Urgent- Pleaseee HELP - Spain, Italy or France for Xmass and New years
 

Hello everyone
My father passed away last christmass from pancreatic cancer, and my mom and him were suppose to go on a trip to spain, but never made it.

This Christmas we have a flight to London from Canada (we live in the us)

we leave 23 - jan 1

my question is what would be the best itiniary to get good weather and a nice place to spend xmass and new years for us..

Mom is 70 Im 40 -- not super active people

Spain - was thinking Barcelona and seville to madrid to lonon

Italy - don't know any area but was thinking maybe Rome and ???

France - was thinking Paris and Nice ?

Please Let me know as soon as possible.

Thank you so much

Good weather is not guaranteed anywhere although it will generally be a bit warmer in the south (although that does not always hold true). At the moment it is about 5°C max in Paris and about 13°C max in Nice.

If your trip is only from December 23 to January 1st, I hope you are not planning to go to more than one other place besides London, so the term "itinerary" would be a bit abusive.

I'm confused about your itinerary. How many places are you actually trying to visit? I'm counting 8 days and if you're not super active, you'll cover less ground. Travel days and jet lag might eat into that too.

Logically, I think I'd split the trip between London and Paris. Because I'm assuming you fly home from London as well. The problem is that the weather probably is not what you have in mind. What are your interests? Budget? Does your mom have any mobility issues?

If your flight is to London, I would visit London. Yes, it may be cold but you can bundle up and enjoy a wonderful city.

Why did you book tickets to London if you want to go to Spain, 8taly, or France?

I would go to southern Spain for the best weather.

Hello Everyone, TY soooo much for your replies....

the reason i booked the london round trip was:
1. my husband and little boy are traveling somewhere else via London to see my father in law - and we were going to be on the same flight for half way. Easier for transportation from Buffalo where we are to toronto.

2. London via toronoto was Nonstop and much better price-- prices high for xmass NY week.

3. figured it was a hub to where we decided to go

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as far as the cold weather.. - we are from Buffalo, NY colder than Alaska at times.. so we can handle the cold, just not Cold Winds -- with cold winds we think it's hard to sight see

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I would have rather stayed in one place for the week, but my mom wants to see at Least two places.. her original idea was Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon Portugal in a week, she wants to jam it in mostly bc of cost.. and bc she is ok with jus getting a taste of the cities.. (unlike me), and I think she now feels time is limited to travel with Dad being gone and all their travel plans never happening :(

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Now - I am not familiar at all with Europe so i wanted to get info as to which of these would be the best option to do ... during the holiday week..

1. Train to Paris - see something in France - (mom not a big fan)
2. Italy - Rome and the sea side? not sure if there is a fast train from London and if it's a good time during the holidays?
3. Flight London to Barcelona -- 3 days in Barcelona than Flight to Seville 3 days there and Train to Madrid and Flight back to London

Or any other place that maybe better.. Please LMK asap,
any advice or input sooooo much appreciated.
Thank you

You have less time than you think, basically six full days.

Most North American flights arrive the next morning. So, you arrive on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest travel days (into LHR?). The next day, pretty much everything in London will be shut down - transport, restaurants and museums. You need to be back in London on Dec 31st, to be sure of making your flight out on Jan 1st. Again, a major holiday.

I see three options, unless you just stay in London - and it will get dark earlier than you are used anywhere in northern Europe. Buffalo is on the same latitude as southern France.

The first is London and Paris, connected by Eurostar, or London and Nice, connected by air, although you are too late for cheap fares, and your mother isn't interested in France.

The second is Lisbon and Madrid, connected by a night train. Personally, I would just stay in Lisbon, but with the night train you could add Madrid, although it will be colder (it's higher and inland).

The third is to combine Barcelona and Madrid.

Unless you stay in London you will lose a lot of time moving around. Since you have already bought the tickets to London, any flight connection will not be protected, so you need to leave AT LEAST four hours from the time you land in London until the time you fly out, and that's not allowing for a change of airport, which I would NOT attempt on Christmas Eve. That's why I say you have only six full days on the ground.

For info on European trains including the night train and how to buy tickets:

seat61.com

For schedules: bahn.de

For cheap flights: skyscanner.com

Good luck, you're going to need it.

BTW, there is no reason your mother can't continue to travel. I am a 69 year old woman, and I just got back from a three and half month trip, all but two weeks were solo, and I included central and east Asia.

