A few days at new year ...

[juneau]

It turns out that DH has an extra 5 days of holiday to use this year, which he is proposing to use at Christmas/New Year. This is probably my least favourite time of year and if he'd going to be off for what will amount to two full weeks at this utterly dismal time of year I think we should go away somewhere.

So if you had the choice, where would you go, bearing in mind that we won't want to spend a fortune, we won't want to go long haul, and we won't want to be away for Christmas itself (DSs aged 11 and 7 will want to be at home)?

• Skiing would be an option.
• A city break would be an option (but we've been to lots of them and if we're escaping dismal, cold England I don't want to be traipsing round damp, cold Amsterdam/Paris/Prague/Munich/Vienna, etc, all of which we've been to anyway). Would Malaga, Palma, Alicante, etc, be nice for new year???
• We love the Canaries, so that would be an option, although the flights are expensive at new year ....

If anyone has any genius ideas I'd love to hear them

Here are a few suggestions:
A good waterpark hotel in Egypt (less than 5hr flight from London).
A city break in Marrakech (3.5hr flight with Ryanair). Lots of cheap accommodation and lots to do (quad biking in the desert, camel riding, Berber villages to explore, trekking the Atlas Mountains, souks, snake charmers etc...)
Stay in Dublin for a few nights for the amazing New Year Festival.

it would probably cost a small fortune but id love to go to Lapland at that time of year or even a ski resort which has snow which i know is hard to guarantee at this time of year but there is bound to be many activities without having to ski and even if snow levels are low

Thank you for the ideas. We're actually going to Lapland in Feb half-term (hence limited budget at new year!), but' it's food for thought.

Egypt in a resort hotel with lots to do sounds like a good idea.

If you can be away on the evening of the 5th January, the Canaries would be a great idea as you will be able to see the Three Kings Parade, where the Three Kings ride through the streets on camels and throw sweets into the crowd. Will be magical for DC.

Weather should be OK unless you're unlucky and Lanzarote at least has plenty to do that doesn't need sunny weather (caves, volcano park). Make sure there are heated pools with your accomodation though.