backprop

I've spent Christmas in NOLA. Good weather, music all around, and spent the day hiking in the Barataria Preserve. It was enjoyable.

Osmo

Do you scuba dive or want to scuba dive?

Dive resorts are good for singles because you always get put with a buddy for dives and depending on the dive resort, meals can be informal, everyone at the same tables mixing it up - Belize comes to mind.

Efrem

Consider Oaxaca. The carved radishes (I kid you not; these are foot-tall radishes) on Dec. 23 are unique: google Noche de Rabanos. There's lots more going on. You can sit at a café on the zócalo, drinking chocolate or micheladas, and watch the world go by. Manger displays are all over; you don't have to believe in anything to enjoy them. There are processions, public music performances and so on. Oaxacan food is outstanding: there's a mole sauce for every day of the week. Check out the chocolate mills where families bring in their traditional recipes and the place makes up ten kilos of the stuff for them. It's easy to get there, too.

You can get a if it will help you make up your mind.

mike_la_jolla

When I was in this situation, I booked Club Med. It looks like Martinique is singles only. My situation changed about 15 years ago, so I'm not certain what the Club Med experience would be now. It is (was?) a French company, so there was some torture involved.

invisible

Hm, have not sensed Christmas celebrations in Jogjakarta, Malacca and Siem Reap. Well, you might argue that they are not tourist destinations...

365RoadWarrior

From the OP: Thank you for all the suggestions. I've been doing some research to narrow the choices.

New Zealand would be great, but with just nine days, it's tough to justify the flight times and $3500 economy fare on StarAlliance. Hong Kong and Bangkok look like good options in Asia, if it looks like work will allow me to depart from a gateway city (SFO, LAX, DEN, ORD...); a few nights at the Shenzhen Hilton Garden Inn at US$50 would trim my hotel costs and make it "pencil out" with the bulk of the nights in Hong Kong or Macau.

Without a gateway departure, Arizona and San Antonio/Austin may be good choices, so I'm looking there too. Quebec; I'd love to get back there too.

I'm a jazz musician, so New Orleans becomes a "no, thanks" for me. And work has stranded me in the Los Angeles area for about 100 days this year, so I'm ready for a change of scenery.

Too old to dive; Belize didn't do anything for me last time I was there, same as Costa Rica.

Again, thanks for the suggestions!

Finkface

Honolulu. Easy to get to from the Western US, ~ 5 hour flight, and I love Christmas in Hawaii. They really get into the spirit with all the hotels having trees and decorations but it is still a touristy place (ala Vegas) so nothing really changes on Christmas day. Meaning it is business as usual and nothing is closed. Lots of people around and plenty of opportunity to meet others and tons of stuff to do on the island. Gets my vote if you only have a week.

DieselYVR

In case you have not been to Shenzhen/HK before, they are very different. I would not recommend spending any vacation time in Shenzhen. It's far less "English friendly" than HK and not nearly as fun. Also, you will need to multiple-entry China visa if you are planning to commute back and forth during the day.

HK is a great option but it also much colder in Dec/Jan than the other months. Bangkok would be my suggestion!

You might also consider a visit to Vietnam (Hanoi and HCMC).

pinniped

If you go to HK, you could take a Macau side trip without a visa. That might actually be a fun place to spend Christmas Day. @:-) Of course, so would hiking Lantau Island, going to a beach, or doing any number of the 1000's of things you can do in and around Hong Kong.

TOMFORD

Israel? No Christmas there.

Or anywhere in China. Christmas is more of a shopping holiday rather than a thing for families to get together and stay indoors. Or if you don't mind going further, big cities in SE Asia, except Manila, would be good (Hanoi, HCMC, Bangkok, etc)

365RoadWarrior

Thanks. I haven't been to Shenzhen. Not very appealing. I was hoping to use Shenzhen to bring down average cost of hotels. I can't afford Hong Kong or Macao, so...maybe Bangkok. I enjoyed Hanoi, but I've been recently enough and enough times over the past 28 years.

lhrsfo

I would second Club Med. It's ideal for singles, allowing as much privacy and as much companionship as you desire.

I spent last Christmas in Argentina. BA is a fantastic city and very exciting throughout the period.

Efrem

That's a bit of an exaggeration. True, it's a normal working day for most Israelis, just as Jewish holidays are for most Americans (in the broadest sense of that word, not just U.S. citizens). But there's Bethlehem (probably best to take a tour, though there is a bus from Jerusalem), Nazareth, services by the Sea of Galilee, and growing communities of expats who do their thing. It can be a welcome relief from the over-commercialism of Christmas in the States. You won't have every store trying to sell you singing Santas for your doorstep.

If this is of any interest, and I suspect it isn't because of distance, check out some existing discussions in FlyerTalk's Middle East forums or start one of your own. A Web search will turn up lots of information, too.

Sheikh Yerbooty

A skiing spot in Austria with a lively crowd is always good fun, also around christmas. Plenty of venues to choose from, large crowd and everyone is there for the same thing so lots of common ground. My suggestions would be either St. Anton in Tirol, Ischgl or Saalbach, but there are plenty of other options.

GRALISTAIR

^ I would agree - and even if you get bored -take an inter-island flight for a day or so .