Whether you consider Christmas the most wondrous time of the year or find the season testing, a UK break can give you a breather from the build-up to 25 December.
Step into the season with walks in winter wonderlands, mulled wines by blazing fires, stocking filler shopping and festive feasts. Here are a few of the prettiest places to escape to across the UK…
Rye, East Sussex
With its crooked, cobbled streets and timber-framed houses, Rye could be the poster child for cosy winter breaks.
The medieval town’s high street is sprinkled with independent shops, including Rye Chocolates for handmade flavours, Rye Art Gallery for prints or original works and Grammar School Records for vinyl.
Warm up in log fire-heated pubs, such as The Ship Inn, which dates to 1592, and The Ypres Castle Inn, with its selection of craft beers, ciders and natural wines. Those with a sweet tooth might prefer a jolt of sugar and caffeine at one of Rye’s traditional tea rooms – among the mix is Simon the Pieman on Lion Street and The Cobbles on Hylands Yard.
If your visit coincides with the Christmas in Rye festival on 7 December, enjoy a Christmas procession and a carol concert.
Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, with its grasslands, beach, and salt marshes, is the ideal place for a winter walk and its Lime Kiln Cafe rewards wind-blasted ramblers with steamy bowls of seasonal soup and wedges of homemade cake.
To get to Rye by rail, the town’s station is served by Southern.
At the top of the high street, The Lookout Hotel offers brightly decorated doubles from £80 B&B, while 16th-century coaching inn The George has handsome rooms from £95. Two nights’ self-catering at the Grade II listed Landgate House, which sleeps 10, costs from £1,015 with Camber Holiday Cottages. The Yard in Rye is a new, stylish cottage let with two bedrooms next to The Cobbles tea room, from £160 per night.
Mousehole, Cornwall
The village that Dylan Thomas is said to have called “the loveliest in England” becomes even easier on the eye around Christmas. Every evening from 12 December, Mousehole’s half-moon-shaped harbour will be lit up by around 7,000 bulbs in festive displays shaped like ships, candles and crackers, as traders sell roasted chestnuts and mulled wine on the quayside.
After you’ve gawped at the lights, Mousehole’s pubs and restaurants serve menus heavy with locally caught seafood. At the Mousehole Deli & Kitchen, specials might include Newlyn half lobster and St Austell Bay mussels. Alternatively, find festive roasts at the Ship Inn.
For second helpings of Christmas lights, the National Trust’s Trengwainton Garden (open on select dates from 29 November to 15 December, booking essential), 15 minutes’ drive away, has a light trail in its walled garden and orchard. There’s a café in the grounds.
The nearest station to Mousehole is Penzance (served by Great Western Railway), from where the bus journey to Mousehole harbour takes 20 minutes.
A three-night stay at Mariner’s Cottage, a 17th-century fisherman’s cottage that sleeps four, costs from £907 in December with Luxury Coastal. A three-night stay at sea-view Kailani cottage, which also sleeps four, costs from £1,395 with Unique Homestays. The Old Pilchard Works has two self-contained rooms from £120 per night, breakfast £10pp.
Helmsley, North Yorkshire
From 29 November, the sandstone buildings of Helmsley’s Market Square will be trimmed with Christmas trees and glowing festive lights.
Shopping sprees in the town’s independent gift, clothing, and interiors stores (call in at The Helmsley Bookshop, Agnus & Co and Browns) can be punctuated with a drink stop at Helmsley Brewing Company’s tap room or lunch at Michelin-listed Pignut, which champions locally farmed and foraged ingredients. Alternatively, the traditional inn Feathers offers an afternoon tea with prosecco.
Walk it all off along the Cleveland Way National Trail to the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey, three miles away.
The closest station is Malton, around 30 minutes away by taxi, which is served by TransPennine Express. Alternatively, take the 31X from York railway station to Helmsley (around an hour 20 minutes).
Rooms at The Feathers start from £134 B&B, with downstairs rooms available. The Feversham Arms Hotel & Verbena Spa costs from £169, with some wheelchair accessible rooms.
Much Wenlock, Shropshire
Thanks to its 12th-century church and black-and-white timbered houses, Much Wenlock looks like it belongs on a Christmas card – especially in the snow.
Pre-Christmas breaks here involve shopping for presents in places such as Much More Books and The Wenlock Wardrobe, fireside lunches at pubs such as The George & Dragon, and walks in the ancient woodlands of National Trust-owned Wenlock Edge and among the ruins of the 13th-century Wenlock Priory.
