1 Tallinn
Tallinn's Old Town is charming at any time of year, but its cosy candlelit cellar bars, opulent dining rooms and Art Deco patisseries are best appreciated when a chill wind is blowing in from the Baltic. But perhaps the most compelling reason for visiting Estonia's capital in winter is this: outside the summer wedding season your chances of running into a group of stags from Stoke-on-Trent dressed as Vikings diminishes greatly. Explore the city's medieval lanes, ramparts and gothic churches or shop for hand-knitted hats and mittens in one of the excellent handicraft shops, then refuel on hearty Estonian fare (think blood pudding, wild boar and blinis) in the candlelit basement dining room at 'Grandma's Place' (Vanaema Juures). Even the most basic hotel comes with a sauna - important in a city where winter temperatures can drop to minus 25C.
Book it: Baltic Holidays (0845 070 5711; balticholidays.com) offers three nights' B&B at the cosy four-star Taanilinna hotel in the Old Town from pounds 169pp, including flights and transfers.
2 North Norfolk
Even at the height of summer, the five-mile stretch of Holkham Sands is under-populated. It's not so much a question of finding a place to lay your towel but making sure the rounders pitch you've marked out doesn't encroach on your neighbours' sandy recreation of the Palace of Versailles. But in winter, Holkham Sands is yours alone. Choose a blustery day and you'll have the tufted dunes, rippled inlets and miles of sand all to yourself. Borrow a dog, wrap up well and head out to the horizon from Burnham Overy Staithe. Turn right when you hit the ocean. It's two hours to Wells- Next-the-Sea and, as you walk across the acres of white sand washed clean of all footprints, stop and let the vast, exhilarating emptiness make you feel tiny.
Book it: Anchor Snug is a two-bed apartment (sleeping three) in the centre of Blakeney village, and a quick stroll from the much-loved King's Arms pub and White Horse Hotel. A three-night break costs pounds 265 with Blakeney Cottages (01263 741773; blakeneycottagecompany.co.uk).
3 Istanbul
Sharp winter sunshine turns the Bosphorus Strait a piercing Kodak blue - it's a clarity that flat summer light and heat hazes can somehow obscure. If you're really lucky, a light snowstorm will blow in across the Black Sea from Russia in the night, and you'll wake to mosques dusted white on the skyline. On days like this, nothing compares with the view from the parapet of Topkapi Palace across the Bosphorus to hazy Asia. Or try the deck of a ferry chugging you off to the Princes Islands: look back and you'll see the classic Turkish Delight-wrapper horizon as the waiter brings round glasses of hot apple tea.
Book it: Exclusive Escapes (020 8605 3500; exclusiveescapes.co.uk) has three nights at the Empress Zoe Hotel, built around an old Turkish bath, from pounds 485pp, including flights and a guide for half a day.
4 Venice Sultry in summer, sticky with springtime romantics, winter is Venice's finest season. Venetians come back from their summer homes on the Lido to reclaim the city and the restaurants make use of the late fruits of the year. Now is the time to enjoy the tranquillity of the lesser-known churches and to appreciate one of Venice's most atmospheric festivals, the Festa della Madonna della Salute on 21 November, when a pontoon bridge is hung across the Grand Canal so the people can give thanks for being saved from a plague in the 17th century.
Book it: British Airways Holidays (0870 243 3406; ba.com/holidays) has two nights at the three-star Santa Chiara hotel in Venice from pounds 134pp, including flights and B&B.
5 The Lake district
Now's your chance to wander lonely as a cloud, without the crowds that blight this beautiful landscape from spring to autumn. After a bracing walk, join the hikers drying their boots in front of the fires at the Old Dungeon Ghyll (01539 437272; odg.co.uk). It lies on the approach to Scafell Pike and serves up satisfying, no-nonsense meals. When the weather's bad you can justify splashing out on accommodation: the Lake District has no shortage of classic country house hotels where you can curl up in front of a fire and watch the weather closing in. Linthwaite House has views of the Langdale fells, log fires and a legendary afternoon tea.
