Christmas Trees
A small Lithuanian town made a 42-foot-tall Christmas tree entirely out of recycled plastic bottles and zip ties.
A human Christmas tree:
If you have no floor space but some wall space, there are many “tree on a wall” ideas like this one.
Okay, it’s not strictly a tree. It’s a load of lighting installed on the slopes of Mount Ingino outside the city of Gubbio, in Umbria, every year. But it certainly looks like a Christmas tree.
Rockefeller Center, New York
This tree shoots up amid the sprawling Rockefeller complex every year. There are some 54,000 ‘Rockefellerchristmastree’ hashtags currently on Instagram. Very iconic.
Photograph: Pe Dra / Shutterstock.com
Vilnius, Lithuania
A lesser-known choice that, for a brief period each year, becomes one of Lithuania’s major tourist attractions, the Christmas tree in Vilnius’s Cathedral Square oftens wins awards for its dazzling light displays.
Photograph: Saulius Ziura
Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, Rio de Janeiro
The world’s largest floating Christmas tree, in Rio de Janeiro’s Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, usually soars 70 metres in the air and is lit up with nearly a million LED lights.
Photograph: ranimiro / Shutterstock.com
Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.
Every year since the mid-’60s, a big tree-lighting ceremony has taken place on Capitol Hill. The trees usually flash in every hue imaginable, and are always suitably OTT.
Photograph: Shutterstock
Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico City’s major square is adorned in all manner of extravagant lighting and tinsel around Christmastime. At its centre, a 40-metre-high tree towers high above pretty much everything else.
Photograph: Belikova Oksana / Shutterstock.com
Puerta del Sol, Madrid
Visitors and locals alike flock to this regal square in the Spanish capital to check out its annual festive light display, which is always centred around a huge, resplendent tree.
Photograph: Shutterstock
Strasbourg, France
The Christmas market of Strasbourg’s Place Kléber is a mammoth attaction in itself, and then there’s the nine-tonne, 30-metre-high tree that looms over it all.
Photograph: HUANG Zheng / Shutterstock.com
Trafalgar Square, London
Some 8,000 people Google ‘Trafalgar Square Christmas tree’ every month throughout the festive period – and for good reason: it’s always friggin’ beautiful.
Photograph: Shutterstock
Red Square, Moscow
Red Square is undoubtedly the most Christmassy place to be in Moscow during winter: there’s a massive ice skating rink, there’s a festive market, and there’s a big ol’ tree too. It’s almost like something from a fairy tale.
Photograph: Shutterstock