You are doing RT London. Since you have an international flight out of London, you really must be back in London the night before that flight. So, you have time for London and one other place, period!

Seaside in Italy is not a good choice in winter.
Days are short, dark very early, weather is iffy.
Sick with a nice city that is easy to get to.

Upon landing in London, fly or take a train directly on to the main city you wish to visit. Stay 4 nights (3 days), fly or train back to London for last 2 one 3 days.

Paris by train would be a good choice. Easy, fun, not rushed.

Barcelona by plane would be an OK choice.

Malaga would also be a good choice because you could see Malaga and Granada.
You could also do a fast trip to Seville, Córdoba, Granada or some combination of Malaga, Seville, Córdoba, Granada (only time for 3 though, and that is really rushing it), and it very much depends on what flights you can get.

I get the sense you don't have a realistic grasp on how short your time is. And you're simply not going to get "good weather,"if that means warm and sunny, anywhere that you have time to go. Then you add in that you don't travel at a particlarly energetic pace. SO....your choices are very limited.

There is no fast train from London to "the seaside in Italy." Plus it's not the season to be hanging around shut-down beach resorts. Scratch that.

Paris is do-able. But if your mom doesn't like France, scratch that.

<<Flight London to Barcelona -- 3 days in Barcelona than Flight to Seville 3 days there and Train to Madrid and Flight back to London >>

You don't have enough days for that if what you've told us is correct. Plus it has you hanging around 3 extra airports, which on a whirlwind trip like this is absolutely no fun and eats up loads of time.

Go to ONE other place besides London. Or sign up for a tour.

Fly about 4 hours after you land at LHR directly to ONE other city -- Lisbon or Barcelona would be possibilities because they are cities with things to do despite it being winter (it simply won't be seaside weather anywhere).

Then 4 days later fly back to London and stay the rest of your very short time there before flying home.

You don't have time for anything else -- but finding accommodations and flight this late for Christmas week will require both a serious search . . . and a lot of $$$. Any discount fares will be gone and many hotels are already booked up.

My condolences about your father's death. You could easily go to Paris but since your Mom doesn't want to, why go there.

I'd go to Spain that is easy enough to do from London, of course. Having to get back to London cuts the time a day, so I wouldn't try to do as much as you envision (all those cities). You could easily fly into Barcelona and then take the train to Madrid, so do 2 cities. Seville is just harder to combine with Barcelona, they are too far apart with no easy direct connection (except flight possibly, but you don't need more flights). You could fly into Seville from London, then take the train back to madrid, also, either way.

Or you could fly into Malaga, take train/bus to Seville, then fly back to London, if possible. I'd just stick to 2 cities with only a week.

Easyjet, my favorite budget airline, does fly nonstop from LGW to Seville, but the flight is at 6:20 am and I'm sure you won't be able to get that (no flight on Christmas). They also fly from LGW to Barcelona at 6:50 and at 9:10 (not sure you could make that) and at 2:20 pm. They fly between LGW and Malaga at 6:50, 10 am and 4:45 pm, and to Madrid from LGW at 12:25 pm.

I believe Vueling also fly nonstop between LGW and Barcelona at 9:50 am. British Airways flies nonstop between LHR and BCN at 9:55 and 1:25 pm, and has several flights to Madrid, also. Iberia flies between LHR and Madrid at 1:50 pm.

So I'd pick among those choices, depends which airport you fly into. Of course you can connect between LHR and LGW but it's a bit of a pain. If you fly into LHR, which I suspect, I'd fly to BCN or Madrid, as I think those are your choices from there nonstop. Coming back, since you have to do it a day ahead of time, it doesn't matter so much if you fly back into LGW then have to get to LHR. So you could fly back from Seville to LGW. Easyjet has a flight from SVQ to LGW on 12/31 in the morning.

I have been to London in winter and we had a great time as there is so much to do indoors (as well as brisk walks out of doors.) There are so many museums, historical sites, shops, etc. that you will never have time to fit it all in. London theatre is wonderful, tea time is fun, etc. There are also opportunities for trips to Bath, Stonehenge and other locations.

If just staying in London won't do, the easiest next plan would be to add Paris by train.

