A Christmas Less Traveled — The Cast, the Story, and the Unconventional Christmas Trips It Inspires
The film's premise — Christmas off the beaten path, somewhere unexpected, with the usual traditions traded for something more interesting — is a better travel philosophy than most people give it credit for. Here are the unconventional Christmas destinations that actually deliver.
A Christmas Less Traveled builds its premise on a simple idea: what if you didn't go home for Christmas? What if you went somewhere you'd never been instead? The film, like most holiday movies, resolves the tension in favour of the conventional choice — but the question it raises is a genuine one. Christmas travel to unexpected destinations is a growing phenomenon, and for specific traveller types (those without strong family geography obligations, couples who've done the family Christmas circuit for a decade, solo travellers deliberately building a different relationship with the holidays) it produces some of the most memorable December trips in the calendar.
About the film
A Christmas Less Traveled (2023) follows a protagonist who chooses to spend Christmas in an unexpected location rather than returning to the family routine — the film uses this as the inciting tension and the character growth mechanism. The cast features actors familiar from Hallmark and holiday film circuits. The filming locations follow the standard holiday film model: warm interiors doubling for various Christmas settings, with location shoots providing the establishing exterior context. The film's visual language borrows from the 'Frost road not taken' philosophy — travel as self-determination, the holiday as an opportunity for a different kind of courage. Whether the film executes this effectively is a matter of holiday-film taste; the premise is stronger than most in the genre.
The destinations that actually deliver 'Christmas less traveled'
Iceland: the ultimate unconventional Christmas destination. December means 4 hours of weak daylight and 20 hours of darkness — the Northern Lights are active, every geothermal pool is steaming, and the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions (Jólabókaflóð, the book flood where Icelanders give and receive books on Christmas Eve and read through the night) are genuinely distinct. Reykjavik's Christmas market is small but authentic. The Azores (Portugal's subtropical mid-Atlantic archipelago): warm and green in December, zero crowds, the Furnas hot spring caldeira on São Miguel island provides a genuinely other-worldly December swim. Oaxaca, Mexico: the Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes, December 23) is one of Mexico's most distinctive folk art events; the posadas (street processions) in Oaxaca's barrios are more intimate than Mexico City's; the mezcal is good in December as in any other month.
The contrarian case for Christmas in New York
New York in the Christmas period (December 15–January 1) is expensive, crowded, and genuinely spectacular. The Rockefeller Center tree, the Dyker Heights neighbourhood's residential light display (Brooklyn, worth the subway ride), the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval hall with its 20-foot Christmas tree decorated with 18th-century Neapolitan crèche figures, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular are all specific to this time of year and available nowhere else. The price to experience this: hotels charge $350–600/night for mid-range properties during Christmas week. The counter-argument to 'Christmas in New York': you can do the specific Christmas elements in 48 hours, which makes a 5-day trip mostly expensive non-Christmas New York. The film's protagonist would leave after seeing the tree and eating at one good restaurant — which is a valid choice.
Southern Hemisphere Christmas: summer by design
The cleanest way to have a 'less traveled' Christmas is to go somewhere where Christmas is summer. Cape Town's Christmas Day temperature averages 28°C — Table Mountain, Camps Bay beach, and a braai (barbecue) in the Winelands is a legitimate Christmas tradition for millions of South Africans. Sydney's Boxing Day features the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race — one of Australia's great sporting spectacles, visible from the Heads. Buenos Aires in December is early summer: the Río de la Plata is warm, the Christmas markets in the Palermo neighbourhood have a specific Argentine-German cultural hybrid character, and the city is at its most alive. All three are expensive in their local peak season — book accommodation by September.
Editor's tips
- Cape Town Christmas book accommodation by August — the Southern Hemisphere summer peak is real and the good properties in Camps Bay and Constantia sell out
- Sydney Boxing Day harbour: take the ferry from Circular Quay to a harbour vantage point — the race start is mid-afternoon and visible from dozens of public spaces
- Buenos Aires December: the city runs on European dinner timing (10pm–midnight) even more intensely at Christmas — book restaurants early even by Buenos Aires standards
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Frequently asked questions
A Christmas Less Traveled (2023) is a holiday film about a protagonist who chooses to spend Christmas in an unexpected destination rather than returning to the expected family gathering. The film uses the 'road less traveled' concept as its emotional framework, resolving in favour of the meaningful connection found in the unconventional choice.
The premise of A Christmas Less Traveled is sound: Christmas in an unexpected place produces a different relationship with the holiday than returning to the familiar pattern. Iceland's dark drama, Oaxaca's folk art traditions, the Azores' subtropical quiet, and the Southern Hemisphere's summer inversion all deliver versions of Christmas that the standard framework doesn't. The film resolves its tension in the expected direction. The real-life application doesn't have to.
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Camille Laurent
Senior Travel Editor · Based in Lisbon · Bali
Camille has spent the last 9 years living in or reporting from over 60 countries. Former contributor to Condé Nast Traveler and Monocle, she focuses on Southeast Asia, Mediterranean Europe, and the Middle East. Currently based between Lisbon and Bali.
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