Bucket List / Experience Goals
Spend Christmas On The Beach
Ticked off in December 2010
Swap frost and fairy lights for warm sand, cold prawns and a Christmas Day swim in the surf.
The adventure
Christmas morning starts with sunshine pouring through the window instead of grey drizzle. By mid-morning the beach is filling up with families setting out picnic rugs, inflatable Christmas trees and cool boxes, and someone in a Santa hat and board shorts is already in the water.
In Australia, lunch is more likely to be a seafood platter of prawns and oysters, a barbecue and a pavlova than a roast turkey. Lifeguards watch over swimmers between the red and yellow flags, cricket games start up on the sand and carols drift out of portable speakers. At Bondi the beach becomes one huge party. As the afternoon heats up you drift between the shade and the surf, and phoning home to people scraping ice off their windscreens has never felt better.
Why it’s epic
- In Sydney, Christmas falls in early summer, with long days and sea temperatures warm enough to swim.
- Bondi Beach draws thousands of people from around the world on Christmas Day.
- An Aussie Christmas lunch often means prawns, oysters, a barbecue and pavlova.
- Stay on for New Year's Eve and the Sydney Harbour fireworks a week later.
What it is
Spending Christmas on the beach in the sunshine is a classic for anyone from a cold country.
How to do it
Pick a destination in the southern hemisphere or the tropics. Bondi Beach in Sydney is famous for its Christmas party.
Top tip
Book flights early; Christmas fares climb fast.
Need to know
- Flights and hotels around Christmas are among the most expensive of the year, so book many months ahead.
- Australian sun is fierce; use high-factor sun cream, a hat and shade, and swim only between the flags.
- Bondi and several other Sydney beaches ban alcohol, so check local rules before packing the fizz.
Plan this trip
- Rough cost
- £2,000 to £5,000 per person, including flights from the UK
- Time needed
- 1 day
- Best time to go
- 25 December
- Fly into
- SYD airport
Peak-season flights to the southern hemisphere and Christmas hotel rates make this a pricey trip.
Do it yourself
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My experience
Ticked off, but the full story is still to be written up.
Over to you
Is “Spend Christmas On The Beach” on your bucket list, or have you already done it? Tell me in the comments, and if you've got a question about it, ask away and I'll answer.