If Christmas markets and typical festive mini-breaks bore you to tears, you might be interested in some of the holidays that www.responsibletravel.com has put together for this December.
It promotes its own eco-friendly, socially responsible holidays and also sells other company tours that fit its criteria.
These trips will throw you in with the locals, well away from the tourist crowds and provide you with a unique experience while ensuring that you minimise your environmental footprint.
The company has dozens of experiences available. Here’s the cream of the crop for your Christmas escape.
Trek with Sherpas around Everest
If you always wanted to experience the Everest region but don’t want to scale the peak itself, this is the perfect halfway house – though with recent weather problems in Nepal causing several deaths, it may only be for the strong-hearted.
This trek will take you into the foothills of the mightiest of the mountains in the world, through rhododendron and pine forests, raging rivers, Sherpa villages and Buddhist monasteries.
You’ll stay at a homestay in a Sherpa village to experience their way of life and have a Sherpa as your guide too.
The tour company runs small groups and strives to minimise the impact of their tourism while protecting Nepali culture. Ten per cent of profits are budgeted for staff development and welfare.
Prices start at €1,100 for 11 nights including internal flights, accommodation, food and porter charges.
Fancy chestnuts roasting on... a wood-burning stove inside a Spanish cave house?Stay in an Andalucian cave
In the traditional Spanish village of Castillejar, you’ll find some of the world’s most unique accommodation: cave houses.
Some of these dwellings have been inhabited for hundreds of years, starting with the Moors; others were hewn from the rock by local peasant farmers in the 19th century.
Castillejar has some of the best, roomy and airy with wood-burning stoves for cosy winter nights; the heat stays inside due to the natural insulation of the rock walls. The accommodation includes a sun terrace, kitchen and bedrooms.
Close by in Granada, there are springs, pools and some of the most beautiful natural parks in the country such as Sierra de Baza, the Sierras of Huescar, Castril, Segura and Cazorla.
At Embalse de Negratin, there’s also a thermal spring in which to relax.
The pace of life in this area is slow, with no major supermarkets in the village but a great local market.
Prices start at around €500 a week and the nearest airport is Almeria.
Jingle bells in Lapland
You’ll depart on December 20 for this five-day husky safari, which will take you deep into the Finnish wilderness.
Northwest Lapland is said to have the cleanest air in Europe, so take a deep breath
At the Harriniva Wilderness Hotel and Arctic Sled Dog Centre, you’ll meet more than 400 enthusiastic huskies and their mushers.
The dogs will then pull you and your kit past frozen lakes and through ancient forests to wilderness accommodation in the Pallas-Ylläs Park.
Northwest Lapland is said to have the cleanest air in Europe so take a deep breath and relax.
While the cabins might be basic, you’re guaranteed a sauna in each one and snowmobiles are available too for some post-sledding fun.
The trip is described as ‘a unique opportunity to explore the untouched landscape of the Arctic’; it’ll be the Christmas adventure of a lifetime.
The holiday also offers employment and income for local people who might once have logged the forest or found themselves without a job.
Prices start from €2,100, including flights to Lapland from the UK.
Have a Cuban Christmas
Leave on December 22 or 23 and you’ll bag an amazing price for a Christmas in Cuba: €743 for 11 nights (flights not included).
Experience a New Year party in Havana and the Parrandas de Remedio fireworks festival plus several walking tours.
The guides on this trip aim to introduce you to grassroots Cuba and use homestays as a way to do that.
Be one of the first to sail to Myanmar
It doesn’t get much more ground-breaking than this. Few tourists have travelled to Myanmar – formerly known as Burma – and even fewer have sailed the Mergui archipelago.
The region seems frozen in time and is well off the tourist trail, meaning the coastline is pristine. Visit dense jungle, stone-age historical sights and experience the traditional clothes and food of the people there.
The snorkelling is unbeatable and you will be leaping into the water from your 16m catamaran, which will carry just eight passengers, a cook, a skipper and a guide.
You’ll also get to spend some time with the Moken, a nomadic tribe of sea gypsies who live in their boats and have had little contact with tourists.
Tours depart on December 17 and cost from €1,500 for nine days, excluding flights.