7 Great ‘Hallmark Movie’ Holiday Travel Destinations

The scoop: Seven North American destinations where you can fulfill your destiny of wearing chunky sweaters while sipping oversized lattes, in anticipation of meeting your soulmate at a Christmas tree farm.

The Hallmark Holiday Destination Checklist

There’s a portion of the American public that not only lives for Hallmark movies, but wants to live out a Hallmark movie. They're looking for destinations with at least 4 out of these 5 requirements:

1. Decorative snow: Falls prettily but never inconveniences anyone except when used as a plot device.
2. A universal holiday sweater mandate
3. Costco-sized coffee shops: 100,000 square feet of coziness, with knickknacks around every corner.
4. Permanent Christmas vibes
5. Requiring all residents to look like they stepped out of a Hallmark casting call is an added bonus

The Challenge: Finding Real Places That Feel Fake

Picking ideal Hallmark towns is harder than it seems.

Places where it snows a lot, like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula or the High Sierras, are places where snow sticks around, so they’re out. Arctic outposts like Fairbanks, Alaska, lack the appropriate storefronts. A dogsled-harness shop, while charming in its own right, doesn’t quite deliver the saltbox bookstore vibes.

As for sweater-wearing, the puffy vest rules out West and the chore coat owns much of the Midwest, so the short list is really short.

In fact, it might be just the following.

Top 7 Hallmark-Worthy Destinations

1.    Stowe, Vermont

Hallmark credentials: The backdrop for those edge-of-your-seat thrillers Following Yonder Star and Always and Forever Christmas.

Non-Hallmark credentials: Great skiing, which would make it the perfect setting should the Hallmark Channel ever make A Black Diamond Christmas or Happiness in the Halfpipe.

Why it’s perfect

You just know Stowe is full of ski-bum heroes with neckerchief-wearing dogs, and ambitious newcomers looking to tear down the historic bookstore and replace it with a towering convenience complex just to spite the heroine’s grandpa.

Stowe is so darn cute, from the quaint old buildings, the church steeples, spreading elms and maples to the farmer’s markets, hot cider on every corner, and picturesque locals.

The skiing is as good as Eastern skiing gets, and there are plenty of inns and other cozy lodgings where you can sip hot chocolate with marshmallows and laugh at each other’s foamy brown mustaches.

Why it’s not perfect

It seems perfect, but if it were the Hallmark Channel would have made Ho Ho Stowe years ago.

2.    Washington Depot, Connecticut

Secret Identity: Rumored to be the real-life inspiration for Stars Hollow, the too-good-to-be-true small town that’s the setting for Gilmore Girls.

Hallmark credentials: Zero.

Non-Hallmark credentials: Is eight seasons of Gilmore Girls enough for you?

Why it’s perfect

Washington Depot has the town square, the cool shops, Luke’s Diner (Marty’s Café), the repurposed buildings, and the big old houses, and if they’re not there, they’re in neighboring towns like New Milford and New Preston.

The whole region practically smells like a Christmas movie-set, which makes it the perfect region for you to create your own Gilmore Girls-Hallmark mashup. (Christmas in Gilmoreville, anyone?)

Why it’s not perfect

Lorelai Gilmore is far too sharp-tongued to ever be a Hallmark heroine. Plus, her diet consists of too much takeout and too few Christmas cookies.

Hallmark credentials: Zero.

Non-Hallmark credentials: Also zero. We’re going off-piste here.

Why it’s perfect

Cedarburg is the epicenter of southern Wisconsin cute.

It’s cool but not cold, with a preponderance of sweaters and scarves, corn shucks, pumpkins, bookstores, and gallons of local apple cider and similar cozy beverages.

Finally, Cedarburg bubbles over with Hallmarky stuff, from the annual Christmas tree lighting to historic old inns like the Washington House, plus art galleries, a quilt museum, craft fairs, and even Santa’s workshop.

Why it’s not perfect

Very few cows. What’s Christmas in America’s Dairyland without cows?

Hallmark credentials: Lewisburg is the seat of the county that’s home to the legendary Greenbrier resort, site of the classic TV movie Christmas at the Greenbrier.

