Surfing and photography, Costa Rica
Taking pictures of the sea is almost as tricky as surfing. Improve both skills in Costa Rica, with a new course of lessons in surfing and digital photography at Jaco Beach, Puntarenas. It costs £363pp for a week or £649pp for two, with student-style accommodation from £107pp a week (golearnto.com). Surfing equipment is provided, but not cameras.
• Fly to San José from Heathrow from £567 with Air Canada
Trans-Siberian rail, Russia
EasyJet (easyjet.com) is starting flights to Moscow from Manchester in March from £129 return, and promises services from London soon. Do the Muscovite sights, but for the quintessential Russian experience, take a train, preferably a Trans-Siberian one. To keep costs down and ensure meeting the locals, book platskartny — a bunk in a dormitory carriage: Moscow to Irkutsk from about £80 one way, or all the way to Vladivostok from about £169. The Russian Railways website is (eng.rzd.ru), but the more useful seat61.com suggests booking tickets with Real Russia (realrussia.co.uk).
Sights on a budget, Sri Lanka
Tucan Travel (020-8896 1600, tucantravel.com) has a new 15-day adventure tour of Sri Lanka and if you book in January you get 20% off which makes it £599pp. That's under £40 a day to take in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, along with transport and hotel/hostel accommodation.
• Flights to Colombo cost from £490 with Kuwait Airways
Cracking adventure, Cambodia
My Adventure Store (0800 781 3270, myadventurestore.co.uk) sells deals and tours from a range of companies. At the moment it has 13% off a 10-day "crackin Cambodia" itinerary with Gecko. The price, from £275pp departing 24 May, includes basic accommodation, some meals and transport between Bangkok and Saigon via Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Chau Doc.
• Flights to Bangkok at that time cost around £550 through opodo.co.uk. Etihad's flight sale finishes on Monday(7 January): it has flights to Bangkok on selected dates until 15 July, and again between 11 August and 10 December for £535
Discount road trip, US
How about a winter sun road trip across the US? Bon Voyage has £725pp off a two-week motorhome journey until the end of March, travelling from Los Angeles, San Francisco or Las Vegas to Orlando, Florida, via Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Flights from Gatwick, Manchester or Glasgow are included in the price of £1,235pp, with one night in an airport hotel and two weeks' hire of a C25 motorhome.
• 0800 316 0194, bon-voyage.co.uk
Stylish self-catering, Lanzarote
The Canary island is perfect for a spring getaway, with March temperatures around 19C and the volcanic landscape sprinkled with wild flowers. Tiagua 81 is a new collection of stylish self-catering accommodation in the village of Tiagua. There are four apartments sleeping two in a converted 200-year-old house and a detached cottage for four. Guests share the pool and garden. Famara beach is a 10-minute drive.
• From €90 a night for a studio, +34 665 468538, tiagua81.com. Monarch flies to Lanzarote from Birmingham, Gatwick and Manchester
Spring fiesta, Spain
In the tiny Alpujarran village of Mairena, the Fiesta de San Marcos is celebrated on the third Saturday in April with a procession to the Stone of Time, which bestows good harvests, and to the church, where dozens of pots of stew bubble on fires. It can be experienced on Inntravel's "Life in an Alpujarran Village" trip, which also includes visits to food producers and farmers, and walks to villages.
• 01653 617000, inntravel.co.uk. £615pp (two sharing) in April, including car hire, seven nights' half-board, most lunches, notes and maps. EasyJet flies to Málaga from 10 UK airports
Stay at a temple, South Korea
Everyone from Boris Johnson to your granny is dancing Gangnam-style, but the Gangnam district is a pricey place. The affordable and more enlightening alternative is a "temple stay" (eng.templestay.com). From £28pp a night you can take part in devotional chanting, Zen meditation, lantern-making and tea ceremonies — and may find your true self. A dozen Buddhist temples offer these programmes.
• BA now flies six times a week to Seoul from Heathrow, from £499
Ayurvedic B&B, India
Varkala, in Kerala, is being called the new Goa. Eden Garden (edengarden.in) is its upmarket Ayurvedic resort, but a short walk away – and half the price – is Villa Jacaranda (+91 470 261 0296, villa-jacaranda.biz, doubles from £57 a night B&B) with four rooms, one opening on to a beautiful exotic garden. And you can still get Ayurvedic treatments.
• Fly Heathrow-Thiruvananthapuram with Kuwait Airways from £439
Mountain hiking, Washington state, US
Treks don't come more exciting than a new Olympic and Mount St Helens Walk from Grand American Adventures (0844 576 1370, grandamericanadventures.com). Highlights include walking in the stunning Olympic and Mount Rainier national parks, and on Mount St Helens. And it has just sliced 10% off for early bookings, taking a week's trip to £1,116pp, including hotels.
