Alternative Christmas travel guide

Things to do on an alternative Christmas holiday…

Observing animals in their natural environment is incredibly rewarding. National parks and wildlife reserves in countries like Costa Rica, Botswana and Ecuador offer the chance to watch wildlife in some spectacular settings. Although Christmas holidays aren’t usually associated with animals, other than reindeer and turkeys, we think it’s about time travellers considered alternatives to ensure December 25th is all wrapped up for some really wild adventures. Christmas doesn’t get everyone excited and planning a holiday to take you away from the merry madness is a great way to alleviate the, often, forced feeling of festive fun. Small group tours offer an excellent escape route for travellers who find themselves alone in their less-than-enthusiastic appreciation of Christmas. Group trips are great for making friends, having solo adventures and generally swerving the ‘spirit of Christmas’ until it’s blown back up the chimney. Christmas can too often be about materialism and TV schedules, but a fulfilling alternative is to celebrate the spirituality and culture of another country in locations like Sri Lanka, Jordan and Cuba. Temple tours, archaeological sites and just enjoying the food, rhythm and language of street corners and open markets is enlightening, and bound to expand cultural horizons.

Christmas holiday flight prices

While the sun is out and the days are long, planning a Christmas holiday doesn’t feel like a priority. Most of us are focussed on our summer getaway and any thoughts of dodging the festive period with a well-timed trip only kick in with the cold and gloom of November. But by then, it’s too late to bag a bargain, as prices sky-rocket. Christmas is famously not the time to get a late deal on flights, leaving you facing soggy sprouts and the Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special all over again.

But it doesn’t have to be that way! The trick is to book your yuletide break early. Typically, holiday operators will have a number of Christmas flight options reserved at a reduced, sensible price, but only for a fixed period. They are obliged to give up those well-priced allocations three or four months before Christmas. After that, prices for trips with flights included only go up.

So book before the summer is over – before the end of August ideally – to take advantage of these reduced rates. Secure a snowy adventure, a sunny cycling break or something truly adventurous, and swerve the traditional celebrations this year, all without taking out a second mortgage.