December splits travellers into camps: the ones chasing snow, the ones chasing Christmas markets and the ones chasing sunshine. A new seasonal roundup of the month's best destinations makes a strong case that you don't have to pick just one — and that this December comes with some genuinely useful new flight and hotel openings attached.
For skiers, the headline news is Hokkaido. United Airlines launches three weekly nonstop flights from San Francisco to Sapporo on Dec. 11 — the first ever nonstop link between the continental US and Japan's northern island. From Sapporo it's a short hop to Niseko, famed for its ridiculously light powder, where a new eight-seat gondola debuts for the 2026-27 season and the new Moxy Niseko Village offers ski-in, ski-out rooms from about $134 a night (or 64,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, though peak-season award space is tight). Off the slopes: steaming hot springs and bowls of Hokkaido ramen.
Budapest is the pick for festive atmosphere. Two big Christmas markets anchor the city — one at Vorosmarty Square for handmade crafts, the other at St. Stephen's Basilica, where you can eat a fried flatbread called langos topped with sour cream and cheese while a light show plays across the basilica's facade. Add a night cruise past the illuminated Parliament building, a Nutcracker performance at the restored Baroque opera house, and hot chocolate at the famously ornate New York Cafe — where guests of the Anantara New York Palace skip the queue. The Hilton Budapest, a former 13th-century church on Castle Hill, starts around $175 a night.
Prefer heat? Mexico's Riviera Maya hits the sweet spot in December: daytime temperatures around 81F, the dry season underway and hurricane season finished. Expect beach days, cenote swims, Mayan ruins and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12, plus tamales and bunuelos at holiday markets. Kimpton's first all-inclusive, Tres Rios, has just opened on a 340-acre nature preserve with seven restaurants, kid and adult pools and kayak-and-snorkel access from about $427 a night or 35,000 IHG points.
City breakers get New York at its most cinematic: the Rockefeller Center tree lights up Dec. 2 — the same night as Bryant Park's Winter Village — with the Rink marking its 90th anniversary, plus the Rockettes, Macy's Santaland and the outrageous house lights of Dyker Heights in Brooklyn.
The broader list also nods to Lyon's food scene, Egypt's newly buzzed-about Grand Egyptian Museum (book ahead), summer trekking in Patagonia, wildlife viewing in Botswana and Memphis for Elvis fans and holiday soul. Two practical caveats apply across the board: December is peak season, so both cash rates and award availability tighten fast, and headline attractions — museums, tree lightings, new hotels — need advance reservations. If any of these destinations is calling, booking sooner rather than later is the move.