Whose eyes would not be magnetically drawn to the screen by a plotline like this: “Widowed mother Abby and former professional football player Ben unexpectedly reunite while visiting the Greenbrier, forcing the duo to figure out if true love is still a priority.”

Is true love still a priority? As a previous romantic hero once memorably asked, “Do bears bear? Do bees be?”

Non-Hallmark credentials: Believe it or not, couples have been meeting and falling in love at The Greenbrier for years without the help of any Hallmark movies.

Why it’s perfect

In this beautiful region of southern West Virginia, snow only falls to set the scene and love is always in the air.

The Greenbrier is an amazing place to spend the holidays, but the entire area is charming.

Less-beaten-path types will enjoy exploring Lewisburg and environs, checking out the emerging farm-to-table food scene, investigating breweries and distilleries, and attending an event at (the other) Carnegie Hall.

Why it’s not perfect

Some folks turn up their noses at anything West Virginian, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” notwithstanding.

Hallmark credentials: Setting for the 2019 Hallmark movie Winter Castle, described thusly: “When Jenny attends her sister's winter wedding at an ice hotel, her heart melts over the best man. The problem is he unexpectedly brings a ‘plus one,’ seemingly dashing her hopes for a wintery romance.”

Non-Hallmark credentials: Regularly named one of the 10 most romantic cities in North America.

Why it’s perfect

You want the feel of Europe without actually going to Europe? This is your place. It’s very French in the best ways, but combines that with unique cuisine, a Canadian’s love of the outdoors and sports like skating, skiing, curling, and hockey.

Add to those elements a downtown full of twinkling lights on centuries-old buildings, toboggan runs that give you a sweeping view of the old city and a spectacular German (!) Christmas market, and you have the setting for Christmas in Old Quebec or a score of other Christmas-movie concepts.

Why it’s not perfect

Quebec City has real winter, not Hallmark winter. It can get really cold and windy and the snow can be quite persistent. As a result, travel can be dicey.  Otherwise? Parfaitement.

Hallmark credentials: None, though not for lack of trying.

Non-Hallmark credentials: The setting for a Lifetime movie called Snowed-In Christmas, to wit: “The movie centers on Jenna and Kevin, who are initially assigned to work on a special Christmas project. A snowstorm diverts their flight to Santa Claus, Indiana, where they end up working together to save a local inn.”.

Why it’s perfect

Christmas in a town called Santa Claus is a study in obviousness. Does it have activities like reindeer petting, craft fairs, Christmas-ornament painting, and light displays? Of course. Is Santa literally everywhere, seeing you when you’re sleeping and knowing when you’re awake, like ChatGPT with a long white beard? You know the answer.

If you want to get yourself so far down the Christmas bunny trail that there’s no getting back out until March at the earliest, this is the place to go. Better still, it’s in one of the more picturesque parts of the state, so there’s pleasant rural countryside to trundle around if you can’t bear one more chorus of “Up on the Housetop.”

Why it’s not perfect

There’s less than a 25% chance of a white Christmas.

7.    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Hallmark credentials: Oh, golly. It’s the setting for the movie Miracle in Bethlehem, Pa. The plot is groaningly obvious as a dad joke, but for the record: “Stranded in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Christmas Eve, Mary Ann and her adopted baby find shelter with a kind stranger, leading to unexpected romance.”

Unexpected romance? This is Christmas! In Bethlehem! On the Hallmark Channel! This couldn’t be more romantic if Michael Bublé came out to sing White Christmas while the chestnuts pop, the couples kiss and the credits roll.

Non-Hallmark credentials: Does it matter?

Why it’s perfect

Beyond the name, you mean?

Bethlehem is not simply a more religious version of Santa Claus. It offers a classic Hallmark-town Christmas experience, which means horse-drawn carriage rides, German Christmas markets, tours of holiday-bedecked historic buildings, light shows at the zoo, and walking tours of the city.

The city leans into its Moravian heritage at Christmas, with the result being a delightful blend of European and American, old and new.

Why it’s not perfect

We got nothin’.

If you’re looking for your own Hallmark holiday, remember to help protect those travels with travel insurance plus assistance services from Generali Global Assistance.

Our plans may help cover you, where your travels take you.

See for yourself. Get a quote today.

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