Celebrating Christmas abroad – our experiences

Writer: Helena Bergström

Updated: October 2026 | What's it like to celebrate Christmas abroad? Over the years, we've celebrated Christmas in everything from tropical beaches and snowy cities to airplanes and an icy camper. Sometimes we've celebrated in style, other times we've almost forgotten it was Christmas. Here we've collected our experiences – and some tips for those of you thinking about traveling away over Christmas.

Celebrating Christmas abroad – in different ways

We have celebrated many Christmases at home in Sweden, but over the years there have also been quite a few Christmases abroad. And they have looked very different.

We've eaten Christmas dinner high above Auckland, been invited home for Filipino Christmas food, froze in a camper van in the Spanish mountains and spent Christmas Eve on a plane. Sometimes the trip itself has been the Christmas present and other times we've mostly hung out on the beach and almost forgot it was Christmas.

That's perhaps also what we like about celebrating Christmas abroad. You don't necessarily have to try to recreate the Swedish Christmas somewhere else. Christmas can simply be as it is.

Gran Canaria 2005 – our first Christmas abroad

We celebrated our first Christmas abroad in Gran Canaria in 2005. We were three families and a whole bunch of children traveling together and there wasn't much of a traditional Christmas celebration. Instead, it was sun, restaurant visits and a vacation.

At that time, we had no idea how many different Christmases we would experience in the future.

New Zealand 2006 – Christmas dinner in the Sky Tower

At Christmas 2006 we took a dream trip to New Zealand. We picked up a camper van at the airport in Auckland, which was actually the first time we had ever travelled in a camper van. The fact that the camper van premiered in left-hand traffic didn't make it any less exciting.

On Christmas Eve we had booked dinner high up in the Sky Tower in Auckland. The view was spectacular, but for me, who is afraid of heights, the ride up was considerably less enjoyable. I still remember the glass elevator as a rather terrifying part of the Christmas celebrations.

With us on the trip was, among others, Peter's youngest son Billie, who was ten years old at the time. At the restaurant, he ordered the most expensive dish on the menu, with beef. He pretty much just ate the meat, skipped the bread and other accompaniments and then said with satisfaction: - I can have another one. Almost as if we had been at McDonald's. There was no further portion of the most expensive dish, which was received with some disappointment.

The next day we had another problem. It was Christmas Day and we discovered that basically all the regular shops were closed. This is still the case in New Zealand, where Christmas Day is a day when almost all shops are required by law to be closed, with some exceptions, including smaller grocery stores and petrol stations.

Finally, we found a gas station where we managed to buy cream and ham. We already had pasta in the camper and with a little creativity we managed to put together dinner for the family even on Christmas Day.

Kenya 2007 – ”Merry Christmas!”

The following year we were on our way to Kenya over Christmas. We arrived at Nairobi on Christmas Day, but were so busy with everything new and exciting around us that we almost forgot that it was Christmas.

The people we met, however, were more aware. Many were nicely dressed and wished us a cheerful ”Merry Christmas!” Sometimes it almost sounded a little encouraging, as if they thought we confused Swedes needed to be reminded to wish them a Merry Christmas in return.

The trip would soon take a much more dramatic turn due to the post-election unrest in Kenya. Eventually we crossed the border into Tanzania and travelled on to Tanga, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. But that's another story.

Kyiv 2009 – a truly wintry Christmas

If some of our Christmases abroad have meant palm trees and swimming, Christmas in Kiev in 2009 was the exact opposite. We remember above all the snow. Lots of snow!

We walked around a winter-white Kiev among people in warm clothes and furs. The city was decorated for Christmas and there was a large decorated Christmas tree on Independence Square. Despite the snowstorm, there were plenty of people out on the streets and squares and we remember a lively and festive atmosphere.

This was, of course, our experience of Kiev in 2009, many years before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today, the images and memories from that trip are also a time document from a completely different era.

Marrakech 2010 – a trip as a Christmas present

Christmas 2010 we traveled to Marrakech together with Billie. The trip itself was his Christmas present, so we hadn't lugged any packages with us. There wasn't any major missing of the Swedish Christmas table either – Billie wasn't particularly fond of Christmas food anyway.

Instead, we filled our days with experiences in and around Marrakech. Around Christmas Eve, we did what Billie thought was the most fun of the entire trip: we went on a quad bike ride in the Palmeraie area outside the city.

Billie drove herself while I sat behind Peter and then we set off on roads and paths through the dry landscape. So it wasn't a particularly traditional Christmas, but the trip itself – and the experiences – were the Christmas present.

Langkawi 2012 – Christmas tree among the palm trees

On Christmas Eve 2012, we landed in Malaysia and eventually continued on to Langkawi. We didn't have any major Christmas celebrations. Instead, we enjoyed the warmth, the beaches, and the evenings at restaurants and beach bars.

But there was no way to completely escape Christmas. At our little hotel La Pari Pari, there was a decorated Christmas tree and there were Christmas decorations in the restaurant. Along the beach, strings of lights sparkled among the palm trees in the evenings.

Christmas tree, palm trees, sand between your toes and tropical warmth – Christmas can undeniably look like many different things.

Philippines 2013 – invited to Christmas dinner

In the Philippines, it was hard to miss that it was Christmas. We celebrated both Christmas and New Year in Sabang at Puerto Galera and on Christmas Day we also got to experience one of our best Christmas memories from our travels.

The couple who ran the hotel where we were staying invited us to their home to have Christmas dinner with them. Suddenly we were sitting in their kitchen in front of a table of Filipino Christmas food. We were served rice, shrimp and various dishes with chicken and pork. For dessert we had green jelly and sweet, sticky rice – sticky rice – wrapped in banana leaves.

