November sits awkwardly in the holiday calendar — summer is a distant memory and Christmas spending looms — but that's exactly why it's a smart month to travel. Prices dip, crowds thin out, and you can pick your mood: early ski runs, winter sun, or a head start on the festive season.
For skiers, high-altitude resorts are the play. Tignes in the French Alps opens its season on 28 November, and the village of Val Claret sits high enough to give reliable early snow plus access to the Grande Motte glacier. Peak Retreats is running 20 per cent off a week at the four-star Ynycio residence, with a two-bedroom apartment sleeping four from £2,404 including a Le Shuttle crossing.
If sun matters more than snow, options stretch from Morocco to the Indian Ocean. Club Med Marrakech La Palmeraie offers a calm palm-grove base a short drive from the medina, with a seven-night all-inclusive break from £1,022pp departing 28 November (flights extra). In Goa, the adults-only Orchid Passaros near Benaulim Beach comes in at £1,487pp for 10 nights with flights, transfers and breakfast, departing 11 November. And for serious indulgence, Constance Ephelia on Mahé in the Seychelles — set in a 296-acre nature park between two beaches — starts at £4,185pp for 10 nights full-board, departing 29 November.
Prefer to let someone else do the navigating? An 11-night cruise on the four-masted Wind Spirit sails from Tenerife to Fuerteventura, Madeira, La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera from £1,779pp, flights and a hotel night included, departing 26 November.
City break fans get two strong picks. Munich's Christmas market lights up Marienplatz from 20 November, and a three-night package with flights and four-star accommodation starts at £499pp. For something grander, Kirker Holidays pairs four nights in Venice with an overnight hop to Paris aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express — dinners and wines on board included — from £3,979pp, departing 10 November.
And if you'd rather stay in Britain, the medieval cobbled town of Rye in Sussex makes a cosy autumn base. Providence Cottage, a 14th-century stone house with a wood-burner and an Aga, sleeps four (dogs welcome, up to two) and costs from £517 for four nights from 7 November.
Why it matters: November is a shoulder-month sweet spot — beach weather without the crowds in Goa and Morocco, snow-sure early skiing in Tignes, and festive markets before peak-season hotel rates kick in. Budget travellers should eye Munich or Rye; mid-range sun-seekers the Marrakech or Goa deals; and anyone marking an occasion, the Seychelles or the Orient Express.
