44 wintersun classics for under £1,000

They’re out there, though, and to prove it, here are 44 of ’em, from traditional fincas in the Canaries to barefoot resorts in the Caribbean to fully fledged desert-island idylls in the Maldives. So, pack the T-shirt and sunnies, and get going. You can afford it.

Unless stated, all prices are for a week per person, based on two sharing and including flights from London. Check with your operator for regional departure options

BALI

It’s quiet in Bali right now. Taxi drivers are moaning, restaurateurs are praying and the barmen are trying to work out how to give away more drinks. Surf breaks are yours for the taking and, if you venture into the interior, chances are you’ll be the only visitor at the island’s stupendous temples.

If you fancy Bali’s cocktail of sublime beaches and throbbing nightlife, the Sanur Beach hotel is just the ticket: far enough from Kuta that you can’t hear the music, but near enough for a night out after a day of snorkelling, sunbathing and bargain spa treatments. The price is £759 with Trailfinders (0845 050 5871, trailfinders.com).

Posher, and far more remote, is the spectacular Spa Village Resort Tembok, a secluded retreat on the distant northeast coast that offer s tailor-made wellness programmes dedicated to healing, rejuvenation and spirituality, which probably involves chanting. Compared with some of the neighbouring resorts, this palace of peace constitutes a deal at just £960, including daily massages and a bespoke fitness programme, with Bailey Robinson (01488 689777, baileyrobinson.com).

Read about Sumba, the wild little sister of Bali

INDIAN OCEAN

The Indian Ocean ain’t cheap. It can, though, be great value if you time it right and choose carefully. Take Mauritius, home to some of the most highfalutin hotels in the world – Le Touessrok , Royal Palm – and somewhere with a shade more indigenous culture than the more scattered atolls.

Six nights at the smallish, coupley Paul & Virginie Hotel, on the north coast, can be had for £799, half-board, if you book by Saturday, with Destinology (0800 634 2866, destinology.co.uk). It’s officially a three-star, but punches above its weight, with a beautiful palm-lined pool, a small but cute beach, spa, water sports and friendly service.

All very well, but what about the white sand, blue-lagoon idyll that is the Maldives? All that desert-island loveliness sets the benchmark for high-priced winter sun, and it certainly doesn’t come in at less than a grand. Does it? Certainly does. Kandooma, on South Mal? atoll, delivers everything on the checklist – chalk-white beaches, gorgeous shallow lagoon, good snorkelling for adults, safe bathing for kids, spa, pool, classy villas, showers open to the sky, the lot. Rated four-star, it would normally be well over our limit, but a 36 per cent price cut means that, for a November 24 departure, it comes in at £949 , B&B, with Hayes & Jarvis (0871 664 0246, www.hayesandjarvis.com).

Another £30 gets you another star and the Sheraton Full Moon Resort and Spa . On its own island, it’s all thatched and low-rise, with not a business centre or conference room in sight – scrub out the corporate logo by the jetty and you’d think it had been created by Robinson Crusoe (after the discovery of air con and desalination plants, mind). A week, departing on December 6, costs £9 79 , B&B , with Kuoni (01306 747008, kuoni.co.uk ). One caveat: the food here is pricey, so big eaters might want to stick with Kandooma, above.

Three weeks from now, you could a) be counting the shades of grey in a late-November English day and shuddering at the cheerful news that there are just 26 shopping days to Christmas, or b) lying on the sand at the Olhuveli Beach & Spa Resort, in the Maldives. Let me paint the picture: the sand is platinum blonde and squeaks when you walk on it. The sea is the colour of Bombay Sapphire and the sky the same shade as Curaçao. There are no shopping days until Christmas, because the Maldives are Muslim, but the price is pretty festive: the price is £955 with Thomson (0871 231 5595, thomson.co.uk).

