The 18 Cutest Christmas Towns In The South

Cullman, Alabama — Photo:
Courtesy of Cullman Parks, Recreation, and Sports Tourism

They say there's no place like home for the holidays, but if you're in the mood for a little end-of-year travel, there's no place that will feel more like home than one of the South's many charming Christmas towns. These holiday havens go all out for the season, breaking out their festive best with thousands upon thousands of twinkling lights, impressive window displays, and garland galore. And if that wasn't enough to put you in the spirit, their last two months of the year are jam-packed with all kinds of events, parades, and gatherings to further spread cheer. From candlelight tours to ballets and concerts to outdoor markets, there's a way to celebrate the season almost every day. Keep reading to hear more about the incredible workings of the South's cutest Christmas towns.

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Searcy, Arkansas

Christmas in Searcy glows with lights adorning all of the city’s parks and an illuminated replica of the county courthouse. Cheerful storefronts, carriage rides, a drive-through living Nativity, and letters to Santa collected at businesses add to the effect. The recently restored 1856 Smyrna Church, Arkansas’ oldest documented church building, invites guests to revel in the sound of handbell concerts. Visitors can also view the state’s largest Santa collection, the passion project of the late Wanda Emde, whose dedication to St. Nick began when her daughter brought home a small paper version of him in the 1960s. Emde spent the next five decades acquiring more than 2,000 pieces with the hope of sharing her finds with others. Her impressive array can be seen at the Carmichael Community Center.

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Georgetown, Washington D.C.

Come December, Georgetown’s Federal-style architecture and cobblestone streets are brightened not only with strands of bulbs but also Georgetown Jingle—live holiday music in plazas, parks, and storefronts. The Georgetown Cookie Tour is a treasured local activity where participants get to build dessert trays with delectable treats from area vendors. Dog Tag Bakery, a favorite stop along the route, was founded with a mission to support veterans and military families. As you sample your sweets, take a walk down M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, where every lamp post is adorned with a festive wreath. While you’re in Washington, visit two famous evergreens: the National Christmas Tree in President’s Park and the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree on the west lawn.

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Milford, Delaware

The fun begins on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, when St. Nick rides into town on a vintage fire engine just in time for a tree lighting. After that, you’ll find him at the Santa House, which doubles as the North Pole Creamery icecream shop in warmer months. Milford’s annual Holiday Stroll brings a fairy tale to life with an old-fashioned community festival. Walnut Street buzzes with elves, characters from A Christmas Carol portrayed by local theater actors, church choirs, and a live Nativity. You can roast marshmallows over a fire pit with wood donated by neighbors (a nod to the town’s commitment to coming together) then amble the Mispillion Riverwalk to experience the Christmas Market.

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Apalachicola, Florida

A white Christmas in this port city means sugar-sand beaches, sunny weather, and Santa cruising up on a shrimp boat to greet children in Riverfront Park. A seaside celebration paying homage to the area’s rich history in the fishing industry takes place the day after Thanksgiving. The downtown streets flicker with paper luminaria, storefronts come alive with moving trains and intricate window displays, and businesses stay open late for a night filled with shopping and carolers. To buy one-of-a-kind gifts and stocking stuffers, visit the outdoor Holiday Fresh Market, which has items like pottery and wood carvings made by talented artists.

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Marco Island, Florida

Year-round warm weather draws visitors to Marco Island’s pristine beaches, but the holidays give long-term residents plenty of reasons to celebrate. Started in 1987 by Dawn Norgren to help the island celebrate, Christmas Island Style kicks off festivities with Santa’s arrival on a fire truck the day after Thanksgiving. In the weeks that follow, Marco Island is abuzz with a community celebration that includes a canine pet parade where owners often dress to match their pups at The Esplanade. Another merry gathering with a tropical twist is the annual boat parade; spectators line up and down the waterfront (Snook Inn is a terrific viewing spot) to watch boats decked stern to bow in lights sail along the water.

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Cartersville, Georgia

‘Tis The Season, a year-round holiday store in Cartersville, greets all who enter with “an explosion of Christmas,” according to owners Dan Kramer and Robert Adams. Festive music and the scent of candles envelops shoppers as they browse through hundreds of ornaments—from nostalgic to themed to keepsakes that bear local landmarks—and custom jewelry designed in-house. Find gifts for everyone on your list at the city’s two-day market and bundle up for a huge parade through the historic downtown. Don’t miss Pettit Creek Farms’ A Country Christmas event, where guests can pet live reindeer, pick a fresh-cut tree, and visit with Santa. “We’re just waiting for our Hallmark movie,” Kramer says.

