The holiday season has its share of magic for everyone. But for faith-based groups, Christmas is an especially enchanting time of year to travel. With their heart-warming hospitality, merry festivities and picturesque settings straight from a snow globe, these towns and cities capture the Christmas spirit and remind groups of the reason for the season.
From festive, decorated trees and streetscapes aglow in Christmas lights to afternoon sleigh rides and serenades by strolling carolers, these destinations specialize in setting the scene for memorable Christmas getaways.
Fredericksburg, Texas
From late November through the first week in January, the central Texas city of Fredericksburg shines brightly with nightly lightings of a community Christmas tree in downtown and the city’s beloved “Weihnachtspyramide,” a 26-foot-tall German Christmas pyramid. The supersized, traditional wooden carousel — handcrafted in Germany in 2009 specifically for installation in Fredericksburg — features multiple levels of Christmas motifs, from angels and nutcrackers to St. Nicholas and the Three Wise Men. The structure serves as a perfect holiday photo backdrop and an ideal centerpiece to the city’s “Weihnachtszeit” (Christmas season) festivities, a weeks-long celebration of the holidays that speaks to Fredericksburg’s founding by German immigrants in the mid-1800s.
Texas Hill Country also hosts many other events that faith-based groups will enjoy, from a Santa Day parade and nighttime Christmas light parade plus outdoor ice skating and musical performances in Fredericksburg to a Christmas tree lighting and live nativity at the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site in nearby Stonewall. Many area wineries sponsor holiday wine-pairing events, and downtown Fredericksburg shops and boutiques often feature special holiday events and vendor markets. With so many activities to choose from, it’s easy to see why Southern Living magazine has called the city one of the best small towns for Christmas celebrations in the South.
Leavenworth, Washington
In central Washington state, Leavenworth offers another taste of German American holiday festivities, all set in a charming downtown that looks as though it has been pulled straight from a traditional Bavarian village. While the area serves as an appealing destination at any time of year, the city particularly sparkles at Christmastime — thanks in no small part to the 500,000 holiday lights that adorn the downtown center throughout the yuletide season.
Visitors can listen to strolling carolers and visit Santa and Mrs. Claus, explore gingerbread displays at the Festhalle, the community’s gathering hall, and enjoy live music at the city’s downtown gazebo. Nearby, the Leavenworth Reindeer Farm offers guests the unique opportunity to feed and pet live reindeer, but reservations fill up quickly, so planning ahead is key. Depending on the likelihood of snow, guests can take in the city sights with either a horse-drawn wagon ride or a horse-drawn sleigh ride before grabbing a pretzel, Bavarian sausage and mulled wine at the city’s München Haus, its celebrated open-air beer garden.
Frankenmuth, Michigan
Known as “Michigan’s Little Bavaria,” Frankenmuth offers yet another destination for a European-inspired holiday getaway. Founded in 1845 by German colonists, Frankenmuth carries its roots proudly, and evidence of the city’s German lineage abounds in its German-inspired architecture and quaint, boutique-lined streets, which charmingly feature everything from modern fashion and accessories to Black Forest cuckoo clocks and a German cheese haus.
Add thousands of holiday lights and cheerful seasonal decorations, and Frankenmuth’s picturesque downtown feels as though it’s been lifted from the pages of an Old World holiday tale. Visitors can enjoy an outdoor ice skating rink in the heart of downtown, catch a holiday-themed dinner show at the iconic Zehnder’s restaurant or snap selfies near one of the city’s many elaborate decorative displays.
Above all, faith travel groups won’t want to miss the half-mile drive with 100,000 twinkling lights leading the way to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, the world’s largest Christmas store. The property’s 96,000-square-foot showroom bursts with Christmas decor galore, and the shelves there feature ornaments for every taste. Bronner’s Silent Night Memorial Chapel, nestled on the southern tip of the store’s 27-acre property, serves as a replica of the chapel in Austria where “Silent Night” was first sung on Christmas Eve in 1818. It’s free and open to the public for meditative visits.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Given its name, Bethlehem couldn’t help but take the holidays seriously. The Pennsylvania city — named on Christmas Eve in 1741 by Moravian settlers — fittingly embraces winter festivities in a big way. Its celebrated Christkindlmarkt, one of the largest of its kind in the U.S., features more than 150 vendors selling traditional holiday decorations, one-of-a-kind crafts and delicious seasonal treats.
Faith travel groups will want to check out the city’s annual Trees of Historic Bethlehem display, a collection of beautifully decorated Christmas trees located at several historic sites in town, including the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem and the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts. At the Central Moravian Church campus, the Community Putz — a Moravian tradition similar to a large nativity or creche display — re-creates the scene of Jesus’ birth through elaborate, carved figurines.
