Walled in by the city's narrow, symmetrical townhouses, you'll feel like you're skating into a Wes Anderson movie as you glide around the beautiful ice rink encircling Warsaw's Old Town Square's mermaid statue. Expect strings of lights hung like a tent above the ice, food stalls set up beyond the rink and families in matching fur-bobble hats skating past, hand in hand. Admission is free of charge, and you can rent skates beside the rink.

At winter's coldest, the 9.5sq km Lac de Joux transforms into an immense natural ice-skating rink, with skaters of all ages taking to its glossy surface, backdropped by snow-dusted fir forests and the chocolate-box peaks of the Jura mountains. Make your way to some of the villages on the lake's edges - like Le Pont and L'Abbaye - to warm up with refreshments (and wear your long johns, too - temperatures can drop to -11ºC in mid-winter). L'Abbaye's Hôtel de Ville La Baie du Lac's lake-facing restaurant is our call for traditional Swiss plates and mugs of hot chocolate.

We can think of few more atmospheric skating locations in the UK than a red-brick Tudor palace right beside the Thames. The Hampton Court Palace ice rink has all the ingredients for a festive skating session to remember: skates to rent, fairy lights aplenty, a fair few food vendors to choose from and - most importantly - it's pretty big, meaning fewer potential collisions if your Torvill and Dean impression isn't quite up to scratch. Tickets cost from £17.50pp.

Situated 12km above the city of Bolzano, surrounded by snow-laden fir trees and backed by impressive peaks, this frozen lake isn't just for skaters: Italians of the South Tyrol also use it for curling and ice hockey. You'll need to bring your own skates - and also sun cream. On clear days, the mountain rays are as powerful as summer sunshine. The pond is one of the only ones in the area that is regularly cleared of fresh snowfall, too.

Need a little Dutch courage before you hit the ice (possibly quite literally)? The 3,000sq m ice rink outside Vienna's dramatically lit city hall sits amid festively dressed huts selling everything from bratwurst to knoblauchbrot (cheesy garlic bread). The winter warmers kissing the air with seasonal spices are the mugs of gluhwein and creamy eggnog that most residents will happily swig from before taking to the rink. Glide along a meandering pathway, or practise your axels and twizzles on the two vast rinks at either end of the route. Tickets cost from £6.60pp, and skate rental is available.

Despite the city's numerous artificial options, nothing beats a bit of Nordic wild skating (which we're calling a thing this year). Thanks to its location, just a 30-minute drive from the Norwegian capital, you'll find plenty of urbanites on skates at the 2km-long Lake Bogstadvannet. The ice has to be at least 10cm thick for skating to get the green light here, but when conditions are right, puffer-jacketed skaters arrive early to clear fresh snowfall and skate freely past the forested hills that surround the lake.

We're tapping our skates waiting for the rink at Paris' Le Grand Palais to return - the beautiful glass-domed, neoclassical building is currently being renovated and won't be open until 2024. In the meantime, the city's next-best rink is way up high. France's "highest skating rink" perches on the 59th floor of the Montparnasse Tower, and won't be open until after Christmas (the skating season 200m up normally starts in February). It's dinky, but dramatic, with the 230sq m rink offering views of the Eiffel Tower, Sacré Coeur and La Défense below. We'd put a reminder in your calendar for the new year - tickets sell fast.