There are officially 100 days until Christmas. Plenty of time, you might think, until you remember that the festive season is one of the most sought-after times of the year to travel.

And if you are going away for Christmas or New Year, we think it should feel properly special.

That might mean waking up in New York and heading out into Manhattan wrapped in several layers. It could be Christmas morning on the slopes, a table booked somewhere brilliant in Copenhagen, or swapping the whole traditional affair for bare feet and breakfast overlooking the Indian Ocean.

The RASK team has spent the festive season in all sorts of places over the years, and we all have our own idea of what makes a brilliant Christmas away. Some of us would choose a favourite city dressed up for December, others would head straight for the mountains, while a few would happily swap Christmas jumpers for swimwear altogether.

So, from cities that do Christmas exceptionally well to islands where December looks decidedly different, these are some of the places we’d choose to spend the festive season.

For a proper Christmas city break

We love a city break at RASK, and there is something about visiting a great city in December that makes us love them even more.

They’re also wonderfully flexible. Go for two nights before Christmas, take the children for a festive adventure, escape à deux once the presents have been opened, or make it a solo trip built entirely around the restaurants, exhibitions and shops you actually want to visit.

New York

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. New York at Christmas really is as good as you hope it will be.

Fifth Avenue is dressed for the occasion, the Rockefeller Center tree is up, Central Park is firmly in winter mode and the city has that particular December energy that makes you quite happy to walk twenty blocks in temperatures you’d complain bitterly about at home.

Hotel-wise, we’re spoilt. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel gives you old-school Upper East Side New York, Bemelmans Bar downstairs included. The Lowell is quieter and wonderfully intimate, The Mark puts Madison Avenue on your doorstep, while Aman New York is the full escape-from-Manhattan-without-actually-leaving-Manhattan experience. Jonas recently checked into the latter himself and shares more from his stay in the RASK Journal.

And you don’t necessarily need to be there for Christmas Day. Early December gives you the tree, the windows, the shopping and all the atmosphere, then you can be safely back home before anyone asks you to peel a potato.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen seems almost purpose-built for December.

Tivoli is lit for Christmas, candles appear everywhere, the restaurants are reason enough to book a flight and the city has somehow made cold, dark afternoons feel aspirational.

Hotel d’Angleterre is still one of our favourite addresses here, sitting right on Kongens Nytorv with its Michelin-starred restaurant, Marchal, and an excellent spa downstairs. Hotel Sanders takes things in a smaller, more residential direction, with fireplaces, books and spaces that feel more like a very stylish Copenhagen home.

For something more contemporary, Villa Copenhagen occupies the city’s former Central Post and Telegraph Head Office, with beautiful Nordic interiors, a huge glass-roofed courtyard and one of Copenhagen’s few heated outdoor rooftop pools, open throughout winter. It’s also moments from Tivoli, making it particularly well placed for a December weekend.

Then we’d concentrate on the important things: where we’re eating, which galleries we want to see, a little shopping and sufficient stops for gløgg.

Copenhagen in December simply understands the assignment.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is another city we love in winter. The canals and tall narrow houses look even better once the lights come on, and when the weather turns against you, you have some of Europe’s best museums and plenty of very good places to eat.

And we don’t need much persuasion to return to Rosewood Amsterdam. We love it there. The former Palace of Justice on the Prinsengracht has been transformed with interiors by Piet Boon, a serious collection of Dutch art, the Asaya Spa and its own salon boat moored outside. Even the bar has its own jenever distillery. It feels connected to Amsterdam rather than simply dropped into it, which is exactly what we want from a city hotel.

Elsewhere, De L’Europe Amsterdam remains the grand classic, Pulitzer Amsterdam gives you all those interconnected canal houses and little corners to disappear into, while Conservatorium Hotel makes a lot of sense if your plans revolve around Museumplein.

Paris

Paris doesn’t need to turn itself into a Christmas destination to make December feel special.

Book a table you’ve been wanting to try, spend an afternoon wandering Saint-Germain, do a little Christmas shopping and retreat somewhere suitably lovely afterwards.

Ritz Paris if you want unapologetic grandeur and bedrooms that make leaving for dinner feel unnecessary. Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel for Place de la Concorde and that particular Rosewood way of making a historic hotel feel wonderfully liveable.

Then there is Le Bristol Paris, always a good idea, Four Seasons Hotel George V for flowers, food and full-scale Parisian glamour, and La Réserve Paris when you want something that feels closer to having an extremely fabulous Paris residence than staying in a hotel.