Lantern-lit, guided Christmas strolls offer visitors a unique way to explore the city’s historic settlement area, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to its careful preservation of 18th-century Moravian buildings. Another popular option, the Bethlehem by Night Motorcoach Tour, takes visitors on a guided bus tour through the heart of the Moravian settlement district and historic Main Street, culminating in a breathtaking view of the city’s 91-foot-tall, illuminated Star of Bethlehem overlooking the city below.
Woodstock, Vermont
Basking in quintessential New England charm, Woodstock, Vermont, is worth a trip during any season, thanks to its postcard-worthy covered bridge, charming 19th-century architecture and inviting central village green.
But when the weather chills and the holidays near, the city transforms into a true winter wonderland where guests can try their skills at skiing and snowshoeing, take a horse-drawn sleigh ride, enjoy a Christmas parade and browse the offerings at festively decorated, hundred-year-old storefronts stocked with local jams, jellies, maple syrup and more.
The town’s historic Woodstock Inn & Resort, renowned for both its hospitality and cuisine, and the Billings Farm & Museum, a working dairy farm and outdoor history museum, serve as the focal points for many of the area’s Christmastime festivities, including captivating light displays, a life-size gingerbread house exhibit, and Victorian holiday craft making and candle dipping.
Each year, the Christmas cheer culminates in the town’s Wassail Weekend, an annual three-day event brimming with artisan markets, live musical performances, garland making and other hands-on crafts, a scavenger hunt and — of course — the chance to try wassail, a traditional mulled cider synonymous with the holiday season.
Helen, Georgia
Nestled in the mountains of north Georgia, Helen offers visitors still another take on snow globe-worthy Bavarian architecture and European-inspired charm. The city’s annual Lighting of the Village kicks off the holiday season with a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus and the illumination of a 20-foot-tall downtown Christmas tree.
Groups can stroll the vendor booths at the Helen Christkindlmarkt, held on select weekends in November and December, to find a perfect holiday gift for a friend or loved one — or to search for a unique, handcrafted ornament to complete their own collection. In downtown, groups can enjoy a horse-drawn carriage ride or stroll among unique boutiques like The Christmas Shoppe and the Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen for even more holiday souvenirs and holiday-themed treats.
The annual citywide Christmas parade includes floats, bands and a visit from St. Nick himself. Just south of Helen in Sautee Nacoochee, the Hardman Farm State Historic Site invites guests to enjoy a Victorian-style holiday in a restored Italianate mansion, complete with costumed docents and a reenacted 19th-century Christmas party.
McAdenville, North Carolina
Home to one of the most famous holiday light displays in America, McAdenville, North Carolina, calls itself “Christmas Town U.S.A.” — and for good reason. Each year, thousands of visitors from across the country flock to the small community just west of Charlotte to marvel at the beauty of its immersive displays of more than 500,000 green, red and white holiday lights.
The town has embraced these three traditional Christmas colors in its light displays since at least 1956, when the McAdenville Men’s Club initiated the decorating tradition there. Today, faith travel groups can enjoy the glow of more than 250 decorated trees citywide plus countless light displays dotting the buildings throughout downtown and many of the town’s core residential areas. Most light displays run Dec. 1 through Dec. 26.
Faith travel groups can also feel the Christmas Spirit at McAdenville’s unique annual Yule Log Parade in early December, with fun and festive floats, local bands and the star of the show: a traditional holiday yule log that’s pulled in a sleigh through town before its ceremonial placement on the town’s Yule Log Fireplace, a focal point of McAdenville’s Legacy Park throughout the holiday season.
Branson, Missouri
While it’s packed with fun year-round, Branson, Missouri, becomes especially magical at Christmastime, thanks to multiple festive drive-thru holiday light experiences that bring millions of lights to the city, including Trail of Lights at The Shepherd of the Hills; Let There Be Lights at Promised Land Zoo; and the Lights of Joy Christmas Drive-Thru display.
Branson’s Silver Dollar City theme park shines during the holidays, too, thanks to An Old Time Christmas festival and the more than 6.5 million lights that adorn its attractions throughout November and December. Frequently voted America’s best holiday theme park event, Silver Dollar City’s winter festival includes an eight-story animated LED Christmas tree, nightly Christmas parades, festive holiday entertainment with headlining stars, a living nativity scene and live stage presentations of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” daily.
Around town, the Branson Christmas Tree Tour includes hundreds of colorful Christmas tree displays of all shapes and sizes, and many area theaters host special holiday-themed productions, like Sight & Sounds Theatres’ popular “Miracle of Christmas” show, which brings to life the story of the nativity with massive sets, flying angels and live animals.
