Best Places to Visit in December, Picked by the Trip You Want

Every trip abroad on this list is one of the 185+ destinations a HelloRoam eSIM covers, so you can land with maps, transit apps and booking emails already working.

Official weather data and event dates back every pick

A place made this list only if December gives it an edge you can check: warm or mild days, a dry season, whale season, early summer, real winter, or a dated event worth flying for. Temperatures and rain come from the 1991 to 2020 normals published by NOAA and the Japan Meteorological Agency, plus the long-term record of Australia's Bureau of Meteorology for Sydney. Day lengths for December 21 come from NOAA's Solar Calculator, except Rovaniemi's, which is the tourism board's December average.

The warm December picks are Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Florida, Arizona and Costa Rica

If you'd rather stay in the US, Hawaii is the warmest state on this list and Arizona is the driest. For a chance of snow, New York is the pick.

Hawaii: 82°F days in whale season

Honolulu's December normal is an 82°F high and a 69°F low, based on NOAA's records for the airport. December also falls inside humpback whale season. The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary says visitors can see whales from shore and at sea from November through April.

Puerto Rico: warm, and past the official hurricane season

San Juan runs even warmer than Honolulu, with an 84°F normal high and a 73°F low in December. The National Hurricane Center dates the Atlantic hurricane season from June 1 to November 30, though it notes that storms sometimes form outside those dates. Pack for showers anyway: San Juan's December rain normal is 4.85 inches, more than twice Honolulu's.

For routes, fares and the ID rules for mainland travelers, see our guide to planning flights to Puerto Rico.

Key West and Phoenix: warm or dry in the lower 48

Key West averages a 78°F high and a 68°F low in December, per NOAA, so evenings stay mild too. Phoenix is the dry choice. Its December normal is a 66°F high with just 0.74 inches of rain, but nights drop to about 45°F, so bring a jacket for after dark.

Costa Rica: December opens Guanacaste's dry season

Costa Rica's national weather service, the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), says the Pacific dry season runs from December to March and reaches the northwest first. In its north Pacific region, which takes in Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula, only 4% of the year's rain falls in those four months. The Caribbean side has no defined dry season, and December is its rainiest month.

The Costa Rica Tourism Board's dry-season ideas for Guanacaste include beach days at Tamarindo, Playa Conchal and Nosara, and hikes in Rincón de la Vieja National Park. You'll lean on maps and tour confirmations between those towns, which is easier with mobile data for Costa Rica already on your phone.

December is early summer in Sydney, New Zealand and Patagonia

South of the equator, December days run long. On December 21, Sydney gets about 14 hours 24 minutes of daylight, against about 9 hours 15 minutes in New York, based on NOAA's Solar Calculator.

Sydney: beach weather with a harbor view

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology lists long-term December averages for Sydney of a 25.3°C (78°F) high and a 17.6°C (64°F) low, with 7.6 hours of sunshine a day. Rain is moderate at 77.1 mm, or about 3 inches. Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks are covered below.

New Zealand: the Great Walks season is open

New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) runs the Milford Track Great Walks season from November 1, 2026, to April 30, 2027. The track goes one way only, over 3 nights and 4 days, and you need bookings for huts and transport. Bookings for the 2026/27 season are already open.

DOC warns that avalanche risk can last into December. During the Great Walks season it manages that risk to a low level, and walkers may be flown over dangerous sections at their own cost. There is no cellphone coverage on the track, so save your bookings and the track map to your phone before you start.

Queenstown, in the south of the South Island, gets about 15½ hours of daylight on December 21, so long hiking days are easy to fit in.

Patagonia: the longest days on this list

Puerto Natales, in Chilean Patagonia, gets about 16 hours 40 minutes of daylight on December 21. Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina, gets about 17 hours 20 minutes. More daylight means more hours to hike before you need a headlamp.

Lapland, Iceland, Tokyo and New York are the winter picks

Finnish Lapland: snow, Christmas and a fair shot at auroras

Rovaniemi sits right on the Arctic Circle, and its tourism board, Visit Rovaniemi, calls it the Official Hometown of Santa Claus. The board puts December's average daylight at 2.5 hours, with typical daytime temperatures of -20 to -10°C (-4 to 14°F). It also says snow covers the ground there for about six months of the year.