AFRICA

At its best, the Gambia is all about friendliness, charm and history. That’s why the mass-market hotels, with their bland food and hustling beach bums, do it a disservice. Ngala Lodge, on the other hand, shows the country’s feelgood side: it’s a refurbished colonial mansion on low cliffs, overlooking a lovely bay, where the 18 suites are decorated with superb local paintings and sculpture. The restaurant has earned a reputation as one of the best on the coast, with excellent fish, and the bar stages jam sessions for local and visiting musicians. The price is £599, B&B, leaving on December 8, with The Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087, gambia.co.uk).

(Read the brilliant new timesonline Gambia feature recommended by 23 readers)

Over on the east coast of Africa, in Kenya, where the gentle breezes of the north east monsoon rattle the coco palms and ripple the turquoise seas, you can have a week at the truly lovely Pinewood Village, a boutiquey spot with impeccably green credentials on Galu beach, at a discerning distance from Mombasa. Activities on offer include diving, kite surfing, big-game fishing, spa treatments and loafing. Lots of loafing. The price is £839 with Hayes & Jarvis (0871 664 0246, www.hayesandjarvis.com).

Or try Cape Town, where Rainbow Tours (020 7226 1004, rainbowtours.co.uk) has six nights in a luxury suite at Romney Park, just up the hill from the V&A Waterfront and boasting cracking views over to Robben Island. You can expect poshness in extremis – of the crystal-chandelier , Venetian-glass school of luxury – and you’ll pay peanuts. The week costs just £995.

Then there’s Morocco. The essential component of a Marrakesh crib is a roof terrace on which to catch the breeze, the rays and the call of the muezzin as he summons the faithful to prayer. Equally important is a maze-like layout, with hidden corners, shady alcoves and the sound of running water. There should be orange blossom and palm trees and bathrooms with more marble than a Roman temple, and the place should be within scarpering distance of the kasbah. That place is La Sultana – carefully converted under guidance from Morocco’s Historical Monuments Commission – and the price is £950, with Bailey Robinson (01488 689777, baileyrobinson.com).

CARIBBEAN

You wouldn’t go to Cuba just to fly and flop – there’s too much fun to be had in the cities. A twin-centre break, with three days in Havana and four on an island beach off the coast, is the solution. In the capital, you’re at the venerable Hotel Telegrafo, bang in Habana Vieja, opposite Parque Central and just around the corner from Hemingway’s old daiquiri den, El Floridita. Then it’s off to Cayo Levisa, half an hour by boat from the north coast, to live the island life in a basic but cute wooden beach bungalow. Leaving on December 2, the price is £815 – B&B in Havana and half-board on the island – including visa and transfers, with Captivating Cuba (0844 412 9917, captivatingcuba.com).

Despite its unfortunate reputation, the Dominican Republic isn’t just a place to catch salmonella. Sure, it has its ghastly side, but away from the holiday ghetto s, the island is working hard to reposition itself as a destination for the discerning, with an increasing number of super-luxe resorts offering American-style indulgence at great prices. The five-star Sivory hotel, in Punta Cana, is typical: think enormous suites, a private beach, an Aquarea spa and an 8,000-bottle wine cellar, all for £967 with British Airways Holidays (0844 493 0758, ba.com/dominicanrepublic ).

Just down the road is the huge Dreams Punta Cana resort, which has more restaurants than most small towns and a swimming pool recently voted the best in the Caribbean. If you came to relax, you’re in the wrong place . The dreams the hotel is peddling are active ones – from golf and riding to scuba and dance lessons – and, because this is the Dom Rep, it’s all-inclusive. The price is £999 with Tropical Sky (0870 907 9600, tropicalsky.co.uk).

Slightly nearer to home is St Kitts, where high on the slopes, above that mesmeri sing sea, you’ll find Ottleys Plantation. It’s refined and reserved , with remarkably good cakes : the only concrete you’ll find at this quintessential Caribbean inn is lining the spring-fed swimming pool . B e warned, though: the nearest beach, accessible by hotel shuttle, is 20 minutes away. A week costs £999 with Bailey Robinson (01488 689777, baileyrobinson.com).

