Where to go in January

Cadaqués, Catalonia, Spain

White, windswept, artily bohemian

12°C in January · 12h 05m from Los Angeles · 2–3 nights

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Collioure, France

Painterly, Catalan, sun-soaked, small

12°C in January · 12h from Los Angeles · 3–4 nights

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Cape Sounion, Greece

Marble, wind, open sea, ceremony

13°C in January · 13h 50m from Los Angeles · a half-day trip from athens

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Calanque d'En-Vau, Cassis, France

White rock, blue water, effortful

12°C in January · 12h 05m from Los Angeles · a day trip from cassis

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Pamukkale, Turkey

Chalk-white, steaming, faintly surreal

12°C in January · 14h 10m from Los Angeles · 1–2 nights

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Mulhacén, Spain

High, bare, sun-bleached

11°C in January · 12h from Los Angeles · 3 nights

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Èze, France

Vertical, floral, quietly theatrical

10°C in January · 12h 15m from Los Angeles · a night, or a half-day from nice

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Procida, Italy

Faded pastel, salt-worn, unhurried

13°C in January · 12h 55m from Los Angeles · 2–3 nights

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Dalmatia: Hvar, Vis and Korčula, Croatia

Sun-bleached, maritime, unhurried

12°C in January · 12h 45m from Los Angeles · 1-2 weeks

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Gordes, Provence, France

Sun-bleached stone, lavender, long lunches

9°C in January · 12h 05m from Los Angeles · 4–7 nights

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Varenna, Lake Como, Italy

Steep, quiet, unhurriedly pretty

9°C in January · 12h 10m from Los Angeles · 2–3 nights

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Amalfi Coast, Italy

Vertical, lemon scented, gloriously busy

13°C in January · 12h 55m from Los Angeles · 4-5 nights

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Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

Coloured houses, terraced cliffs, salt air

11°C in January · 12h 25m from Los Angeles · 3–4 nights

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Venice, Italy

Watery, theatrical, quietly melancholy

8°C in January · 12h 20m from Los Angeles · 3 nights

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Bay of Kotor, Montenegro

Stone, mountain, mirror-flat water

12°C in January · 13h 05m from Los Angeles · 3–4 nights

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The Blue Eye, Albania

Cold, luminous, briefly astonishing

12°C in January · 13h 15m from Los Angeles · a day trip from sarande

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Playa de Gulpiyuri, Asturias, Spain

Odd, tiny, quietly remarkable

13°C in January · 11h 20m from Los Angeles · a half day from llanes

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Bernina Express, Switzerland to Italy

Slow, engineered, absurdly scenic

7°C in January · 11h 55m from Los Angeles · a full day, or 2–3 nights split along the route

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Sveti Stefan, Montenegro

Postcard-pretty, stony, sun-warmed

10°C in January · 13h 05m from Los Angeles · 3–4 nights

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Kynance Cove, Cornwall, England

Serpentine rock, turquoise water, wind

9°C in January · 10h 50m from Los Angeles · a half-day from anywhere on the lizard

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Torres del Paine, Chile

Wind-scoured, granite, exhilarating

13°C in January · 13h 05m from Los Angeles · 5–7 nights

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Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland

Windswept, sociable, endlessly detouring

8°C in January · 10h 20m from Los Angeles · a week or more

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Sark, Channel Islands

Quiet, lantern-lit, gloriously old-fashioned

9°C in January · 11h 05m from Los Angeles · 2–3 nights

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Annecy, France

Turquoise water, arcades, mountain air

6°C in January · 11h 55m from Los Angeles · 2-3 nights

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Snowdon Mountain Railway, Wales

Steam-hauled, weather-dependent, quietly heroic

8°C in January · 10h 40m from Los Angeles · a day trip from eryri or anglesey

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Seceda ridgeline, Dolomites, Italy

Airy, pastoral, absurdly photogenic

2°C in January · 12h 15m from Los Angeles · a day trip from val gardena

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Interlaken, Switzerland

Two lakes, three peaks, constant motion

5°C in January · 11h 55m from Los Angeles · 4 nights

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North Coast 500, Scotland

Wild, windswept, gloriously empty

6°C in January · 10h 15m from Los Angeles · 5–7 nights

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Ordesa y Monte Perdido, Spain

Vertical, green, properly wild

1°C in January · 11h 50m from Los Angeles · 3–4 nights

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Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Storybook, walled, quiet after six

4°C in January · 11h 50m from Los Angeles · 2 nights

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Semmering Railway, Austria

Nineteenth-century, engineered, quietly grand

3°C in January · 12h 20m from Los Angeles · a day trip from vienna

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Khongoryn Els, Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Vast, dusty, humbling, off-grid

-5°C in January, and dry · 12h 55m from Los Angeles · two nights at the dunes, within a week in the gobi

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Salzburg, Austria

Baroque, musical, alpine and neat

4°C in January · 12h 10m from Los Angeles · 2–3 nights

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Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, Germany

Quiet, green, alpine and unhurried

3°C in January · 12h 10m from Los Angeles · 3–4 nights

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The Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Icy, clear, quietly ferocious

6°C in January · 10h 15m from Los Angeles · a day trip from portree

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Ben A'an, Trossachs, Scotland

Small hill, enormous view

4°C in January · 10h 25m from Los Angeles · a day trip from glasgow or stirling

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