Cheapflights.ca Goes Island Hopping This Holiday Season
November 28 2012 - 11:46AM
Marketwired
For those looking to really get away for the holidays, nothing
beats escaping to an island, especially one that embraces the
season with local flare. The travel experts at Cheapflights.ca, the
online leader in finding and publishing travel deals, suggest their
Top 10 Islands to Visit During the Festive Season. Whether you are
planning to spend the holidays with family, friends, a loved one or
all of the above, experiencing the season at one of these islands
will be one of the best gifts you could ever give them, and
yourself.
Below are five islands to make our list where the chance of a
white Christmas is highly unlikely (unless you count sand) yet the
festive celebrations are second-to-none.
- The Bahamas - Sparking blue waters,
sugar-soft pink sand and endless sun. If these are on your
Christmas list, you're in luck! The Bahamas consist of more than
700 islands that range from New Providence (the capital is Nassau)
and its neighbour, Paradise Island, to tiny, little cays whose
sands lay undisturbed by footprints. If you're there at the end of
December/start of January you can look forward to temperatures of
between 21 and 23 degrees. Bahamians go big on New Year's Day,
that's when Junkanoo Parades take place on many of the
islands.
- Montserrat, Caribbean - This tiny
emerald, volcanic, island has a fascinating history. It was
"discovered" and named by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and
colonised in the 17th century by Irish Catholics from St Kitts. The
island's culture is a fusion of Irish and African traditions and
there's no better time to experience this than during Festival,
which takes place between mid-December and early January. Calypso
competitions, the Festival Queen pageant and a parade of costumed
troupes on New Year's Day as well as street "jump ups" (dancing in
the streets) pretty much guarantee a Christmas to remember.
- Trinidad and Tobago - These islands are
some of the Caribbean's most diverse with African, Indian, British,
Chinese, French, Spanish and Portuguese influences. At this time of
year, the fusion of all these influences creates colourful and
joyous celebrations. What we know as carolling is given a Caribbean
twist -- Parang. Groups of parranderos sing traditional Spanish
songs at festivals around the islands and go from door to door on
Christmas Day. Fruit cake and an eggnog-type drink are seasonal
treats and you can work it all off (or not!) on the islands'
glorious beaches, which bake in average daily temperatures of 27
degrees.
- St. George Island, Florida - The best
island, close to continental North America, just might be St.
George Island, off the Florida Gulf Coast. It's not nearly as
crowded as the islands off the Florida peninsula, has amazing
seafood and one of the best beaches in the world. Popular with
families and nature lovers (it's a nesting ground for loggerhead
sea turtles that lay their eggs between May and October), the
festive season temperatures hover around the very comfortable
20-degree mark.
- Salt Spring Island, British Columbia,
Canada - If you want to experience a White Christmas, Salt
Spring Island might not be the one for you. If it's a Green
Christmas you'd like, then there's probably no better place off the
coast of Canada. Salt Spring is one of the Gulf Islands in the
Strait of Georgia. It lies between the British Columbia mainland
and Vancouver Island, an island for those who like the good life.
It's a noted destination for art lovers and food lovers, outdoor
adventurers and those who like to be pampered -- it even has its
own currency! The island goes all out for the season; Santa arrives
by ship and float plane, there are craft fairs and islanders even
create a special cocktail for Christmas called the "Glowtini".
Looking for a different type of island experience? Rounding out
our list are islands found across the seas that are worthy of a
special trip to celebrate the festive season. These include: Easter
Island, South Pacific; Lindisfarne, Northumbria, England; The Ă…land
islands, between Finland and Sweden; Ischia, Italy and Fiji, South
Pacific. To read more about these islands and Cheapflights.ca's
complete Top 10 Islands to Visit During the Festive Season visit
www.cheapflights.ca/travel/top-10-islands-to-visit-during-the-festive-season.
About momondo group momondo group is an
online travel media and technology company that is driven by the
belief that an open world is a better world. The group now serves
travel search and inspiration to over 13 million visitors a month
-- plus 6 million travel newsletter subscribers -- via its
Cheapflights (www.cheapflights.ca) and momondo (www.momondo.com)
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Skygate began the sourcing of complex air-travel data in 1992,
while Cheapflights pioneered the online comparison of flight deals
for users in 1996 and momondo launched meta-search in the Nordic
countries in 2006.
The Group has offices in London, Copenhagen, Boston and Toronto,
with a consumer base across 16 core international markets but users
all over the world.
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