Beyond Santa, what is there to do or see in Lapland in winter?

With warm, sunny weather and plenty of tropical pre-holiday cheer, now’s a great time to visit the Florida Keys and Key West. From Key Largo to Key West, the 2023 holiday season features spirited events such as lighted boat parades, only-in-the Keys frivolity, sparkling waterfront celebrations and other island festivities.  Here’s what visitors to the island chain can expect in the run-up to Christmas and New Year.

“Let it Glow” at Discovery Park of America is a seasonal exhibition that illuminates the park with a vibrant and enchanting display of lights and installations. The park transforms into a magical wonderland, where intricate light arrangements and dazzling spectacles captivate visitors.

You can visit his twinkly grotto 365 days a year at the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, just five miles south of the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland — and a 3.5-hour direct flight from the UK. The resort runs an Elf Academy, welcoming ‘little helpers’ and offering reindeer-driven sleigh rides. It’s also home to Santa Park, which features an ice-sculpture gallery and elfin workshops making gingerbread. If you want to venture out of town, there’s husky sledding and aurora-chasing.

It's not just Black Friday and Cyber Monday travel deals that have people getting excited for the holidays. Many hotels around the world are rolling out the holiday decorations and activities to get everyone into the spirit of the season. For many, giving the gift of travel is one of the most exciting presents of all. Here are some of the most interesting hotel experiences available to travelers this month.

For much of the 20th century, the image of Mexico popularized abroad through film, music, art and literature was, more accurately, a portrayal of Jalisco state and especially its capital, Guadalajara. Mariachi and tequila both originated here as did some of Mexico’s most famous singers and actors. The writer Juan Rulfo, whose 1955 novel, “Pedro Páramo, still stands as the central monument of modern Mexican literature, grew up in Jalisco and vividly depicted its arid, sun-blasted landscapes in his writing, while the architect Luis Barragán, who moved from Guadalajara to Mexico City in the 1930s, carried with him an appreciation for his home state’s cloisters, haciendas and humble country buildings, which he translated in his own work as austere, inscrutable volumes of stucco. “Jalisco,” as a popular saying goes, “is Mexico.”

For many families, the most wonderful time of the year isn't complete without a visit to the big man in red. And one of the best spots in the U.S. to see him is at Macy's on 34th Street in New York City.

There are things that everyone knows and loves at Walt Disney World Resort that are popular for good reason. We have lists of the best hotels at Disney World, the best restaurants at Disney World and even the best outdoor restaurants at Disney World.

Bolivia consistently ranks among the top value-for-dollar destinations in the Americas. With the country's famously diverse terrain, you can explore Amazonian rainforests, ancient Tiwanaku ruins and some of the planet’s highest peaks on a relatively tight budget.

As winter approaches, it's time to start thinking about where to spend the holidays.

Last year, a town in the south of Italy launched a scheme offering to pay people up to €30,000 to relocate there. 

On October 19, the U.S. Department of State issued a rare advisory that Americans overseas “exercise increased caution” due to heightened tensions and chances of terrorism around the world, spurred by the Israel-Hamas war. It’s part of a system of travel warnings that’s been around in some form since 1978, designed to help citizens assess how safe a destination might be at a given time.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Anna Shepherd, a 24-year-old from Knoxville, Tennessee. It has been edited for length and clarity.