Christmas Vacation Destinations By Neil Valentine D'Silva

Already choosing your Christmas vacation destinations for this year? See whether you have considered these hot options. Christmas Vacation Destinations Christmas is a time for celebration, and what better way of celebrating is there than to travel with people you love the most? That is precisely the reason why people make a beeline to some of the best Christmas vacation destinations each year when the cute little yearend season comes along. Then there are also some practical reasons. People get fat annual bonuses before the season comes in, most offices wrap up their yearly work well before mid-December to allow for the holidays, and the Christmas vacation destinations deck up for the festive season. Everything falls into place at one, and bingo, we are planning our Christmas vacation already! Cutting right to the chase now, here are some of the hot (or do I mean cold?) destinations that you could consider this Christmas. The choice is based on the activities you can do here, and they are in no particular order. Christmas Vacation Destination # 1 – San Diego, for whale watching San Diego in California has some of the best vacation options for you if you are planning a Christmas vacation. This coast is where the very popular gray whales migrate from each year, on their annual trip from the Bering Sea to Baja California. Come December and you will find them in crowds of as many as 25,000 all in the sea off the San Diego coast. This is also the time when some of the greatest whale watching tours of the world are conducted here. You can board a catamaran from the shore, and you will be driven mid-ocean for a day, two days, or even up to a fortnight if you wish. The best of Christmas festivities will be present right on board for you. And who will come to the party? Expect some porpoises, dolphins, sharks, turtles, exotic birds whose names you will never remember, and of course, a gray whale or two! Christmas Vacation Destination # 2 – Lake Tahoe, for skiing The next best thing after Christmas that happens in December is the start of the skiing season in most places. For the winter sports aficionados, this could be one of the greatest things to happen all year. One of the best destinations for a spot of winter skiing is Lake Tahoe in Nevada. The lake does freeze over, and the ski resorts open up in warm (?) welcome of the skiers from all around the world. People who have been to this skiing haven vote it as one of the best in the world. The snow is pristine and welcoming to the skiers. Even if you know nothing about skiing, you can enjoy the beautiful sights the wintry nature has to offer, and you can binge on the special Christmas lunches laid out for the snow revelers, which typically consists of smoked or grilled salmon, lobster bisques and chocolate tortes that climb up to five layers! Christmas Vacation Destination # 3 – Orlando, for not skiing Orlando in Florida is one of the most traveled tourist destinations in the US the year round. And it is the place to go if you are not looking for skiing throughout the Christmas season. Orlando has a host of things to do. You can get a bit of sun all over here, even if it is December. Three huge amusement parks will keep you engaged in Orlando – the world famous Walt Disney World Resort, the SeaWorld Orlando and the Universal Orlando Resort. You will also find the buildings of Disney-MGM Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and the Typhoon Lagoon within the Walt Disney World Resort. If you want to check out some of the best Christmas shopping, you can head to The Florida Mall or The Mall of Millennia. Orlando also boasts of The World's Largest McDonald's PlayPlace. Simply put, this is one Christmas vacation destination where you should pack your bags to, if you are taking your kids along. Christmas Vacation Destination # 4 – Hershey, for sheer Christmas grandeur If you want to be in the heart of the Christmas festivities, and still be away from your own home, then Hershey in Pennsylvania would be your best bet. The town named after a brand of chocolate can be nothing else but sweet (for those of you interested in factoids, Hershey was originally Derry Church, but the immense popularity of Hershey's Chocolate found here was the reason of its rechristening into Hershey!). Here you can visit Hershey's Chocolate Land, and take a chocolate tour during the heart of the Christmas season. The whole thing is a treat to watch, bedecked with some of the best Christmas light display you might ever have seen. Hersheypark, the recreation amusement park owned by the Hershey chocolate company has no fewer than a million Christmas lights. In addition, you will find several churches where you can attend masses, and gourmet restaurants for the great taste of typical Christmastime food. By Neil Valentine D'Silva