‘Tis the Season

Festive Holiday Hotels, from Nantucket and Napa to Morocco and Switzerland

Sure, there’s no place like home for the holidays, but sometimes the most memorable winter escapes happen far from the family tree—say, amid Switzerland’s snow-dusted landscapes, Prague’s Christmas market stalls, or hundreds of decked trees in Nantucket. This year, toast new traditions at festive hotels that bottle the season’s magic, with activities ranging from reindeer parades and tasting menus in real-life “snow globes” to holiday cocktails served in baubles.

Dazzling light displays and urban ice-skating rinks are just a few reasons London is a favorite holiday destination. Make your seasonal celebrations extra bright at L’Oscar, a 39-room, jewel-like hotel tucked inside a Baroque-style, Grade II–listed former church in Bloomsbury.

• 2025 Season: This year, the Jacques Garcia–designed boutique is going all out on its holiday displays, teaming up with Heidi Designs to transform the property into a Polar Express–inspired wonderland. From the street, the façade will glow with golden sleigh bells, while every window reads like a toy shop filled with nostalgic treasures and antique toys. Inside the Lounge, a 10-foot Christmas tree takes center stage, with a charming toy train circling its base and puffing steam. The cinematic setting serves as a picture-perfect backdrop for a menu of festive experiences, including a Polar Express–inspired Afternoon Tea of delicately spiced pâtisseries; The Polar Express Cocktail Collection, featuring a limited-edition cocktail—served in a Christmas bauble!—available only to the first 100 guests; a decadent Christmas Day tasting menu (think Scottish lobster and bronze turkey wrapped in pancetta with all the trimmings); and a New Year’s Eve bash with a five-course tasting menu and cabaret.
• Save the Date: For an all-aboard stay, opt for the All Aboard Journey package from December 24–26: a two-night stay with private airport transfer, festive in-suite décor (tree and stockings), five-course Christmas Day lunch or dinner for two, daily breakfast, and a screening of The Polar Express with festive snacks in the hotel Library on Christmas Eve.
• Locals’ Tip: Left your shopping to the last minute? L’Oscar is just a 15-minute walk from Bond Street, Regent Street, and Covent Garden. Book the Festive Shop & Stay package (November 10–December 24) for access to the hotel’s shopping concierge and complimentary gift-wrapping, plus a two-night stay and daily breakfast, among other perks.

With snow-dusted landscapes, festive market stalls, and cozy tartan throws, December transforms the Scottish Highlands into a winter escape straight out of a storybook.

Festive Package: In the heart of Braemar, the reimagined 19th-century hunting lodge, The Fife Arms, offers a festive retreat with their “Christmas at the Fife Arms” package from December 24–27, 2025. The three-night stay kicks off on Christmas Eve with afternoon tea, the Cairngorm Reindeer parade through the village, and ancient Yuletide traditions of burning birch twig bundles in the hotel’s courtyard. Guests can create Victorian-style decorations for the hotel’s Christmas trees or take part in ancient Yuletide traditions, such as burning birch twig bundles in the courtyard. Between wintry walks through Cairngorms National Park and browsing the village’s Christmas markets, guests can retreat to Bertie’s Whisky Bar—home to more than 500 varieties —or indulge in soothing treatments at the Albamhor spa, inspired by the wild landscapes of the Highlands.

It’s never too early to start counting down for Nantucket’s most sought-after festive celebration: the annual Christmas Stroll. Taking place December 4-7, this year’s event (the 50th anniversary of the festive tradition after a brief hiatus in 2020) will see Nantucket’s historic downtown transformed into a winter wonderland, with elaborately designed storefronts outfitted with twinkling lights and holiday decor. Head to the cobbled streets of Downtown to take in the city’s most Instagrammable display: hundreds of seven-foot fit lit trees decorated by locals.

• Staying in Style: Comprising a meandering sea- and harborside hotel, inn, garden cottages, residences, and downtown lofts, The White Elephant is the ideal home base with accommodations for all groups and families and reopen exclusively for the weekend of The Stroll.
• Locals’ Tip: Festive attire and ugly sweaters are encouraged during Nanatucket’s seasonal celebrations— and don’t miss Santa’s big arrival via the Coast Guard vessel!

Festive decorations, live music, decadent menus by Michelin-starred chefs, and specialty workouts are all part of the festivities at Royal Mansour Marrakech.
Save the Date: On December 13, the hotel will host its 7th annual Christmas market, with a selection of crafts, sweets, and local products for sale in the lobby. Proceeds will go toward four local charities dedicated to combating child poverty.

