Where to go in December

There's plenty on offer to get you geared up for the festive season, from a gastropub break in East Sussex to Christmas shopping in Istanbul or a luxury beach stay in Cambodia

• By Isabel Choat
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 November 2011

Song Saa, Cambodia – 27 villas spread over two islands in the Gulf of Thailand

Luxury beach stay in Cambodia

Until now, tourism on the beautiful islands strung along Cambodia's 440km coastline has centred on simple, laid-back beach shacks. Now, the first luxury resort has opened. Song Saa (songsaa.com) is a collection of 27 villas spread over two jungle-clad islands in the Gulf of Thailand. Tourism development in Cambodia has not been without controversy, but the owners of Song Saa are keen to stress their commitment to sustainability, employing a team of four to oversee the protection of the marine reserve surrounding the islands and to manage projects with local communities.

But above all Song Saa is about luxury – the villas are vast and each has its own pool, the restaurant is headed by Neil Wager, formerly chef at the insanely luxurious North Island in the Seychelles, and a typical day will be spent wafting between the spa, water sports centre, yoga centre and infinity pool. Of course, private islands where you are pampered to within an inch of your life do not come cheap. But for the next three months the resort is offering a major discount, so if you are going to splash out on a once-in-a-lifetime week of luxury, now is the time to do it. Between 23 December and 13 February, an eight-night stay with full board in a jungle villa, plus a night's B&B in Phnom Penh and private flight transfers, costs from £2,141pp with AboutAsia (aboutasiatravel.com), a saving of £1,981pp. Offer excludes international flights.

Or for a tenth of that, a week's trip combining B&B at The Independence hotel in Sihanoukville and a B&B stay at Lazy Beach (lazybeachcambodia.com) on the island of Koh Rong Samloem, a two-hour boat ride from Sihanoukville, costs around £225pp in early December, including transfers, also through AboutAsia. Flights extra.