For those who play holiday tunes in the spring and watch Hallmark Christmas movies in the summer, there’s a place for you. A number of places actually. From winter-based theme parks to towns with Christmasy names, to a couple of famous homes from the movies, there are number of places you can visit where it is Christmas (mostly) all year long. You might want to consider these for your next Christmas vacation.

Santa Claus, Indiana

You’ve always heard of the tradition of roasting chestnut over an open fire, but who actually does that? Well, the people who work at Santa’s Candy Castle do. Located in Santa Claus, Indiana, they are not the only Santa-themed business in town. Just past the 22-foot-tall Santa statue in front of the Santa Claus Museum & Village you’ll find the Santa Claus Christmas Store and Santa’s Lakeside Cottage.

The campground at Sun Outdoors Lake Rudolph looks nice with its adjacent Santa’s Splashdown Water Park. The resort features a Santa Claus Land of Lights that tells the story of the red-nosed reindeer. Over at the Kringle Place Shopping Center, the choreographed light show, Santa’s Giant LED Tree of Lights, sounds impressive. And while there, don’t miss the Santa Claus Christmas Store. But things really heat up during the three-weekend Santa Claus Christmas Celebration held each December.

Christmas, Michigan

They say that good things come in small packages and that must be true in Christmas, Michigan. Near Lake Superior, you’ll find a 35-foot-tall Santa Claus to greet you. The town is home to just about 400 people, but the town boasts of having holiday spirit all year long. However, to get the full Christmasy experience, you’ll want to visit this winter wonderland during December. They normally get 200 inches of snow per year. It’s a great place for snowmobiling.

The history of the town’s name goes back to 1938 when one resident opened a factory that made gifts for the holidays. The factory has been gone for a long time now, but the post office with the name “Christmas, Michigan” is still intact. In fact, it’s pretty popular too. People often send their Christmas cards to the post office just so they can get a Christmas post mark on their mail.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

The story of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania goes like this: On Christmas Eve back in 1741, a group of Moravians sang a hymn and christened the town “Bethlehem.” According to the Visit Historic Bethlehem website, the first Christmas tree to be decorated in America was in this town. In 1937, they embraced the nickname, Christmas City USA.

One of the greatest traditions that happens here is the Live Advent Calendar in December. For 24 days, the people in town gather around the Sun Inn Courtyard. At 5:30 p.m., a visitor is asked to come and knock on the door. Then, a guest from a local business or organization opens the door and tosses out surprises or treats to the crowd.

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Christmas-Themed Amusement Places

Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari
Santa Claus, Indiana

According to Holiday World, Louis J. Koch opened Santa Claus Land in Santa Claus, Indiana in 1946 as a retirement project. He was saddened to hear that little children came to town and were disappointed that Santa Claus didn’t actually live there. So, he built Santa a home.

Santa Claus Land has been dubbed as the world’s first theme park which originally featured a toy shop, various displays, a restaurant and rides. In 1984, the park opened up new “lands” based on holidays such as Halloween, the 4th of July and even Thanksgiving. Fittingly, the park’s name was changed to Holiday World. Then in 1993, it branched out in another direction with the addition of Splashin’ Safari Park.

Ironically, for a place that got its start with Christmas, Holiday World is not actually open during the winter holidays. It is only open from May through October.

SkyPark at Santa’s Village
Skyforest, California

Located at Lake Arrowhead, the original Santa’s Village opened a full six weeks before Disneyland in 1955. The park closed in 1998, but it was revived in 2014 with a new focus serving as both a Christmas-themed park and an outdoor adventure park with outdoor activities such as mountain biking, rock climbing and zipling. It also came with a new name: SkyPark at Santa’s Village.

This year, the park reimagined the 62-year-old “Bumble Bee Monorail” (which had been out of operation for 24 years) and made it into the B Rail, a one-of-a-kind self-powered, mountain bike ride…which is suspended 40 feet above the ground.

The North Pole – Santa’s Workshop
Cascade, Colorado

Did you know that the North Pole is really located in Colorado? At the base of Pikes Peak in Cascade, you’ll find the awkwardly named The North Pole – Santa’s Workshop amusement park with its Candy Cane Coaster, Giant Peppermint Slide, Santa’s Train, Santa’s Sleigh and more.