Less refined, but on a beach, albeit a black one, is Almond Smugglers Cove, on St Lucia. Small and intimate it’s not: 357 rooms, five restaurants, five bars, seven tennis courts, a spa, six pools, free golf and a 100ft waterslide. There’s also a kids’ club . If this is the kind of Caribbean style that floats your boat, Almond Resorts (0870 907 9602, www.almondresorts.co.uk) will sell you the week for £ 929, all-inclusive .

Still on St Lucia, try Ti Kaye, a tiny barefoot resort scattered on a hillside overlooking Anse Cochon bay . The individual wooden villas are designed to catch the breezes and have a hammock on the balcony, an iPod docking station, splendid sea views and an infinity pool just seconds away. The restaurant is excellent and authentically local, and the brand-new spa is earning a good reputation. Gorgeous, and just in budget at £999 for seven nights before December 15, with Caribtours (020 7751 0660, www.caribtours.co.uk).

Or how about Tobago? The Seahorse Inn is a Crusoesque refuge on the sugar-soft sands of Grafton beach, which we can guarantee will be all but deserted for the duration of your stay, because there are only four rooms at the inn. The restaurant, locally acknowledged as the best on the island, serves five varieties of lobster: spiny, rock, slipper, Brazilian and Spanish. That’s one a day for the first five days, but then what? Tropic Breeze (01548 831550, tropicbreeze.co.uk has a week there for £650.

If nourishing your soul is more important than feeding your face, head down the road to the Kariwak Village, Tobago’s enclave of hippiedom, described by the owners, Allan and Cynthia Clovis, as a “holistic haven” in which to “retreat, recharge and renew”. Doing so involves lyengar and hatha yoga, t’ai chi, ozone and photon light therapy, and a range of bone-cracking massages. Rooms come without televisions, it has a small pool and a Jacuzzi, and Store Bay beach is a 10-minute walk away. The price is £995 with Caribtours (020 7751 0660, www.caribtours.co.uk).

BRAZIL

The biggest headache with Brazil is usually the exorbitant cost of getting there, so this deal from Journey Latin America (020 8747 8315, www.journeylatinamerica.com) is a steal. You get direct flights from Heathrow and seven nights at the rather sexy Pousada Abracadabra, on the enchanting Buzios peninsula, just two hours from Rio. With 20 perfect beaches, crystal-clear waters and a seductively sultry vibe, it should be magic. The price is £944.

Read the new Sunday Times’ feature on Brazil’s deserted beaches - six comments, 14 recommendations)

RED SEA

There are some places in the world where you just don’t want to go too cheap, and Sharm el Sheikh is one of them. It’s easy to find rock-bottom rates here, but don’t be surprised if the hotel turns out to be wall-to-wall cracked concrete and drunken Russians.

The upside is, even the good places are going for peanuts. The uninspiringly named Maritim Jolie Ville Golf & Resort is hardly dripping with character – nowhere here is, frankly – but the pools are great, the gardens are pretty, you’re bang on the Red Sea, there’s an 18-hole golf course and the sun always shines. The price is £461, B&B, leaving Gatwick on December 6, with Classic Collection (0800 294 9315, classic-collection.co.uk).

Even farther from the madding crowd is the five-star Savoy hotel, sitting rather aloofly on White Knight beach. The place has its own diving reef and lies a short drive from the spectacular Ras Nasrani reefs – and, yes , there’s an on-site dive centre. You don’t have to be a diver, though: think daytime highs of 30C, dazzling white architecture with sparkling sea views, a spa, a kids’ club and a cascade of pools, all for £511 with British Airways Holidays (0844 493 0758, ba.com/sharmelsheikh).

