10 reasons why you should love January
The festive season’s done and it’s a long haul to the Easter holidays, but this month’s not all gloom and doom.
Yes deal
Well, it looks like we find ourselves at an impasse. Nobody voted for it, nobody likes it – and there’s no room for negotiation. But January means January, and it’s the will of the calendar – so we’ll have to make the best of it. Still, it’s not all bad tidings.
The first month of the year is a fine time for travel, all quieter airports and cheaper deals, while the diary is stuffed with a surprising number of events and festivals sure to ward off the winter. Like, for example, the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival (mancbeerfest.uk), which will take over the Manchester Central complex, in its former railway station, from Jan 23 to 26. Manchester? January? It’ll be fine. Advance-purchase tickets start at £7.
Thrace and favour
January always means some place or other kicking off a 12-month stint as European Capital of Culture. In the case of 2019 and Plovdiv, this is good news. Bulgaria’s second city was once the hub of the ancient region of Thrace. It hails its rich heritage at its Archaeological Museum (archaeologicalmuseumplovdiv.org) – but has plenty planned for the present, including the “Tale Inside Me” sessions of “psychological theatre” (see plovdiv2019.eu). Return flights from Stansted cost from £121 (ryanair.com).
Piste of the east
If you’re going to Bulgaria for culture, you might as well go skiing – perhaps at Bansko (banskoski.com), a convenient 90 miles (145km) west of Plovdiv (and close to the capital Sofia). Seven nights half-board at the four-star Hotel Lion, flying from Gatwick on Jan 19, costs from £405 per person, including transfers, booked through Crystal Ski (crystalski.co.uk).
Snow joke
How about a January ski holiday where you can laugh loudly in the evening? Step forward French snow zone Alpe d’Huez, and its Festival International du Film de Comedie (Jan 15-20; alpedhuez.com/comedie). One week at the four-star Chalet Sarenne – flying from Gatwick on Jan 12 – costs from £579pp, via inghams.co.uk.
White vin men
Even in chilly January, France is happy to self-applaud its wine industry. But then, when the wine is as excellent as that created in Burgundy, there’s no reason to restrain the clapping – or resist joining the party. Witness the St-Vincent Wine Festival (vezelay2019.fr), which will turn hilltop town Vezelay (an easy two-and-a-half-hour direct train ride from Paris) into a Chablis (et al) fiesta on Jan 26-27.
Dutch courage
Amsterdam will dispel the winter gloom until Jan 20 with its annual Light Festival (amsterdamlightfestival.com), which casts the city’s canals in a glorious glow. For extra colour, be in town on Jan 19, which is National Tulip Day. Three nights at the four-star Hotel Jan Luyken, with flights, transfers and breakfast, start at £648pp with kirkerholidays.com.
Forest fest
You don’t have to go as far as Bulgaria for an artistic hurrah. Waltham Forest will spend 2019 in the spotlight as the inaugural London Borough of Culture. A wide-ranging programme (see wfculture19.co.uk) will be sparked into life next weekend (Jan 11-13; 6pm-9.30pm) by Into The Forest – a “high-energy audio-visual” film, telling the story of the borough, which will be beamed on to the Town Hall in Walthamstow.
Shorts shrift
Head for the great indoors. You could spend the entire month (well, 10 days of it, anyway) in a nice warm cinema – via the London Short Film Festival, which will scatter its bite-sized nuggets of visual wonder across the capital from Jan 11-20 (various prices; shortfilms.org.uk).
Give me Maur
This is all lovely, but I’m not spending January in Europe. Capiche? Fair enough. Tropical Sky (tropicalsky.co.uk) is currently offering discounts of up to £900 a head on escapes to the five-star Lux Grand Gaube hotel on Mauritius, if you book by Jan 31. A seven-night stay, flying from Gatwick on Jan 19, starts at £1,459pp.
Thai me up
Mauritius? Not far enough away from this weather. Well indeed. Will Thailand do? The Virgin Holidays (virginholidays.co.uk) sale currently features a 13-night stay at the four-star Amari Vogue Krabi resort. The price? From £1,709 a head, with breakfast. The small print? You’re flying on Jan 15 (from Newcastle). Go go go!
