Forget Summer. The Busiest Week of the Year for Holiday Photos Is Christmas.

Smiler Research, published 25.10.2026

We looked at three years of bookings to find the busiest days for holiday photoshoots. It wasn’t a sunny week in July. It was the week most of the world spends on the sofa.

Picture peak season for holiday photos and you probably picture July. Long evenings, golden light, crowded viewpoints.

Our photographers know a different peak. It comes when the days are shortest, the coats come out and the Christmas lights go on.

Across three years of Smiler bookings, from 2023 to 2025, the seven busiest days of the year for holiday photoshoots were 25 to 31 December. Not one of them fell in summer. And in every one of those years, 30 or 31 December came out on top.

Figure	What it means
7 of 7	busiest days of the year fall between 25 and 31 December
2.6×	as many photoshoots on 30 December as on an average day
65 %	of all Strasbourg photoshoots happen in December
1 in 5	December shoots in Paris are booked for dusk or after dark

At a glance: three full years (2023–2025), all Smiler cities and booking channels, cancelled and test bookings excluded, local date of each shoot. Figures are shares and multiples of an average day; absolute volumes are not disclosed. Full methodology and limitations at the end.

Key findings

• The seven busiest days of the year for holiday photoshoots are 25 to 31 December (2023–2025 combined).
• 30 or 31 December was the busiest day of the year in each of the three years. On 30 December, photographers worked 2.6 times as many shoots as on an average day.
• The eight days from 24 to 31 December are 2.2 % of the calendar but 4.3 % of all photoshoots.
• Christmas market cities peak first. Strasbourg runs at 8.7 times its daily average in the first week of December. Capitals wait: Paris peaks on 30 December, London on New Year’s Eve.
• The first two weeks of December are quieter than an average day. After 6 January comes the quietest stretch of the year.
• In December, one in five Paris photoshoots is booked for dusk or after dark. In June, almost none are.
• Travellers from the Philippines, Brazil, Italy and India are the most likely to spend Christmas on a trip with a photographer.

The 30 December rush

Rank every day of the year by the number of photoshoots, and the top of the list reads like an advent calendar that skipped ahead: 30, 31, 25, 27, 28, 29 and 26 December.

Rank	Day	Photoshoots vs. average day
1	30 December	2.6×
2	31 December	2.3×
3	25 December	2.0×
4	27 December	1.9×
5	28 December	1.9×
6	29 December	1.9×
7	26 December	1.6×

Christmas Eve comes ninth. The best days outside the holidays, in mid-October and late September, only reach about 1.6 times the average.

This isn’t one unusual winter. 30 December was the busiest day of 2023 and of 2025. In 2024, 31 December shared first place with Easter Saturday.

A slow start, then a sprint

You might expect the Christmas season to build all through Advent. It doesn’t.

Late November runs at a normal level. The first two weeks of December are actually quieter than an average day. Then, around 15 December, bookings start to climb, and they keep climbing until they hit their peak on 30 December.

After New Year, the drop is sharp. From 7 January to the end of the month, photographers see less than a third of their usual daily bookings. It is the quietest stretch of the whole year.

Period	Photoshoots per day vs. yearly daily average (1.0×)
15–30 Nov	1.0×
1–14 Dec	0.8×
15–21 Dec	1.0×
22–23 Dec	1.3×
24 Dec	1.6×
25 Dec	2.0×
26 Dec	1.6×
27–29 Dec	1.9×
30 Dec	2.6×
31 Dec	2.3×
1 Jan	1.3×
2–6 Jan	0.8×
7–31 Jan	0.3×

All cities, 2023–2025.

American travellers start a month earlier. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, US customers book 1.8 to 2 times as many photoshoots as on their average day.

Strasbourg goes first. Paris waits.

Not every city celebrates on the same schedule. The data splits neatly into two camps.

The Christmas market cities peak before Christmas. Strasbourg, which calls itself the Capital of Christmas, is the extreme. Two thirds of all its photoshoots happen in December. The first week of the month already runs at 8.7 times its normal level, and its busiest day of the whole year is 21 December. In Prague, the last two days before Christmas, 22 and 23 December, run at four times the city’s average.

The big capitals wait for the holidays. Paris is a little below average in early December. Then the rush arrives: 30 December runs at 3.7 times the daily average, New Year’s Eve at 3.1 times. London peaks on New Year’s Eve at 3.8 times its average, New York on 29 December, and Edinburgh, home of Hogmanay, on 30 December.

City	Share of the year’s photoshoots, 24–31 Dec	Busiest day of the year
Strasbourg	15.6 %	21 December
Edinburgh	10.4 %	30 December
New York	8.3 %	29 December
Prague	7.5 %	29 December
Sydney	7.4 %	30 December
London	6.1 %	31 December
Paris	5.2 %	30 December
Amsterdam	4.7 %	4 April
Rome	3.1 %	28 May
Venice	2.8 %	18 June
Barcelona	2.8 %	25 August
Santorini	0.3 %	17 September
Even spread	2.2 %

And some places barely notice. Rome, Venice and Barcelona get only a small bump around the holidays. Santorini, built for summer, has fewer than 1 % of its photoshoots in December. Sydney flips the whole thing: Christmas falls in the Australian summer, and December has been its busiest month in each of the last three years.

In Paris, Christmas Day beats July

Paris is Smiler’s largest city, so its pattern is the most reliable. And it is striking.

On Christmas Day, Paris sees 2.2 times as many holiday photoshoots as on an average day in July. Bastille Day, 14 July, doesn’t even reach the July average. Valentine’s Day, supposedly the city’s big day, ranks only eighth in the year. The six busiest days in Paris all fall between 25 and 31 December.

