Puerto Rico
"Jingle Bells" set to a salsa beat. Instead of pine trees, palms and exotic flora in El Yunque rain forest. Evening strolls through a 500-year-old Spanish colonial city on the Atlantic.
WHERE TO STAY Hotel El Convento, a converted 350-year-old Carmelite convent, has 58 rooms with handcrafted colonial furniture. The Water Club, billed as Puerto Rico's only beachfront boutique hotel, has 84 rooms overlooking the ocean through floor-to-ceiling windows. Furthering the water theme are piped-in sounds of the surf and old-fashioned gum-ball machines filled with aqua-colored jelly beans. HOLIDAY DINNER The Parrot Club offers Nuevo Latino cuisine—tamarind-glazed salmon, chicken in a mango barbecue sauce—accompanied by a jazz band. Ajili Mójili is the best place for asopaos (stews) and mofongos (mashed plantains with pork rinds). The 150-year-old La Mallorquina is known for its family-style cocina criolla, or traditional Puerto Rican feasts: seasonal favorites include lechón (suckling pig), arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), and pasteles (yucca and meat wrapped in a banana leaf). BEST LIGHTS Stroll among San Juan families along the Paseo de la Princesa, past light-strung arches and trees, a life-sized Nativity scene, and stalls selling everything from dulce de leche-filled churros to wooden tree ornaments. At the end is a 20-foot-tall Christmas tree facing San Juan Bay. STOCKING STUFFERS Take your pick of the best santos—wooden folk carvings of Catholic saints—at Puerto Rican Art & Crafts or Olé. A small santo can cost anywhere from $12 to $1,200, depending on the reputation of the santero, or artisan. Larger pieces, such as 12-inch statuettes of the three kings astride their horses, go for several thousand dollars. —Robert Maniaci
The List
Hotel El Convento 100 Calle de Cristo, Old San Juan; 800/468-2779 or 787/723-9020; doubles from $325
Water Club 2 Calle Tartak, Isla Verde; 888/265-6699 or 787/728-3666; doubles from $249
Parrot Club 363 Calle Fortaleza, Old San Juan; 787/725-7370; dinner for two $70
Ajili Mójili 1006 Avda. Ashford, Condado; 787/725-9195; dinner for two $80
La Mallorquina 207 Calle San Justo, Old San Juan; 787/722-3261; dinner for two $50
Puerto Rican Art & Crafts 204 Calle Fortaleza, Old San Juan; 787/725-5596
Olé 105 Calle Fortaleza, Old San Juan; 787/724-2445
Santa Cruz, California
Thousand-year-old redwoods. Santa arriving by surfboard. Roots, folk, and blues on "the Pig" (KPIG 107.5, a popular Americana station). Still-crazy-after-all-these-years hippies co-existing peacefully with over-caffeinated young bucks.
WHERE TO STAY The sleek, intimate Pleasure Point Inn sits on the edge of Monterey Bay. Three of the four rooms face the water, but the best place to watch the sunset is from the roof deck. At the 19-room Harbor Inn, you're just one block away from the city's harbor, where you can charter a yacht for an afternoon sail. HOLIDAY DINNER The bland façade of Casablanca may look quiet and unassuming, but inside, chef Scott Cater turns out some smart New American cuisine. His Colorado rack of lamb with raspberry sauce and black truffles is to die for. The beach views aren't too shabby, either. BEAUTY'S WHERE YOU FIND IT The chic Farmacy sells cosmetics, fragrances, and other beauty booty from Dermologica and London's ultra-hip We Live Like This (for a luxurious holiday soak, try its frankincense-and-myrrh bath salts). BUY THE BOOK As befits this quirky college town, Santa Cruz has several independent bookstores. Logos is a huge emporium of new and used volumes ranging from art and photography books to highbrow novels and scholarly titles (in the back is an eclectic CD department, with almost every disc—show tunes, acid jazz, even rare Joni Mitchell imports—priced at less than $10). Bookshop Santa Cruz, another cavernous space piled high with the latest fiction and nonfiction, has a thoughtfully chosen kids' selection; its excellent international newsstand offers obscure shelter magazines, newspapers in Italian and Arabic, and more. STOCKING STUFFER Anything bearing the goofy grin of the banana slug, the slimy yellow mascot of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Slug hats, mugs, T-shirts, and other logo goodies are available in most stores around town, or on campus at the Bay Tree Bookstore. —H. Scott Jolley
The List
Pleasure Point Inn 2-3665 E. Cliff Dr.; 877/557-2567 or 831/469-6161; doubles from $225
Harbor Inn 645 Seventh Ave.; 831/479-9731; doubles from $45
Casablanca 101 Main St.; 831/426-9063; dinner for two $60
Farmacy 1101 Pacific Ave., Suite C; 831/426-3276
Logos 1117 Pacific Ave.; 831/427-5100
Bookshop Santa Cruz 1520 Pacific Ave.; 831/423-0900
Bay Tree Bookstore 1156 High St.; 831/459-4544
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