Celebrate the season like celebs

SEND TO A FRIEND

5 NOVEMBER 2004
South African sun
Sample sunny South Africa at Christmas or New Year, holing up at Stratford Castle in Kwazulu Natal, less than 30 minutes from superb Indian Ocean beaches and shopping in cosmopolitan Durban. Fully staffed, its chefs will whip up anything you fancy – from turkey with all the trimmings to mince pies and Christmas pud.

Sports enthusiasts can play golf, swim in a choice of pools or row on the lake – all in the grounds – while less energetic members of the party enjoy spa treatments on the castle roof or sip chilled Chardonnay in a hot tub. There’s a minibus available to take guests to see wildlife, to visit the Zulu battlefields or to picnic at the beach.

Fire and ice
There are festivities galore in Iceland at New Year – but you’ll need to get fit to survive the course. Kick things off with an evening buffet on ice – literally – where you can tuck in to caviar on blinis, smoked salmon, crab and confit as well as turkey, reindeer and beef.

You’ll blow out the old year around a bonfire, bring in the new with fireworks and champagne, then dance till you drop. The recipe for the first day of 2005 is rest and recuperation – preferably in the warm, mineral-rich waters of the Blue Lagoon. Bags more action is still to follow: watching for the northern lights, perhaps, or snowdriving across a glacier.

Rural Andalusia
Trade winter gloom for the sunshine, clear skies and crisp temperatures of Andalusia at New Year. If you want to get off the beaten track for the festivities, head inland from Malaga to the olive and almond groves and weird and wonderful rock sculptures of El Torcal National Park. From here, premier-league attractions such as Granada, Cordoba and Ronda are all within easy reach.

Or you can just stay put and enjoy the party at the much-awarded La Posada Del Torcal. English-owned and crammed with antiques, this boutique hotel comes with an outdoor heated pool, sauna, gym, Jacuzzi, all-weather tennis court – and views to die for. Tuck into a New Year’s Eve gala banquet of five courses with fine wines and welcome in 2005 with fireworks.

REPORT: JILL CRAWSHAW