sohoprom

For years I've avoided travelling to winter wonderlands with or without my 14 year old daughter, due to my assumption that any desireable area will be cost prohibitive, and that I won't be able to use my miles.

So am I correct that flying to the Caribbean or Mexico, or Hawaii, or ski resorts worth their salt, between Dec. 22nd and Jan. 1st will be insane?

How about Europe for five days, does that make any sense? London perhaps, Amsterdam, or Copenhagen?

I have both amex and american air miles.

any suggestions appreciated, and oh, the 14 year old is into snow boarding.

GoTravel

Forget sunny beach destinations. You'll never get in or out with miles.

Europe is always a good idea.

OO has a wonderful trip report on the Europe board about Paris at Christmas.

amwosu

We go to Aspen most years at Christmas and the prices for the peak week betwwn Christmas and New Years is two to three times the regular ski season rate.

I love skiing past the gorgeous houses along Two Creeks Run at Snowmass that are $7000/nt that week...and booked!

Cicerone

As long as you don’t mind cold temps, maybe some rain, and the fact that in the further northern places like London the days are short, Europe is great for Christmas IMO. If you stay away from the ski resort areas, you should find hotels available and while probably not cheap, not as high as the summer season prices. Lots of museums and good restaurants, Christmas decorations galore, Christmas concerts, etc. London, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg (this would be especially beautiful I think), Prague, Budapest, Florence, Zurich, Barcelona, Milan, Madrid, or Lisbon would all be good I think. I would probably avoid Rome for the obvious reason (i.e. the Pope and masses and expensive hotels unless you are Catholic and this interests you).

You also have to watch for holiday closures, as Christmas week is a huge holiday in Europe. Things close early on the 24th, will all be closed on the 25 and often the 26. You will most likely be having Christmas Day and possibly Christmas Eve dinner in a hotel restaurant; not necessarily a bad thing, but you have to be prepared for that. You might find Chinese or some Indian restaurants in London to be open on Christmas, but otherwise most everything is shut tight other than in hotels. Good side is that if you arrive on the 22nd to a place like Vienna or Salzburg, you would be in time for the wonderful Christmas markets.

If you stay in someplace like Zurich, Salzburg or Vienna you could get out for a day of snowboarding. Might also be possible from Prague or Budapest, I don't know this for sure. Is possible from the Lake Geneva area as well like Vevey/Lausanne. If you stay in the ski resorts, you will run into issues with hotels, as that is THE highest season and many require 7-10 day minimu stays and are expensive to begin with.

As for Hawaii, December is actually the height of the rainy season, yet the prime tourist season, that is really about the only place you I know of where that is true...you are better off going in the summer when prices are lower and weather is much better.

travelgirl2

Last week, Continental had Newark to Cologne, Germany for under $300. Not sure if still in effect...

A_Traveller

sohoprom - FYI, there are only a limited number of FF Award seats available on any given flight and they "go" pretty fast (many people book FF Award seats 330 days in advance - that's the earliest they become available) so getting FF seats on short notice, while not impossible, is always a challenge. It helps to be flexible in your travel dates. As previously pointed FF seats to popular destinations during peak travel periods have to be booked very early in the game and are almost impossible to get on short notice.

mrsd2fan

Gee Soho- Which I could afford to have your dilemma... =)

Barblab

Where are you orignating from? Europe for 5 days only makes sense to me if you are starting from the esat coast. For a ski destination during the busiest week of the year on ff miles you may be out of luck, but never hurts to try. One thought is Salt Lake City where you may be able to find cheaper accomadations then drive daily to the slopes. If you could possibly go the week before Christmas instead it would be way less crowded. Good luck!