The holiday season is officially here, and there’s no better way to count down to the festivities than with an advent calendar. These calendars, which often contain small numbered flaps or doors to open on each day of Advent, were traditionally filled with Bible verses and chocolate. Today, advent calendars have evolved to include makeup, coffee, skincare, wine, sweets, candles, and, well, you name it. Since there are so many options to choose from, advent calendars also make a great present for nearly anyone on your list—though we wouldn’t judge you if you bought one (or more) for yourself. To inspire your holiday shopping, we’ve compiled our top picks for the best advent calendars, all of which are geared toward travelers, to snag before they sell out.
This holiday season, elevate your skincare routine with this advent calendar from fan-favorite French brand Payot. It comes complete with 24 TSA-friendly products, including cleansers, masks, and moisturizers—along with hand creams, lipstick, shampoo, and conditioner—making them all perfect additions to your toiletry bag. The festive packaging is just the icing on the cake.
It’s no secret that scented candles make excellent gifts, which makes Voluspa’s 12-day advent calendar an absolute must-have, even if you divvy it up into stocking stuffers for the whole family. Designed exclusively for Sephora, this gift set offers 12 of the brand’s best-selling fragrances—from Spiced Pumpkin Latte to Tahitiaian Coconut Vanilla to Forbidden Fig—in adorable 1.25-ounce varieties. Bonus: The candles are housed in colorful and embossed glass votives, meaning they’re stylish enough to double as home decor even after the wax runs out.
Rituals is known for its home and body products, and The Ritual of Advent 3D advent calendar offers something for everyone. You—or your giftee—will unwrap a total of 24 gifts, including soaps, creams, shower gels, candles, balms, and more. Also, as you can guess by its name, this advent calendar opens up to form a 3D Christmas tree, and it even comes with string lights for decorating.
French brand Bonne Maman is renowned for its jams and preserves, making it a favorite amongst food lovers. Don’t miss your chance to score the brand’s 2023 advent calendar, which features a mouthwatering selection of 23 limited-edition spreads plus honey. Flavors run the gamut from caramel with cinnamon to raspberry chocolate to lemon yuzu.
The holidays are prime time for baking, and Williams Sonoma’s 24 Days of Baking Cookies calendar has everything you—or your giftee—need to get started. The adorable advent calendar offers all sorts of baking essentials, including 16 cookie cutters, 10 piping bags, spatulas, stencils gift bags, and much more.
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In Britain, the Sunday roast is sacrosanct. Gathering together around a beautifully cooked joint of meat, with lashings of gravy, vegetables and billowing Yorkshire puddings, is, for many, the weekend’s social highlight. And where better to do to this than the pub? Not only do you avoid the washing-up but, centuries after the French dubbed Brits les rosbifs, you get to enjoy the roast at its most modern. In recent decades, Britain’s best pub chefs have, by focusing on seasonal ingredients, rare-breed meats and painstaking preparations of roast potatoes or root vegetables, brought a fresh glamour to this Sunday afternoon ritual.
Of the key Alpine ski destinations, Italy offers the best value for money. Here, an espresso can cost €1.50 (£1.30) a shot, and a piste-side plate of pasta €10-15 (£9-13), items that are often 70-100% dearer in the A-list ski areas of France. And a peak-week, February half-term holiday in a three-star hotel can come in less than €1,745 (£1,500) per person half board, including flights and transfers. And that’s not taking some back-of-beyond resort as a point of comparison, either: all these prices are available in or around Canazei in Val di Fassa, part of the vast Dolomiti Superski area. On its doorstep, more than 300 miles of perfectly groomed pistes spin off the central Sella Ronda circuit; explore the area’s outer limits and that total hits 745 miles.
Whether you’re a dedicated bargain hunter, passionate about interiors, a spa-o-holic, an obsessive foodie, love exploring places brimming with history and atmosphere, or adore contemporary art, then you’ve come to the right place. Few places on Earth do any of these things quite like Marrakesh.
Abu Dhabi’s bar scene, while slightly more subdued than neighboring Dubai, is certainly lively, and people in the UAE capital know how to have fun. From chic brasseries to pubs full of personality, here are the best bars in Abu Dhabi as chosen by our editors.
London’s thriving food scene is fueled by a constant influx of innovative chefs and restaurateurs and its diverse multicultural influences. Here are ten of the newest dining experiences that contribute to London’s well-deserved reputation as a global culinary destination.
The ultimate tropical getaway, the Caribbean conjures images of palm-fringed beaches, rum-fueled dancing and lush jungle excursions. Pick any of the 700-odd islands that form an arc between Florida and Venezuela and you’ll get all these things and more.
People like to ask travel and food writers about their favorite countries for eating. I name the usual suspects—Italy, Mexico, Japan. And then there’s my dark horse: Georgia (“the country,” I sometimes clarify, depending on my audience). The country is an ancient melting pot at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, Russia and the Middle East; a place with a complicated history; a self-proclaimed capital of life, love, food and wine in the “forgotten backyard of Europe.”
One of the most delightful holiday traditions is counting down the days to Christmas with an advent calendar, especially with one filled with chocolate. The tradition of advent calendars dates back to 19th-century Germany, where people marked the days leading up to Christmas with daily small treats. The first printed advent calendar appeared around 1903, with religious images behind small numbered doors. Over time, the concept evolved to include a variety of themes, from chocolates to toys and was adopted outside of Germany too. Here are ten of the finest luxury chocolate advent calendars, created by the world’s top chocolatiers.