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Smithsonian Channel 25 Days of Getaways Schedule

The Smithsonian Channel is taking viewers across the globe (book your trips via Expedia) with a month-long “25 Days of Getaways” holiday programming event. Every night in December, catch episodes from the channel’s most beloved franchises as well as brand new premieres.

The programming event will kick off on Thursday, December 1, at 9am ET with a marathon of Inside The Factory.

Smithsonian Channel 25 Days of Getaways Schedule

Every night in December, Smithsonian Channel helps viewers at home escape across the globe. From the wilds of Yellowstone to ancient Egyptian ruins, the channel is crisscrossing the globe on a virtual vacation, showing viewers not only what they can do when they get there but also how they got there.

Every night of the week, you’ll be visiting ancient ruins, the Great Barrier Reef, national parks and more, and getting there by plane, train, car, and boat.

Smithsonian Channel 25 Days of Getaways Schedule

SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL 25 DAYS OF GETAWAYS SCHEDULE

Inside The Christmas Factory (Monday, Dec 5, 12, 19 at 8pm ET)
In this Christmas special, Gregg Wallace, Cherry Healey and Ruth Goodman explore the fascinating factory processes and surprising history behind our favorite festive treats.

Mighty Cruise Ships (Tuesday, Dec 16, 13, 20 and Dec 24 at 8pm ET)
Some are built for polar extremes. Others follow the wake of Viking longships. This series will take viewers to remote spaces and historic places aboard six unique vessels, visiting breathtaking destinations across Europe and enjoying all that the ships offer onboard and off. From fine dining to excursions, this series explores it all.

Smithsonian Channel 25 Days of Getaways Schedule

David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef (Wednesday, Dec 7 at 8pm ET)
The Great Barrier Reef. A natural wonder so enormous it can be seen from space and home to one of the most extraordinary communities of animals on the planet. Nearly 60 years since his last visit to this marine paradise, Sir David Attenborough returns, this time armed with a team of scientists and the latest technology.

His mission: to explore the reef’s diverse residents and visitors in ways we never could before, to learn more of its surprising origins, and to save it from its most serious threat–mankind.

Great Lakes Untamed (Wednesday, Dec 14 at 8pm ET)
This three-part documentary showcases the natural history of Earth’s largest freshwater ecosystem: the five Great Lakes of North America. The Great Lakes are one of our planet’s most important ecosystems providing one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water and drinking water for over 40 million people.

In the debut episode of Great Lakes Untamed titled “Source to Sea,” the series explores the vital role the Great Lakes watershed plays as one of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystems, covering over 4,000 kilometers of coastline, more than anywhere else in North America and providing a home to more than 3,500 plant and animal species.

Epic Yellowstone (Wednesday, Dec 21 at 8pm ET)
This series gives audiences a front row seat to the extraordinary spectacle of wildlife and dramatic seasonal extremes in the iconic crown jewel of America’s national parks. Hosted by renowned actor and Montana local Bill Pullman, and filmed over the course of three years, the series delivers stories from Yellowstone never told before.

The stunning four-part project, filmed throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, uses state-of-the art 8K cameras, FLIR thermal imagery, drone timelapse, cineflex aerials and miniature nest cameras to reveal the world of Yellowstone’s predators and prey in jaw-dropping beauty – shot fully in the wild with no captive or enclosed animals.

Sacred Sites (Thursday Dec 1, 8, 15, 22 at 8pm ET)
From the supposed tomb of King Arthur to ancient Egyptian temples once controlled by female priests, the world’s religious sites are home to alluring secrets and mysteries. This series explores enigmatic religious sites found around the world.

Featuring advanced scientific discoveries and archaeological research, new episodes will bring viewers to sanctified and historical locations stretching from Europe to North Africa, through the Mayan civilization in the Americas, across the path of the Camino de Santiago and more.

While unraveling the unsolved mysteries hidden within these sacred sites, each episode will grant extraordinary new insights into the lives, culture and symbolic sites that left their marks on civilizations of the past and show how their societal impacts continue to reverberate today.

