December, at the world’s best hotels.

The palace without the crowds — winter light in the Hall of Mirrors.

Late autumn empties the city after the October rush, with new olive oil and white truffles on every menu and rates sliding until the Christmas crowds arrive.

Late autumn is Rome at its most livable, with mild sightseeing days and thin crowds, and rates slide steadily once the October rush ends and stay low until the Christmas holidays.

The Costa del Sol stays mild enough for terrace lunches and coastal walks while beach-resort rates sink toward their yearly floor.

Late autumn is Rome at its most livable, with mild sightseeing days and thin crowds, and rates slide steadily once the October rush ends and stay low until the Christmas holidays.

Late autumn is Rome at its most livable, with mild sightseeing days and thin crowds, and rates slide steadily once the October rush ends and stay low until the Christmas holidays.

Autumn Provence: vendange, markets, and hilltop villages returned to themselves.

November in the midlands: quiet, green, and gloriously unhurried.

Late autumn is Rome at its most livable, with mild sightseeing days and thin crowds, and rates slide steadily once the October rush ends and stay low until the Christmas holidays.

Late autumn is Rome at its most livable, with mild sightseeing days and thin crowds, and rates slide steadily once the October rush ends and stay low until the Christmas holidays.

Late autumn empties the city after the October rush, with new olive oil and white truffles on every menu and rates sliding until the Christmas crowds arrive.

The Alentejo's quiet half-year: olive harvest, starlit skies, fireplaces lit.

The estate in November: frost mornings and the calm before the festive rush.

Late autumn is Rome at its most livable, with mild sightseeing days and thin crowds, and rates slide steadily once the October rush ends and stay low until the Christmas holidays.

The Alentejo's quiet half-year: olive harvest, starlit skies, fireplaces lit.

Late autumn is Rome at its most livable, with mild sightseeing days and thin crowds, and rates slide steadily once the October rush ends and stay low until the Christmas holidays.

Autumn Provence: vendange, markets, and hilltop villages returned to themselves.

The estate in November: frost mornings and the calm before the festive rush.

The estate in November: frost mornings and the calm before the festive rush.

Log fires and low golden light before the holidays.

Autumn Provence: vendange, markets, and hilltop villages returned to themselves.

The quiet months in spa country: thermal baths and three-star cooking without the summer cure crowd.

Early wet season on Sumba: brief afternoon storms, green hills, uncrowded waves.

Green season: newborn game, dramatic skies, and the bush at its lushest.

Short-rains season: green plains, newborn game, and camps at shoulder rates.

Green season on the pans: zebra migration, desert flowers, dramatic storm light.

Autumn Tangier: mild straits weather and the summer set long gone.

The American Riviera's soft winter — green hills and empty beaches.

Stick season: bare trees, wood fires, and the year's quietest luxury.

Storm-watching season — whales offshore, fires lit, the coast dramatic.

The American Riviera's soft winter — green hills and empty beaches.

Once the foliage crowds clear out, lakeside lodges drop to their lowest rates of the year and you get crisp, silent trails and firelit evenings before the holiday rush.

Warm, clear autumn days and the quietest stretch before the holidays.

Storm-watching season — whales offshore, fires lit, the coast dramatic.

Warm, clear autumn days and the quietest stretch before the holidays.

Warm, clear autumn days and the quietest stretch before the holidays.

The ghost town before the snow: golden aspens, steaming pools, empty trails.

Warm, clear autumn days and the quietest stretch before the holidays.

The American Riviera's soft winter — green hills and empty beaches.

Once October arrives the desert heat has gone and the valley becomes the place people picture: eighty-degree days, cool evenings, mid-century streets worth walking, and rates that have not yet climbed into the winter season. It runs until the Christmas surge.

Warm, clear autumn days and the quietest stretch before the holidays.

Warm, clear autumn days and the quietest stretch before the holidays.

Once October arrives the desert heat has gone and the valley becomes the place people picture: eighty-degree days, cool evenings, mid-century streets worth walking, and rates that have not yet climbed into the winter season. It runs until the Christmas surge.

The green season on the atoll: brief warm rains, dramatic skies, meaningful savings.

Early-summer heat and empty sandbanks before the holidays.