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This Year: Eat the 12 Grapes in a Bikini
Picture your typical Christmas scene, snowflakes falling from the sky to the rhythm of carols and the entire family sitting around a table wearing winter sweaters.
Picture your typical Christmas scene, snowflakes falling from the sky to the rhythm of carols and the entire family sitting around a table wearing winter sweaters. Now forget about that.
There is no better way to bid the year farewell than by swimming in the sea. Do you imagine how it must feel to trade your usual white Christmas for a sandy sunny one, relaxing at the beach, with a great tan and a delicious cocktail in your hand? There are many places where you can wait for the twelve bell strokes wearing summer clothes; for example, a magical setting and a unique hotel.
We make our way as we go, so let us go for it and spend the last night of the year with fewer clothes and more sun.
CANARY ISLANDS
Tenerife: Playa de los Gigantes (Beach of the Giants)
Say goodbye to the year 2016 on a small beach with volcanic sands at the foot of giant cliffs, which are the reason for its name. It is located in the north-western area of Tenerife, in Santiago del Teide. There are dolphins, turtles and wales nearby. Sign up for an excursion to see them up-close, a swim in the open sea is included (do not forget to pack your snorkelling equipment).
Stay at a place with a marvellous view of the sea and another Canary island, La Gomera. Just 200 meters from the hotel, you will find the nearest beach.
A place you must visit during your stay at this hotel during Christmas is the “Sabor Español” Bar, which offers a wide variety of tapas, different servings and wines you can enjoy on its deck overlooking Mount Teide.
Since what starts well, ends well; you should definitely begin 2017 in the hotel spa having any of the treatments à la carte for individuals or couples. Take advantage of the End of Year Sale, which offers 15% off. This experience will raise the bar for next year’s New Year’s Eve.
Grand Canaria (Grand Canary) - Playa de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Beach)
If loosing yourself in infinite sand dunes as if you were in the middle of the desert, but with a beach nearby, is your cup of tea, this will be a perfect ending for this 365 days period.
At Grand Canary, the average annual temperature is 23°C and there are 259 days of sun: picture yourself there while the rest of your friends are trying to get warm by drinking soups and wearing scarfs.
Make your first 2017 memory be the following: you laying down on a Bali bed, surrounded by exuberant gardens and listening to the soothing sound of the sea. Create that memory here.
Lanzarote
Beaches of Punta del Papagayo
Six beaches, one more beautiful than the other, in a protected environment. Beach intimacy in an island at its finest, thanks to the numerous hidden corners this landscape has to offer. This area is still a stranger to urban development; except for a beach bar and a camping area, you will see no constructions there. Few places in Spain are this similar to the Caribbean.
Spending New Year’s Eve on a balcony overlooking the Atlantic with a pool as infinite as the view of the sea and bidding the year farewell in a hot tub in your room’s deck surely sounds wonderful, does it not? You can have all of that in the island of Fire.
Fuerteventura
Playa de Corralejo (Corralejo Beach)
If Fuerteventura is famous for something is for being “The Beach of the Canary Islands”. If you still have not visited the Dunas de Corralejo Natural Park, this is the perfect moment to traverse endless kilometres of soft sand and calm water (sometimes not so much) beaches. Start the year, for example, by taking windsurfing lessons, one of the most attractive activities due to the waves, which seem to have been perfectly designed for the boards.
CUBA
Playa de Varadero (Varadero Beach)
With an amazing natural light, the most vivid colours you have ever seen and the warmest water you have ever swam in, this landscape seems to have been enhanced using Photoshop. This beach will be the last stage for your year. Do not miss this chance: in December, the party is felt and lived like no other time of the year in Cuba. New Year’s Eve is a big event, the different neighbourhoods fight or the first spot regarding the volume of the music in a healthy competition and they are famous for burning a doll representing the year that is ending in order to leave behind all bad things and have a fresh start with the New Year.
Stay at the beachfront in an idyllic location and just a jump away from the city, in the Hicacos Peninsula. Diving here among tropical fish is the experience of a lifetime.
If after reading this wide range of options you are feeling the urge to pack your bikini and some grapes to go and experience the best New Year’s Eve of your life, do not think it twice: go for it!
