plus, you can bring approximately 47 unnecessary Christmas snacks in the car, which is obviously important.
4. Spend Christmas Somewhere Warm
Not everyone dreams about waking up to snow.
If your ideal Christmas morning involves sunshine and temperatures that don’t hurt your face, plan a warm-weather Christmas getaway instead.
Trade snow boots for sneakers, spend your days outside and save the Christmas activities for the evening. You still get all the lights, decorations and traditions without spending your vacation wondering if you’ve lost feeling in your toes.
Christmas doesn’t have to be cold to feel like Christmas.
5. Plan a Christmas Getaway to Las Vegas
Hear us out.
Las Vegas might not be the first place that comes to mind when you picture a traditional Christmas vacation, but that’s exactly why it’s fun.
During the holiday season, Las Vegas fills up with Christmas lights, seasonal shows, decorated resorts, ice skating, holiday dining, Christmas attractions and special events happening across the valley.
You can spend the afternoon exploring the Strip, see a Christmas show, go out for an incredible dinner and end the night surrounded by millions of Christmas lights.
And you definitely won’t have to shovel snow before you leave the hotel.
6. Drive Through Glittering Lights
If your Christmas getaway brings you to Las Vegas, save a night for Glittering Lights at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Glittering Lights is a three-mile drive-through Christmas light experience featuring more than 6 million lights. You stay cozy inside your own vehicle, turn on Ho Ho Radio and drive through the lights at your own pace.
For the 2026 holiday season, Glittering Lights is open November 6, 2026 through January 3, 2027, so you don’t have to visit during Christmas week to experience it.
In fact, if your travel dates are flexible, earlier in the season is a great time to come.
7. Turn Your Christmas Getaway Into a Family Tradition
The best Christmas trips aren’t always the biggest or most expensive ones. They’re usually the ones everyone keeps talking about afterward.
Maybe you visit the same town every December. Maybe everyone gets matching pajamas for the road trip. Maybe you let the kids pick one Christmas activity each year. Maybe you always get hot cocoa before looking at lights.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
A tradition starts because you did something once, everyone loved it and somebody said, “We have to do this again next year.”
8. Take a Couples Christmas Getaway
Christmas trips aren’t just for families.
Book a hotel for the weekend, make dinner reservations somewhere you’ve been wanting to try and plan one or two festive things to do together. See a holiday show. Go ice skating. Drive around looking at Christmas lights. Order room service and watch Christmas movies.
If you’re visiting Las Vegas, you can even turn your drive through Glittering Lights into a Christmas date night.
No wrapping presents. No hosting. No figuring out who is bringing what to dinner.
Just Christmas and the two of you.
9. Give Experiences Instead of More Stuff
If you’re struggling to figure out what to buy someone who already has everything, make the getaway the gift.
Instead of adding another thing under the tree, surprise the family with a Christmas trip, book a weekend away with your partner or give grandparents an experience everyone can do together.
Concert tickets, Christmas shows, hotel stays, holiday attractions and special dinners all give you something to look forward to before Christmas even arrives.
And nobody has to find somewhere to store it afterward.
Where Will You Go This Christmas?
The best Christmas getaway ideas aren’t necessarily the destinations with the biggest tree or the most snow.
Pick somewhere that gives you a chance to slow down, spend time together and do something that feels a little different from your normal December routine.
Go find the snow. Escape the snow. Explore a new city. Take a road trip. Spend Christmas in Las Vegas.
And if your holiday getaway brings you our way, come see us at Glittering Lights.
We’ll have 6 million lights waiting for you.