Visit on 7 December to experience the town’s Christmas Fayre. It promises a Christmas market with more than 100 stalls, carols and a candle-lit procession down the garlanded high street.
The closest railway stations are Telford Central or Shrewsbury (served by West Midlands Railway and Transport for Wales). The 8A bus takes just under an hour from Telford town centre. From Shrewsbury bus station, take the 436 to Much Wenlock (around 40 minutes).
A night at 400-year-old The Fox Inn costs from £75 B&B, while doubles at Wenlock Pottery B&B are £95 a night.
Altrincham, Greater Manchester
A Victorian market hall is the hub of this town with its red-bricked half-timbered houses. Renovated in 2013, half of the hall is filled with the stalls of artisans and makers selling jewellery, pottery, handmade pet toys, eco beauty products and more. The other half is a food hall where two bars and more than 10 producers put the merry into Christmas by serving treats such as hub cap-sized wood-fired pizzas and traditional pies.
After Altrincham’s Christmas lights switch on today, there is a flurry of seasonal events in the town, from a festive macaron decorating workshop (28 November, £23pp) at Oppio Lounge restaurant to a lantern parade on 7 December and carols at King’s Court on 18 December – a courtyard of independent traders.
For winter walks, there is Dunham Massey deer park – keep an eye out for the white stag – and Tatton Park, where 50 acres of landscaped gardens await.
Altrincham is connected to Manchester city centre and Manchester airport by the Bee Network tram line and is also served by trains on the Mid Cheshire Line.
B&B accommodation at places such as Ashfield, which has six colourful rooms, from £135, or double rooms at nearby Premier Inn Manchester Altrincham, which has accessible options, from £141.
Narberth, Pembrokeshire
Narberth residents affectionately refer to their high street as the “Bond Street of Wales”, and its pastel-painted Georgian buildings are brimming with independent shops, selling antiques, vintage, jewellery, candles, stationery and homewares.
Visit on the weekend of 29 November to 1 December, and you’ll have the stalls of the Christmas market at Queen’s Hall to peruse, too.
Browsing can be broken up in the many cafés, pubs and restaurants. Try Plum Vanilla for homemade bakes, Annwn for locally foraged and farmed Welsh dishes, or Madtom for freshly caught seafood.
When you need to give your bank balance a break, you can head into the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park for wrapped-up walks across the clifftops.
Narberth train station is served by Arriva Trains Wales on the West Wales Line.
Rooms at Top Joe’s Townhouse start at £112 a night, including breakfast, while The Grove of Narberth country house hotel has rooms from £390 a night, accessible room available.
Oban, Argyll & the Islands
Christmas comes early in Oban. The harbour town’s Christmas Festival is already taking place, finishing on 24 November, and includes Christmas markets, whisky-tasting and haggis-hurling.
If you miss the festival, Oban still has everything you need for a winter break. The town is haloed by groves, gardens, and glens that are scored with trails for rosy-cheeked walks. At Glencoe, an hour’s drive from the town, you stand the chance of spotting red deer and maybe even the Northern Lights.
The town centre is dotted with shops where you can buy Highland glass, handmade jewellery and tweed.
There is also a generous helping of restaurants. You won’t find turkey and all the trimmings, though: Oban is known as “the seafood capital of Scotland”, so it is all about the mussels and Cullen skink.
Oban station is on the scenic West Highland Line. A night’s stay at the Perle Oban Hotel & Spa costs £134 a night including breakfast. Rooms at The Pierhouse Hotel, on the shores of nearby Loch Linnhe, are available from £135.
Newcastle, Co Down
Slieve Donard is the epicentre of the festive celebrations in Newcastle – a small seaside resort in Co Down. For 2024, the recently refurbished Victorian-era hotel has launched its “The Northern Light” experience, which takes place across the grounds and four rooms of the property and includes elements such as a multimedia Arctic-themed sound and light show and an interactive “ice cave”, as well as a festive artisan market.
In Newcastle itself, visitors can take in the Christmas lights, which will be illuminated from 30 November, and tuck into menus of winter warmers at traditional pubs such as Quinns Bar.
Wintry walks, meanwhile, can be enjoyed at nearby Tollymore Forest Park, with its 630 acres of rivers, woodlands, and follies, and in the Mourne Mountains, only 20 minutes’ drive away.
Newcastle does not have a railway station; the easiest way to reach the town is by car.
Rooms at Slieve Donard cost from £216 a night, with breakfast, during the “Northern Light” experience, which runs from 12-19 December. Accessible rooms available.