New Year, alone, on the Portuguese coast

There is a particular question solo travellers get asked more than any other, usually somewhere around the third week of December, and it is rarely put kindly: what are you doing for Christmas? Small-group holidays built specifically for people travelling alone exist largely to make that question easy to answer, and a short trip to Portugal, mild enough in winter to spend most of the day outside, is one of the more comfortable ways to spend the turn of the year among other people without owing any of them an explanation.

The Lisbon coast, in four unhurried nights

Just You's short break on the Lisbon coast runs over New Year and covers Ericeira, a fishing town turned surf destination on the Atlantic, Sintra and Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, before finishing in Lisbon itself with a stop at the walled market town of Óbidos on the way. Sintra's centrepiece, the Pena Palace, was built in the nineteenth century for King Ferdinand II in a deliberately theatrical mix of styles, part Bavarian castle, part Moorish fantasy, and its position on a forested hilltop above the town has made it one of the more photographed buildings in the country, without in any way making it less strange to actually stand in front of.

Cabo da Roca itself is a plainer sort of monument: a lighthouse on a cliff, with nothing but the Atlantic ahead of it, marked since Roman times as the edge of the known world in this direction. Standing there on the final afternoon of the old year is a reasonable way to mark the turning of it, whether or not anyone else present happens to be doing the same thing for the same reason.

Madeira, if a longer trip suits better

For solo travellers who would rather have a full week than four nights, Just You also runs a tour of Madeira, the volcanic island a few hours' flight south-west of Lisbon that keeps a mild, almost spring-like climate through the winter months. The itinerary covers Funchal, the island's capital, along with the laurel forests, terraced hillsides and dramatic coastal viewpoints that make Madeira better known among walkers than among conventional sunseekers. Funchal itself is well known for marking the New Year with one of the more elaborate firework displays anywhere in Europe, the harbour and the hillside houses above it lit together, a spectacle that works particularly well from a hotel terrace with a glass of the island's own fortified wine in hand.

Small groups, not organised loneliness

The point of a trip like this is not to fill every hour with company, and neither itinerary tries to. Both are built around a small group travelling together, with guided days and free time in between, which tends to suit people who want some structure to the trip without wanting every meal chosen for them. Being the only person at a table is a different, and generally more pleasant, experience when it is a choice made partway through a shared day rather than the whole shape of the holiday.

Neither option requires deciding, back in November, exactly how sociable a mood the season will find you in. That can be worked out on the day, which is rather the advantage of travelling with people who are not expecting anything of you beyond turning up.

Both trips are scheduled deliberately around the New Year period rather than merely running through it, which matters more than it might sound: it means neither leaves a traveller working out, alone in a hotel room, what to do with the one evening of the year that everyone else seems to have plans for. Departures for both are limited to the weeks either side of the holiday itself, so booking earlier rather than later is worth doing if the dates matter.