Escapism
The Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc has a new international airport (phuquoc-airport.com), replacing a domestic one built by the French in the 1930s. VietJetAir (vietjetair.com) will start flying there from Bangkok in February, and Air Mekong and several other airlines are also sniffing around. Among idyllic places to stay is the Mango Bay collection of 40 thatched huts, from £25 a night through i-escape.com.
Travel trash
Hamburg's Town Hall Christmas market is the world's first to be run by clowns – professional clowns, that is. Performers from Germany's Circus Roncalli are serving punch and selling gifts to visitors at the market, and there are circus- themed stalls.
• 10am-9pm daily to 23 December. Easyjet (easyjet.com) has returns from Gatwick from £112
Cheap date
A family of four can take a last-minute trip to see Santa in Lapland for £1,399, including return flights from Gatwick on 11 December. The price includes three nights' half-board at Hotel Tunturi in Saariselkä, a reindeer sleigh ride, husky sledging, and a private meeting with the big man.
• 01483 791945, santaslapland.com
Where's hot now?
• Bangkok, Thailand 34C
• Cochin, India 32C
• Dakar, Senegal 29C
• Buenos Aires, Argentina 29C
• Tucson, Arizona, US 21C
What's new
Hotel room for lads
Boys who love toys will love the new GAME Pad at Staybridge Suites London Stratford City hotel, where one room is equipped with three gaming zones for Xbox, PS3 and Wii, each with a 40-inch TV and all the latest games. There are also two additional TVs, plus a fridge stocked with beers and pizzas. Book now for stays in January for £199.
• game.co.uk/gamepad
Landing soon …
The first scheduled service from the UK featuring Boeing's latest plane, the Dreamliner, will start next week. Qatar Airways has taken delivery of the 254-seater, which will fly from Doha to Heathrow from Thursday. Boeing says its 787, which is almost entirely made of composite materials, making it lighter and more fuel-efficient, is one of the world's greenest long-haul aircraft. Qatar has ordered 60 Dreamliners, which have technology that lets all passengers use the internet and send text messages.
Flights
Monarch Airlines has added 17,500 extra seats over the Christmas period (19 December-9 January) to its most popular destinations of Faro, Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Gibraltar, Alicante and Malaga, from four UK airports, to meet increased demand from Brits with the winter blues.
• monarch.co.uk
New mag for China
Condé Nast Traveller magazine is to launch in China in March 2013, it was announced this week. "Chinese people are travelling as never before," said Jonathan Newhouse, chairman and chief executive of Condé Nast International. Content will be tailored to the country's growing middle-class, who are taking holidays, both in China and abroad, more and more.
Tweet ur trip: worst Christmas gift from abroad
• Festive naked baby figures – only in Tokyo of course! @RosannaAlice
• Kangaroo scrotum purse from Oz that had santa's face on it. Nothing says Xmas like kangaroo scrotum @andy_kilgallon
• Saucy merman tree ornaments from New Orleans. Obviously. @oyster_eyes
Tweet us @GuardianTravel #TravelCorkboard
Snow watch: good news about Europe's bad weather
This ski season is looking every bit as promising as the last, after a series of blizzards last week dumped a full metre of snow on the Alps and the Pyrenees. By Wednesday, though, the current bitterly cold temperatures are expected to have risen to more tolerable levels.
Several high-altitude resorts, such as Verbier, Obergurgl, Cervinia, Val Thorens, Val d'Isère and Tignes, are already open, along with Arinsal and Pas de la Casa in Andorra. In Courchevel and Méribel there is now a metre-and-a-half of snow on Saulire – the highest point of their joint ski area.
Lifts in Val d'Isère and neighbouring Tignes were temporarily closed last week because of 70mph winds and the risk of avalanches. Nick Morgan, managing director of chalet operator Le Ski, said: "A ridiculous amount of snow has fallen in Val d'Isère and in Courchevel. It's a dream start to the season."
In Austria, St Anton, Kitzbühel, Lech and Saalbach are open, as is the Jungfrau region (Wengen, Mürren and Grindelwald) in Switzerland. Which brings me to news that the Jungfrau is cutting lift pass prices by 50% (six-day pass CHF157 – £105) for December, January and March (20% for February) in a bid to attract skiers back to Switzerland.
In North America the situation is mixed. California and western Canada have plenty of snow, but Colorado resorts – such as Vail and Aspen – urgently need more cover.
Felice Hardy, co-editor of ski information website welove2ski.com
