Life Overseas

Many people like to fly off over Christmas and the New Year, preferring to spend the break relaxing in a holiday resort rather than enjoying the usual festive traditions at home. Some people just don’t like the chilly temperatures and like to go to warmer regions where there’s a good chance of sunny weather. Others prefer to go to places that are fortunate to have some real winter weather and where snow makes the Christmas celebrations extra special.

In 2009 there seemed to be lots of places around the globe expecting a white Christmas and not just the typical mountain resorts in countries like Austria, Southern Germany or Italy. Places like New York and Chicago are reporting with almost certainty that they will have snow this year and in the UK and Ireland almost everywhere is reporting a better than 50 per cent chance of snow this Christmas. Even Madrid in Spain predicts a 25 per cent chance, which is very unusual in this city.

Naturally some of the best winter Christmas resorts are the picturesque villages in the European Alps. Places like Klosters and Verbier in Switzerland are classed as exclusive, which does not mean that some people are excluded from going there, but presumably refers to the cost of taking a break there, and does not make them an option for all but the very rich. Both are small villages with permanent populations of around 5000 and 3000 people respectively, but those numbers can treble or quadruple over the festive period as the hotels and chalets fill up with holidaymakers seeking that extra special Christmas holiday.

Other places that offer cold winter weather and magical Christmas atmospheres are some of the European cities like Prague or Geneva. Both offer a fairly good chance of a white Christmas but also provide a range of affordable accommodation and a full events schedule that includes Christmas markets, concerts and sports events. Some of the most exclusive tickets in town are for the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Years Day concert at the world reknowned Musikverein concert hall. Tickets are assigned by drawing lots during January a year in advance. If you are fortunate enough to be allocated a ticket then you are faced with the choice of which ticket to purchase. These can vary in price from a reasonable 30 Euros right up to an amazing 940 Euros. However such is the demand for the tickets that many people regard it as a once in a lifetime opportunity and put aside any worries about the cost.

If a white landscape is not your idea of a perfect Christmas then travelling to a destination that provides the opposite in weather conditions is likely to be your choice. For people living in Europe the option of a trip to the other side of the world, where they are right in the middle of their summer is possibly the best way of getting some hot Christmas conditions. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and perhaps even South American countries like Brazil are all in the middle of their summer season which promises average daytime temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius and no possibility of snow. In cities like Buenos Aries, Argentina and Johannesburg, South Africa, December and January are also two of the wettest months of the year, so anyone travelling there should prepare for odd rain shower too.

A closer and drier alternative for Europeans might be be the Canary Islands and thousands of Brits choose to spend their Christmas and New Year in these sunny islands off the West African coastline. Their location makes them easy to travel to from the UK, and there is a wide choice flights taking passengers to the main resort islands of Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura from various UK cities. Being part of Spain there are no issues with complicated travel visas and traditions are familiar to those in the rest of Europe. Daytime temperatures during December and January are normally at least 25 degrees Celsius.

The resorts along the Southern Turkish coast may be much drier than Northern European places at this time of year, although they may not be as warm as the Canaries or the popular resorts of the Red Sea. In Sharm El Sheikh Christmas visitors can look forward to warm sunny days, water temperatures of over 22 degrees Celsius and almost no likelihood of rain.