Unless you immediately fly somewhere else on the 24th, you'll be basically stuck in London until the 26th. Everything in London is closed on Christmas Day, and there is no transportation running at all. Even walking around isn't a lot of fun, because the streets are showing the bad effects of a lot of drunken reveling on Christmas Eve. As someone else said, if you decide to fly somewhere else immediately, be sure to leave at least four hours (or six, as I would prefer) between the flights, because the connections will not be guaranteed.

Spain sounds best to me, given your mother's wishes. I would go as far south as possible, but you still won't find beach weather. Barcelona is pretty far north.

oh Wow... Yes I guess I don't have realistic expectations.. mostly bc of the massive Lack of information (before your comments). I have been to multiple travel agencies in Buffalo and no one could help .. they only sell tours to europe and do not have any for that time frame.

Yes I think a tour would be the Best for us, but the travel agent couldn't help us.

I did look at google flights and had found the following itiniary using Ryan air and BA and Vueling air arriving london 12/24 at 12 noon, leaving london to Barcelona on 12/25 9 am than leaving Barcelona 28 to Seville and than Train from Seville to Madrid 12/31 in am - than 01/01 leaving Madrid at 9 am arriving to London (YES HEATHROW) at 11 ish and leaving to toronto at 3 pm.

costing about $350 pp for all flights minus train from Sev - madrid

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That being said... i agree with what you all said, i didn't have the info

So Please LMK What ONE european City is best to go see from London

Paris
Barcelona
Madrid
Rome
Ireland ? Scottland

anything else???

mom loves to travel but she is getting slower and Cost is a big issue for her...

so for her to be wanting to see a great city that week, what's the best one.. she is def NOT the museum type (opposite me), loves to just immerse herself in the culture of the country / city.
food, shows, shops, cultural events etc

what is the best
Please LMK
Thank you so much

if you had to pick ONE like you guys said.

I think you need to do some research on the weather in the places you will be going. Seaside visits make no sense anywhere - there is no beach weather in europe at that time of year.

Yes, southern Spain will be warmer - perhaps highs in the 60s but lower at night - but still no beach weather.

For Italy do realize that you can get snow as far south as Rome, although it's rare.

You time is so short, and the days this time of year are short that I would limit yourself to 2 places so you don;t spend the bulk of your time just getting from one place to another.

If it were me I would do London and Paris, but if you mom doesn't like the idea of Paris then make it London and Rome or London and Madrid. That way you have a couple of days in each place to see things and the chance of a trip into the country - although do remember it will be a winter countryside.

Your mistake was starting with a TA. What you need are GUIDEBOOKS. Try your library or hang out at your local Barnes and Noble with a cup of coffee and some of their books.look for DK Eyewitness, Fodors, Insight, Lonely Planet.

We can't decide for you what you or your mother would prefer. As I said, I would go to Lisbon. If you are interested in architecture you should go to Barcelona. If you don't care for museums I would skip Madrid. But you need to acquire enough info to make a sensible decision based on your interests.

Do you already have tockets getting into LHR at 12 noon? You want a flight out that evening. Equally DO NOT fly into LHR the day you fly out. You will have no margin for error if something goes wrong.

I've been to both Paris and Rome for Christmas and either would be great if you can work out the transportation kinks given your arrival and departure from London, etc.

I've actually been in Rome during the Xmas/New Year's time frame twice and both times weather was, well, not warm, but comfortable for me as a Californian (in a coat and gloves, which I often had to remove during the "heat" of sunny but crisp afternoons).

And I've been to Paris two times at Christmas. One time I struggled with the weather a bit, but it was in no way unbearable.

Have not been to Spain since I was a child, but it seems another good option.

Check skyscanner.net for flights.

I would ask your mother to pick one city and then plan around her choice, even if that just means she picks a name from a hat.

I don't like to fly. So I would pick Paris, most likely. Or I would just stay in the UK- split your time between London and somewhere else, like Edinburgh or Bath. But I think you should talk with your mother about what she really wants to see. Your parents must have had specific things they wanted to see in Spain.

Usually it costs less to stay in one place. But a lot depends on what lodging you can find. I have travelled with older relatives a lot and the transit days tend to be really tiring. I've found it much easier to stay in one place. 6 days sounds like a lot but in reality I've found we can do one "activity" a day, so if traveling with them, I can cover the same territory in 6 days that I could cover in 2-3 days on my own. (but it may be different for you- the relatives I've travelled with are 5-10 years older than your mom, and also not in the best health).

