Seven destinations answer the question of where to travel in November and December this year, from the only non-stop between North America and the Canary Islands to Vancouver's first direct link to Hokkaido.
The question of where to travel in November and December has a different answer this year, because the map changed. Air Canada‘s winter 2026-27 programme adds Tenerife, Quito, Mérida, Roatán, Santo Domingo and Mazatlán as new destinations, converts Toronto’s Manchester and Copenhagen flying to year-round, and opens Hokkaido to Vancouver for the first time.
Most of those routes launch inside the next ten weeks, and several are the only non-stop link of their kind from this country. Here is where the new access is worth planning around, and what is actually happening on the ground once clients land.
Hokkaido, Japan
Vancouver gains a direct link to Sapporo on December 17, operating three times weekly through late March. It lands in the middle of Japan’s best winter season, and it lands in the country Virtuoso advisors just ranked first among global destinations in the 2027 Luxe Report, ahead of Italy for the first time.
Sapporo itself is worth two or three nights before anyone heads for the powder. The 46th Sapporo White Illumination runs from November 20, stringing roughly 220,000 LEDs along the 1.5 kilometres of Ekimae-dori between the station and Susukino. The Munich Christmas Market in Sapporo, in its 25th year, takes over Odori Park through December 25. Beyond the city, Hokkaido is where Japan’s deepest, driest snow falls, and the ski season is well underway by mid-December.
Mérida, Mexico
Toronto picks up Mérida on November 21, flying Mondays and Saturdays. The Yucatán capital is a different proposition from the Riviera Maya: a colonial grid of pastel townhouses, a tree-lined 19th-century boulevard in Paseo de Montejo built to imitate a Parisian avenue, and a dining scene built on Yucatecan cooking rather than resort buffets.
November through March is also the dry, cooler stretch of the Yucatán calendar, which makes it the right window for the things that are miserable in August: cenote swimming, the ruins at Uxmal and along the Puuc Route, and long walks through the Santiago and Santa Lucía neighbourhoods after dark.
Quito, Ecuador
Quito joins the network on December 4 from Montréal and December 5 from Toronto. Clients who book the first weeks will land in the middle of the Fiestas de Quito, the city’s founding celebration, which builds through late November and peaks on December 6.
Quito is the oldest capital in South America and its historic centre was among the first sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It’s also the most comfortable staging post for the Galápagos, where December marks the start of the warmer, calmer season for snorkelling. Ecuador‘s compact geography means a cloud forest lodge in Mindo and a Galápagos departure can sit inside the same ten-day itinerary.
Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Vancouver gains non-stop service to Liberia on December 13, which puts Guanacaste’s Pacific coast within one flight of the West Coast. December is when the dry season arrives on this side of the country, and it arrives sharply: the rains stop, the roads firm up and the Nicoya Peninsula settles into five months of reliable sun.
It’s the strongest window of the year for what Costa Rica does best, including Rincón de la Vieja’s volcanic terrain, turtle nesting along the coast and the surf breaks around Tamarindo and Nosara. Virtuoso advisors placed Costa Rica among the top five adventure travel destinations for 2027.
Barbados
Atlantic Canada gets its own addition: Halifax to Bridgetown begins December 17. It’s a meaningful route for a region that usually connects through Toronto to reach the Caribbean, and it arrives in a milestone year. Barbados marks 60 years of independence on November 30, and the national celebrations that build toward the date make late November a livelier time to be on the island than the beach brochures suggest.
The island rewards travellers who leave the resort strip. The restored Garrison and Bridgetown historic district is UNESCO-listed, the Friday night fish fry at Oistins remains the most democratic meal on the island, and the east coast at Bathsheba is a different Barbados entirely. Visit Barbados keeps a running events calendar worth checking before confirming dates.
Roatán, Honduras
Roatán is new to the Air Canada map this winter, with Montréal service from December 12 and Toronto from December 13. The draw is straightforward and hard to beat: the island sits on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the largest barrier reef system in the Western Hemisphere, with wall dives and shallow reef within minutes of shore.
Visibility is at its best in the drier early months of the year, but December conditions are generally reliable and the island is quieter before the January rush. For clients who want certified diving rather than a swim-up bar, Honduras is the most direct way to get it from Eastern Canada this season. West End and West Bay hold the dive shops and the sunset side of the island; East End is the quieter half.