Pay £88 more and you’re at the Ritz-Carlton. It’s one of the best places in town : beautifully laid out and meticulously maintained, with a dive centre (good house reef) and spa ( the massage tent overlook s the sea). It’s £599, B&B, saving £194, including British Airways flights, with Kuoni (01306 747008, kuoni.co.uk) – book by next Sunday for travel between November 26 and December 14.

Across the Gulf of Suez at El Gouna, the nicely laid out M ? venpick has a two-mile private beach and an excellent dive centre serving the lively reefs: prices start at £499, saving £150, with Discover Egypt (0844 880 0462, discoveregypt.co.uk). El Gouna itself is a bit weird – a purpose-built tourist town, it was nothing but desert coast 20 years ago, but they’ve done it rather more sensitively than most, with some decent vernacular architecture and lots of canals.

Want to drop and flop? Try the luxury all-inclusive Jaz Mirabel Club , in Nabq Bay, a healthy distance from Charmless Sheikh. Inside is an oasis of indulgence – sunbeds, paperbacks, spa treatments and cocktails – while outside is a desert, literally and culturally. Think of it as therapy. The price is £775 with Somak (020 8423 3000, somak.com).

GOA

In theory, Goa should be a gold mine for great budget holidays, but watch out: cheap and, frankly, pretty ropey hotels have been springing up fast, and no matter what they cost, you couldn’t call them a bargain. A couple of cheapies but goodies, then.

Casa Colvale is very good indeed. It was originally built as a private home for the Casa hotel group’s owner, Sheila Dhody, but her Bollywood pals kept dropping in to stay, so eventually she gave up and opened it as a hotel. The trick is, it’s by the River Chapora, a 15-minute speedboat ride in from the coast – which means that instead of being surrounded by development, it’s out on its own, in a lazy, unchanging world of backwaters and jungle-clad islets. It has 12 stylish rooms, all with verandas and individually commissioned pieces from local Goan artists, and two pools overlooking the river.

There’s not a lot to do apart from bask, crocodile-spot and watch the buffalo taking their daily swim from one shore to the other, but that’s the attraction of the place. A week costs £231 , B&B, booked through I-escape (i-escape.com), including airport transfers; flights are running at a bout £400 with Fly Thomas Cook (flythomascook.com), making the price about £630 in total.

The Retreat is also away from the beach, back in the paddy fields, but it’s only a couple of minutes away by hotel car. It is, admittedly, a bit of an oddity styled to look like a Portuguese village, complete with a couple of “traditional” musicians who wander around looking faintly foolish but who cares?

The rooms are top spec by local standards and it’s in a peaceful spot, perfect for combining a beach break with exploring the whitewashed churches, Hindu temples and wildlife sanctuaries of the interior with a hired car and driver . They’re cheap as chips to organise , as is your break here: £639 for a week departing on December 3, with Goaway (020 7258 7800, goaway.co.uk).

FLORIDA

We’re not finding America that budget-friendly these days, but here’s a cut-price deal that bucks the trend: £499 for seven nights at a beach front hotel on the Gulf Coast, and British Airways flights to Miami, and car hire . Okay, the hotel’s not going to rock your world – but that’s not the point . At that price, you can afford to use it as a crash pad for a night or three and spend the rest of the trip building your own DIY fly-drive adventure. The departure date is December 2; book through Jetsave (0871 664 0294, jetsave.com).

For a hotel that will rock your world, try Orlando’s Hard Rock H otel , available for £862 , including car hire, with Virgin Holidays (0844 557 3859, virginholidays.co.uk). The Hard Rock brand is increasingly living up to its rock ’n’ roll pretensions and developing a reputation for rather rowdy partying. How rowdy? “The TVs are bolted to the wall,” says the chain. “They cannot be hurled from the windows.” Sounds like a challenge.

Prefer a road trip? Then try this: you spend three nights in an art-deco hotel in trendy South Beach, Miami, then drive your very own soft-top Mustang down Highway 1 to four nights in a beach front four-star in Key Largo. The price is £929 until mid-December with Bon Voyage (0800 316 0194, bon-voyage.co.uk).