OK -- there are 70 year olds and then there are 70 year olds. Some are very active, can walk a lot, handle stairs, and dashing about and 'stuff' . . . and some aren't/can't.

Which is your mother?

If at all the latter - then you really only want to visit one city. There is jet lag, and acclimating, and packing and unpacking and moving. If you go to JUST London you still really only have a short time -- and you could do a day trip to Bath or Oxford or somewhere IF your Mom is up to it.

If she is in great shape and more the former, then pick one other city -- probably in Spain -- and do London and that city.

I don't know that trying with a TA was so bad. It is a lot of things: flying RT into a place in which there is little interest, and having to return there, eating up time; trying to accommodate interests that would be better met in another place and time of year; worrying about cost, yet wanting to zip around to many places. Unlimited time allows you to do that. Unlimited money may help, but without the time, even money doesn't make much difference.

Has your Mom been to Paris? What is it she does not like? London and Paris make a great pair. However, you must do what you feel is right and best.

Is it possible to change tickets and have the money applied to a trip in the Spring?

Had your parents planned a long trip to Spain and Portugal? Your Mom must surely realize that you can't do in a week what might have been planned for 2 weeks.

She must also consider that many of the outdoor things and things she likes, just are not as enjoyable in winter, that many people go in winter for museums, shows, winter sports, etc., Also, that week between Christmas and New Years is difficult, lots of stuff before, but then quiets down for a bit.

Suggest you strongly consider either Malaga or Seville. (Not both!)
From Seville, you could do an easy day trip (1 hour by train) to Córdoba for the Mezquita.
From Malaga, you could do a day trip (by bus) to Granada for the Alhambra.
That way, your Mom could see two places in Spain. All are charming, historic and have great food! Take in a flamenco show!

If she prefers Barcelona, it has fantastic architecture, and you might see if there are any concerts or cultural events that week. There is also a fabulous food.

Either way, spend at least 2 nights (1 full day) back in London and take in a show each night. Shop and sight see during the day.

Keep it simple. One city with a day trip and London. That is it! Do more. Travel less. You will both have fun. You are a good daughter! I send you a hug.

What janis said. If your mom has the pluck and energy, go on to Spain for a few days. The word is i-tin-er-ary, btw, pronounced exactly as it is written, 5 syllables. Not itiniary.

Forget the travel agents. They are rarely worth even talking to and generally haven't even set foot on the ground in Europe the way people here have.

Your mom's list of great cities to visit wouldn't be mine, but of the ones she mentions I would half-heartedly pick Barcelona.

I agree with Janisj as well. i also have a few more comments. One has to do a lot of walking in European cities to get around to see the sights. I am quite fit and so is my daughter and we just left London yesterday after 5 nights and we are generally quite tired by the evening and we have not had to walk as much as you would as we do not do a lot of touristy "things" as we are often in London. As for being used to cold in Buffalo it's different as a tourist as you are out much of the time instead of mostly being indoors at home.
As others have said, you do not have much time in Europe. Visiting another place other than London loses you 1 out of your 7 days. Actually more like 1 out of 6 as everything is closed on Christmas. Moving takes time and money. We just flew to Berlin today and awoke at 0530 for a limo to LHR and a 0910 flight that arrived around 1130 and after immigration and a taxi ride made it to our hotel at1300. After unpacking and Lucy it was 1400 and w had about 2 hours of day light and rain. There is plenty to do in London for your time frame.
If you do a second city do fly out 4+ hours out of your arrival LHR. Paris would be my choice with Eurostar return but Barcelona or Rome etc would work. Do not fly back to LHR on the 1st on your way back unless you wish to possibly miss your flight home and have to pay full fare. If a doing a second city return to London on the 27 or 28.

Itinerary is one of my most complicated words.
Keep stumbling in this one - I want pronounce it as in French. But if I slow down I can do it.

London + Barcelona would be my take.

Spain because that's where your mother wants to go. Southern Spain because it will probably be warmer than most other parts of Europe. Barcelona and down the coast toward Seville.

!Buen Viaje!