For Christmas in the sun

Of course, there is another approach to Christmas entirely. You can simply opt out of winter.

Trade the coat for swimwear, leave the cooking to somebody else and make your biggest decision of Christmas morning whether to head for breakfast or the sea first.

The Maldives

Christmas in the Maldives is anything but low-key.

The best resorts create entire festive programmes around December, with special dinners, parties, activities, brilliant children’s programmes and suitably extravagant plans for New Year’s Eve. You still get the occasion, just with considerably more sunshine.

One&Only Reethi Rah, Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru, Soneva Fushi, Cheval Blanc Randheli and JOALI Maldives would all be very high on our list.

It’s also one of those trips that works across generations. Take the children, bring the grandparents, book a few villas and let everyone do as much, or as little, as they please.

Sri Lanka

For something with a little more movement, we love Sri Lanka at this time of year.

One of our favourite combinations takes in Ceylon Tea Trails, then Wild Coast Tented Lodge for safari, before finishing beside the Indian Ocean at Cape Weligama. Tea country, leopards and the coast in one Christmas holiday is difficult to argue with.

You could also take it in another direction entirely. Stay inside Galle Fort at Amangalla, then move down the coast to Amanwella in Tangalle. Charlie has experienced this route for herself, and her love for Sri Lanka is well documented around here. She shares more about the journey and why the country remains such a favourite in the RASK Journal.

The joy of Sri Lanka is the contrast. You can be wrapped in a jumper drinking tea in the hills one day and barefoot beside the Indian Ocean a few days later.

Thailand

Thailand is another destination where we’d resist the temptation to fly straight to the beach.

Start in Bangkok. Stay beside the Chao Phraya at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok or Capella Bangkok, then spend a few days exploring the city’s temples, markets and neighbourhoods, with a boat on the river being one of our favourite ways to get around.

From here, decide what you want the second half of the trip to look like.

Amanpuri has its own stretch of Pansea Beach in Phuket, a substantial wellness programme and boats available for exploring the Andaman Sea. Six Senses Yao Noi sits among the limestone karsts of Phang Nga Bay, offering kayaking, island hopping and diving. Or head across to Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, where the villas climb a tropical hillside above the Gulf of Thailand.

Bangkok energy followed by a week where shoes become increasingly optional feels like a sensible way to end the year.

The Caribbean

The Caribbean covers an enormous amount of ground, so we’d start with what sort of Christmas you’re imagining.

For Christmas with everyone together, Jumby Bay Island in Antigua takes a lot of the logistics away. It’s a private island reached only by boat, with food, drinks and a wide range of activities included. Children can head off to Camp Jumby; there are watersports straight from the beach and enough space for larger families to settle into one of the private residences.

For New Year, our thoughts turn pretty quickly to St Barths.

Eden Rock – St Barths puts you firmly in the middle of things on St Jean, while Cheval Blanc St-Barth has a softer, more secluded position on Flamands Beach.

Come New Year’s Eve, Gustavia harbour fills with yachts and tables at the best restaurants become precious commodities.

One RASK note: this is not the week for spontaneity. Book the tables.

For Christmas on the slopes

There is something reassuringly festive about opening the curtains on Christmas morning and finding snow outside.

There is also something quite useful about everybody having somewhere to go after breakfast.

Ski, lunch, spa, repeat. Christmas logistics solved.

Montana

One of the places we’re most excited about is One&Only Moonlight Basin, the brand’s first resort in the United States and its first alpine resort.

Set in Big Sky, Montana, this is skiing on a rather grand American scale: huge landscapes, access to the slopes, beautiful residences and cabins, and all the service and polish we’d expect from One&Only.

For families or groups who have done the Alps several times and fancy taking Christmas skiing somewhere completely different, it is a very tempting proposition.

Courchevel

And then again, sometimes the classic is the classic for a reason.

Cheval Blanc Courchevel does the full Christmas-in-Courchevel fantasy: ski-in, ski-out, a Guerlain spa, Le Carrousel for children and Yannick Alléno’s three-Michelin-starred Le 1947 for the grown-ups.

This winter also sees Aman Le Mélézin reopen on 10 December, with refreshed restaurant, terrace and bar spaces. Its position directly on the Bellecôte piste is excellent, there’s a dedicated Kids’ Zone, ski valet and two floors devoted to wellness. Aman can also take things beyond skiing, from torchlit descents to after-dark mountain adventures.

