The week is built around ADE — the Amsterdam Dance Event, Oct 21–25 — the biggest electronic music festival on earth, with 300+ venues turning the whole city into one dance floor. Days for the canals and the old city, nights for the music.
The city month, timed for the mildest, most golden early weeks. Basing in Santos on the riverside — trams up the hills, tiled façades, the light coming off the Tagus, and a serious late-night scene when the mood strikes.
Down for the Marrakesh International Film Festival — free public screenings out in the great square of Jemaa el-Fnaa, the whole city lifted a notch. Souks, riads, mint tea, and the Atlas mountains on the horizon.
Real, working-town Portugal just south of Lisbon, where the Arrábida hills tumble into clear turquoise coves. Some of the best seafood in the country, and dolphins in the estuary.
The December home base — the warmest, sunniest corner of the mainland, gold sandstone cliffs and hidden coves, deliberately saved for the coldest, wettest stretch of winter. Side-trips out to Tavira and Sagres when the mood hits.
Flying out before New Year's, then settling in for two weeks. Subtropical and evergreen — one of the warmest, sunniest spots in all of Europe in December — and a record-breaking fireworks show over the bay to ring in the year. Levada walks, sea cliffs, and Madeira wine.
A few last days back in the city to wrap up — a final round of the places that made the first month.
