Christmas in Southeast Asia is fantastic. The Southeast Asian countries have embraced Christmas with a gusto that makes the region a wonderful destination for the festive season. Christmas is especially fun for families, but couples and solo travellers will be warmly welcome. Here’s where to celebrate the festive season in Southeast Asia in style.
Christmas in Southeast Asia isn’t so different to Christmas in Australia, where we’re from, with the sunshine, blue skies and balmy temperatures – except the Southeast Asian countries are predominantly Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim, with Christian minorities. Despite religious differences, the tolerant Southeast Asian countries have embraced Christmas with a spirit and enthusiasm that makes the region a fun destination for the festive season, especially for families.
When we moved to Abu Dhabi in 1998, we didn’t expect to continue to celebrate Christmas and we didn’t mind – we were guests in a Muslim country. So we were stunned when December came and the malls erected colossal Christmas trees, shops decorated their windows with bunting and baubles, and my Emirati students gave me Christmas cards.
When we shifted our base to Thailand, a mostly Buddhist country, we were equally surprised when the Thais did the same. Then there was Vietnam – that’s the old town of Hanoi, pictured above, where we spent the 2012 Christmas – where they seemed to relish the holiday even more. Locals especially loved dressing up their little kids in Santa costumes. And it’s the same here in Siem Reap. Let me tell you more about Christmas in Southeast Asia.
Christmas in Southeast Asia
Here in Cambodia, where the population is predominantly Buddhist, many of the Angkor temples began life as Hindu temples, there’s a Muslim minority, and a tiny percentage of Christians, Christmas is celebrated by all, and with a gusto I haven’t seen in a lot of Christian countries.
One of the favourite evening activities of locals at this time of year is piling into a uk tuk or ute in the evenings for a drive along National Highway 6, stopping to photograph the illuminated Christmas displays the big hotels set up on their lawns and driveways, from nativity scenes to Santa riding his reindeer-led sleigh through the snow.
You’ve got to love Cambodians. They love a party and will take advantage of any opportunity to get together with family and friends and enjoy their time. After all, this is a country where they celebrate not one, but three new years – the Western New Year, Chinese New Year, and Khmer New Year. And many other Southeast Asian countries are the same.
A lot of travellers seem to be booking last minute holidays this year. I’ve had a number of readers ask me in recent days where they should spend Christmas in Southeast Asia. These are the best destinations as far as we’re concerned, especially if you’re with family or a group of friends – they’re places that embrace the holiday with spirit, partly because they have substantial expat populations and partly because they’re places notable for their openness and hospitality.
As you’ll still be seeing the sights and you can find inspiration and information for things to do under each destination on the menu bar, above, I’ve focused here on the best hotels to spend Christmas in Southeast Asia – the hotels that have made an effort to create a festive atmosphere for their guests.
While we normally concentrate on independently owned boutique hotels on Grantourismo, most of those smaller hotels are already fully booked so your best bet are the big luxury hotels. Too much of a splurge? Then stay at a more affordable mid-range hotel and head to a big luxury hotel for Christmas Eve dinners and Christmas brunches and lunches.
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Where to Spend Christmas in Southeast Asia
Here are our recommendations for where to stay over Christmas in Southeast Asia – or where to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner or Christmas brunch or Christmas lunch if you’re looking for Christmas carollers, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and a lavish Christmas spread of food.
Christmas in Hanoi
If we had to pick one city to celebrate Christmas in Southeast Asia it would be Hanoi in Northern Vietnam and the hotel we’d choose would be the beautiful French-colonial Hotel Metropole in Hanoi. They get very festive every year and this year is no different.
I remember when they erected a soaring 15-metre Christmas tree on the hotel’s rooftop garden, Le Balcon, and illuminated it with more than 50,000 lights and decorated it with over 1,250 Vietnamese conical hats.
There’s usually a life-sized gingerbread house at L’Epicerie du Metropole, where guests can also purchase gourmet gifts, including foie gras, Fine de Claire oysters, and the pastry chef’s piece de resistance, a traditional French Christmas log cake or Buche de Noel.
There’s usually a choir in the lobby on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, andspecial Christmas Eve dinners and Christmas day buffets and dinners at its different restaurants.
Christmas in Siem Reap
Our own Siem Reap in Northern Cambodia is another fantastic place to celebrate Christmas in Southeast Asia. The majestic Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor is festooned in green and red garlands, and the frangipani trees are illuminated with fairy lights.
The fragrant scent of their Christmas fir tree permeates the lobby after a lighting ceremony accompanied by a choir singing Christmas carols. The pastry team usually creates a beautiful gingerbread piece for the lobby.
There’s always a Christmas Eve Gala dinner and a Christmas brunch and Christmas lunch on Christmas Day at Café d’Angkor and Le Grand Restaurant. Expect a sumptuous buffet that includes free flow beverages and you can usually pay a little extra for a bottle of Champagne.
If you’re holidaying in Siem Reap and putting together a Christmas Day picnic try PARIS Bakery on Wat Bo Road (corner Street 26) for Christmas log cakes; they also have a deli counter with charcuterie and cheeses, and, of course, authentic French baguettes.
Christmas in Phnom Penh
The elegant Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia‘s capital, is our next pick of hotels in the country to celebrate Christmas in Southeast Asia. They are doing a similar thing to Siem Reap, above.
They also welcome the festive season with the lighting of their enormous Christmas tree in the hotel lobby on the first day of December. For our American readers: it’s an 11-foot Noble Fir, imported from Oregon.
Gluhwein is served in the lobby and the conservatory and they also hold a Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas Day Brunch. Santa will attend both. They also promise Christmas stockings with special treats for guests at the hotel and a special Christmas turndown service at both hotels.
Christmas in Bangkok
In Thailand, Bangkok’s historic Mandarin Oriental Bangkok is decorated with glittering lights and sparkling baubles and a magnificent Christmas tree designed by the hotel’s very own Floral Ambassador fills the lobby.
All of the hotel’s restaurants and bars do something special for the festive season. Our picks: the Christmas Eve Buffet Dinner and fireworks at The Riverside Terrace overlooking the Chao Phraya River.
Although the multi-course gourmet meals at Michelin two-starred Le Normandie by Chef De Cuisine Arnaud Dunand Sauthier are special. As is the Italian-style Christmas Eve Dinner at Ciao Terrazza, with views of the river and the handsome Authors Wing. On Christmas Day, there’s usually a French Christmas feast at Le Normandie. Santa will make an appearance also.
