‘Tis the season to argue whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie…
….which opens up a rabbit hole that could also include Iron Man 3, Step Brothers, Batman Returns, and Eyes Wide Shut as Christmas “classics”...
Instead of decking the halls with unnecessary debate, make your way through this watch list of the best (actual) Christmas movies set in the UK and Europe.
Andrew Lincoln as Mark in Love Actually. Image Credit: Peter Mountain/2003 Universal Studios
Love Actually (2003)
Filmed across London at Notting Hill, Grosvenor Chapel, Heathrow Airport, and Ark Putney Academy, Love Actually weaves nine stories together with a stacked cast featuring heartthrobs like Hugh Grant (Four Weddings and a Funeral), Colin Firth (BBC’s Pride and Prejudice), and Bill Nighy (Living).
Love Actually is a modern day Christmas classic…but if we’re being completely honest, the romcom has aged like eggnog.
Get ready to see Alan Rickman (Harry Potter) make Snape look like a saint and Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead) pull a “Shane” on his best friend’s wife. It’s still a fun watch, but perhaps also a helpful guide for how one should not treat their partners, friends, and flings during the holidays.
Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009)
Disney’s A Christmas Carol gives comedian Jim Carrey a shot at an animated Ebenezer Scrooge a few years after his debut as The Grinch. Set in Victorian-era London, this legendary cautionary tale cautions the greedy to pull the humbug out of their rump and help their fellow man.
🚆Trainline Tip: Spending the holidays in London? Head to the West End’s theaters where A Christmas Carol plays out on stage.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
You cannot have too many versions of A Christmas Carol, especially if you’re adding The Muppet Christmas Carol to your watch list. Set (naturally) in 19th-century London, The Muppet Christmas Carol brings Jim Henson favorites like Rizzo, Gonzo, Kermit, and Miss Piggy into the Dickens classic alongside an ever-on-point Sir Michael Caine who plays the role completely straight-laced despite being surrounded by a cast of Muppets.
Cameron Diaz as Amanda Woods and Jude Law as Graham in The Holiday. Image Credit: 2006 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and GH One LLC
The Holiday (2006)
If The Holiday doesn’t make you want to swap homes with someone from the UK, then we don’t know what will. Starring Kate Winslet (The Regime), Cameron Diaz, Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley), and Jack Black in a well-deserved romantic leading man role, The Holiday was filmed and set between California and Surrey, UK.
🚂 Trainline Trivia: Along with being filmed across Surrey, The Holiday also had a brief scene in the Cotswolds. Both gorgeous areas are accessible from London via train.
Alles ist Liebe (2014)
Alles ist Liebe is the German remake of the Dutch Alles is Liefde and basically a German version of Love Actually. The film follows ten men and women with relationship problems, set in the Christmas backdrop of Frankfurt am Main.
Last Christmas (2019)
Gosh, Last Christmas is a tearjerker — especially when you know that Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) suffered from a serious health scare not unlike her character. This film is set in the modern day streets of London, features Henry Golding (The Gentlemen) and Michelle Yeoh (A Haunting in Venice), and is a must-watch for fans of George Michael.
Cary Elwes as Myles, Brooke Shields as Sophie in A Castle for Christmas. Image Credit: Mark Mainz/Netflix
A Castle for Christmas (2021)
Scottish castles, Christmas cheer, and Cary Elwes as a curmudgeon: A Castle for Christmas stuffs your stocking with a tale that sees a best-selling author forced to live in a castle with its Scrooge-like owner until Christmas Day. Set and filmed just outside of Edinburgh, A Castle for Christmas is a Netflix original starring Brooke Shields.
Nativity! (2009, 2012, 2014, 2018)
If a series of holiday sequels was at the top of your Christmas list then you’re certainly on the Nice List. A quick rundown:
- Nativity! (2009) finds Martin Freeman (The World’s End) lies to his young students that a Hollywood producer is coming to see their Christmas play.
- Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger (2012) keeps the musical theme going with a new teacher, played by David Tennant (Broadchurch), taking his students on a road trip to the National Song for Christmas Competition.
- Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey? (2014) brings Martin Clunes into the mix as a teacher who loses his memory, and the donkey for the Christmas play — so it’s up for the students to save the day.
- Nativity Rocks! (2018) ends the four-film series with the students preparing for yet another music competition.
All of these movies were set and filmed in Coventry, England.
A Boy Called Christmas (2021)
A Boy Called Christmas calls upon Dame Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) and Jim Broadbent (Paddington) to help a young Father Christmas seek out his magical destiny. The film was set and filmed in Finland.
🚂 Trainline Trivia: You can travel on the Santa Claus Express from Helsinki, Finland, up into Finnish Lapland where Santa’s Village awaits.
