Best Christmas Hotels for Families in 2020

For lots of families, Christmas is a time to travel. Several properties across America are legendary for their celebrations of the holiday season. In New York City, there’s the Plaza; New Orleans is home to The Roosevelt and Chicago is home to the Waldorf Astoria. These famous resorts are just a few of the best Christmas hotels for a multi-generational family holiday visit. Read on for more.

How to Choose the Right Christmas Hotel

This has been a very long year. The idea of doing something very different by actually traveling on Christmas Day seems oh so appealing this year. It’s a great way to create a new tradition, or at least end 2020 in style. There are certain criteria that we need to have for our resort:

• A variety of activities – We want to make sure there’s something for everyone to do, from the most active to the most relaxed members of our family. My tween son is all about adventure and outdoors. My mother is looking forward to sitting by the fire.
• A central shared experience – As much as we like splitting up, we want to create a holiday memory with one central experience. We haven’t decided if that’s driving to look at Christmas lights, a gingerbread house decorating experience or group caroling. We just know that it needs to be together.
• A Christmas WOW moment – Traveling for Christmas is new for my family so we need to be wowed by Christmas hotels. Over the top holiday decor, Elf on the Shelf, Santa Claus, we want it all!

Read More: 4 Tips for Traveling with Elf on the Shelf

Here are our TravelingMoms’ favorite Christmas hotels for spending time with family while being pampered.

Beachy Christmas Fun at the Asilomar in California

You likely won’t find snow at the Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California (the average high in December is 60 degrees), but the Victorian-era hotel still decks the halls. Look for a gigantic California-themed gingerbread house with more than 700 buildings that replicate this historic landmark.

The beachy resort, designed by renowned Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan, includes cottages and a variety of historic rooms with rustically elegant California-style furnishings, an outdoor heated swimming pool, a meditation space, and a BBQ area.

There are plenty of fun things to do in Monterey with kids. During the holidays, the Christmas on the Wharf celebrations include visits with Santa, complimentary hot beverages and cookies, sea-life themed Christmas decorations and ice skating by the bay.

Read the hotel’s Covid-19 policies here.

A Million Lights at The Broadmoor

A normal Christmas at The Broadmoor would mean big holiday dinner shows with headlining acts from Broadway and a full orchestra, visits with Santa and gigantic holiday parties.

This year at the luxury Colorado Springs resort will still be festive, but on a smaller scale. Expect to see a gigantic gingerbread display and a million twinkly Christmas lights along with small group cooking classes. Winter savings rates start at $249/night.

Click here to learn about the resort’s Covid-19 policies.

C Lazy U’s Dude Ranch Christmas

At C Lazy U Ranch, a luxury dude ranch in Colorado, each individual cabin comes complete with a tabletop Christmas tree and tree trimming supplies as well as a wood burning fireplace for a cozy Christmas ambiance.

Christmas activities include making gingerbread houses, decorating cookies and Christmas karaoke. Look for Santa to visit via a horse-drawn sleigh filled with presents for the guests. Outdoor activities include cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, horse-drawn sleigh rides, tubing and sledding, ice skating and pick-up hockey games on the pond.

Read the ranch’s Covid-19 policies here.

White (Sand) Christmas at The Breakers Palm Beach

If the cold white stuff isn’t your ideal white Christmas, then you may want to consider visiting The Breakers Palm Beach for some warmer white stuff — the white sand beaches of Palm Beach.

Consistently named one of CNN’s “Hotels that Go All Out for Christmas,” this beachfront resort announces its Christmas spirit before you even arrive, with glowing white lights on the 100 royal palms that line the main drive to the hotel. The magic continues with 18 foot Christmas trees in the lobby and more than 170,000 lights and 12,000 feet of ribbon across the property.

While The Breakers begins its Christmas activities after Thanksgiving, the decorations are left up until the 12th day of Christmas, January 6. This is ideal for extended families celebrating a late Christmas; they’ll still be able to enjoy the Christmas spirit. For interfaith families, there is a sculptural menorah on display in the lobby and Jewish services held onsite.

The resort’s large suites offer families plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the holidays.

Read the resort’s Covid-19 policies here.

An ICE! Christmas at the Gaylord Hotels

Christmas is a frozen paradise at each of the five Gaylord Hotel properties through the company’s award-winning ICE! attraction. Visitors to ICE don a blue parka to walk through a frozen wonderland filled with ice slides, hand-carved ice sculptures and live carving zones, all at 9 degrees.