THAILAND

This one’s a steal: seven nights at the cool, eco-chic Evason Hua Hin and Six Senses Spa for £699, B&B, with Destinology (0800 634 2866, destinology.co.uk). You’ll have to move fast, though — it’s book by Tuesday, travel by November 28. The resort’s a few miles outside Hua Hin itself — no bad thing, as the town’s become overrun with high-rise international hotels. The service is impeccable, the spa up there with the best.

If you’ve a fortnight’s holiday left this year, you won’t get better value than this: 14 nights at the pretty four-star Centara Villas, on Na tien beach, at the southern end of Ko Samui, for £799. You can expect a bit of rain at this time of year, but it’s usually a brief downpour that cools things down before the sun comes out again. The hotel’s nicely styled, with a good pool and bigger rooms than most, and in a quiet spot, well away from the fleshpots of Hat Lamai. That £799 offer — saving £650 — is for travel by December 9 , with Premier (0844 493 7542, premierholidays.co.uk).

According to Trailfinders (0845 050 5871, trailfinders.com), the best deal in Thailand is currently at the Sheraton Grande Laguna, in Phuket, where you get eight nights for the price of four, and they’ll throw in a room upgrade — and probably a fruit basket, too, if you try the old “it’s our honeymoon” trick. Interesting fact: the pool, at 1,059 f t long, is the longest in Asia. Swim 105 lengths and you’ve swum the Channel. If you can be bothered. The price is £799.

SRI LANKA

There are three ways to tackle Sri Lanka on a budget. You could hop on a cheap flight and do it independently, taking pot luck with the hundreds of tiny, independent guesthouses around the coast. It’s a great way to go, provided you’ve got plenty of time and don’t mind roughing it — in all likelihood, you’ll end up at a bug-infested hovel for a night or two before you find the simple but clean beach shack of your dreams.

You could go mid-range, but we’d be careful: the island now has dozens of big, mass-market tourist resorts, and many of them aren’t especially good.

Or you could go upscale, to one of the new breed of exquisite boutique hotels that are blooming there. Try Nisala Arana , a restored Dutch colonial villa at Bentota, all antiques and carved temple doors, intricate fretwork and whitewashed walls, four-poster beds and frangipani- fringed pools. The four acres of landscaped gardens are full of bird life and medicinal trees (a previous occupant was the local ayurvedic doctor). The current owner is a vintage-car nut, who can organise a countryside tour in his open-top Morris Minor, or a tuk-tuk if you’d rather stay local. The price is £969 with Real Holidays (020 7359 3938, srilankaportfolio.co.uk ).

Nisala has a total of six rooms. Hardly crowded, but if you crave more exclusivity, how about your own private beach house - fully staffed, of course? Kikili beach is a sweet granite villa for two, with a spacious garden fronting right onto a glorious, often deserted stretch of sand. The resort of Galle is 15 minutes away, but apart from that there’s absolutely nothing to do but swim, laze or smooch. Honeymooners love it. A week in November costs £998, again with Real Holidays.

Not far down the coast, 23 Palm is another private staffed villa, but quite a bit grander: the tricky bit is that, if you want it all to yourself, you’ll need four people to fill it. Just a year old, it’s beautifully finished in colonial style, with tiled floors, hand-turned furniture and a quirky mix of antiques and modern art. It’s all on a big scale — two acres of grounds and huge rooms, with a four-poster for each couple. There’s an infinity pool , and three staff to cook, clean and keep things ticking over. Until December 13 , seven nights cost £987 with Fleewinter (020 7112 0019, fleewinter.com).