Ludivine Sagnier as Catherine, Virginie Ledoyen as Suzon, Catherine Deneuve as Gaby, Danielle Darrieux as Mamy, Isabelle Huppert as Augustine, Firmine Richard as Madame Chanel, and Emmanuelle Béart as Louise in 8 Women. Image Credit: Jean-Claude Moireau/2002 Focus Features
8 Women (2002)
A murder in 1950s France isn’t the first scene you dream up for a Christmas tale, but we’re all for a little wickedness in a winter wonderland. One (rich) dead body, eight female suspects, and a whole lot of secrets make 8 Women an alternative Christmas movie set in Europe to watch this season.
A Christmas Tale (2008)
Why do screenwriters insist on tucking terminal illnesses into stories set during the most “wonderful” time of the year? A Christmas Tale, set in Roubaix, France, finds the estranged Vuillard family brought together during the holiday season…with their ailing mother in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.
My Favorite Season (1993)
If you’ve got a Catherine Deneuve trend in these last three entries, that’s no coincidence. Another festive film set in France (this time, Toulouse), the actress plays a daughter whose aging mother moves in. Deneuve invites her fictional brother to join them for Christmas, bringing years of estrangement to a close by reopening old wounds.
Emjay Anthony as Max Engel in Krampus. Image Credit: Steve Unwin/Universal Pictures
Krampus (2015)
Black Christmas has three fun versions but they’re far from the only Christmas-themed horror movie. If Krampus slipped your radar a decade ago, now’s the time to unwrap it. Starring Adam Scott and Toni Collette, Krampus is a funny yet frightening take on the monstrous contemporary to Father Christmas who lives in the mountains of Central Europe.
🚂 Trainline Trivia: Don’t miss the Black Mirror episode “White Christmas” which is short, sweet, and partially filmed in London.
The Shop Around The Corner (1940)
Fact: Christmas films in black and white are always a win. The Shop Around The Corner was released way back in 1940 but tells a story that’s still a common trope today. James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play two gift shop employees at each other’s throats in Budapest, Hungary, while unknowingly falling for one another as anonymous pen pals.
About a Boy (2002)
Another Hugh-Grant-in-London-during-Christmas entry, About a Boy is also another heavily debated “Christmas” film. Grant, while trying to court a single mother, becomes friends with a 12-year-old boy. As the young boy and British leading man help one another grow, heal, and mature, Christmas time arrives, making About a Boy an unofficial “Christmas” movie.
Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones and Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones's Diary. Image Credit: 2003 Miramax Films
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
Now it’s Colin Firth’s turn to return for a not-so-Christmasy “Christmas” movie. Bridget Jones’s Diary — set in many English locations including London — gets its official holiday film status thanks to a scene with Firth dressed in a reindeer sweater and a passionate kiss beneath colorful Christmas lights…
…even though Bridget Jones is based on the book Pride and Prejudice, which is absolutely not a Christmas story.
Last Train to Christmas (2021)
A newer entry into your Christmas countdown screening schedule, Last Train to Christmas follows Michael Sheen’s (Midnight in Paris) character as he travels from London to Nottingham on Christmas Eve.
Hallmark Christmas Movies set in Europe
Delonga, Georgia, doesn’t hold a candle to the cobbled streets and squares of Europe. Check out these cheery (and sometimes cheesy) Hallmark Christmas movies set in Europe:
A Royal Christmas (2014)
A Royal Christmas brings the Queen of Hallmark Christmas films, Lacey Chabert, to the fictional European country of Cordinia (which used Bucharest, Romania as a filming location). It’s your typical boy-meets-girl love story, except the boy is a prince, and the girl is a Philadelphia seamstress, and the queen is Jane Seymour.
Merritt Patterson as Katie and Andrew Cooper as King Alexander in Christmas at the Palace. Image Credit: Cos Aelenei/Crown Media United States, LLC
Christmas at the Palace (2018)
Romania is so much more than its Count Dracula reputation — and a second Hallmark movie filmed in Bucharest should be enough to convince you to visit this underrated cheery Christmas city. Christmas at the Palace is set in the fictional European country of San Senova, where a professional ice skater is tasked with helping the king’s daughter prepare for a holiday ice skating performance.
Christmas in Vienna (2020)
If The Third Man is Vienna’s quintessential film noir entry, then Christmas in Vienna may be the perfect pick to represent the Austrian city in the holiday genre. Spotlighting the famous Hotel Sacher and Vienna State Opera, the movie finds a violinist rediscovering her inspiration, and her heart.
A Merry Scottish Christmas (2023)
We’ll end our list of the best Christmas movies filmed in the UK with A Merry Scottish Christmas. Set in the fictional Scottish town of Glencrave (which is established with a shot of Inveraray), production did use the country’s real Duns Castle Estate as the castle. Starring Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf as siblings trying to reconnect, we’ll forgive Hallmark for staging many of its “Scottish” scenes in Ireland.
No one said you need to watch these films *at home* during the holidays. Stream them while you travel through Europe by train. Visit filming locations for these yuletide movies and make your own Hallmark-y holiday memories. Download the Trainline app and gift yourself a European vacation this year!
Header Image Credit: Getty Images, Andrii Lysenko
