For some people the holidays are about homecomings, dinners, and presents. For others the stretch between December 23 and January 2 is a wonderland of freedom. The office is dead, and everyone else is busy bonding with stinky Uncle Louie. What better time to skip town?

Go have an adventure. There’s still time to plan it.

Hide away amid the cobblestones and beaches in lovely Cornwall, England, at the The Abbey. There’s no risk of running into the masses here: They’ve but six bedrooms and two apartments. All the better to score a table every night at the Michelin-rated restaurant. Don’t miss the outpost of the Tate Gallery in St. Ives. It’s all very Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

Prefer your picturesque with an Orientalist twist? Head to Hillside Su Hotel in Antalya in southwest Turkey. The nine-story lobby mixes disco balls with goldfish to sleek, mod, oh-so-Design Hotel effect. The resort town has fabulous beaches, galleries, great restos and a cross-section of architectural influences: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Seljuk. The mountains lie on one side, the Mediterranean on the other. You’re in the middle, totally blissed out.

It is winter, after all. You may want to be cold. No better place to do so than the Icehotel in the Swedish Arctic. The 60-room igloo is rebuilt every year on the banks of the River Torne. The suites have ice sculptures; the bar serves colored vodkas in ice glasses. There’s a beautiful ice chapel and an ice replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. (Wacky!) Take a warm break in the saunas or wooden cabins; Eskimo clothing is provided. Distractions include outrageous displays of nature (erupting magnetic particles that put fireworks to shame) and snowmobiling a deux.

Rather retreat to the warm? Go to the newly opened Fiesta Americana Grand Aqua in Mexico. (It’s this year’s answer to One & Only Palmilla). What’s better than the oceanfront views? (Every room has one, by the way.) If not the tricked-out spa and eight swimming pools, it must be the killer restaurants. Other options: Try to get yourself into the Beach House in Barbuda (you get your own private butler!) or Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos (pure heaven) — you won’t regret it.

Imagine the bragging rights when everyone asks, “How was your holiday?”