If you like a nice pool — the infinity type, naturellement — the strangely named Heritance Ahungalla, midway between Colombo and Galle, offers a great deal if you move quickly. The five-star, architect-designed property lies beside the soft, coco-palm-shaded sands of Ahungalla beach, which is great for beachcombers, but not so good for bathers — if you do take the plunge, watch out for the undertow. Better, perhaps, to let the pool boys spoil you. The price is £789 with Hayes & Jarvis (0871 664 0246, www.hayesandjarvis.co.uk).

MADEIRA

What used to be the frumpiest island in the Atlantic has turned distinctly trendy in the past few years . As well as charm, good food and outstanding scenery, it now has cool restaurants and bars, cutting-edge art and architecture, and great adventure sports. Downside: it’ll be warm, rather than hot, at about 20C.

Upside: it’s actually cheaper than staying at home. Really. A week at the Estalagem da Ponta do Sol is £309. Yes, with flights. And transfers. And breakfast. And — here’s the thing — it’s a genuinely cool place, a member of the Design Hotels group, with minimalist rooms on a high clifftop, outstanding views over the Atlantic, a good pool, a seriously classy restaurant and a cosy bar with a fireplace for the evenings. It’s a little way from the action in Funchal , but there’s a courtesy bus . That steal of a price is with Thomson (0871 230 2555, thomson.co.uk), leaving on December 4.

If you’d sooner be in the thick of things, go for the Quinta da Casa Branca. It’s near the centre of Funchal , but on its own estate, so it feels distinctly countr ified and lush . It’s set around an old manor house, but the rooms are funky and modernist — the architecture has won awards — and it’s a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World , which says something about the standards of the place. It’s not proved immune to the recession, however, so it’s discounting heavily: a week for two before December 19 starts at £886, B&B — that’s 32% off the rack rate — booked direct with the hotel (00 351 291 700770, quintacasabranca.pt). Flights hover at about £130 with Fly Thomas Cook (flythomascook.com): that makes the price £573pp all in.

CANARIES

Boutique Lanzarote? It does exist. Finca Malvasia is a bijou huddle of four beautifully designed lava-stone apartments , built around a snaking pool in the hills overgrown with a profusion of cact uses, palms and bougainvillea. It’s all very chilled out , with a yoga hut, massages and spa treatments, and most guests follow the vegetation’s example by gently soaking up the sun. (You can expect it to be about 21 C.) If you must get active, the beach is six miles away , and surfing, riding and diving can be arranged . A week from December 13 in a two-bedroom cottage costs £237pp , based on four sharing, with i-escape.com ; flights are running at £120 with Easyjet, making the price about £360pp in total.

On the same island, La Casona de Yaiza is an engagingly kooky eight -room converted country house, with a profusion of kitsch art and a dinky little pool. The price is £284pp with i-escape (i-escape. com). Add £120 for flights and it’s a shade above £400pp.

Over on Gran Canaria, the Cordial Mogan Playa would never claim to be boutique. It’s a big, modern resort hotel, but a good one — exquisitely landscaped gardens with waterfalls, bridges and heaps of bougainvillea, a decent spa, tennis, squash and a good beach five minutes’ walk away. The price is £ 495 , half- board, flying from Birmingham on December 14, with Deluxe Direct (0871 664 7764, directholidays.co.uk).

MALAYSIA

You can expect seven hours of sunshine a day and average highs of 32C on the Malaysian island of Langkawi at this time of year. The sea temperature is slightly cooler ( about 29C), and the only coldness you’re likely to encounter is the ice cube cracking in your cocktail.

The Meritus Pelangi Beach is another of those big resorts that try hard to offer you everything from banana boats to yoga, in the mistaken belief that you came here to sweat, but they can be repelled by the simple expedient of taking the Do Not Disturb sign from your room and hanging it on your lounger. Trailfinders (0845 050 5871, trailfinders.com) has a week there for £899.

