Christmas and New Year's at the Pool: How to Book the Hardest Two Weeks of the Year
The stretch from Christmas to New Year's is the most requested fortnight at almost every great resort. Here's how to get in: minimum stays, gala dinners, the split-stay trick, and where to go for summer in December.
Christmas and New Year's at the Pool: How to Book the Hardest Two Weeks of the Year
Ask any reservations manager at a beach resort which dates they dread, and they'll say the same two words: the holidays. From roughly December 20 to January 3, demand at the world's best pool hotels runs far ahead of supply. Rates climb to their peak, rules get stricter, and the good rooms go to the people who planned in the spring.
That doesn't mean you can't still get a great holiday pool trip this year. It means you have to book it differently. This year Christmas falls on a Friday and New Year's Day on the following Friday, which shapes how the weeks fill. Here's what we've learned.
Understand the Rules Before You Fall in Love
Holiday bookings come with fine print that doesn't exist the rest of the year. Read it before you get attached to a villa.
Minimum stays. Many top resorts require a minimum stay over Christmas and New Year's, often a full week and sometimes longer. A three-night stay over the 31st is rarely possible at the places on our list.
Fixed arrival days. Some villa resorts only accept arrivals on certain days of the week over the holidays. If your flights don't match, ask before you book either.
Compulsory gala dinners. Especially at island resorts in the Indian Ocean and Asia, a Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve gala dinner is often added to every booking, priced per person. It's usually a good party. It's also worth knowing about before you see the bill.
Tighter cancellation terms. Festive bookings commonly carry stricter deposits and non-refundable windows than the rest of the year. Travel insurance earns its keep here.
The Split-Stay Trick
When a resort is full for the whole fortnight, it's often only full on certain nights. Asking for Christmas or New Year's rather than both can open doors. Two shorter stays at two different hotels can also be easier to book than one long one, and more fun to take.
A few combinations we like:
Maui and Lanai. Spend Christmas at [Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea](/pools/four-seasons-resort-maui-at-wailea-129), watching for the first whales from the adults-only Serenity Pool, then cross to the quiet of [Four Seasons Resort Lanai](/pools/four-seasons-resort-lanai-134) for New Year's.
Two sides of Turks and Caicos. Book [Rock House](/pools/rock-house-18) on its limestone ledge near Grace Bay, then move out to the wild northwest of Providenciales at [Amanyara](/pools/amanyara-128), where a long dark infinity pool meets an empty horizon.
Desert to sea. Start in Los Cabos at [One&Only Palmilla](/pools/one-only-palmilla-130) and finish somewhere cold and steaming, like [The Retreat at Blue Lagoon](/pools/the-retreat-at-blue-lagoon-9) in Iceland, for the most dramatic New Year's swim on our list.
Where to Find Summer in December
If you want a real summer holiday at Christmas, go south of the equator, where December is the start of high summer.
[InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef](/pools/intercontinental-hayman-great-barrier-reef-132) in Queensland's Whitsundays has what it bills as the largest pool in Australia, about seven Olympic pools' worth of water, with suites in the Pool Wing that swim straight out from the balcony. Queensland's summer is also stinger season in the sea, which makes a giant pool even more appealing. [Qualia](/pools/qualia-70), on nearby Hamilton Island, is the grown-up alternative.
Farther south, [The Silo Hotel](/pools/the-silo-hotel-38) in Cape Town and [Posada del Faro](/pools/posada-del-faro-107) in José Ignacio, Uruguay, are both at their best in late December, with long evenings and the whole town on holiday.
How to Book It
Start with flights. Holiday seats sell out before rooms do on many routes. Find flights that fit the minimum-stay rules, then book the hotel.
Fly on Christmas Day. Airports are often at their calmest on December 25 itself. If you don't mind opening presents early, it's one of the easiest travel days of the season.
Call, don't click. For holiday dates, a phone call or an email to the reservations team often turns up cancellations and unlisted availability that booking engines miss.
Reserve the extras early. Cabanas, daybeds and kids' club spots are limited and can fill up over the holidays. Book them when you book the room.
Watch the waitlist. Holiday plans change a lot in November. Ask to be waitlisted for your dream dates even if you book something else as a backup.
If You Can't Get In
The edges of the season are your friend. The first two weeks of December and the second week of January have the same weather as the holidays at a fraction of the price, with no gala dinner on the bill. Our guide to where to swim this winter maps the best warm water from November through March, and our Hawaii guide covers the islands, which are at their best in exactly this stretch.
And if you're traveling with kids over the break, we've rounded up the best family pools for winter break, from a lava-rock aquarium to a 2,000-foot water canyon.
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