From giant goats to decorated boats – Christmas around the world, and how you can experience it in person with a direct flight from Manchester Airport

Christmas is just a couple of weeks away and cities across the globe are gearing up for the festivities. In the UK, this time of year might mean scoffing mince pies, stringing up lights and tinsel around your home, and planning for a visit from Santa. In other parts of the world, though, Christmas traditions vary enormously, from the quaint to the bizarre.

Manchester Airport has a route network unmatched by any British airport outside London, with over 200 places you can catch a direct flight to – so if you fancy experiencing a very different kind of Christmas next year and you’re looking for some destination inspiration, read on.

Tromso

Tromso is Norway’s most northerly major city and visitors here during the festive season will get to experience Christmas in the Arctic Circle – one of the few places you’re almost guaranteed a White Christmas. Norwegians have the somewhat unusual tradition of hiding all of the broomsticks in their houses on Christmas Eve to prevent them from being stolen by witches and evil spirits – a practice thought to date back to medieval times.

You can reach Tromso directly from only £76pp return* with easyJet.

Stockholm

Swedish Christmas tradition holds that the Yule Goat, rather than a crew of reindeer, accompanies Father Christmas to hand out presents – and a popular part of local Christmas celebrations involves constructing a giant effigy of the Yule Goat out of wood and straw. The small town of Gävle near Stockholm is renowned across the country for building the best Yule Goat, and holds the Guinness World Record for the largest, at more than 40ft tall. It is put up over the course of two days in late November and is taken down after Christmas.

You can reach Stockholm directly from only £115pp return* with Norwegian.

Rome

For a more solemn and spiritual celebration of Christmas you might head to Rome and more specifically the Vatican. The home of the Roman Catholic church sees tens of thousands of visitors pour into St Peter’s Square and the Basilica every day over the Christmas period to take part in Mass and other Christmas services. Outside the Vatican’s walls, ordinary Romans eagerly await the arrival of La Befana, a kindly witch who flies from house to house leaving presents on the doorstep for good children, and lumps of coal for bad ones.

You can reach Rome directly from only £43pp return* with Ryanair.

Athens

Celebrations in the Greek capital build up to the Epiphany (6 January), which is the main day of Christmas celebration in the Greek Orthodox Church, and involve Karavaki, a time-honoured tradition in Greek coastal communities whereby locals decorate their fishing boats with lights and festive ornaments. Christmas food in Greece includes Lahanodolmades, small parcels of minced meat and vegetables wrapped in cabbage leaves, and Melomakarona, crispy bite-sized cookies drizzled with honey.

You can reach Athens directly from only £72pp return* with easyJet.

Barbados

It feels like a world away from the traditional image of snow, ice, sleighs and reindeer but a Christmas in Barbados has its perks – not least the beach barbecues in glorious 30c temperatures and the opportunity to enjoy Great Cake, a fruit loaf soaked in rum and aged for several months that has become synonymous with Christmas celebrations on the Caribbean island. Locals go for a Christmas morning dip in the sea and then descend on Queen's Park in Bridgetown for musical performances.

You can reach Bridgetown directly from only £560pp return* with Virgin Atlantic.

Delhi

Known colloquially as ‘Bada Din’, or the ‘Big Day’ in Hindi, Christmas Day is a big deal in Delhi. Although it’s a minority religion, the city is home to almost 150,000 Christians and people of all faiths and none get in on the festivities. These involve festive decorations throughout the city’s public spaces, the lighting of clay oil lamps in residential areas, and the enjoyment of kheer, a sweet rice pudding traditionally consumed by the city’s Christian community at Christmas.

You can reach Delhi directly from only £495pp return* with IndiGo.

Cancun

An enduring Mexican Christmas tradition, ‘Las Posadas’, still sweeps the streets of towns and cities including Cancun at this time of year. Over nine nights from 16 December, groups go from door to door reenacting Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging and are given traditional food like tamales, alcoholic drinks and are invited to break star-shaped pinatas filled with treats for the children. As with Barbados, expect balmy temperatures on the Costa Maya at Christmas – it’s the start of the dry season, one of the best times of year to enjoy the region’s spectacular white sand beaches.

You can reach Cancun directly from only £350pp return* with TUI.

Toronto

Santa Claus, his North Pole workshop and his crew of reindeer and elves are a North American invention, a blend of traditions and legends from the various European communities who settled in the north-east US and eastern Canada during the 1700s and 1800s. Some of these traditions made it back across the Atlantic to Europe, but others didn’t –like Santa Claus float parades. Toronto’s is one of the oldest and biggest, with enormous crowds of up to half a million people lining a four-mile route around the city centre and dozens of elaborately-decorated floats preceding Santa’s showpiece arrival.

You can reach Toronto directly from only £401pp return* with Airtransat.

* Prices quoted are the cheapest available price per person on a direct return flight from Manchester before the end of December 2026 and are correct at the time of publication.