Book it: Doubles at Linthwaite House (01539 488600; linthwaite.com) from pounds 95 a night.
6 Vienna Gemutlichkeit is a German word meaning cosiness edged with nostalgia, and few cities do it better than Vienna. Its cold-weather credentials include an unparalleled collection of museums and a legendary cafe scene. The standard cafe fare of Apfelstrudel and black coffee fortified with whipped cream and rum is perfectly suited to temperatures hovering around freezing. As the temperature cools, the cultural season hots up with a series of concerts to wind down the Mozart 2006 celebrations (wienmozart2006.at) and the annual Viennese ball season kicking off in January (aboutvienna.org). Christmas markets spring up all over the city from the end of November.
Book it: Kirker Holidays (0870 112 3333; kirkerholidays.com) has three nights at the Konig Von Ungarn, a boutique hotel in a 16th-century mansion, for pounds 585pp, including flights, transfers and B&B accommodation.
7 Boston
The weather may be on the harsh side (snow is a strong possibility) but the compensations are many, not least ice skating on Frog Pond (from 15 November) in the middle of Boston Common. Boston does quaint exceptionally well (trendy minimalist hotels have never taken hold here - you'll do better with the chintzy fun of somewhere like the Omni Parker House Hotel, one of America's oldest). As far as walks go, there is nowhere better than Beacon Hill, all olde-worlde street lights and walking tours. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (gardnermuseum.org) on the Fenway, a 15th-century-style Venetian palazzo crammed with works by Rembrandt, Botticelli and Raphael, is supremely enticing in winter.
Book it: Virgin Holidays (0871 222 0306; virginholidays.co.uk) has three nights at the Omni Parker House from pounds 479, including flights and room only accommodation.
8 Cornwall Surfers don't give up on Cornwall in the winter and neither should we. The coastal walks here are some of the best in the northern hemisphere, whatever the temperature, and the surf scene has ensured that the bars and cafes of the north Cornish coast stay lively year round. Head for Watergate Bay near Newquay, where the wetsuit brigade can be found scoffing bacon sarnies at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen (01637 861000) or downing mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream at the fabulous Beach Hut (extremeacademy.co.uk).
Book it: Just outside Padstow, St Ervan Manor (01841 540255; stervanmanor.co.uk) bills itself as a B&B while managing to house a Michelin-starred restaurant. Its new one-bed cottage, the Garden Room costs pounds 215 a night in winter.
9 The Dolomites Skiers will be well-acquainted with the wintry beauty of the Dolomites but you don't need to be a winter sports enthusiast to appreciate this icy wonderland. Soak up the splendour from one of the outdoor heated pools of Merano's striking new thermal baths complex (meran.steigenberger.it) or head up into the mountains by cable car for a sybaritic stay at the Hotel Vigilius, where modern architecture, larch wood, mountain views and top-notch spa facilities (don't miss the Tyrolean hay bath) come together in one of the Alps' most pleasing retreats.
Book it: Italian Expressions (020 7433 2675; expressionsholidays.co.uk) has five nights at Vigilius from pounds 873pp including B&B, flights and car.
10 Mallorca
After October, much of the Mediterranean goes into hibernation for the winter but Mallorca is the honourable exception. The package holiday hordes are long gone but life goes on in the cosmopolitan capital, Palma. Base yourself here in one of the many boutique hotels rather than in a resort destination along the often windswept coast. Trains to Soller in the north run year-round, you can wander around charming Deia without having to jostle for elbow room, and the weather is often mild enough for walks in the Tramuntana moutains.
Book it: Doubles at the Hotel Convent de la Missio (0034 971 227347, conventdelamissio.com) in Palma which has a small indoor pool, cost from pounds 161. BA (ba.com) and Easyjet fly to Palma year-round.