More remote, and offering a host of adventure- and wildlife-based excursions for the loafingly challenged, is the Malaysian state of Sabah, which occupi es the north coast of the island of Borneo. Once you’ve had your fill of its host of eye-wateringly beautiful beaches, you can go orang-utan spotting, head into the interior for an overnight stay at a head-hunter’s longhouse and even climb one of the highest peaks in Southeast Asia, Mount Kinabalu. Alternatively, you could stay put on your private beach at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, gazing at the sparkling coral islands and telling yourself : “Maybe tomorrow...” The price is £899, again with Trailfinders .

HAWAII

If you still need proof that there’s never been a better time to travel long -haul, here it is: a week in Hawaii for less than £1,000. It’s a long flight — 11 hours to LAX, then another five to Honolulu — but worth the pain for a huge ocean-view suite at Outrigger Reef, bang on Waikiki beach. If you surf, the fabled breaks of the North Shore are an hour’s drive away — you’ll hear the terrifying boom of those monster waves long before you see them. The price is a ludicrous £990 with Continental Airlines Vacations (0844 557 1010; covacations.co.uk).

ROCK BOTTOM PRICES

Make no mistake, there has never, in the history of long-haul tourism, been a better time to travel . Last year, prices had yet to fall, and by this time next year, they could well have bounced back, so if you want a winter-sun bargain that you’ll look back on in years to come with a wistful sigh, now’s the time . Tour operators, airlines and, above all, hotels are so desperate for your business that margins are being stripped back to the bare minimum . “It’s a great time to experience the high life,” says Charles Duncombe , of the winter-sun specialist Holidays Please . “It’s ironic that the recession has actually opened up the lifestyles of the rich and famous to those of us who aren’t.” Here’s our guide to finding the best possible deal this winter and enjoying that low-cost high life.

When to go: For the best deals, the time to go is any point between now and mid-December, when prices rocket to meet Christmas demand. For example, a week at the comfortably hip Jake’s , in Jamaica, costs just £999 with Caribtours (020 7751 9145, www.caribtours.co.uk) until December 14. Then it shoots up to £1,755 for the festive period. If that’s too short notice, consider taking the second week in January, when prices fall back.

Where to go: with huge bargains on offer from Antigua to Zanzibar, the world is your cut-price oyster, but nowhere beats Thailand this winter. Why? First, the sheer number of flights going via Bangkok means airlines need to be competitive. Second, the PR disaster of last year’s ant i-government demonstrations means hotels are offering ever more ludicrous deals – free upgrades, free nights, free spa treatments – to tempt us. A nd third, the cost of living is the lowest of 16 long-haul winter-sun destinations surveyed by the Post Office .

Elsewhere, the Caribbean – especially Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia, where prices are 15%-20% lower than last year – offers terrific value . Then there’s Sri Lanka, where peace has brought the hope that the island’s hotels can reach double-figure occupancy rates this winter. Dubai is another option – the global capital of bling simply has too many hotel rooms on offer, and would rather give them away than let them stand empty; and there’s Bali, where discounted air fares and cut-price rooms mean a week can be found for £759.

Get the deal: let the haggling begin – starting with the price-comparison sites. We fancied a week in Thailand, departing on November 17, and of the 113 deals listed at Travelsupermarket.com, we chose the five-star Sareeraya r esort , on Ko Samui , priced at £951 with Southall Travel , including flights with Thai Airways. A search at Kayak.co.uk, which had the hotel for £357 and flights with Etihad for £394, brought the total down to £751, but could a travel agent do better? We called Holidays Please (0845 365 6565, holidaysplease.co.uk) , which is always willing to make a deal , but it admitted it couldn’t: proof positive that we’d found the lowest price available.

When to book: if you want a specific resort on a fixed date, our advice is to book now and avoid disappointment. If, however, price is more important than place, you could benefit from playing the waiting game and snapping up a late deal. Sign up to Travelzoo.co.uk for the best of the last-minute bargains – last week’s long-haul blockbuster was a week at the Paradise I sland Resort , in the Maldives, for £769, departing on November 22.