The 2020 events are still under wraps. We expect it to be a dialed down, socially distanced version of previous years. My family spent a weekend at the Gaylord National in 2018 to help us get into the holiday spirit and we loved it. The nightly light show, evening story time and teddy bears from the onsite Build-A-Bear helped us create incredibly special memories.

The wonderful thing about Christmas at any of the Gaylord properties is there are plenty of activities. From gingerbread houses to ice-skating and Christmas Day buffets, there is plenty for families to enjoy before Santa makes his way back to the North Pole.

ICE! comes alive through a distinct theme at each. In 2019, Gaylord Opryland (Nashville, TN) featured the popular A Christmas Story. The Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas, presented A Charlie Brown Christmas in its ICE! experience. The Polar Express was the main attraction at the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Florida, while the Gaylord National right outside of Washington, D.C. showcases Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And the Gaylord Rockies in Denver, CO brought Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to life.

Read the Gaylord Hotels’ Covid-19 policies here.

Read More: How to Make a Hotel Room Feel Right for Christmas

Christmas in California at the Fairmont Hotel San Francisco

Christmas at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco is not only first among California holiday legends; it’s legendary among Christmas hotel destinations.

In 2019, Fairmont San Francisco transformed the hotel’s grand lobby into Christmas central with a life size gingerbread house. This house was more 25 feet tall and 35 feet wide! For a super fun special treat, children can stay in the Santa Suite. The Santa Suite is the specially decorated “home” of Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Fairmont when they’re in California.

To round out the experience, you can choose from the Gingerbread Holiday afternoon tea or a special private dining inside the Gingerbread House.

Read the hotel’s Covid-19 policies here.

Christmas in the Mountains at the Omni Grove Park Inn

I have wanted to visit the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC, for years because of the magical gingerbread house displays. Annually, the hotel hosts Christmas in the Mountains for families to come and celebrate. The Grove Park Inn is home to the Annual National Gingerbread House Competition, and they certainly bring the WOW as a Christmas hotel.

In 2019, the Christmas weekend included family movie screenings, live music and a Yule Log Ceremony to welcome Santa on Christmas Eve.

Read the hotel’s Covid-19 policies here.

Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa for a Texas Christmas

Another warm weather holiday destination is Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa, east of Austin, one of our favorite central Texas resorts. Here, you can celebrate Christmas like a Texan, with plenty of outdoor activities like swimming in the lazy river! The outdoor water park is open in December, even as the resort trees are sprinkled with oversized decorations and twinkling lights.

You won’t see snow at this Holiday Light Stroll, but you will find made-to-order mini doughnuts, which might be better. Lost Pines offers activities with a Texas twist. Santa greets guests from atop a Texas Longhorn and the resort’s resident pig, pygmy goats, and alpacas parade around in their holiday best.

Kids can enjoy cookie decorating and ornament making, when they’re not outside riding bikes, playing games, and making new friends. At this resort on the banks of the Colorado River, kids and teens get off their screens and fill their days with good, old-fashioned family fun. That sounds like a perfect Christmas vacation to me.

Read the resort’s Covid-19 policies here.

A Luxury White Christmas at Four Seasons Vail

For the family that loves snow, there’s no better place to experience a winter wonderland than in the Rockies at the Four Seasons Resorts and Residences Vail in Colorado. The hotel hasn’t yet announced its plans for 2020, but previous Christmas hotel celebrations included a proclamation to honor the home of the Grinch, “WhoVail” and the unveiling of a 100-square-foot gingerbread house. Outdoors, ice skating and poolside hot chocolate and s’mores keep you warm into the night.

Four Seasons works for families of varying sizes because you can choose accommodations ranging from standard hotel rooms through four bedroom resort residences. Guests in the Residences can even order Christmas Trees to be sent to their rooms along with a special Christmas dinner in.

Read the Four Seasons’ Covid-19 policies here.

How to Celebrate Christmas Away from Home

With all the places to go, there’s always a concern about how to actually celebrate with presents. Do you ship them in advance or pack them in a suitcase and hope TSA doesn’t open them? How far in advance do you go? Is Christmas Eve too late and you might end up with a delayed flight or bad weather? Do you stay for New Years?

The best advice I can give is plan in advance (like now) and look at every situation. I have fond memories of my grandmother flying in to see us Christmas day. She would do Christmas morning in Minnesota with my cousins and then the afternoon in California with our family. It felt like a special delivery.

However you choose or wherever you go, let me be the first to tell you Merry Christmas! (I know it’s early but I’m in the spirit!)