Davin O'Dwyertakes a look at some forthcoming offers
Golf
It's that time of year when the days are short, the food is heavy and the merrymaking is unavoidable, so this is exactly the occasion to contemplate some sunny, active trips to help get over the worst of the Christmas excesses and get 2009 off to an energetic start. Of course, you don't want to be rushing intoanything too strenuous, so some rounds of golf are probably in order.
Cassidy Golf (www.cassidygolf.com, 01-8725000) has a range of packages to top-quality Spanish and Portuguese golfing destinations - such as, from February, seven nights in a luxury fairway-side apartment at Murcia's Polaris World resort, including four rounds on the course designed by the Nicklaus Design group, all for €499 per person, based on a group of four.
Other packages offered by Cassidy Group include the five-star Incosol, in Marbella, and golf at the San Lorenzo golf course from €90 per person, per night; the
Le Meridien Penina golf resort in Alvor, on the Algarve, from €170 per room, per night; and seven nights in the Sunset Beach golf resort in the Costa Del Sol from €375 for a week, per person, from February. None of the prices includes flights, but all resorts are near airports.
Soccer
Keith Prowse Travel (www.keithprowse.com, 01-8783500) has some great packages to La Liga games in both Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu and Barcelona's Camp Nou - two of the great cathedrals of soccer.
In January, Real have a tempting tie against Villareal on the weekend of January 3rd, and they play Deportivo la Coruña on the weekend of January 24th. Barcelona host La Coruña the previous weekend, January 18th, and have a derby game against Espanyol on the weekend of February 21st.
Prices, which start at about €200 per person sharing, include two nights' BB in a four-star hotel and, of course, a match ticket.
Annoyingly, La Liga games can be on either the Saturday or Sunday, and they don't finalise the day until a week before the game, obliging you to spend the full weekend there - but there are worse places to spend a few days.