Putting together an itinerary this late for a trip over the holidays with cost and time constraints is very difficult. Simplicity is important to help things go smoothly. You are starting out with some complexity as you need to get yourself 100 miles from Buffalo to Toronto via the border in the winter during a major holiday. Assuming you are driving, what is traffic going to be like between the two cities? How long will it take you to cross the border? How long will it take you to drive into the airport itself? Will parking be a problem? It may normally take ~2 1/2 hours to do all of this but I suspect it will take a lot longer on the 23rd even if the weather is perfect. Also consider that the airport itself is going to be mobbed and getting to the ticket counter and through security is going to take much longer than usual. I suspect that you are going to have leave home 8 hours or more to make your flight comfortably. Add a 7 hour flight than a mobbed LHR. Immigration will probably not be fun. Now it gets interesting for you as you need to decide on where you want to go. A brief check finds airfare to Rome later that day expensive. Paris is cheap and Madrid not bad at about $100 more.
Barcelona is a few more hundred than Madrid. Waiting until the 25th to fly out of LHR costs you an extra half day or so. If your Mother has never been to Paris she might find she loves it. On the other hand she may have her heart set on Spain... You are all going to be exhausted by the time you reach your destination unless it's just London. Good luck and hope you have a grand trip. You do have some decisions to make

Just one thing: don't return from Spain on the day you have to fly back to Toronto. If bad weather delays your flight to London, last-minute replacement tickets will cost a fortune.

Thank you so much for all of your replies...

I find them sooo Helpful.

I'm sorry for the misspelling, I'm rushing writing these posts using my phone as I have a lot going on here.

1. My parents lived in Germany during college years and I was born there, they had traveled to parts of France and Italy before, (50 years ago) I think that maybe why she was hesitant to go there. I have never been to Europe, and I would Love to visit France (first choice) esp Paris. I will have to see if i can convince her of this, since most of you suggested this plan would be the easiest and most economical.

2. Since dad and her had planned the Spain trip and were unable to go, I think that's why she wants to go there. Barcelona is her top choice in Spain. Seville is mine from what i found online, also my dad played acoustic guitar and loved flamenco dancers - I was told Seville has the best shows. Someone suggested doing London and Barcelona only. I will have to c if this is ok with her too. She originally said she wanted Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon in the 7 days.

3. However, the insight you are all providing regarding traveling in these European airports / Heathrow and the immigration, traffic delays - I did not take this into account and was not aware. I am getting very concerned about even planning anywhere vs just staying in London / England.

Do any of you know of a tour company that you recommend ?

4. Mom is def not a super active 70 yo. She did do a Euro Viking Cruise which landed in a different city every day... thus she thinks she will be fine with the plan she came up with (London-Barcelona-Seville-Madrid-London), but none of that involved flying so much, she slept at night and landed in the city during the day.

5. Thank you so much for telling me to go back to London the day before our flight leaves for Toronto.

6. The original reason we decided to fly to London with my husband and son was because they have a 10 hour layover and we thought we could all go sightseeing during that time... is that unrealistic too?
Is Heathrow within close distance to a couple of site seeing places or is it in a remote area?

Thank you again in advance for all of your input.

>> they have a 10 hour layover and we thought we could all go sightseeing during that time... is that unrealistic too?
Is Heathrow within close distance to a couple of site seeing places or is it in a remote area? <<

It mostly depends on <i>which</i> 10 hours it is. If you land in the early morning and they don't fly out til early evening -- then you (they actually since you and your mom would probably staying over in London) - 10 hours would net you about 5 hours free on the ground in central London. Heathrow is about 18 miles west of London and no matter which mode of transport it takes about an hour to get into the center of town/to any major sites.

re your #4 -- there is NO comparison between a river cruise and a multi city land-based trip. She boarded the ship, unpacked once, and sailed from city to city and packs again once to catch the transfer to the airport to fly home, w/o one in-Europe flight/train/train station. Basically a moving/floating hotel.

Honestly, I think it may be too late to book a tour. Visiting several places by boat/ cruise is quite a bit different from flying or taking trains. If your mom is not super active, you do not want to include more than two cities. It will be too tiring for her. Again, fly to either Barcelona or Seville and you really need to book now. Spain seems to be the holiday of choice for many Brits and flights may already be full or close to it.

Yes, there are sightseeing possibilities near to LHR. A ten hour layover quickly disintegrates when you include getting through passport control and security ( 2X) . Windsor would be the obvious choice for a a visit.

Lily I know you want to make your mother happy. But do yourself (and her) a favor and just stay in London. There is SO much to do and you won't have to spend a lot of time in airports going somewhere else for a couple of days. Maybe you can take your mom to Barcelona on another trip.. not Christmas and when the weather will be warmer.

