However, police figures showed that just 19 of the 459 drivers caught were found to be between Scotland's old and new drink-drive limit.
The drink-drive limit was lowered at the beginning of December 2014.
The seasonal spike contrasts with a fall of 7.6% in the number of drivers caught in 2015 compared with 2014.
A total of 16,225 people were tested between 3 December 2015 to 1 January 2016 (an average of 579 drivers a day) with 459 found to be over the limit.
This compares with a total of 17,504 people tested during the previous festive enforcement campaign when 351 drivers were found to be over the legal limit.
The total number of drivers found to be over the legal limit in 2015 was 5,204 compared with a total number of 5,503 in 2014.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: "It is encouraging to see that the number of people caught drink-driving has fallen since the introduction of the lower limit.
"Unfortunately, there is still a persistent minority of drivers who continue to ignore the law, particularly during the height of summer and over the festive season.
"Campaigns like this one help to reinforce the message that drink-driving is unacceptable.
"Of the 459 drivers caught drink-driving, just 19 were found to be between the old and new limit.
"This shows that the majority of those caught are well over the limit, which is why we are working with Police Scotland on enforcement campaigns like this to crack down on this persistent minority."
Ch Supt Andy Edmonston, head of road policing at Police Scotland, said: "Despite the encouraging 12 month-drop and general downward trend in the number of drink/drug-driving detections, it is disappointing that during the recent festive drink-drive campaign we caught 459 drivers who were prepared to cause danger to others as well as themselves.
"Road safety is a high priority for Police Scotland throughout the year and our officers will continue to target those who are intent on causing danger to others by driving whilst under the influence of drink.
"I would like to take this opportunity to also thank the many members of the public who phoned the police to report suspected drunk/drug-drivers during the festive period as this helped enable us to take appropriate action."
The drink-drive limit in Scotland was lowered on 4 December 2014, from 80mg of alcohol in every 100ml of blood to 50mg.
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said she was concerned that the number of breath tests conducted by Police Scotland was not recorded outside specific campaign periods.
"Without further information on the overall number of breath tests on motorists outside of drink-drive campaigns it is difficult to draw wider conclusions over drink-drive rates," she said.
"It is time that Police Scotland looked again at recording breath tests so we know whether fewer people are deciding to drink-drive or there are simply fewer people being tested."
The number of people found to be above the drink-drive limit over the festive period went up by almost a third compared with the previous year.