The Best Cities to Visit in December (2026)

December is a month of contrasts. In the Southern Hemisphere it's midsummer; across Asia and Africa the dry season is already underway; and for those who want to escape winter entirely and to find some sunshine, there is a wide world of warm, vivid, and uncrowded options. Here are five cities that come into their own in December, recommended by our team of hotel gurus.

Perth, Australia

Perth in December is glorious: blue skies, temperatures in the high twenties, pristine beaches at Cottesloe and Scarborough within easy reach, and a city that has grown into one of the most liveable in the world. The food and wine scene has come of age remarkably quickly; the Margaret River wine region is two hours south and producing some of Australia's finest bottles, and the Perth CBD, revitalised around the Elizabeth Quay waterfront development and the Northbridge entertainment district, offers considerably more than it did even a decade ago. Rottnest Island, a ferry ride from Fremantle, is one of the most pleasant small islands in the world, and Fremantle itself — a Victorian port town with a famous market, excellent craft breweries, and its own strong character — deserves a full day of any visit.

• COMO The Treasury occupies the 19th-century State Buildings in the heart of Perth, the former Treasury, Lands and Titles offices, and General Post Office, reimagined by architects Kerry Hill and Palassis into 48 of the most beautifully conceived rooms in Australia. The ceilings are high, the rooms are genuinely spacious, the COMO Shambhala Spa is exceptional, and the rooftop Wildflower restaurant, with its three chef's hats and views over the Swan River, is one of the finest dining experiences in the country. Repeatedly named Australia's best hotel since opening in 2015, it more than earns the reputation.
• QT Perth takes a very different approach; the theatrical, design-forward personality of the QT brand sits well in a city that has embraced its own creative ambition. The hotel is strong on food and drink, with a well-regarded dining programme, and the rooms are large and well-appointed. For those who want something livelier and less traditional than the COMO, it is the obvious alternative.
• Alex Hotel is a small, independently run boutique property in the Northbridge arts precinct, with 74 rooms that make excellent use of a compact footprint. The ground-floor café and bar is one of the neighbourhood's better spots, the service is personal, and the hotel's commitment to local art and design gives it a character that belongs to Perth rather than a hotel group.
• Tribe Perth is a design-led, mid-range property in the CBD that has been carefully thought through: generous rooms, strong technology, a good café, and a value proposition that makes it the sensible choice for those who want quality without paying COMO prices.

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town is the perfect destination to head to in December, as it is the height of summer in South Africa: warm, sunny, and one of the world's great travel destinations at the peak of its season. There are plenty of direct flights to choose from too. The Winelands — Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl — are producing their finest vintages and their restaurants are at full capacity. The beaches of Camps Bay and Clifton are warm enough for swimming. Table Mountain is best climbed in December, when the weather is most stable. The Bo-Kaap neighbourhood, the V&A Waterfront, the Constantia wine estates, and the Cape of Good Hope national park are there for exploring. Cape Town's food scene, driven by exceptional local produce and a strong culinary culture, is one of the best in Africa.

• The Grand Daddy is one of Cape Town's most original hotels, a Long Street property topped by a rooftop trailer park of fully fitted Airstream caravans, each individually designed by a different local artist. The boutique hotel below is a strong one in its own right, with a good restaurant and the city's liveliest street below. It is a hotel with a genuine personality.
• 3 on Camps Bay is a boutique property in the Camps Bay neighbourhood, right on the beach strip with the Twelve Apostles mountain range as backdrop and the Atlantic below. The 22 rooms are individually designed and well appointed, and the terrace, pool, and restaurant make the most of the extraordinary position.
• Ocean View House is a small, highly rated guesthouse in Camps Bay with ten rooms, a pool overlooking the sea, and exceptional service. It is the kind of place that guests return to year after year; it's genuinely personal, well run, and in a position that is difficult to improve upon.
• Derwent House is a boutique villa in Tamboerskloof, above the city bowl, with views over the Atlantic and a pool that makes the most of them. The nine suites are spacious and well-conceived, and the hotel's intimate scale allows for the kind of personalised service that larger properties cannot offer.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

December is the beginning of the Argentine summer, and it's the month that Buenos Aires is at its most lively. The outdoor dining culture (which is extremely good) comes into full swing, the tango venues are operating at full capacity, the Recoleta and Palermo neighbourhoods are vivid and fashionable, and the steakhouses are some of the finest in the world. Buenos Aires is a city with a strong sense of its own culture and pleasures: the bookshops of the Corrientes avenue, the San Telmo antiques market on Sundays, the Boca neighbourhood's Caminito, and the polo season at the Campo Argentino de Polo in November and December all deserve time, if you have it!