There are many, many places to visit without getting on to an airplane from London. Find a fab apartment or hotel and settle in for some fairly stress free family time in a fantastic city.

Barcelona will be there for later.

I checked skyscanner. If you are arriving at LHR at noon, there are no non-stop flights to Barcelona or Seville. There are non-stop flights you could take to Madrid or Lisbon, but I would be somewhat reluctant to leave the airport as they depart around 6:00 or 7:00 pm and you would need to be back two hours ahead. In amy case, it will be Christmas Eve. LHR will be a mad house. London will be a mad house. Windsor is the closest place you could visit, but the castle closes at 4:15 pm, with last admission at 3:00 pm, so you would be pushed to make it there. I have mo idea how long it will take you to clear passport control, but I doubt it will be quick.

As already said, a cruise is a completely different experience to independent travel, whether by plane or train.

If your mother wants to go to Barcelona, then by all means let that be the second city. Give yourself enough time to get in to Heathrow, then fly out to Barcelona. There is lots to see, do, and eat in three or four days. Then fly back to London and spend a few days there before heading home. London is also one of Europe's great cities and very different from Barcelona, which is a more free-spirited city. Alternately, you could squeeze Madrid in by taking a train from Barcelona, but you would lose another day travelling. As others have said, the fewer cities you visit, the more time you'll have to actually see things. Inter-city travel takes up a lot more time than you might imagine.

Enjoy!

@burts - the OP has six full days, total. Your suggestion is unrealistic.

Go to wonderful Málaga city by the Med, the best climate in Europe and something special in December/Christmas time. Direct flights from London to the large Málaga international airport all the time: http://www.spainforpleasure.com/2014...ime-in-malaga/
http://www.guidetomalaga.com/5-reaso...mas-in-malaga/

Málaga is Andalucía's "city of culture with its so-called 'mile of art' being compared to Madrid, and its dynamism and fine dining to Barcelona": https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/andalucia/malaga

3000 year old Málaga is the major museum city in Andalucía, a fabulous food and bar scene and historic sights right in the city center (the Roman theater, the Moorish Palace fortress, the huge 16th century cathedral, the Picasso birth house etc. etc.). http://www.malagaturismo.com/en/

Weather statistics for Málaga in December says highs at 60-65F, average 5 hours sun/day and rainfall one in five days. (wetteronline.de).

Málaga Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz44M4bGHwk
Video intro to the city: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...pt-secret.html

I heartily agree with rialto girl. Unfortunately, you have boxed yourself in by being ticketed to and from London and choosing to travel at an insanely busy time of year at all airports (trains, too). Add in the fact that your mother has no recent experience in moving around from one foreign country to another (it is NOTHING like a cruise) and all that that entails, and I can't see a good outcome for any plan other than staying in London, which BTW is magical at Christmastime.

My own experience is: I live in Europe. I have 40 years' experience criss-crossing the Continent. I speak a few languages and am thoroughly familiar with procedures, signage, customs, etc. I'm younger than your mother. And I frequently come home dead exhausted from week-long trips (even 2-week trips) trying to squeeze in more than one or two places. You just can't imagine, until you've done it, how much energy it consumes to get back and forth to airports and train stations, go through security procedures, handle your own luggage, sit around and wait...etc., etc. I can't imagine your mother taking all this in stride and enjoying it.

Taking StCirq's wise considerations into account, Málaga would still be quite stress-free. 15 direct flights from London to Málaga on Dec. 23, 2h 50 mins flying time. (momondo.com)

In Málaga, you are also only 50 mins with train away from Córdoba with the spectacular Mezquita, the most advanced city in Europe around 1000AD: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/andalucia/cordoba

@kimhe - there is <b>NO</b> direct flight <b>from LHR</b> to Malaga the afternoon of Dec. 24th.

There is a flight leavng at 4:35 pm that the OP might be able to make, but it requires a two and a half hour layover in Madrid and arrives at 11:00 pm. They will already have traveled from Buffalo to Toronto and overnight from Toronto to London.

I agree that the sensible thing to do is to stay in London, and expend the effort currently being spent to find a second city in finding somewhere to stay, and somewhere to eat on Christmas Day. London is a wonderful city with loads to do/see, and there will be the lights on Oxford Street, the skating rinks, and special displays in museums like the Geffrye.