Last Minute December Vacations

Travel + Recreation

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Excursions per minute (with availability)

Known for flawless facilities and some of the most breathtaking (and remote) places in the globe, no big surprises, but this one suits the shape perfect. Located in a rear part with views of Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons, it is quite an idyllic place for downhill sledding, although in the warm eras of the year it provides great walking, river running and equestrian trips where you can meet stags, bald eagles and even wildbeards.

Don't let yourself drop onto the outside hot water fountain with views of the nearby levels. This decor is suitably lavish, i.e. exactly what you would have expected from an Englishman's estate. During the high saison here is early in the year (the guesthouse was only opened for winter in 2005), when you come in the cold winter seasons, you will find a calmer holiday - and all this with gear for cross-country ski, snowshoe trekking and figure-skating.

Whilst we are big fan of this place all year round, it's really great when the temperature gets warmer. The most popular of Grace Kelly's privately-owned sandy areas is on the property - along with a 19 st centuries old light house - and you can hire the hotel's yachts to enjoy a pick nick on a neighbouring islet. Discounts range from room to room, and include guest rooms with open fire, underfloor heated floors, Jacuzzi bathtubs and en-suite bathrooms and marinas.

Newport' s two hotels' restaurant - where on-property food is served - are among the best in Newport. And as you might have expected, the vistas from the broad, contemporary window are nothing more than breathtaking. From Zurich or Milan it doesn't take more than two and a half hour to get to this five-star Switzerland cottage, but the scenic resort is just so far away that one feels worldly.

Obviously the perfect place for downhill sports (and après-ski), snowboarding and other snowy pursuits, the summer in Andermatt has its own charm (hiking, golf, angling, cycling...). The resort is more like a private health centre, home to Finish sauna, a beautiful indoor and outdoor pools, Turkish bath and a long card of treatments.

This 40-seater sushi dining experience features a hearty Jap dinner to round off a great dinner with extra virgin Sushi, Shashimi and Temple. Initially a farmhouse for Dorothy Thompson and her book author Sinclair Lewis, this all-inclusive luxurious resort still feels like a Czech writer's retreat. What a surprise!

Forest rich open-air pursuits such as biking, kayaking and picnics (skiing in winter) are offered. Ventana lies in the middle of the rewoods on a rocky promontory with a view of the Pacific Ocean and is somehow difficult to beaten. From 10am, the guesthouse will take you on a daily one hours stroll through the estate and you can also hire more demanding walks with your guide.

Whilst the rooms are contemporary in appearance and haptics, the wood-clad interior rooms and mammoth flooring constantly remind you that you are in the forest. The majority of rooms and suite have a patio and chimney, and some feature a Jacuzzi. And as if that wasn't enough, there is also a full-time kindergarten in the guesthouse and a warm open-air swimming bath that is open all year round.

Situated on a hillside above an infinite and wavy view of the vineyard, the Auberge du Soleil has maintained the Napa standards of luxurious living for 30 years. Here the cottage-like rooms are divided into small privately owned hamlets (all with verandas and terraces). Auberge' s most important, globally oriented Michelin star rating attracts an audience that goes far beyond mere hoteliers - the Jap onese breakfasts is particularly dreamlike.

Whilst hotels are often not so great (especially not because of the generally excessive prices), this was one of the best massage we have ever had, especially because it was followed by a bath in the outside tub. Located just one hours from St. Remy, Avignon and Arles, the Domaine de Manville has 30 guest rooms, a large indoor poolside area, a private Jacuzzi, a spas and an 18-hole course set in beautiful greenery.

Go back in history and sit down in a renovated 18-hectare manor house on the top of the rocky hill of Monemvasia in the east of the Peloponnese, Greece. Let yourself be vacuumed into the power whirl at Arizona Red Rocks Country's womb of luxuries. PSYC Spa and its Moroccan swimming pools (no children allowed) are the perfect place to spend a wet day with the Pimm's Cup in your hands.

There is a quaint eatery, but there is also a relaxed piczeria and kitchen in the mansions where you can enjoy freshly baked rolls and incomparable sweets of tomato. It' a bit romatic, but they have a whole range of children activity (including cookery courses). Please note: The residence itself is normally shut for the rest of the year, but you can reserve one of the ten mansions and organise trips and in-villa adventures through a privately owned private Concierge.

Opened with a vernacular ceremonial benediction, the boutique hostel proves that it is not only its name that honours the early indigenous Anasazi people - it is also mirrored in the Inn spirit and interior. Dos Brisas is a nationally-styled farm that offers a little rustic Texas (with lots of gourmet and open-air activities) with all the conveniences you would want in town.

Local restaurants obtain biological and seasons produce from their own fields and fruit gardens in Dos Brisas. From the long dirt road into the estate to the deep wood-panelled interior decorated with esteemed guest profiles, everything seems filmic and great, although the uncomplicated services make visitors look at home.

As with the remainder of the hostel, the rooms are furnished with taste and style, with all the conveniences you would expect from a Relais & Chateaux home. When the weather is fine, don't miss a drink on the patio with views of the well-kept British garden and forests stretching down to the Thames.

That''s the original: The founder of the Ace Hotels loved a 1909-built former shipwright downtown Seattle motel, so they kept the attic and parquet flooring in good condition and converted it back into their own first motel in 1999. ) Enjoy a pied-à-terre with a common ("private") bath room for a vivacious, inconspicuous sojourn right in the center of Seattle - at the tip of downtown and Belltown, within easy walk of Pike Place Markt,

or for a more luxury (yet relatively understated) adventure, take one of her luxury rooms, featuring iconic works of outdoor art such as Shepard Fairey and KAWS, and conveniences such as an en-suite bath. Ancillary rooms, children's beds, tweezers size dressing gowns, children's menus (and 24-hour room service) and babysitter services.

