My husband and I would like to go for a 7-10 day little trip late December/early January. We have been to Europe lots, but only in the Spring and Summer.

Someplace cold... I want to wear my winter coat... I live in South Florida and have only worn it once.

Can someone suggest a cold place that may have snow and is "open for business" during this time of year? Has anyone been to Copenhagen, Prague, Vienna during this time of year? Any suggestions would be very appreciated!

Well - most everyplace will be closed solid on Christmas day and New Years Day - so you need to account for that.

Scandinavia will be cold and probably have snow - but the days will be VERY short (gets dark around 3pm). If you head for Central Europe you will get a couple of more hours of daylight - and in Prague and Vienna an incredible host of musical activities.

Hi Laralynn - If you want snow, why not head for the mountains?

The Italian Dolomites are hard to beat. Resorts like Ortisei (- Val Gardena) have a lovely atmosphere over Christmas/ New Year.

You don't have to be a skier to enjoy this beautiful area.

Steve

We are heading for a "white Christmas" in the French alpine town of Morzine where we have booked an apartment.
I'm told if it is not snowy there it is a cable car ride up to the higher elevations.
Just being in the cold climate for Christmas will be a novelty for us as we are from Sydney and usually have very hot weather at Christmas!
We are going to spend 2 weeks in Germany and visit a few Christmas markets before heading to Geneva where we get a shuttle up to Morzine...it's very close to the Swiss border.
hope you find some snow...have fun.
Rosie

Lara,

When will you be going? Will you be going for Christmas or just after? If for Christmas I would recommend Rome. You can always do side trips as well. There is alot of religous stuff going on and you can even see the pope.

If you really want somplace with winter check out Rovaniemi, Finland. Home of Santa Claus and his reindeer.

http://tourism.rovaniemi.fi/?deptid=6335

http://www.visitfinland.com/w5/index.nsf/(pages)/index

Snow is not so much about a particular country, but about altitude. As someone mentioned, head to mountains to assure snow.

Pretty much any place is going to be cold in Dec/Jan. Switzerland is a beautiful place.

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! A co-worker suggested Iceland, and I thought that was an interesting idea, too...
Has anyone been to Iceland over the Christmas Holidays?