It’s not too late to book a beach holiday for the festive season. Nicky Holford selects the destinations that fit the bill.
Diani Beach, Mombasa
Kenya
This stunning beach on Kenya’s east coast goes on forever. It’s easy and cheap to rent snorkelling gear and then just float out across the lagoon to the reef 750 yards away. Behind the lagoon there are spots for windsurfing or kitesurfing. There’s an 18-hole golf course within easy reach or you could rent a bicycle. Otherwise, hire a dhow and drift on the water, try canoeing on an outrigger or simply lie on the beach, treating yourself to the odd mango or coconut bought from local entrepreneurs. On the most secluded parts of the beach you might even bump into the occasional bush baby or colobus monkey.
Package
Thomson (0871 231 3235; www.thomson.co.uk) offers seven nights’ all-inclusive at the Sentido Neptune Paradise Village Beach from £899 per person, based on two sharing, departing from Manchester on December 22. The price includes flights, transfers and all taxes and charges.
Playas De Papagayo
Lanzarote
Not just a favourite for sun-seeking British holidaymakers, this beach – with its soft white sand, clear turquoise waters and rocky tidal pools – is also regarded by the locals as the best beach in Lanzarote. Located on the south-eastern tip of the island in a protected natural park, Playas de Papagayo has lots going on and a handy café-bar where you can sample the local cuisine while watching the sun set majestically behind the mountains in Los Ajaches. There is an admission fee of €3 for vehicles entering the national park.
Hotel
Four-star Iberostar La Bocayna Village, Playa Blanca, Lanzarote (www.laterooms.com) has a double-room apartment from £579.95 (£82.85 per night) from December 20-26.
Flights
easyJet (www.easyjet.com) flies from Gatwick to Lanzarote from £30.99 one-way and from Liverpool to Lanzarote from £29.99.
Ala Deia
Majorca
This pretty beach on the west coast of Majorca is one of the island's hidden gems. Located down a dusty track through the olive groves just outside the village of Deià, Cala Deià is a tiny shingle and pebble beach with beautifully clear water and rocky cliffs that curve around the bay, making it feel quite secret. There are still a few fishermen from the village who go out at dawn every day to cast their nets from here. And for those who prefer to stretch their legs, a path leads around to the scenic Sa Pedrisa watchtower. There's also a great fish restaurant overlooking the beach.
Hotel
Majorca Farmhouses (0845 800 8080; www.mallorca.co.uk) has Villa Michelle, a two-bedroom cottage located on a pine clad hillside overlooking Cala Deià, from £1,483 from December 23-30. The price includes a welcome hamper and maid service.
Flights
Monarch (08719 405040; www.monarch.co.uk) has a return flight from Gatwick from £184.50
Grace Bay, Providenciales
Turks and Caicos
This award-winning beach is 12 miles long, with pearl-coloured sand, a sea of graduating turquoise waters and the ubiquitous Caribbean coconut palms dotted about to provide shade. It has been named the "World's Leading Beach" by the World Travel Awards and is fringed by a coral reef system making for some amazing snorkelling and diving. The Grace Bay Club has 1,100ft of this beachfront and a choice for guests of the original hotel building or the exclusive newer Estate. As well as the glorious beach there is the Anani Spa and the Anacaona, the only ocean-front gourmet restaurant in Providenciales.
Package
Elegant Resorts (01244 897538; www.elegantresorts.co.uk) offers nine nights' b & b at Grace Bay Club from £9,600 per person, based on two sharing, departing on December 21. Price includes flights from Heathrow with British Airways (via Miami) and private car transfers.
Turtle Beach, Mogundula Private Island
Mozambique
How about having your own beach and staying in a luxury tent on the small and uninhabited Mogundula Island? It really is one of the most unspoilt and forgotten tropical islands in the Quirimbas Archipelago, located just over four miles (7km) from the northern mainland of Mozambique. There is a perfect reef with small waves on the seaward side, and a pristine beach, ideal for snorkelling and swimming. The island has a mangrove lake, coconut tree forests and at low tide you can walk around the island and explore the caves, rock pools and coral outcrops. The island is home to some of the most unspoilt and unexplored ecosystems in the Indian Ocean.
Package
W & O Travel Rainbow Tours (0845 277 3330; www.rainbowtours.co.uk) has a seven-night stay (four nights at Ibo Island Lodge, plus three nights on Mogundula) from £2,990 per person, based on two sharing, departing on December 22.
The price includes flights to Mozambique, air transfer from Pemba to Ibo, all meals, a cultural/historical tour, a daily visit to the Ibo sandbank beach, boat transfer to Mogundula, .
Pink Gin Beach
Grenada
Start your Christmas Day with t'ai chi on the beach where the water is so clear and pristine that you can see an abundance of marine life and coral up to 50ft away. Close by – but not too close – is the Aquarium Beach Club and Restaurant (www.aquarium-grenada.com), which serves exceptional local dishes. Then have a swim at Magazine beach, a short distance away. Both beaches are part of LaSource resort's all-inclusive holidays, where Christmas can be as energetic or relaxed as you want, moving from yoga to volleyball before a traditional five-course Christmas dinner, complete with ponche de crème (Caribbean egg nog). LaSource includes spa, t'ai chi, yoga, masterclasses, cuisine and cocktails in its seven- and 14-night stays.