The Christmas crowd is also more international. Americans make up 26 % of Paris photoshoots in the last week of December, against 31 % across the year. German, Filipino, Italian, Indian and Brazilian travellers all take a bigger share at Christmas than they do the rest of the year.

Who leaves home for Christmas

Some nationalities are far more likely than others to spend the holidays on a trip with a photographer. Filipino travellers book 7.5 % of all their photoshoots in the last eight days of December, more than three times what an even spread would give. For Americans and Britons, the share is about half that.

Customer country	Share of photoshoots, 24–31 Dec
Philippines	7.5 %
Brazil	6.9 %
Italy	6.7 %
India	6.2 %
Japan	5.8 %
Hong Kong	5.3 %
Germany	4.5 %
United States	3.6 %
United Kingdom	3.5 %
Canada	3.0 %

For Indian travellers, December is the single busiest month of the year, with 13 % of their photoshoots. And two thirds of all their photoshoots take place in one city: Paris.

Lights, not golden hour

Summer shoots chase the soft evening light. December shoots chase the lights.

In Paris, 20 % of December photoshoots start within 45 minutes of sunset or later, when the streets are lit up. In June, almost none do. In Strasbourg the share reaches 36 %, in Rome 18 %.

The good news for anyone who hates early alarms: hardly anyone gets up for sunrise. Across the year, only 5 % of photoshoots start around sunrise, and fewer than 1 in 300 start before 7 am. The typical December shoot in Paris starts around noon, about five hours before a 16:56 sunset.

Advent is also a weekend affair. Between 1 and 23 December, 37 % of Paris photoshoots fall on a Saturday or Sunday, against 32.5 % across the year. In London, New York and Prague, it is 39 to 40 %.

How to get your Christmas photos and skip the rush

• Book early for 27–31 December. It is the most requested week of the year, and in Paris, London and New York the last days of December fill first.
• Go early in the capitals. In Paris and London, the first two weeks of December are at or below an average day, and the Christmas lights are already up.
• Do the opposite in market cities. Strasbourg and Prague are busiest before Christmas, not after.
• Time it for the switch-on. Paris sunsets come just before 5 pm in December. Start an hour before, and you get daylight and illuminations in one session.

“The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is when many families are finally off work and travelling together, and it is the trip they want to remember. We see the same pattern in our bookings every year. Our photographers in Paris and Strasbourg plan their own holidays around it.”

Tomáš Dekan, CEO of Smiler

Local numbers at a glance

• Paris: the six busiest days of the year are 25–31 December. 30 December runs at 3.7 times the daily average, and Christmas Day sees 2.2 times as many photoshoots as an average day in July.
• Strasbourg: two thirds of the year’s photoshoots take place in December. The busiest day of the year is 21 December.
• London: New Year’s Eve is the busiest day of the year, at 3.8 times the daily average.
• Edinburgh: 10.4 % of the year’s photoshoots fall between 24 and 31 December. The busiest day is 30 December.
• New York: 8.3 % of the year’s photoshoots fall between 24 and 31 December. The busiest day is 29 December.
• Prague: 22 and 23 December run at four times the daily average. The busiest day is 29 December.
• Sydney: December has been the busiest month in each of the last three years. The busiest day is 30 December.
• Rome, Venice, Barcelona: 2.8–3.1 % of photoshoots fall in the last week of December, close to an even spread. Their busiest days are in late spring and summer.

Frequently asked questions

When is the busiest time of year for holiday photoshoots?

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The seven busiest days of the year are 25 to 31 December, with 30 December the busiest.

Is December a good time for a photoshoot in Paris?

Yes, but timing matters. The first two weeks of December are quieter than average, while 27 to 31 December is the busiest period of the year. Sunset is just before 5 pm, so a shoot an hour before sunset catches both daylight and the Christmas lights.

Which cities have the strongest Christmas season?

Strasbourg, Edinburgh, New York and Prague, measured by the share of their yearly photoshoots in the last week of December.

Do people shoot at sunrise in winter?

Rarely. Only 5 % of photoshoots start around sunrise across the year. In December, the typical Paris shoot starts around noon.

What this data does not show

• It shows when Smiler customers book photoshoots, not how many tourists visit each city. Cities where Smiler has more photographers carry more weight.
• It does not show why people travel at Christmas. Our CEO’s comment is an interpretation, not a finding.
• Smaller cities such as Strasbourg, Edinburgh and Prague have fewer photoshoots, so their single-day figures can move more from year to year than those for Paris.

Suggested citation

Smiler, “Forget Summer. The Busiest Week of the Year for Holiday Photos Is Christmas”, [month year], smiler.co/research/christmas-photoshoot-season. Charts on this page may be embedded with a link to this page.

Methodology

This report is based on photoshoots booked through Smiler and its partner channels that took place between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025, excluding cancelled and test bookings. All dates and times are the local date and time of the shoot in its city. Daily comparisons divide the number of photoshoots on a given date (summed over three years) by the average for any day. City figures include cities with at least 150 photoshoots in the period. Nationality is the customer’s country where provided, which covers about three quarters of bookings; only countries with at least 300 photoshoots are shown. Sunset times come from daily sun data for each city and cover December 2025 and June 2026. The Thanksgiving comparison uses US customers only. Absolute booking volumes are not disclosed. The share of photoshoots in the last week of December was above the even-spread level of 2.2 % in each year: 6.0 % in 2023, 3.7 % in 2024 and 3.6 % in 2025.