• BA flies from Heathrow to Seattle from about £670
Internal flights, Tanzania
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's new Fastjet aims to become Africa's first pan-continental airline. So far it only offers internal flights in Tanzania, but routes in Kenya and Uganda are planned. The Tanzania flights could be handy for travelling between Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar, with fares from £12. See Hotels.co.tz for all types of hotels in Tanzania, including beach lodges in Zanzibar from $60 a night.
• Compare international flights on kayak.co.uk: Turkish Airlines flies from Gatwick to Dar es Salaam via Istanbul for £472 in March
Backpacking by bus, South Africa
Where Charley Boorman rides, travellers follow. His newest TV series, South African Adventure, will be on Channel 5 soon. But you can cover the same ground by hopping on (and off) the Baz Bus (+27 21 422 5202, bazbus.com) between Cape Town and Johannesburg. A week's unlimited travel costs £86pp). The Baz takes you to great hostels (some just £9pp a night). Amphitheatre Backpackers (+27 36 438 6675, amphibackpackers.co.za, twin rooms £20) is on the Lesotho border and runs day trips there.
• BA flies to Cape Town via Istanbul from £511
Great Ocean Walk, Australia
The Great Ocean Road in Victoria, south-east Australia, is one of the world's greatest scenic drives. From 2013, the hikers' equivalent, the Great Ocean Walk (visitmelbourne.com/uk), is ready, offering more than 60 miles of coastal views and the chance to see snoozing koalas and grazing kangaroos in their natural habitat. Campsites on the way cost about £15 a night for two.
• Flights Heathrow-Melbourne from £647 with China Eastern (chinaeastern.co.uk)
Stay with grandma, Bali
You don't have to rough it to do Bali on a budget. A new Grandmas Hotel (grandmashotels.com) has opened in Legian, between chic Seminyak and in-your-face Kuta. You're five minutes from the beach and you get a comfortable double room for £21. Even closer to the action, there's another Grandmas coming soon, in Kuta itself.
• Etihad flies from Heathrow or Manchester to Denpasar from £529
Coast and casita, Mexico
A cheap way to see authentic rural Mexico (and some great beaches) is to use the shuttle van service offered by Wayak (020-3004 9366, wayak.mx) – £30 will get you down to Oaxaca from Mexico City. At Puerto Escondido on the coast, a cute one-bed casita called Iguana costs from £37 a night for two with HomeAway (0845 528 0013, homeaway.co.uk).
• AeroMexico now flies Heathrow-Mexico City three times a week, which will be some competition for BA, still the cheapest with returns from £679
Learn to scuba dive, Egypt
A week's B&B accommodation in the Bedouin Moon Hotel, on the beach at Dahab, is on special offer at £373pp with a five-day Padi open water scuba diving course in the Red Sea thrown in (0845 625 0445, golearnto.com).
• Fly from Luton to Sharm el Sheikh with Thomson Airways from £169
Train, bus and hostel, Japan
Get around Japan easily and cheaply by buying a rail pass before you go at jrpass.com. The price, £204 for seven days, gets you unlimited travel on almost all trains, buses and ferries. Good value accommodation is offered by Japan's 360 youth hostels (jyh.or.jp), where dorm beds cost about £21.
• Japan Airlines has flights to 34 cities, including Tokyo, for £687 until September, if booked by 22 January
Hunger Games locations, North Carolina, US
The real-life backdrops for a fantasy movie are now a big draw in their own right. No, it's not New Zealand, but the North Carolina of The Hunger Games. Fans will lap up the 10,000-acre DuPont state forest, Bridal Veil Falls and Triple Falls, all featured in the film. A cabin sleeping four in Black Forest Resort, near the town of Cedar Mountain, costs £29 a night (+1 828 884 2267, blackforestcampground.com).
• Fly to Charlotte via Philadelphia from £497 with US Airways
Surfing, Essaouira, Morocco
Not sure you'll enjoy surfing enough to commit to a whole week's holiday? Spend a weekend in Essaouira testing the water on this new GoLearnTo break. Six hours of small-group instruction is spread over two days. Accommodation is in a traditional riad in the town's medina, so if you get wiped out you can take a break to visit the souks, soothe tired muscles in a hammam or hang out on the roof terrace, sipping mint tea.