Package
Tropical Sky (0870 907 9600; www.tropicalsky.co.uk) offers seven nights' all-inclusive at Pink Gin Beach from £2,699 per person (saving £50 per person), departing on December 22. The price includes flights from Gatwick with Monarch, room and resort transfers.
Yasawa Islands
Fiji
The Yasawas is an archipelago of 90 islands off Fiji's main island of Viti Levu that boasts some of the world's most wonderful beaches. Expect to find miles of classic bleached sand unmarked by little except coconut husks and the occasional antlers of bleached driftwood. So fine is the sand, that one stretch – a hop by boat from the Yasawa Island Resort – is known as ''eight month beach'' because it takes that long, say the locals, to get all the grains out of your hair.
Visitors stay at the Yasawa Island Resort, an exclusive retreat on one of the most remote and unspoilt islands of Fiji. Accommodation is in 18 luxury bungalows among the palms, each just a few steps from one of those wonderful beaches. Options include picnicking, snorkelling among coral and tropical fish or indulging in Fiji's first beachfront spa.
Package
Bridge & Wickers (020 7483 6555; www.bridgeandwickers.co.uk) offers a 10-night package, including six nights' half board at the Yasawa Island Resort and four nights at the new Intercontinental Resort, from £4,568 per person, based on two sharing, departing after December 20. The price includes flights with Air New Zealand and all domestic flights
and transfers.
Anse Chastanet, Jade Mountain
St Lucia
The dramatic mountains that drop into the sea here look as if they'd do for a scene from one of James Bond's most exotic locations. Anse Chastanet is a perfect beach with a perfect setting, while Jade Mountain is set high on the hills overlooking St Lucia's Pitons UNESCO World Heritage Site, in full view of both the Piti and Gros Piton mountains.
The resorts excellent luxury suites are set in 600 acres of lush forest on the private Anse Chastanet estate, where all the produce is grown – to organic princples, of course. Expect to swish into your suite where bedroom, living area and a private infinity pool merge into one another. There is an abundance of pristine coral reefs virtually surrounding the estate, making snorkelling and scuba diving a piece of cake.
Package
Key2holidays (020 7963 6697; www.key2holidays.co.uk) offers five nights' b & b in a Sky Jacuzzi suite at Jade Mountain from £3,585 per person, departing on December 21. The price includes return flight from the UK with British Airways and airport transfers.
Anse Macquereau, Fregate Island Private
Seychelles
Without doubt this is a ''pinch yourself'' beach setting. No wonder Brad Pitt chose it for his first honeymoon. Anse Macquereau is one of seven spectacular beaches where you are unlikely to meet anyone, but will find carefully placed towels and a cooler of bottled water just when you need one. Privacy is what Frégate Island Private is all about and your villa and surroundings are designed for total isolation. It is one of the few places in the world where, should you wish, you can walk along the beach naked without fear of seeing another person. Over Christmas week there will be a string quartet from the Kinshasa Symphony playing to guests in the evenings.
Package
ITC Classics (01244 355527; www.itcclassics.co.uk) offers seven nights' full board at Frégate Island Private from £12,985 per person, based on two adults sharing a one-bedroom villa, departing on December 20. The price includes flights with Emirates from Gatwick via Dubai plus helicopter transfers.
Christmas travel essentials
Getting there
There are always some excellent bargains if you’re prepared to travel on Christmas Day itself, but check you will be able to reach the airport: you might have to spend some of the money you save on taxis. Note that the London Underground operates a Sunday service on Christmas Eve and does not run on Christmas Day so plan accordingly if you intend to cross the capital.
Getting to Heathrow
The Heathrow Express will operate a normal service on Christmas Eve, with the last train leaving London Paddington at 11.25pm and Heathrow at 11.27pm. There will be no Express trains to Heathrow on Christmas Day. A replacement bus service will leave Paddington every 30 minutes between 5.20am and 7.50pm, and Heathrow central bus terminal every 30 minutes between 5.40am and 8.10pm (shuttle train services will run between the terminals).
Getting to Gatwick
The last Gatwick Express service leaves London Victoria on Christmas Eve at 9pm and Gatwick at 9.50pm. On Christmas Day there will be a bus service leaving Victoria every 30 minutes between 6.30am and 4.30pm (with an additional bus at 4.45pm), and leaving Gatwick every 30 minutes between 6.30am and 5pm. For further information contact National Rail (08457 484950; www.nationalrail.co.uk).
What to avoid
Many hotels will only take longer bookings over Christmas so don't book a bargain flight until you have checked what accommodation is available.
Check Christmas opening times for museums, attractions and restaurants.
Don't put wrapped gifts in your hand luggage as they may be opened at security. If you will be exchanging expensive gifts, take the receipts with you as proof, should you need it, that they were bought in Britain.
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