Where have your best holidays in winter been?

[parrotonmyshoulder]

Thinking of a December holiday 2024, probably to include Christmas.
Where have you been in December? I don’t know whether I’m leaning towards sun or snow. We are not hotel and pool people, nor am I tempted by skiing!

Always Kenya!! We've been going for years in Dec/early Jan.

How do you organise your holiday? Where do you tend to go?

@Xiaoxiong I meant

Christmas at Krabi in Thailand, followed by a short flight to spend NYE in Kuala Lumpur. Not normally a fan of fireworks but the show put on at the Petronas Towers was amazing!

Second favorite was a Christmas road trip through Bavaria, Austria & the Dolomites. Beautiful and so Christmassy!

4-7 nights: Venice.
12 nights: Norwegian coastal cruise Bergen-North Cape-Bergen.
7-14 nights: Aswan/Luxor.

For short haul I've been to Morocco for the past few years. Great weather and fairly cheap

We used trailfinders for South Africa, flew int9 Cape Town and drove to port elizabeth. Fantastic holiday.

Do you have young children? We recently did a safari, 2hrs from Jo'berg, that was fantastic for children. Mziki lodge - https://www.mziki.co.za/

Ours were a bit young for it, but they offer a junior ranger course that I'm told is great! We paired it with a week in Mauritius, but that was another long flight really and in hindsight Cape Town would probably have made more sense. I do love Mauritius as well, but I don't think that's what you're after.

We do it ourselves but there are so many companies that will do it for you. I know people who have used travel companies including Cheli & Peacock and Audley Travel and have been happy, but there are so many for all price points.

For direct flights we much prefer Kenya Airways now because the BA flights are at silly times. There are loads of flights that connect in the Gulf as well.

We usually use the same guide on safari and organise directly with him now, he has a youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWXtSLVyAvOJnaXLw-E-Q4g

He sorts out all the transport too, we communicate on whatsapp. If he's not free he always has someone to recommend. Alternatively you can book directly with the safari lodge, and they will help sort out transport from the airport, guides, etc.

Some fab places we've been on safari (some of these are catered, some are self-catering)

• Sanctuary Farms, Naivasha
• Olerai House, Naivasha
• Malu Lodge, Naivasha
• Umani Springs Lodge, Kibwezi Forest
• Ol Tukai, Amboseli
• Galdessa Camp, Tsavo
• Mobile camping under canvas, Maasai Mara (Felix organised this)
• Fairmont Mt Kenya, Nanyuki (this was great when the kids were little as there is a small zoo of rescued animals on site, but near enough Mt Kenya for hiking)

Fab places on the coast for the beach/diving:

• Shela town, Lamu
• Watamu (loads of wonderful villas, Medina Palms and Hemingways both brilliant hotels)
• Diani Beach
• Kilifi Creek (rent a villa or stay at Mnarani Beach Club)

Had a great long weekend in Cyprus
http://www.donthibernate.co.uk/winter-weekend-in-cyprus/

Nice advert.

How about Costa Rica? We had a trip there last February Half Term which we really enjoyed, a mix of activities and beach. Weather at the coast was lovely and rain in the rainforest! We used Travel bag to put it all together as we were planning it just a few weeks ahead.

Another vote for South Africa.

Nice and warm, no jet lag, cheap wine, incredible food, beautiful country.

Few nights in Cape Town, Up to Franshoek, down to Hermanus, Knysna and finish on safari.

Hire a car and pre book your accommodation.

Yes, Cape Peninsula for us, Cape Town, Hermanus, FRanschoek and Stellenbosch. And as you say NO jetlag- early evening flight- dinner. Sleep and wake up at dawn for amazing views, breakfast and land. Perfect.

Prague and Krakow for cold and we had a nice time in Antigua in December

Decide which parts you want to see e.g Cape Town, wine route, safari then go to an independent travel agent and let them price it up and sort out the hotels, interconnecting flights etc.
We did this a good few years ago and it was all booked through Virgin.
We did 5 nights in Cape Town, 5 in Kruger, 3 in Zambia at Victoria Falls. Best holiday ever!

Central America (Costa Rica Guatemala Belize etc). It’s just getting into dry season, past the hurricane season and not too hot yet.

Virgin flights to Capetown,look (drool) at the Portfolio collection for accommodation. The Garden Route is a well worn tourist trail where you get to see some of the highlights of S Africa. We booked a safari separately, hired a car and off we went. You need to be aware of car jacking and security though.

I've just got back from 2 weeks in Jamaica. An absolutely beautiful country and the weather was glorious.

Thailand, we've been there several times for Xmas/ New years and it's always been perfect.

Canaries, Central America, southern Africa, (look at Namibia as well as SA,) India... I don't have enough experience of SE Asia to recommend that but PP clearly do. Maybe Oman or, if you're up for it, Saudi Arabia.

The suggestion for Morocco isn't bad for somewhere nearer home but if you're planning to travel through the Atlas mountains, bear in mind the roads can be blocked by snow in winter. I knew someone who missed their flight home because they couldn't cross back to Marrakesh for over 24 hours.

Lapland - there's loads of wintry stuff to do that isn't skiing, and the scenery is stunning.

South Africa here too. Would recommend Coral Tree Travel .