The Real Jesus of Nazareth (Thursday Dec 22 at 8pm ET)
Starring no less than seven Academy Award winners, the 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth was a global television event – one of the most celebrated TV biographies of Jesus ever made. Now, 40 years later, the actor who portrayed the Son of God, Robert Powell, is returning to the Holy Land to seek out clues to the real historical figure who inspired Christianity.

This four-part series combines scenes from the landmark series with Powell’s journey throughout modern Israel, where he meets archaeologists and scholars who help him reconstruct the story of the man who changed history and inspired billions.

Returning to the Holy Land to investigate the life and times of the real historical figure who inspired Christianity, Powell takes viewers through the life of Jesus – what his childhood looked like, the teachings that spawned a religion, and eventually his final days on Earth.

How Did They Build That? (Airs Friday, Dec 2, 9, 16, 23 at 8pm ET)
Join host, actor Jay Ellis (Insecure) as he visits Florida Polytechnic’s Innovation, Science and Technology Building to see how they created a brand-new university campus on an area of swamp. We then head to Spain, where the $165 million Guggenheim Museum is itself a work of art.

Finally, we see how New York’s cultural center The Shed can shapeshift to provide different venues for different shows. Across the globe, architects, and engineers are upping the ante on what a building can look like, how it can function, and where it can be built.

How do you build a huge new university on a swamp? How do you create a chameleon-like building that doubles in size at the touch of a button? And how did legendary architect Frank Gehry’s 250,000-ton museum revive a city and shock the world?

In this episode, we travel from Florida and New York to Spain to detail the ingenious designs, planning, and construction of Florida Polytechnic’s Innovation, Science and Technology Building, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Manhattan’s revolutionary arts venue The Shed.

Mighty Trains (Airs Saturday, Dec 3, 10, 17 at 8pm ET)
Witness the locomotive industry’s greatest engineering marvels, and meet the dedicated people who keep them running. They glide across the prairies of Canada and the deserts of Australia. They power through the cold of the Norwegian Arctic Circle and up the steepest slopes of the mighty Swiss Alps.

They zoom into the future in Japan and go back in time to Alaska. Ride the rails to witness the world’s mightiest trains in action and join us as we embark on challenging missions, high-speed thrills, and cross-country adventures aboard these fast and powerful marvels of design and engineering.

Aerial Argentina (Sunday, Dec 4, 11, 18 at 8pm ET)
This narrated show consists entirely of aerial scenes offering sights and flyovers of historical landmarks, natural areas such as national parks, and well-known buildings and homes in urban areas.

Aerial Argentina Series captures the history and spectacle of nature across 3 episodes: 1. The Pampas, 2. Patagonia, and 3. Contrasts.

Master of Glass: The Art of Dale Chihuly (Sunday, Dec 11 at 9pm ET)
Dale Chihuly is widely known as the enigmatic figure behind impressive glass sculptures that are both well-integrated yet strikingly imposing as they float through Finland’s rivers, crowd the narrow canals of Venice, and blossom across the ceiling of the Bellagio in Las Vegas. However, these achievements cannot capture the full impact of the profound heart and mind of the man behind the glass.

Both complex and compassionate, Dale Chihuly is a beloved father, a supportive friend, a dedicated partner, and a man who has weathered great personal tragedy and continues to push against the weight of his bipolar diagnosis.

Chihuly takes a deeper dive into the people, places, and things that Dale has collected in his life revealing a man whose keen eye for beauty and connection will leave behind a legacy that outlives his work.

Aerial America (Airs Sunday, Dec 25 at 8pm ET)
This series offers the ultimate “bird’s eye view” of our nation, the compelling stories behind its rich history and the seemingly endless beauty of its land.

Shot from a helicopter armed with a state-of-the-art Cineflex V-14 HD camera system, each episode uses breathtaking aerial cinematography to reveal what makes each of the 50 United States unique – from beautiful natural landmarks, to sites of important turning points in history, to fascinating locations far off the beaten path… and the rich variety of wildlife that calls each state home.

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