While the accommodation is as five stars as possible (deep bathtubs, teapots in the rooms), the hostel fits perfectly into Otarus City. It is also 30 min from Sapporo and within easy walk of Otaru Chikko train Station, making it an excellent starting point for exploring Hokkaido.

Although you don't want to break the boundaries of your room, the Mandarin Hotel has ten dining and bar areas where you can work your way through, among them the M Bar, one of the trendiest places to go out. Scarpetta, an offshoot of Scott Conant's Italian of the same name in New York, is a very unique place to eat after a treatment session in the two-story spas.

So much luxuriousness awaits you at a truly lavish room price. That' all you can ask of a Ritz and especially a Ritz in New Orleans. It' s sumptuous, extremely convenient and crammed with a host of conveniences such as one of the best spa in town and a children's area. Holborn is a little coincidental, but London's first ultra-luxurious Rosewood Hotel has all the prerequisites for a classical hotel, from the large court yard door, to the Asian-mirrored yet imposing UK decor, to the magnificent Holborn Bar and the Scarfe Bar (with the amusing mural paintings of Gerald Scarfe).

Here you get entry to New York's fantastic lifestyle, from 24/7 privileged entry to Bergdorf Goodman, Laduree Makaroons by the bed, customized bicycles for sightseeing tours and Jean Georges Vongerichten-made takeaway picnics serving food (he directs The Mark's Restaurant). This was the most popular GP Stadthotel for many years.

It is definitely more of a tradition stay with everything you would want - a large swimming pool, a great spas and excellent services. Offering all the luxury refinement we have come to know from the label, the great peninsula outlet in Paris is the ideal place to be. The peninsula, located in a 19 st centuries old edifice that fits in well with its own unique architectural design (opened in 1908 as a grande hotel), is a place where you can rest assured that no detail will be left unscathed - on every open space you will find huge bunches of flowers with crisp rose trees on every open space, highly observant personnel and a good night's rest in your Bed.

Whilst the spas, bars and major restaurants are very nice, our favourite place is the roof top restaurants, which offer a breathtaking panoramic Eiffel Tower look. Centrally located means that most of the attractions are just a quick walk away - the Guerlain Spas (complete with swimming pool), a four-storey menu and impeccably maintained garden make the visit to the site a very attractive one.

This 126-year-old estate uses its historical features in an extraordinary way and sets up the spas - from the massages of a pair to a decontaminating algae pack in the former stable and the famous Circa 1886 in the former coach shed, with a view of the gardens.

Entering a walkway that traverses an Infinity Pools to reach a sandbox (where you will be asked to take off your shoes) while you check in...on an iPad. Oh, and besides Ka'ana Kitchen, a local eatery with a great selection of breakfasts, Morimoto is also here. The beach also has many different kinds of activity, from renting boards for boat and kayak to snorkelling equipment (which can be provided directly in front of the hotel), all of which are covered by the residence-fees.

Our friend also said that it is a good idea to use the auto rental to explore Wailea, as the over-situation is still quite rare. Soon after arriving in El Ganzo, a white-washed, modern luxury resort with views of the San Jose Del Cabo marina, you begin to feel that you have beaten the system:

Our lofty rooms are equipped with daring, contemporary four-poster bedding and specially made industry furnishings for the hospital. There is an indoor swimming pools on the roof with views of the cove and custom made sushi, but if you like a remote sandy area, it's only three minute drive with the hotel's own personal boating area.

It is definitely a place to indulge - from the moment you are welcomed by a resident seaside resorts owning a home built Margarita, to swimming poolside meetings where occasional small massage, refrigerated bottled hot waters and unclaimed deep freeze fruitsticks are offered. Punta Ballena ("Whale Point") - between two secluded sandy shores with views of the Cortez Sea - is a spectacular and spectacular cliff site, especially in the wintry season when you can see the hunchback dolphins passing by.

Exuberant tropic vegetation towers over the straw-covered chalets on the privacy of the sandy beaches of this luxurious Little Palm Iceland retreat. Beyond the sunset and unhindered entry to the Great Barrier Reef aside, in historical terms, in One & Only Resources everything revolves around the adventure, which means that a visit to this privately owned islet at the northern tip of the Whitsunday Islands is not just part of a journey, but the journey itself.

With more than 150 rooms, a good portion of the suite is laid out so that you can curl out of your four-poster beds and enter directly into a privat swimming area before snorkeling near Blue Pearl Bay or float around the top of the reefs. Initially constructed in 1956 as a 15-room luxurious residence for the President of Mexico, it has been converted over the years into a 115-room residence with luscious lawns, an unspoilt seafront promenade and first-class services, dining, spa facilities and comforts ( think of welcome quilas and cushion dinners for everyone; personalised gowns and an iPhone to directly interact with the person checking into a villa).

Every room has a secluded diving basin if you are too idle to go hiking in the Caribbean, but if you take the trouble, it's one of those spas where the primary action is to order Pina colada on your wicker basket while enjoying the spectacular views. There'?s not much to be hated about this Four Seasons Hotel:

Located on the best Montecito beaches, it includes a variety of Spain chalets and luxurious houses, so every room feels like a hiding place. Although the local pools are very nice, our guest can still afford something special for entry to the Members' Coral Casino Club across the road, which has an Olympic sized children indoor and outdoor pools.

There are all the sophisticated comforts you would want from a St. Regis feature, such as its characteristic St. Regis services (they unwrap your bags), a Remède Spa, a seaside course and good cuisine. This luxurious and boutique hotel's greatest attraction is the long, privately owned sandy beaches in the most beautiful part of Playa La Ropa.

Just as you would expect it from a place called after a kind of francophone rhum, the coctails here are home run.