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WEB ONLY: Four more great destinations during the winter holidays

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London, England

A great choice—after all, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert helped launch the Christmas tree tradition. Visit the weekend Borough Market (8 Southwark St.; 44-207/407-1002; www.boroughmarket.org.uk) for handmade chocolates and wheels of cheddar; the18th-century almshouses, done up in period decorations, that now make up the Geffrye Museum (Kingsland Rd.; 44-0207/739-9893; $3.61 per adult, free admission for children under 16); and the candlelit interiors of Dennis Severs's House (18 Folgate St.; 44-207/247-4013). Buy a Christmas pudding at Fortnum & Mason (181 Picadilly; 44-207/734-8040; www.fortnumandmason.com) or Clark's (124 Kensington Church St.; 44-207/221-9225), and, of course, book some entertainment: consider a pantomime, Matthew Bourne's holiday production of Edward Scissorhands at Sadler's Wells (Rosebery Ave., 44-207/863-8198; www.sadlerswells.com; tickets from $18), seasonal music at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Trafalgar Square; 44-207/766-1100; www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org) or the Royal Albert Hall (Kensington Gore; 44-207/589-8212; www.royalalberthall.com). Join the natives for a brisk post-lunch walk across Kensington Gardens. Stick around until New Year's for fireworks on the Thames.

STAY AT The Gore (190 Queen's Gate; 44-207/584-6601; Tudor rooms from $625), an eccentric town-house hotel, nicely placed for the museums; or the Knightsbridge (10 Beaufort Gardens; 44-207/584-6300; firmdalehotels.com; doubles from $324).

The British Countryside

Enjoy walks and wassailing in a land of gently rolling hills silvered by frost.

STAY AT The Cotswold House Hotel in Gloucestershire (Chipping Campden; 44-13/8684-0330; www.cotswoldhouse.com; doubles from $369), one of the new-style country hotels that have trimmed back on the chintz but kept the welcome (note the parlor games by the fire), in a heart-meltingly beautiful little town. Ask for the Grammar School Suite for Frette sheets and a plasma-screen TV, plus a 17th-century stone fireplace big enough for six stockings. The Ickworth Hotel & Restaurant (Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk; 44-12/8473-5350; www.luxuryfamilyhotels.com; doubles from $361), a luxurious new family hotel in a very stately 18th-century neoclassical house owned by the National Trust. Acres to roam in, horses to ride, a pool to swim in, and a real gift-a spa. Or consider renting a remarkable and unique antique building—a Tudor fort, a Bath townhouse, even a pineapple-shaped folly—from the Landmark Trust (www.landmarktrust.org.uk). Get the catalogue and dream.

Inverness, Scotland

A good base for exploring nearby towns, such as Beauly, where Campbell & Co. (The Highland Tweed House; 44-1463/782-239) will fit you for a kilt for New Year's Eve; Nairn, on the sea; and the Victorian spa town Strathpeffer-take the waters and cure any seasonal ills.

STAY AT Cawdor Cottages (Cawdor Estates Office, Cawder, Mairn; 44-166/7402-402; www.cawdor.com; cottage for four from $1,171, five-night minimum)—heavenly cottages on a Highland estate for a do-it-yourself holiday. The pine-paneled Fisherman's Cottage has a full complement of stags' horns and overlooks the River Findhorn. If that last walk up the mountain was a bit too brisk, order in a massage-now that's a high time in the Highlands.

New York, New York

Yes, the halls are decked, even if the residents are on the 35th floor. Look for Christmas pageants—the Church of the Heavenly Rest (2 E. 90th St.; 212/289-3400; www.heavenlyrest.org) has real lambs-and ice skating in Central Park and Rockefeller Center, a wide choice of Santas, a skyline that glitters, and shops open on the Day.

STAY AT The Lowell (28 E. 63rd St.; 800/221-4444; www.lowellhotel.com; doubles from $555). Near Central Park—and the rooms have fireplaces for stockings.

The Galápagos Islands

The Christmas seals can swim! December and January are prime times to tour the Ecuadorian islands by cruise ship. Lindblad Expeditions (800/397-3348; www.expeditions.com; 10-day tours from $3,480 per adult, $2,980 per child), the outfit that pioneered tourism in these parts, excels at family outings.

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