The food was of course interesting to try, but the strongest memory is probably the hospitality. Being invited as foreign guests to share Christmas in that way was very special.

Strangely enough, we also managed to get a dose of Swedish Christmas in Sabang. We found a place run by a couple where at least one person was Swedish, and they served Swedish Christmas food. In the middle of the exotic environment, we were suddenly able to eat, among other things, pickled salmon.

Picos de Europa 2014 – a cold Christmas in the camper

At the end of 2014, we had just set off on our year-long European motorhome trip. On Christmas Eve, we found ourselves in Picos de Europa in northern Spain and stayed at Camping Picos de Europa, one of the few campsites in the area that was open in winter.

The nature was fantastic. The only problem was that it was cold and damp and that we were almost alone at the campsite. In addition, our gas was running out and we still didn't have a Spanish gas cylinder. That's why we had looked for a campsite with electricity, so that we could at least heat the camper electrically. We thought.

When we arrived, it turned out that there was only 6 amps in the electric poles. It wasn't enough for the heat we needed and now we had also driven up into the mountains, where the nights got even colder. So yes – we froze a bit that Christmas.

But Christmas Eve was of course still to be celebrated. We had been given mulled wine by friends and also managed to arrange a three-course dinner in the camper: toast with chèvre for a starter, really good baked fish for a main course and chocolate ice cream with banana for dessert.

No Christmas ham and no Jansson's temptation. Instead, mulled wine, a three-course dinner and cold feet in a camper van in the Spanish mountains. It was also a Christmas to remember.

Sri Lanka 2018 – Christmas Eve on the plane

We spent much of Christmas Eve 2018 on our way to Sri Lanka together with our friends Lennart and Beata. We flew with Ukraine International Airlines via Kiev and there was no traditional Christmas Eve dinner. The Christmas meal was simply served on board the plane.

When we arrived, the Christmas holidays continued to affect our plans. We had planned to rent a car and drive ourselves, and Peter had obtained an international driving license back home in Sweden. Once there, it turned out that we also needed to arrange a local permit to drive a rental car.

Normally, it would be possible to resolve this on site, but not during the current holidays. Our planned road trip therefore had to be changed and we rented a car with a driver instead.

The exact rules for driving a rental car can of course change, so always check the current regulations. Our experience from 2018 taught us something else above all: if you need to arrange permits or other practical matters on site, it is wise to check the public holidays in advance. Christmas Day is still an official public holiday in Sri Lanka.

Split 2022 – when we actually traveled for Christmas

For Christmas 2022, we traveled to Split, Croatia. This time, Christmas itself was a bigger part of the travel experience. We wanted to both get a change of scenery and see what it was like to celebrate Christmas in one of our favorite Croatian cities.

Split offered temperatures around 15 degrees, outdoor cafes, Christmas-decorated alleys and a Christmas market along the promenade. We tried fritule, saw children skating and ate the traditional fish dish bakalar on Christmas Eve.

It was an exciting combination of Christmas atmosphere and Mediterranean feel. Christmas Day was considerably quieter and many places were closed. In Croatia, both Christmas Day on December 25th and St. Stephen's Day on December 26th are official holidays.

READ MORE: Christmas in Split – this is how to celebrate Christmas in Croatia

Christmas trips before Christmas – when the Christmas spirit becomes the trip itself

In recent years, we have actually celebrated most Christmas Eves at home. However, we enjoy traveling in the weeks before Christmas, not least to experience Christmas markets and Christmas-decorated cities.

Before Christmas 2016, we had time to visit Christmas markets in Prague, Olomouc, Zagreb and Warsaw. In 2019, we experienced Budapest in Christmas splendor, in 2023 we traveled to Turku and in 2024 we visited the Christmas market in Tallinn.

It's a setup we like. You get the Christmas spirit and the trip, but you can still come home and celebrate Christmas Eve itself. Plus, Christmas markets are a nice way to experience European cities during a time of year when you might not otherwise have thought about traveling there.

READ MORE: Christmas Markets in Europe – 15 Cozy Christmas Markets

Good to keep in mind when traveling over Christmas

Our various Christmas trips have taught us that the Christmas holidays can affect a trip significantly more than you first think. Exactly what applies varies between countries, locations and businesses, of course, but a few things are worth checking in advance:

• Check opening hours. Grocery stores, restaurants and attractions may have limited opening hours or be completely closed during the Christmas period.
• Book Christmas dinner in advance if it is important to you to eat at a certain restaurant or have a special Christmas dinner.
• Check public transport and other transportation. Timetables may look different during holidays.
• Arrange practical matters well in advance. Rental cars, permits and other things that require open offices can become more difficult to resolve in the middle of the Christmas holidays.
• Have a plan B for food. We speak from experience. Pasta from the camper van with cream and ham from a gas station can actually save dinner.

Christmas is what you make it.

Looking back on all these trips, it's striking how different our Christmases abroad have been. We remember the view from the Sky Tower in Auckland, all the happy "Merry Christmas!" in Kenya, the snow in Kiev, the quad bikes in Marrakech, the Christmas tree among the palm trees in Langkawi and the hospitality in the Philippines.

We also remember how we froze in the camper in Picos de Europa, how our rental car plans fell through in Sri Lanka, and how many years later we experienced a much more conscious Christmas celebration in Split.

Maybe that's what we like about celebrating Christmas abroad. You don't have to bring all the traditions from home and try to recreate them in another place. Sometimes you can do that, if you want. Other times you can let Christmas be part of the journey and see what happens.

For us, at least, it has become some of the Christmas memories we remember best.