For over 65 years, this park has been entertaining guests with over 24 rides. Some are vintage, but all of them have been restored and are in tip top condition. Santa wouldn’t have it any other way. The park is open from May through December. Then Santa takes a good long nap.

Castle Noel
Medina, Ohio

Located in Medina, Ohio, Castle Noel is the youngest location on this list. Built by Mark Klaus (a very fitting name), the park opened its doors to the public for the first time on November 1, 2022. He transformed a former church into America’s largest, year-round, indoor, Christmas entertainment attraction.

There’s a lot to see and do in the castle’s 40,000 square feet of space. It features original props and costumes from some famous holiday movies (including a slide that look suspiciously like the one from A Christmas Story with its menacing elves). Window displays have been set up to look like the ones seen in New York City and thousands of toys have been collected from the 1950s to the 1980 to be put on display. It even snows inside.

Santa’s Land
Cherokee, North Carolina

Located in Cherokee, North Carolina, Santa’s Land opened in 1957. Since then, the park has gone through a number of owners over the years. Things were looking grim for the theme park in 2013 when it closed for good. And then, just like Frosty stuck in that greenhouse, it came back to life in 2017.

David Haversat is the one to thank for this. He remembered going to the park in its heyday. He’s taken great pains to bring it back to its former glory by preserving some of the park’s original details, like the oversized gingerbread cookies which are set above the gift shop’s front door.

Santa’s Village
Jefferson, New Hampshire

“Pure Joy. Family Style” is the motto of Santa’s Village, which has been around since the 1950s. Santa can usually be found in his house waiting for company while real reindeer hang out in the barn. Guests can attend Elf University, receive a gift from the Reindeer Shoe Blacksmith Shop, become Santa’s helper at the North Pole Workshop and visit the Snowball Mall among other things.

Come and enjoy the Yule Log Flume, watch a 3-d movie in the Polar Theater, ride the Skyway Sleigh, Santa’s Express Train or the new Midnight Flyer roller coaster (plus, a dozen or so other rides and experiences including Santa’s Water park). Santa’s Village is open May through December.

Santa’s Workshop North Pole
North Pole, New York

According to Wikipedia, the town of North Pole in New York does not have its own bank, school, library, fire department, newspaper, police station or community organizations. However, it is still home to Santa’s Workshop which is currently celebrating 75 years. It’s pretty impressive. Even Walt Disney thought so. According to them, he sent his Imagineers to scope out the park when planning Disneyland. There’s a whole town up at the North Pole complete with a candy maker, hat maker, two theaters, museum, toy shop, bake shop, Photo shop, gift shop, post office, reindeer barn and chapel. Take a ride on the carousel, peppermint swing, Santa’s Sleigh Coaster, Ferris wheel, Bobsled Ride and more.

During the summer, the North Pole celebrates Christmas in July with feasts, sing-a-longs, marshmallow roasting, Nativity pageant and more.

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Christmas Homes Away from Home

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie has a lot of fans. Who wouldn’t want to see Clark Griswold’s house decorated with 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights? While some shots were filmed in Summit County, Colorado (in Breckenridge and Frisco), most of the of the movie was filmed at Warner Bros. Ranch Facilities in Burbank, California. However, there are two real houses that were used for Christmas movies that you can at least see in person.

A Christmas Story House
Cleveland, Ohio

Most of the houses featured in Christmas movies are pure fiction. However, the house that was used for the 1983 movie, A Christmas Story in Cleveland, Ohio is a real as they come. Since 2006, the house is open to let guests wander around, pose with the leg lamp in the window, decode a secret message or wash their mouth out with Lifebuoy soap – just like Ralphie! You can even spend the night in the Parker’s home or the Bumpus House next door.

Across the street you’ll find the Museum of A Christmas Story with props from the movie including, Higbee’s window display and one of the original “Official Red Ryder Carbine Action, 200-shot, Range Model Air Rifle” BB guns.

Home Alone House
Winnetka, IL

Although one can’t stay there or roam about the property, it still would be pretty cool to see Kevin McCallister’s Home Alone home, which is located at 671 Lincoln Ave. in Winnetka, Illinois. Also in town, you can find Station Park on Greey Bay Road which is where Kevin has a chat with Santa and buys a toothbrush at the pharmacy (which apparently is actually a bakery in real life.) In nearby Wilmette, you’ll find Trinity United Methodist Church which was featured in the film too.

Main Image: Wikimedia/Steve Shook