• From £295pp for three nights, including instruction, board and wetsuit, B&B accommodation and transfers (0845 625 0445, golearnto.com). EasyJet, Thomson and Ryanair fly to Marrakech from several UK airports
Mini-gap tour, Australia
Round The World Experts has bargain mini-gaps in Australia. Its Aussie Flexi Gap costs £1,499pp (a £400 saving), and includes flights to Cairns, four internal flights (from Sydney to Melbourne, then Adelaide, Alice Springs and Perth) and a 10-night "hostel hopper" pass, valid in 12 hostels,including Bali Hai in Mission Beach, Nomads Airlie Beach and Islander Backpackers, Surfers Paradise.
• Call 0800 707 6010 and ask for Aussie Flexi Gap, or see roundtheworldexperts.co.uk. Valid if booked by 16 January for travel between 1 February and 30 June
Budget flights, Gambia
Another new African low-cost airline, GambiaBird gambiabird.com, launched at the end of last year, calls itself the Gateway to West Africa. At the present its only UK flights are from Gatwick to Gambia's capital Banjul (from £500) via Freetown. Gambia is the hub airport for parts of Senegal too; Les Paletuviers (paletuviers.com) is a gorgeous retreat in Brousse, with huts between baobabs from €174 a night full-board for two.
Art and gardens, Singapore
There's a new 101-hectare green space just outside Singapore, called Gardens by the Bay, with waterfront planting and several "Supertrees" – 16-storey gardens that collect rainwater and generate solar power, with a 128m suspended walkway between them. And from 25 January until 5 May, there's a big exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum, The Collectors Show: Weight of History, showing rare Asian artworks. This coincides with Art Stage 2013, a city-wide event of art shows.
• Expedia (expedia.co.uk) has deals for bookings made in January, such as flights to Singapore from Heathrow, departing in March, for £600
Sahara adventure, Morocco
Make it an October half-term to remember with a camping trip in the Sahara. Adventure specialist Tour Dust has a Wild Desert Holiday in Morocco aimed at intrepid families. After a brief visit to Marrakech you journey south, swap your car for camels and head out into the dunes to camp.
• From £496pp, based on a 10-day private trip for four, excluding flights (tourdust.com). EasyJet, Thomson and Ryanair fly to Marrakech from several UK airports
All-inclusive touring, China
Journeys of Distinction has a new collection of all-inclusive tours for 2013, with tips for local guides, entry to historic sites and other attractions, plus meals, included in the price. A six-day tour including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, a tour of Shanghai, and flights from the UK, costs £1,095pp in February, or £1,145 in March.
• 0161-491 7616, jod.uk.com
Caribbean cottage, Barbados
BA has a series of Caribbean deals for January. A room-only package to Barbados in June including flights from Gatwick at the All Seasons Resort Europa on the west coast, which has cottages dotted through tropical gardens, costs £499pp.
• Book by 22 January (0844 493 0758, ba.com/travel/flights-sale)
Sun and sand dunes, Dubai
Dubai's not for everyone, but with warm weather guaranteed, a Dubai Beach Indulgence break with Flight Centre, including flights from Heathrow and four nights' B&B at the Arabian Courtyard Hotel & Spa, is quite a bargain for £449pp (two sharing), and you can add on a Sundowner Dune Safari from £63.
• Book by 15 January to travel between 1 May and 21 June (0844 800 8624, ref 2574914, flightcentre.co.uk)
Gambling and cars, Las Vegas
If this is going to be the year you hit Vegas, it's worth trying to get a deal, as the city is likely to sap your funds. In Hayes & Jarvis's sale (until 31 January) you can get three nights at the Imperial Palace hotel on the Strip (home to the world's largest collection of classic cars) and return indirect flights with Delta from Heathrow, for £565pp, based on two sharing.
• 0844 855 4488, hayesandjarvis.co.uk
Non-stop Phuket, Thailand
Thomson and First Choice are launching direct flights to Phuket on 5 November this year, cutting out the need to stop over in Bangkok. The weekly service from Gatwick will use the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Seven nights half-board at the Sensimar Khao Lak Beachfront Resort, costs from £1,168pp including direct flights, departing on 26 November. Flights only from £949 (thomson.co.uk).
Mountain biking, Mongolia
A new mountain-bike tour in the north of the country follows a 200-mile route through mountains, forests and valleys inhabited only by nomads, with the only building of note the Amarbayasgalant Buddhist monastery. The nine-day trip in June with Bike Mongolia (0116-240 2625, bikemongolia.com) costs £1,110pp, including bikes and vehicle support.
• Fly to Ulan Bator (via Beijing) with Air China, from £768
Walking safari, Kenya
African safaris can be very expensive, but a new all-in deal on adventurous walking safaris at Kitich Camp in the Matthews mountains (including flights, drinks and meals) is better value at £2,850pp for seven nights with Safari Consultants. In this great wilderness area, you see lions, leopards, elephants, wild dogs and monkeys.
• 01787 888590, safari-consultants.co.uk
