4. Oaxaca, México

Photo: pinterest.com

Looking for sunnier Christmas destinations chocolate lovers will enjoy? Oaxaca is touted to be the birthplace of chocolate, and their addition of chocolate into cuisine goes beyond your standard chocolate bar.

Christmas in Oaxaca is a remarkable thing – the celebrations are not as lively as those in Mexico City, but chocolate lovers come together to celebrate, especially on one of Mexico’s most unique celebrations – Noche de rábanos – Night of the Radishes that takes place in the week leading up to Christmas.

Christmas celebration occurs in the city’s square, where radish carvers sculpt intricate scenes out of vegetables. These Christmas celebrations and markets are the best places to sample the Oaxacan chocolate – you can find it in the complex mole sauce, the tejate drink, and drinking chocolate. Markets sell cacao beans, fermented cacao, ground cacao, and toasted cacao. Chocolate is not just an indulgence at this one of the best Christmas destinations chocolate lovers will enjoy; it is part of their lifestyle.