Long nights help, but December isn't the top aurora month. The Finnish Meteorological Institute names February to March and September to October as the best months, and 9 PM to 1 AM as the best hours. In Sodankylä, north of Rovaniemi, the institute counts every second night as an auroral night. You still need a clear sky to see one.

Visit Rovaniemi points visitors to a Northern Lights Alert app that sends real-time alerts to your phone. Away from hotel Wi-Fi, that alert only reaches you with a data connection in Finland. Rovaniemi and Lapland's other main towns have 4G, but signal is limited in the remote wilderness.

Iceland: about 4 hours of daylight

Reykjavík gets about 4 hours of daylight on December 21, based on NOAA's Solar Calculator. Plan drives and sightseeing around the midday light, and save the long evenings for the city. To make the most of that short day, check routes and opening hours between stops with mobile data in Iceland.

Tokyo: cool, dry and clear

The Japan Meteorological Agency puts Tokyo's December normal at a 12.0°C (54°F) high and a 3.8°C (39°F) low, with 57.9 mm (2.3 inches) of rain. That's about a quarter of October's 234.8 mm. December also logs 174.4 hours of sunshine, far more than September's 126.7.

Dry, bright days suit long walks between neighborhoods and day trips by train. A data plan for Japan keeps transit routes and maps open on the go.

New York City: cold days and a chance of snow

New York's December normal at Central Park is a 44°F high and a 34°F low. Snow is a gamble: the normal for the whole month is 4.9 inches.

Europe's Christmas markets have their own guide

This list leaves out Europe's Christmas markets on purpose. Our guide to European cities in December covers Vienna, Prague, Strasbourg and more in detail. If you pair the markets with Lapland's snow or Edinburgh's Hogmanay, a HelloRoam regional plan for Europe keeps one eSIM working across the countries it covers.

Where to spend New Year's Eve: Sydney, Edinburgh, New York or Reykjavík

These four cities do New Year's Eve in very different ways, from a ticketed street party to a city where residents set off the fireworks themselves. The details below were checked on October 2, 2026.

The City of Sydney's fireworks light the harbor at 9 PM and at midnight. Its official site lists 48 vantage points, and some are ticketed, so check which ones need a booking before you pick a spot. On New Year's Eve, an eSIM for Sydney lets you pull up that list right from the harbor.

Edinburgh's Hogmanay starts with the Torchlight Procession on December 29, 2026, at 6:30 PM. The Hogmanay Street Party on Princes Street opens at 8 PM on December 31, 2026. Tickets start at £10, plus a 50p charity donation collected with each ticket purchase, and the event is for ages 12 and up.

The organizer sells official tickets only through edinburghshogmanay.com, ticketmaster.com and tickets-scotland.com. It warns that tickets listed on Eventbrite or other secondary sites are not valid.

Times Square needs no ticket. The Times Square Alliance calls the outdoor celebration a free event, open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. It also warns that "all access" passes advertising entry to Times Square on New Year's Eve promise access that isn't possible. Its New Year's Eve FAQ still described the 2025 event when we checked, so confirm this year's opening times before you go.

Reykjavík has no official fireworks display, according to Visit Reykjavík. Many residents head to a neighborhood bonfire first, then set off their own fireworks. From about 10:30 to 11:35 PM the streets go quiet while most of the country watches Áramótaskaup, the yearly comedy show on national TV. The fireworks start as soon as it ends.

A one-week December trip works best with a small time change

For 7 days, skip long-haul jet lag and pick a place within a few hours of home. In December, the gaps look like this, based on the official US time at time.gov.

From the West Coast, Phoenix and Hawaii are the easy one-week picks. From the East Coast and Texas, Key West and San Juan keep the change to two hours or less.

You only need a travel eSIM for the trips abroad

Hawaii, Key West, Phoenix and New York are domestic trips, so a US phone plan covers them the way it does at home. Puerto Rico is a US territory, so check whether your plan already includes it before you buy anything.

For the trips abroad, two steps before the flight save the most trouble on arrival. First, check that your phone supports eSIM. Then install the eSIM at home on Wi-Fi and switch it on when you land. If a setting trips you up after landing, HelloRoam's support team answers 24/7.