If you still haven't booked your holiday trip yet, it may not be too late. WalletHub rounded up the best winter holiday destinations in the United States based on affordability, ease of travel, and other factors. For this list, researchers split up their rankings based on cold weather and warm weather.
A popular Colorado city broke into the Top 10 for cold-weather destinations: the Denver metro area! Ranking at No. 5, this city got the highest marks in the "Cold-Weather Activities" category, which includes the number of ski slopes, food festivals, restaurants, ice-skating rinks, shopping centers, and more.
Here are the Top 10 winter travel destinations for cold-weather lovers:
- Atlanta metro area
- Washington D.C. metro area
- Chicago metro area
- New York City metro area
- Denver metro area
- Cincinnati metro area
- St. Louis metro area
- Kansas City metro area
- Philadelphia metro area
- Boston metro area
Analysts also detailed how they determined their rankings:
"To help Americans plan their travels over the colder months, WalletHub developed a ranking of the cheapest U.S. destinations that are also the easiest to reach. In total we analyzed nearly 70 of the largest metro areas — grouped as “warm” or “cold” — based on 37 key metrics, including two weeks of flight data, safety indicators and weather predictions. Compared with other rankings that focus on each destination’s scenic quality, this report focuses primarily on the cost and convenience of traveling to each location as well as its affordability."
If you need more travel recommendations, check out the full report on WalletHub's website.