Where holiday stars will be heading in 2025: From Sydney to Sicily and Cape Town to Cornwall, these household names reveal where they’ll be traveling and how you can follow in their footsteps

January is traditionally the month when holiday bookings increase, partly because it can be the saddest time of the year here in the UK and also because travel companies launch some of their most tempting deals. We all need something positive to write down in the diary. So get inspired by this selection of how stars spend their holidays.

Opera singer Danielle de Niese

I really want to ski with my family, probably in the Dolomites. I’m not a big skier, but I’ll cheer on our kids when they hit the slopes.

I will also be starring in Carmen, for the first time, at the Sydney Opera House this summer. I will be taking my daughter and my son and my husband Gus will join us once school is over.

I’m sure we’ll do some sightseeing and we’re also hoping to head to the Blue Mountains.

How to do it: Seven nights at the Garni Romantica guesthouse in the Italian resort of Selva Val Gardena in the Dolomites, from £516pp including flights and transfers in March (igluski.com).

ActorPeter Egan

I will visit the Libearty Bear Sanctuary in the Carpathian foothills of Romania later this month.

I am a supporter of this charity, which houses around 200 large brown bears and organizes excellent guided tours.

Closer to home, I plan to revisit Margate, where I holidayed with my family as a child in the 1950s. I can still picture my dad sitting on a sun lounger on the beach with suspenders, a hat and rolled-up trousers.

How to do it: Return flights from Stansted to Brasov, the nearest airport to Libearty Bear Sanctuary, from £165 in April (wizzair.com).

Countdown star Susie Dent

I am determined to return to Connemara, County Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, which I first visited when I was 20 years old.

There is a wild beauty to the area that transitions from lunar landscape to hills and swamps, before reaching the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Connemara Mara is the Irish name meaning “of the sea” and is a place to shake off the cobwebs.

How to do it: Return flights from Stansted to Shannon, on the west coast of Ireland, from £48, return in May (ryanair.com).

Fergal Keane, BBC special correspondent

I’m planning a big trip to South Africa with my two children, now 20, later this year to revisit places that hold happy memories from my past.

We will rent a car and drive to Keurboomsrivier via the Garden Route. There is a beach facing the Atlantic Veldt where you have an incredible feeling of space, and I will introduce you to the magnificent seafood of the Cape.

We will then drive through the Northern Cape to Etosha National Park in Namibia, which has the most incredible wildlife, before ending our trip in Cape Town. It’s going to be quite an adventure.

How to do it: Return flights between Heathrow and Cape Town from £1,000 in April (ba.com); a rental car per week from £125 from Cape Town Airport (zestcarrental.com).

Author Joanne Harris

My husband and I would love to go to Syracuse, Sicily, by night train (via Paris and Venice on the way, and via Rome and Paris on the way back). We did it many years ago and we want to retrace our steps.

We will visit Modica, known for its chocolate, still made according to an ancient recipe, and see the beautiful Sicilian coast, which is completely deserted out of season. I would also like to visit Mount Etna, which I have never seen.

How to do it: Eurostar to Paris from £39 each way (eurostar.com); Paris-Milan, via Zurich, tickets from £111 each way (raileurope.com); Milan-Syracuse from £63 each way (italiarail.com).

Impressionist Alistair McGowan

In the summer I will travel to Lot-et-Garonne, in the south-west of France, to attend a piano course; It will be the first time I will travel abroad since the first lockdown. I’ll be joining a dozen other piano enthusiasts for a week.

We will take expert classes and talk about all things “piano”, but I’m sure there will also be some visits to restaurants and pools.

I will travel by train, via Eurostar. I’m also looking forward to trying a Flan Patissier, a delicious French egg custard tart pronounced “flon.” Hopefully the trip will also improve my French.

How to do it: Eurostar to Paris from £39 each way (ryanair.com).

Liz Mitchell, former Boney M singer

I hope to visit the Caribbean and the United States (my husband is American) this year. I was born in Jamaica so going there is always special.

I’ll most likely stay in Montego Bay on the north coast and eat ackee and saltfish, Jamaica’s national dish (there’s nothing like it), but I’d also like to travel inland and visit the countryside where I spent my early years. years.

Hopefully we’ll also take a trip to Florida because the grandkids love Disneyworld. When I finally retire, my dream is to take a cruise to the Caribbean.

How to do it: Seven nights at the Catalonia Montego Bay hotel from £1,835pp all-inclusive, including return flights to Gatwick in February (tui.co.uk).

Thriller writer Gerald Seymour

I’ve filled out three passports in my life, but after celebrating my 83rd birthday, I’m happy to be revisiting my favorite places in Britain.

So my wife and I are planning a meander along the north and south coasts of Devon and Cornwall in late spring.

We want to see the sea breaking on those incredible cliffs and see porpoises and dolphins from the top of the cliffs, and if it rains a little, we have waterproof clothing so we don’t drown.

Having a staycation means we can also take our beloved black lab, Poppy, with us.

How to do it: Car hire for a week in Exeter from £204 in April (zestcar rent.com).