Every Country's Chance Of A White Christmas — Mapped!
17 November 2017It’s the Christmas you’ve always dreamt of. Snow falling, wine mulling, a beautiful cityscape lit by the night — a White Christmas is the Christmas the movies always promised us. It’s the Christmas we deserve.
For your ultimate guide to White Christmas destinations for 2019, vouchercloud has put together a map of every country’s % chance of Christmas Day snow.
Not only that, but we've worked out where will get you the highest % chance of snow at the cheapest price.
Europe is the White Christmas capital
25 countries have an above 25% chance: mostly European countries but Canada gets a look in too! Russia is the country most likely to have Christmas snow - with chances of snowfall being 65.8%. 40 countries have an above 10% chance whilst 67 countries have an above 0% chance. Bad luck to the 127 others with 0% probability. Sorry, Samoa.
Snow chance for the UK
Things are less rosy in the UK. England is stuck with a 4.8% chance, whilst in Scotland odds are 6.1%. Northern Ireland is at 5.2%, Wales and Ireland both at 3.5%.
White Christmas Holidays
vouchercloud has worked out the world's top White Christmas holiday destinations below. Where gets you the highest chance of Christmas snow at the lowest price?
We've employed 2 measures to determine the top White Christmas destination.
Firstly, we ranked capital cities from most to least likely chance of snowfall.
Secondly, we ranked the best value destinations from that list, combining the cost of flights from Skyscanner and price of hotels from Hotels.com over the festive period. Combining these two rankings, we’ve figured out the best White Christmas destinations for 2019.
Moscow is the top White Christmas destination
Moscow is ranked the top destination — as well as having the highest chance of snow, your holiday will come in at only £90.34 each per night! Be aware that Christmas in Russia is most widely celebrated on January 7, according to the orthodox Russian calendar, so whilst there will be Christmas celebrations, Moscow doesn’t go fully yuletide until then.
Eastern European promises
If you want to spend the 25th surrounded by total and complete Christmas cheer, head to Riga, which is second on the list (and home to some legendary Christmas markets). At a 43.2% chance, we can’t guarantee snow, but at just £69.93 per night, we’re willing to take our chances. Kiev in the Ukraine also celebrates Christmas on the 7th, but offers a 49.7% chance of snow and holiday prices of £83.19 each per night. It's the third best White Christmas destination!
Cheapest White Christmas destinations
Heading abroad for Christmas doesn’t have to cost the earth — there are plenty of Christmassy destinations which work out at less than £100 a night, and that’s including accommodation and flights. The cheapest Christmas destination from our list is Riga, in Latvia — at only £69.93 per person per night, it’s the perfect wintery destination if you’re on a budget. Prague in the Czech Republic is the second cheapest, at just £76.37, followed by Sweden's Stockholm at £78.07.
Snowiest Christmas destinations
There’s a 65.8% chance of snow in Moscow – meaning it snows an average of 2 out of every 3 Christmases. Not bad. Next door neighbour Minsk, in Belarus, is runner up for the highest chance of snowfall, at 59.4%. Other Eastern European locations are, unsurprisingly, also likely to be treated to snow-capped trees on Christmas Day — Baltic beauties Vilnius, in Lithuania (53.9%) and Tallinn, Estonia (52.9%) are contenders for a snowy December 25th.
Book your own festive trip
Planning a trip over the festive period? We’ve partnered with TripAdvisor, Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com and more to bring you the best deals on flights, accommodation and all the travel extras you need for a picture—perfect Christmas. Check out our travel vouchers page for more details!
Comment
Greg Le Tocq, vouchercloud founder, said:
“It’s not too late to get a great deal on a Christmas getaway, and we’ve made it a bit easier to maximise your chances of a Christmas just like in the movies. We can’t guarantee snow anywhere, but consulting our map and price advice is the surest way to get White Christmas-ready!”
Methodology
The Map:
The probability of snow was calculated by average number of snow days in December in the capital cities for the last 9 years. Snow data was taken from www.worldweatheronline.com.
A white Christmas is defined as per the Met Office definition:
“The definition that the Met Office uses to define a white Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 December somewhere in the UK...
Traditionally we used to use a single location in the country to define a white Christmas, which was the Met Office building in London. However, with the increase in betting on where will see a white Christmas, the number of locations have increased…”
The White Christmas holiday index:
Prices are for flights and accommodation for a 4 night / 5 day holiday in a 3 star double room.
Flights were averaged from Skyscanner — leaving on the 23rd and returning 27th December from London. Hotel prices were taken from Hotels.com — we averaged the first 25 prices on 3 star rooms over the above dates.