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Danville, Kentucky

This small town “welcomes you in and remembers your name,” says Lahannah Bonagofski, co-owner of La Cosa Nostra Ristorante Italiano. Bonagofski’s dream was to create a low-cost holiday event that all families could enjoy without needing to drive to a bigger city. Last year, she made her vision a reality, and Danville’s Small Town Christmas was born. With a newly renovated Main Street and more activities than ever (like Santa visits, live music, and trackless train rides), celebrations included a tree lighting and a parade ending at Constitution Square Historic Site, where the state’s constitution was drafted. Look out for the 19 decorated horsedrawn sleighs downtown, a crew that expands annually. Across from the square, the McDowell House Museum replicates an 1800s holiday, in keeping with the home’s history.

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Lutcher, Louisiana

Lutcher (and the St. James Parish) celebrates a unique Louisiana Christmas with massive, meticulously stacked bonfires that burn up and down the river and, come Christmas Eve, on the levee. It’s a tradition that the entire community plans around, building bonfires in the same spot for generations (some families line theirs with sugarcane or fireworks to add an extra pop) that draw in visitors from all over. Lutcher hosts a “Festival of the Bonfires” event in the middle of December with all kinds of bonfire-themed celebrations, including the Bonfire Queen pageant and a gumbo, potato salad, and bread pudding cookoff. It is truly a one-of-a-kind holiday experience.

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Cullman, Alabama

The country's tallest Christmas pyramid—a fully functioning Weihnachtspyramide towering over 40 feet tall—twinkles next to passersby at one end of Cullman’s German market. At its base, an octagonal bar serves up hot pours of mulled wine to kick off one of the South’s most enchanting shopping experiences. Cullman Christkindlmarkt is one of many happenings around town and one of the most popular, with a life-size Nativity, a restored antique merry-go-round, and traditional music. Wooden vendor stalls border a central ice-skating rink and carry artisan crafts and distinctive gifts. Ted Wolfson of Woodstock Pretzel Company takes a trip to Cullman each year to provide German delicacies from his youth, such as hand-twisted pretzels, schnitzel, and flammkuchen, to name a few. The market is set in the “perfect small town,” Wolfson says, because Cullman’s attention to detail is "apparent in everything they do.”

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Canton, Mississippi

It’s remarkable that Canton’s festivities started with just one $9.99 blow-up snowman from the local Thomas-Walker-Lacey store in 1987. Today, these vibrant events delight 100,000 people per year. Kids can hear a story from Mrs. Claus (otherwise known as Charlotte Wilson, a former first-grade teacher), who reads from her rocking chair on a “porch” constructed in the middle of town. And don’t miss Neal Marlow’s snow village—an astonishing metropolis of more than 300 miniature buildings from a collection that he and his late grandmother Dorothy Raper curated together. Marlow now displays the village in her honor for the whole city to enjoy.

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Warrensburg, Missouri

Warrensburg transforms into Victorian England the first weekend in December with their Dickens Christmas festival featuring characters, carolers, makers showing their crafts (glassblowing, papermaking, crocheting, woodworking, etc.), roasted chestnuts, and hot cocoa. Father Christmas comes in at the historic train station. In the Tiny Tim Soup Stroll, businesses host soups that visitors can taste to determine the Soup Champion. There is also a lighted holiday parade, a winter farmers’ market and several beloved productions of the Nutcracker throughout the season.

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Hendersonville, North Carolina

Downtown Hendersonville opens the season with a tree lighting on the main plaza at the historic Courthouse (plus carols, carriage rides, and cocoa), and Santa steps out on the balcony at dusk to officially call the Christmas season to order. There is a Peppermint Bear Scavenger Hunt with bear cubs scattered around local businesses to promote local boutiques and galleries (if you find ten bear cubs, you get a prize). One of the most charming holiday celebrations in Hendersonville is the Holiday Tour of Inns, where guests can explore bed and breakfasts decked out for the season and learn the storied histories of these properties as well as meet the innkeepers. There is also a lit-up Christmas parade along Main Street with floats, bands, and firetrucks.