• Alvear Palace Hotel is the undisputed queen of Buenos Aires hotels, a Belle Époque palace on Avenida Alvear in the Recoleta neighbourhood that has been setting the standard for Argentine luxury since it opened in 1932. The Louis XVI marble lobby, the Persian rugs, the teardrop chandeliers, and the staff in white gloves give it an atmosphere that belongs to another era in the best possible way. The 207 rooms and suites have high ceilings, Egyptian-cotton bedding, and large marble bathrooms; suite guests are assigned a personal butler. The afternoon tea at L'Orangerie is a Buenos Aires institution.
• Hub Porteno is a smaller, more contemporary property in the Puerto Madero neighbourhood that has quickly established itself as one of the more discerning options in the city. The design is sharp, the service attentive, and the waterfront location gives it views that many inland hotels lack.
• Jardin Escondido is a private villa hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood with just six rooms, set in a secluded garden that justifies the name — the hidden garden. Francis Ford Coppola, who owns a portfolio of intimate hotels around the world, is behind this one, and the approach is that guests are genuinely looked after as individuals.
• 1828 Smart Hotel is a more accessible boutique option in the city centre, with well-designed rooms that are very good value for Buenos Aires. It is a practical, well-run base that suits those who want to spend most of their time exploring the city rather than in their hotel.

Delhi, India

December is one of the best months to visit Delhi: the heat has broken, temperatures are mild and pleasant, and the capital is in its cultural prime. December sees the India Art Fair preparations underway, the gardens at the Lodi colony are at their best, and the city's extraordinary depth of history, Mughal-era mosques and tombs, colonial-era buildings, and the planned grandeur of Lutyens's New Delhi, can be explored comfortably in the winter air. The food in Delhi is exceptional, from the street food of Chandni Chowk to the refined kitchens of the five-star hotels. Old Delhi, the Qutb Minar complex, Humayun's Tomb, and the Lodhi Garden are all at their most pleasant in December light.

• The Claridges is Delhi's grande dame, a 1950s hotel in the Lutyens zone that has retained its distinctive colonial character through decades of ownership and renovation. The white-pillared facade, the verandas, the lawns, and the restaurant terraces give it an atmosphere unlike that of any modern luxury hotel in the city. The service is old-fashioned in the best sense — attentive, warm, and personalised — and the location in the heart of Lutyens's Delhi is excellent.
• The Imperial is arguably the finest colonial-era luxury hotel in the city, a 1931 building on Janpath with 235 rooms and an art collection of considerable scope, with over 5,000 works spanning the 17th to 19th centuries. The swimming pool, set in tropical gardens, is one of the most pleasant in Delhi, and the hotel's restaurants — particularly 1911, the all-day dining room — are excellent. If time allows, book in a spa treatment; you'll come away floating. One of our hotel gurus' favourites.
• Haveli Dharampura is an entirely different proposition: an 18th-century haveli (townhouse) in the Chandni Chowk area of Old Delhi, carefully restored and now a small boutique hotel with 13 rooms and a rooftop terrace with views over the old city. Staying here is staying inside the texture of Mughal-era Delhi rather than the Lutyens zone, and the experience is the more immersive for it.
• Maidens is a heritage property in Civil Lines dating from 1903, the oldest hotel in Delhi still operating in its original form. The verandas, the gardens, and the period furnishings give it a genuine connection to the city's colonial past, and the service is warm and professional.

Galle, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has been voted the best wellness destination in 2026, and whilst it has plenty of yoga retreats and Ayurveda centres to choose from, it's also worth visiting for its great selection of boutique hotels. Galle in December sits just outside the monsoon window — the southwest coast's rainy season ends in late November — and the result is reliably warm, sunny days in one of the most historically layered small towns in South Asia. The Galle Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built by the Portuguese and expanded by the Dutch in the 17th century, contains within its old walls a remarkable collection of boutique hotels, galleries, cool cafés, and restaurants. The fort walls, the lighthouse, the cricket ground inside the ramparts, and the ocean views from the bastions are among the singular pleasures of Sri Lanka. The beaches south of Galle at Mirissa and Tangalle are excellent, and the whale watching season off Mirissa runs from December through April.

• Galle Fort Hotel is the fort's most atmospheric property, a 400-year-old merchant house on the main street within the ramparts. The 14 rooms open onto a central courtyard planted with travellers' palms, frangipani, and flowering vines, and the overall atmosphere is of a beautifully maintained private home rather than a conventional hotel. The rooftop is exceptional at sunset, and the cocktail programme is very good.
• Tamarind Hill is a colonial-era hilltop property above the fort, with sweeping views over the ocean and the fort walls, a large pool, and rooms that combine period furnishings with Sri Lankan craft. It offers a quieter, more secluded experience than the hotels within the fort itself.
• The Fort Printers occupies one of the fort's oldest buildings, a former Dutch printing house dating from the 17th century, now converted into a seven-room boutique hotel with hand-crafted furniture, high ceilings, and a strong sense of its own history. The courtyard pool and the restaurant, which makes good use of Sri Lankan spices and fresh seafood, are both excellent.
• No 5 Middle Street is a smaller, more intimate guesthouse within the fort, with four rooms arranged around an open courtyard garden. The scale is that of a very personal homestay, the furnishings are carefully chosen, and the location on Middle Street, one of the fort's quietest and most characterful lanes, makes it a genuinely special place to stay.

Still not sure? 

• Browse through our full list of accommodation options in South Africa,
• Refine your search to include our recommendations for the Best Hotels in India 
• Alternatively, you could contact one of our friendly Gurus for personalised advice.