L’Apogée Courchevel is particularly clever when you’re travelling en masse, with children’s and teen spaces, interconnecting rooms and private chalets alongside the hotel.

The Dolomites

We’d happily swap the French Alps for the Dolomites at Christmas. The skiing is excellent, the scenery is extraordinary and, importantly, you eat very well here too.

Rosa Alpina is the big story in San Cassiano, returning as part of Aman following an extensive transformation. It’s been a landmark in the village for decades, so we’re very interested to see what this next chapter looks like.

Elsewhere, COMO Alpina Dolomites sits directly on the slopes of Alpe di Siusi, with ski-in, ski-out access and a brilliant wellness programme for the hours you’re not skiing. Forestis, high above Bressanone, is the more secluded option: all mountain views, huge spa and a much slower pace.

And when it comes to the festive feast, this is Italy.

For a seriously good New Year’s Eve

If Christmas is staying at home this year, New Year is a very good excuse to go somewhere else.

A few days away, a hotel worth getting dressed up for and, ideally, somewhere you’ll want to stay once the fireworks are over.

Sydney

Sydney earns its place on almost every New Year’s Eve list for the fireworks alone, but we’d use them as the starting point for a bigger Australia trip.

Stay beside the harbour at Park Hyatt Sydney, or make Capella Sydney your base in the city. Take a private boat out on the harbour, walk the coast from Bondi to Coogee and spend a day in the Blue Mountains, heading beyond the busiest lookouts for bushwalking through eucalyptus forest and views across the Grose Valley.

Then fly south to Tasmania. Hobart, MONA, Bruny Island and a few days around Freycinet would be a very good way to spend the first week of January.

Rio de Janeiro

In Rio, New Year’s Eve means Copacabana.

Réveillon brings millions of people to the beachfront, traditionally dressed in white, with music on the sand and fireworks over the Atlantic at midnight. We’d stay at Copacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel, right in the middle of it all.

But Rio deserves more than 31 December. Take an early-morning trip up Corcovado before the crowds arrive, hike in Tijuca National Park, spend an afternoon around Ipanema and Leblon, then leave the city behind altogether.

Paraty works beautifully afterwards, with its cobbled colonial centre, islands and hidden beaches reached by boat. Or continue to the Costa Verde and spend the first few days of January somewhere surrounded by Atlantic rainforest.

Madeira

And for something you may not immediately think of, Madeira.

Funchal has been celebrating New Year on a spectacular scale for decades, with fireworks launched from around the natural amphitheatre surrounding the harbour.

Reid’s Palace, A Belmond Hotel, sits above the bay, but we’d stay long enough to see much more of the island. Walk through the Laurissilva forest, follow the levadas into the mountains, swim in the volcanic pools at Porto Moniz and drive the wild north coast before heading home.

For disappearing completely

Perhaps your festive fantasy involves considerably less festivity.

No Christmas markets. No packed shopping streets. No plans beyond deciding where to swim that afternoon.

We understand.

The Brando in French Polynesia is about as far removed from a conventional Christmas as you can get, with private villas scattered across the ridiculously beautiful Tetiaroa atoll.

In the Seychelles, Six Senses Zil Pasyon occupies its own private island, Félicité, where enormous granite boulders meet clear Indian Ocean water.

There’s Six Senses Zighy Bay in Oman, tucked between the mountains and sea on the Musandam Peninsula, where arrival can involve paragliding into the resort if you’re feeling adventurous.

Or head to Mauritius and let One&Only Le Saint Géran take care of Christmas entirely.

For something even more remote, Kisawa Sanctuary on Benguerra Island in Mozambique offers miles of beach, enormous private residences and very little reason to be aware of what is happening anywhere else.

Sometimes the greatest luxury at Christmas is simply going missing for a while.

So, where are we spending Christmas?

Ask the RASK team this question and you’re unlikely to get one answer.

Some of us would take New York in December every time. Others would happily exchange turkey for sushi, ski boots or a table overlooking the Indian Ocean.

There isn’t one perfect way to spend Christmas and New Year away. You might want all the traditions in a different setting, or absolutely none of them. You might be planning something for the whole family, escaping as a couple, getting a group of friends together or finally taking advantage of the long break to go somewhere you’ve always wanted to see.

Tell us what Christmas looks like in your head and we’ll work out where in the world can deliver it.

Thinking about spending Christmas or New Year somewhere else? Get in touch with RASK and we’ll take care of the details.