A holiday as a Christmas present may seem to be quite excessive but it is a gift worth giving. The most important part to Christmas isn’t the materialistic gifts, the amount of money spent or the quantity of food eaten but it is to be present with loved ones, to take a moment to appreciate every positive aspect they bring to your life and a day to recognise and say thank you to them. Giving a holiday as a gift is a big way to say ‘thank-you’ to your family or group of friends and gives them a reason to make life long memories and spend more time together.
We’re not speaking a fortnight in the Caribbean but just a 5 to 7 night stay in the UK. From a glamping experience in the countryside to a romantic city break in a furnished apartment. Of course, here at Accommodate we believe Winchester is the best place for a surprise holiday and we have listed our city centre properties at the end of the article for you to explore.

1. Save the environment – cut plastic, cut waste
There is a huge campaign happening right now about cutting our plastic, reducing our waste and saving the planet. Christmas is a terrible time of year for excessive waste, useless fad plastic items and uncontrolled packaging. Most wrapping paper is not recyclable or biodegradable so you can only imagine the amount of wrapping paper sitting around in landfill. The very beautiful wrapping paper covered in glitter not only adds to the landfills but the micro-plastic glitter is dreadful for being ingested by wild life. Gift a holiday and save the wrapping paper.
Choose an eco friendly card to present your message in and then after the surprise you can forward on any emails relevant to the holiday. If you gift one holiday to a family, a group of friends or even just a couple you will help cut the wrapping paper epidemic this Christmas. Winchester is an ideal holiday location as it is easily accessible from London on the trains. Use trains for their travel, book them one of our central furnished holiday lets and boast how all amenities are within walking distance to help keep the holiday eco friendly!

2. Save Time & Hassle
Gifting a holiday to a family or a group of friends saves you panicking and thinking about what each individual would like. It’s so accessible for us to buy materialistic items most of us have everything we want. Give the gift of a holiday and you’ll give them something they would probably never even think of, send them to a place they may never think of going and give them a reason to spend quality time with their closest companions.
Buying one holiday for a family of 5 or a large group of friends saves you time and hassle. From Winchester, the South Downs are easily accessible for those who love hiking and the city is full of quirky boutique shops for those who love shopping. There are some unmissable bars and restaurants with jazz nights, film clubs and bottomless brunches to keep them entertained.

3. Lifetime Memories
In terms of a gift that will make an impact, gifting a holiday will create memories that last a lifetime. There is nothing more valuable than experiences with your closest companions creating great memories with lots of laughter and plenty of photos. You can’t put a price on memories and it is something that will stick with them for life. You could even book them in to the theatre, a Michelin starred restaurant or send them a collection of our blogs for a quick guide book for things-to-do in Winchester. Encourage them to download the Foursquare App to find the hidden gems of Winchester.

4. Join Them
You can join them! Gift a holiday to your family to get them all back together soon after Christmas or take a New Year break with closest group of friends. It will make your gift feel much more worthwhile when you can join your friends / family on the holiday and see the value every person gets from your gift. Travel is great for the health so if you have friends who work in stressful environments, gifting them a holiday will be much more beneficial than the Mindfulness For Dummies book that they will never read. Travel is a great way to reconnect with friends or family so spend time with them on a Winchester holiday rather than buying them a selfie stick for Facetime.

5. The Best Gift to Give
It will trump all bottles of alcohol, pairs of socks, books, toiletries, iPads, phones, bikes etc. The holiday gives something for your companions to look forward to after Christmas. Once Christmas and New Year has passed, there’s a few extra pounds around the waistline and Winter becomes a grey time of year we’re waiting to be over it is good for the mental health to have something to look forward to. It’s a truly meaningful gift and if you’re in the doghouse after too many years of Cadburys Milk Tray to the wife then make up for it all with a thoughtful holiday for the whole family.

Why Winchester
Winchester is an ideal place for a surprise holiday and here’s our reasons why:
It’s close to London – Simply hop on a train
It’s in the UK – No language barrier
You don’t have to fly – Great for the nervous travellers
There’s plenty to do – For kids, couples, history lovers to foodies
It’s up and coming – A great alternative UK city break with art and culture
It’s beautiful – perfect to beautify your Instagram feed.

How To Gift A Holiday
Gifting a holiday needn’t be a difficult process. Here are our top tips on how to gift a holiday:
- Gift the location – Get a beautiful card and write in it your location you wish to send them too, they can get back to you with their dates once they have booked days off work. Once you have their dates you can drop us an email and we will find you the perfect property available in Winchester.
- Gift an amount – Email us to gift an amount towards a property. We can make up gift vouchers with your chosen amount to be used towards our Winchester properties. We can find a property suitable to your budget and we can give you a list of recommended dates. We recommend emailing us first so we can guide you on the property prices
- Gift a date – Get a beautiful card and write the dates in it you wish to take them away. Once they have confirmed they can go on those dates then book the holiday!
Click the images to book the properties.