• 2025 Season: True to form, no detail will go overlooked with Royal Mansour’s holiday décor, inspired by the theme of “Magical Birds,” featuring delicate winged creations suspended in the air, lending the feeling of being in an enchanted garden. The hotel’s culinary team has created special menus for Christmas and New Year’s Eve — don’t miss pastry chef Jean Lachenal’s Moroccan take on a traditional bûche de noël (yule log cake) with Taïnori chocolate, coriander, coffee praline and Madagascar vanilla cream.
• Holiday Tea: In between shopping and sightseeing, be sure to set aside time for tea time: celebrated chef Héléne Darroze has created a menu of treats to perfectly complement warming botanical infusions. Start with a blue lobster brioche sandwich, followed by a sweets like flaky buttery scones with clementine zest, a traditional gingerbread, or a Christmas-spiced baba with poached pear and roasted villa cream.
• Wellbeing Break: From candlelight stretching sessions to Christmas flow yoga and a Pilates workout that culminates with hot chocolate, guests don’t have to sacrifice the festive mood when it comes to staying in shape. Afterwards, visit the spa for a one-on-one consultation with renowned well-being specialist Lucja Maslowska, known for her tailored therapies combining nutrition, massage, and meditation.

Zurich may be the gateway to some of Europe’s best ski resorts, but it’s worth lingering for the city’s holiday magic.

• Locals’ Tip: Stroll between the city’s four major festive Christmas markets, including one of Europe’s largest, where a 30-foot tree shimmers with Swarovski crystals. Afterward, warm up at the Lindt Home of Chocolate, where tours and hands-on workshops celebrate Switzerland’s sweet legacy. Families will love the Märlitram, a storybook streetcar for children ages 4–9, driven by Santa himself while two angels read Christmas tales.
• Staying in Style: For a grand lakeside retreat to fulfill all your winter fantasies, look no further than La Réserve Eden au Lac, occupying a Belle Époque palace from 1909, fully reimagined by Philippe Starck in 2020. Its prime location puts the Opera House, Pavilion Le Corbusier, the Art Nouveau-era Bad Utoquai bathing pavilion, and the luxury boutiques of Bahnhofstrasse just steps away. Many rooms frame icy lake views, visible from private balconies—and even from the bathrooms. The hotel’s special Christmas & Culture package (November 20th-December 23) includes a 2-hour guided tour of the city’s top Christmas markets, plus free admission to the Kunsthaus art museum where American artist Jeffrey Gibson will has created his first site-specific work for a European museum, on view until December 31, 2025.
• Getting There Newsflash: Meeting growing demand, SWISS has extended several summer routes into the winter season, including five weekly flights from Washington, D.C., making it easier than ever to experience Zurich’s winter charm.

Napa Valley offers all the festive charm without snow-covered scenery (or the need to bundle up in heavy winter clothing!)

• Save the Date: Get in the seasonal spirit on December 6 with the annual Calistoga Lighted Tractor Parade, when vintage and modern tractors decked out in twinkling holiday lights and colorful ornaments parade down Lincoln Avenue for all to see. Come January, the Napa Lighted Art Festival (January 17–February 15, 2026) transforms downtown Napa into an open-air gallery, with illuminated sculptures by regional artists and technologists and nightly building projections during its opening week.
• Staying in Style: The merriest place to celebrate the season is undoubtedly The Meritage Resort & Spa, where there’s a holiday ice-skating rink, igloos for rent, and a 40-foot-tall Christmas tree with twinkling lights. Cozy up with a mulled wine from the rink-side tasting room or hang out around a firepit with a family-sized s’mores kit. Set in the heart of a working winery, the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley, meanwhile, has bottled singular seasonal magic: a holiday pop-up bar, The Cabernet Camper, for alfresco tastings and bites; twinkling winter chalets tucked among Cabernet vines for cocktails and gourmet s’mores; and Michelin-starred tasting menus inside glass-walled globes with views of rolling vineyards and the Palisades.

Each December, Prague transforms into one of Europe’s most enchanting winter destinations. From the twinkling stalls of Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square to the scent of mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, and gingerbread drifting through cobbled streets, the city’s Christmas markets are world famous for a reason.

• 2025 Season: To complement the city’s holiday charm, the Almanac X Alcron Prague has created a seasonal showcase of its own. This festive season, the hotel will unveil a striking décor concept by Czech designer Linda Pro in collaboration with Glassor Decor, a Czech design and glass-manufacturing company that specializes in the design and manufacture of mouth-blown, hand-painted and artisanal glass Christmas ornaments. At the heart of the hotel’s lobby, a 12-foot tree will sparkle with hand-blown glass bows in powder pink and cream white, surrounded by a “forest” of smaller ribbon-trimmed potted trees dusted with artificial snow.
• Did You Know? Beyond the decorations, Almanac X Alcron Prague guests can enjoy exclusive holiday experiences including festive hidden-neighborhood tours, styling sessions with fashion designer Lukáš Macháček to craft the ultimate party-season outfit, hands-on art workshops with Jan Bican to create personalized Christmas gifts, and gingerbread baking with chef Richard Bielik.