Be there with bells on

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 12:00am, 2 Dec 2010

You may have to look twice when you check the Christmas and New Year calendar this year. The public holiday police are giving you just one weekday off - thanks to Hong Kong's insistence that Saturday is a working day. That's two days less than you get most years. Bah, humbug.

So what's the solution? Take the week off and head for the airport. Whether you're a Grinch looking to flee the Jingle Bells muzak playing at your local mall, or you still wake up on Christmas morning with the wide-eyed excitement of a five-year-old, we've got some fabulous holiday ideas.

Here are 11 cool places, near and far, where you can hang up your Christmas stocking, hide under the pillow or bring in the New Year in style.

For those dreaming of a White Christmas

If you want real snow and a luxury skiing destination, you no longer need to catch a redeye to Whistler or the Swiss Alps. Sun Mountain Yabuli in Shangzhi, Harbin, northeastern China, offers fabulous lodges, including the 24-suite Grand Yabuli boutique hotel on the mountaintop. With 17 ski runs, from beginner to expert levels, and a season that runs from December to March, the resort boasts leather-seated gondolas and heated bubble chairlifts offering European comfort levels. Stay a few days and head to the city of Harbin for its 27th annual ice sculpture festival that opens on January 5. Visit: www.cnm4176.chinaw3.com/where-we-play/sun-Mountain-yabuli.html

For scrooges flying solo

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