Hi First name / friend!

 

I've officially landed for my summer holidays in Mexico. As I put in fewer hours per day and take more time to relax, I'm thinking of those of you who haven't gotten your end of year holidays in place yet. That's my work hat talking. My relaxation and family time hat is well in place, so don't worry about me. :)

 

If you're like many of our clients, you've been overwhelmed just getting summer and fall trips on the books. Those have a little wiggle room for availability.

 

Festive season doesn't.

 

With so many travelers taking time off all at once at the end of the year, the great destinations, standout properties, and marquee experiences are booked solid before most people have glanced at their calendars.

 

So if you're planning to take off during the holidays, get your inquiry in now (please). That step is often the hardest one, but getting it done sooner rather than later makes everything easier down the road.

 

Below is a guide to the trips we love planning for the holidays, plus my picks for this season's best sleeper hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uruguay José Ignacio has been likened to the St Barthes of twenty years ago, but in South America. And it’s full summer there in December while everyone else bundles up. For stays, Playa Vik is the design pick; Fasano Punta del Este is the more polished, beachfront version nearby. Pair either with Carmelo Resort, tucked into pine and eucalyptus forest with its own river beach, family suites and couple’s bungalows both on offer.

 

Marrakech Marrakech hits all your senses at once: spice and smoke in the souks, a call to prayer over the rooftops, jewel-toned everything, cool desert nights this time of year instead of humid beach ones. Jnane Tamsna is a stay set in a nine-acre garden estate in the Palmeraie, good for a bigger family group. Kasbah Tamadot, a hotel up in the Atlas foothills, runs a full holiday program with fireworks over the mountains for New Year’s Eve. And La Mamounia is the grande dame, the address in this city for New Year’s, a gala dinner spread across its salons and gardens Churchill used to winter in.

 

Lake Como, Italy Lake Como in winter is the lake with the crowds stripped away: mist on the water, snow on the mountains across it, a fire going in a grand hotel that’s much quieter than normal. Most properties close for the season, so less than a handful offer this at all, and the ones that stay open do it beautifully, at rates well under what they command in summer. Plus, most of the world hasn’t caught on. Villa d’Este is a hotel big enough for a full family group across its historic buildings and gardens. Passalacqua, open through early January, is a more intimate stay, a truffle dinner in the wine cellar instead of a countdown.

 

The South of France The Riviera empties out in winter, and that’s the whole appeal. This is where you go if you want to skip the holidays entirely, with warm-ish Mediterranean light, bare-branched vineyards, and long lunches with hardly anyone around. Lily of the Valley sits on the Cap Lardier estate near Saint-Tropez and is one of the only Riviera properties that stays open through winter, a wellness-focused stay well suited to a couple or a solo trip, for anyone who’d rather turn inward than get swept up in all the festivity.

 

Chiriquí, Panama This is barefoot, off-the-grid nature at the highest level. Chiriquí is Panama’s wild Pacific side, private islands ringed by a marine park where whales and turtles pass through, rainforest running down to empty beaches. It’s the trip for a family that wants to snorkel and hike and unplug together, or a couple that wants to disappear. December lands in the dry season, so you get all of it at its best. Isla Palenque is a private island stay on 400 acres with seven beaches, small enough and perfect to take over for a family. Islas Secas is a wilder one more luxe one, fourteen volcanic islands with just a handful of casitas between them and marine safaris on the regular rotation.

 

Even if you’ve still got fall trips to lock in, tackle the festive one first, especially traveling with family in tow. 

 

The good thing is, festive trips are often one-stop shops, meaning, all it takes is one booking to get it done.

So let's take care of getting you confirmed before it becomes a scramble. I can’t wait to hear where you want to go.