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Cary, North Carolina

A testament to the city’s enthusiasm for the holidays, each year, Cary doubles its number of oversize ornaments—these decorations champion its diverse population, with nods to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and secular celebrations. Start at The Mayton, a boutique hotel where giant nutcrackers flank the front door, the halls are carefully decked, and a special guest package means that no one misses out on Santa’s cookies. People gather for the lighting of a 40-foot tree, a gingerbread house competition, and a parade (now in its 43rd year). Enjoy a synchronized light show at the iconic downtown fountain, and in January, join Cary’s Latino community at the Three Kings’ Day Parade.

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Aiken, South Carolina

To be serenaded into the season by a 24-foot singing tree, turn your sights toward Aiken. The historic city transforms itself with 1,000 luminaries lining downtown, decorated trees on display at the visitor’s center, and, most famously, Christmas in Hopelands. The free community event features two-plus miles of pathways lit with more than 100,000 twinkling lights—a dazzling spectacle for guests to stroll through in Hopelands Gardens. A stay in Aiken isn’t complete without a visit to The Willcox, a historic luxury hotel that goes above and beyond with add-ons: elegant trees in guest rooms, cookies-and-milk door service, and even an elf tuck-in for kids. Rest up to snag a front-row seat for one of the South’s most unconventional parades—the Hoofbeats & Christmas Carols Parade—that pays homage to Aiken’s equestrian roots with a festive procession of horses and hounds.

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Rock Hill, South Carolina

Step into the whimsical world of artist Vernon Grant—Rock Hill’s self-proclaimed “adopted son” best known for his popular Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Snap, Crackle, and Pop illustrations. For four days, Old Town Rock Hill turns into ChristmasVille with a long slate of events including a free Gnome Home experience where kids can dress up, make themed crafts, enjoy story time, and jump on inflatables in Grant’s Playland. With the artist drawing his first gnome at just seven years old, it’s fitting that the festival’s mascot, Grant the Gnome, often participates alongside Santa Claus. Rock Hill also hosts a holiday vendor market, a month-long skating rink, and a walk-through exhibit of Vernon Grant’s work in the Arts Council. Don’t miss the ChristmasVille Spiced Flavored Rum at Sleeping Giant Distillery or the custom ChristmasVille coffee blend from Knowledge Perk.

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Bristol, Tennessee

Spending the holidays in Bristol means double the joy as celebrations straddle both Tennessee and Virginia. The scene is set with garland and tinsel sparkling along State Street, storefronts dressed to the nines in snowy white, and a 30-foot Douglas fir aglow with more than 30,000 lights. Grab a seasonal latte from Whimsicals coffee shop, and then visit The Corner to see a hand-painted reimagination of Bristol’s Christmas theme across the windows of the historic Susong Building. Around town, Santa Claus pops by Blackbird Bakery for a cookie-decorating event; makes an appearance at Cranberry Lane (a home-goods store with can’t-miss hostess gifts); and even fronts a band, Santa & The Sleigh Boys, with live music during the annual tree lighting and winter carnival. One of Bristol’s beloved events is their Journey’s End interpretation of Las Posadas, a Latin American tradition honoring Mary and Joseph’s journey, complete with a candlelit sing-along.

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Richmond, Texas

The holiday season in Richmond unofficially commences before Thanksgiving with the Pecan Harvest Festival, saluting Fort Bend County’s prized crop. Then in December, thousands of lights go up in the nearby Pecan Grove neighborhood—a tradition that residents have upheld for decades. Events include a tree lighting, an outdoor movie, and a community walk. The town’s old post office provides desks for writing letters to Santa; each note is thoughtfully answered by the postmaster and mailed back before the big day. Beyond the glow of light-draped oak trees and the ringing of a handbell choir, Richmond pours the warmth of the season into the 1883 John M. Moore Home, a Colonial Revival-style house hosting more than 40 years of candlelight tours, complete with wassail.

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Bluefield, West Virginia

Terry Lampert became St. Nick during the pandemic, when the jolly elf’s smile disappeared from many malls. Not wanting local kids to feel forgotten, Lampert donned his first Santa suit, a Victorian-style robe. Now, each year, he hands out a good luck coin to every child: a penny with the shape of an angel cut out. His magical gesture is one of several highly anticipated traditions in West Virginia’s Christmas City. Bluefield opens Holiday of Lights on Thanksgiving Day. The radiant display (which offers free admission but accepts donations) lets families explore more than 40 acres adorned with over 1 million lights, plus an ice-skating rink and European-style Mistletoe Market. For Bluefield’s furry friends, Nicole Coeburn (owner of The Blue Spoon Cafe) embodies the generous spirit of the season by donating part of the proceeds from her beloved downtown dining room to an area animal shelter.

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