Christmas gifts for travellers

1. Bringing a touch of the exotic to Boxing Day board games, these limited edition handmade backgammon sets were created for the luxury hotel group Oetker Collection, with designs named after outposts such as Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc and Jumby Bay. Designed by London-based artist Alexandra Llewellyn, who fell in love with the game while seeing it played on the streets of Cairo, the sets use hand-applied lacquer, leather and marquetry, while the pieces are made of white jasper, turquoise or malachite, wrapped in polished brass. From £1,400 for travel size, £5,700 for full size; oetkercollection.com

2. Another hotel-artist collaboration, this time between The Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar, Scotland, and Sussex furniture maker Tom Aylwin, has produced this oak keepsake box (£995) whose lid is carved into a topographic model of the Cairngorms. The Sussex-based artist uses digital map data to accurately carve any landscape into wood, with significant spots (in this case, the hotel) marked with a silver pin. Aside from his Fife Arms project, his small boxes start from £195 for popular summits including Ben Nevis, Everest and the Matterhorn, while bespoke boxes of any other location cost from £295. thefifearms.com; contourboxes.co.uk

3. After being all but obliterated by the incoming tide of cheap polystyrene boogie boards, traditional wooden “belly boards” are making a comeback. Designed to be ridden in a prone position, they are suitable for even shallow waves and are far easier to master than surfing. “Bellyboarding sits between riding a foam boogie board and body surfing — it’s the best feeling,” says Cornish manufacturer Dick Pearce & Friends. It produces handcrafted bellyboards in its Newquay workshop in a range of classic colours, or you can design your own. Kids’ size from £55, adults from £65; dickpearce.com

4. The trend for new types of brain-boosting natural remedies — CBD oil to aid relaxation and mood-enhancing herbal drinks, such as Psychedelic Water — is expanding into products that ease the strains of travelling. London Nootropics specialises in instant drinks that “enhance cognitive performance”, combining coffee with “adaptogens”, natural active ingredients. Its Mojo Blend (£15 for 12 sachets) is made with cordyceps, a type of fungi containing cordycepin, which an early study suggests may help reset the body clock and so help with jet jag. Disciple’s CBD Miracle Patches (£30 for 30), meanwhile, are an alcohol-free alternative to that pre-departure stiff drink for reducing anxiety in nervous flyers. Londonnootropics.com; disciplelondon.com

5. It may seem like they’re reinventing the wheel, but there’s no questioning the popularity of the Den Kit Company’s packs for children, which contain a rope, tarpaulin, mallet, pegs and other bits for building dens outdoors — and sold 20,000 in the UK last year. In time for Christmas are two new additions, a Forest Den Kit (£65), including a camouflage net and face paint, and a Fire on a Plate Kit (£24.50), to safely teach fire-lighting. thedenkitco.com

6. Canada Goose, the Toronto-based outdoor clothing brand, has launched its first footwear collection this season while also collaborating with Chinese designer Angel Chen to rework its classic padded parkas. The wildly angular Cropped Snow Mantra parka (£1,295) has a huge hood that can be zipped open, and the coat worn upside down “for a discerning look”. canadagoose.com

7. With pandemic restrictions easing, many travellers will spend their festive holidays planning adventures for the year to come. Eager to encourage them, tour operators have come up with creative ways to package travel vouchers as Christmas gifts. Black Tomato has partnered with luxury luggage manufacturer Globe-Trotter on a set of suitcases, briefcases and trolley cases in colours from pistachio to pink, to be given with tickets for a bespoke trip inside (from £5,000, including trip). Vouchers for glamping specialist Canopy & Stars worth £200 or more come with a copy of its new book, Stay Wild (worth £35), while Kip Hideaways tucks membership vouchers (worth £14) giving access to its collection of small, design-led holiday homes into Christmas sleep (£66) or travel (£53) gift sets, also containing toiletries and an embroidered pouch. blacktomato.com; canopyandstars.co.uk; kiphideaways.com

8. Among a handful of new distilleries to set up amid the mountains of the English Lake District, The Lakes Distillery began producing gin, whisky and vodka in a Victorian farmstead close to Bassenthwaite Lake in 2014. It now offers tours and tastings as well as a mail-order service. Its Lakes Crackers (four for £20) are ideal for Christmas Day — containing miniatures of caramel vodka, pink grapefruit gin, whisky or gin, they would be a sweet reminder of any hiking adventures made in the region this year. lakesdistillery.com

9. Palm Heights, a funky new boutique hotel in the Cayman Islands, has a “1970s-era mansion design aesthetic”. It has created a modern version of the towelling robe with its yellow or tan striped unisex Palm Heights X Bode terry jackets. Made from upcycled towels, they were designed by Emily Bode Aujla, who won a Council of Fashion Designers of America award in 2021. From $800; palmheights.com

10. Those who carted a sad tube of travel wash around during their backpacker days may appreciate a new handheld electronic gadget, the Bosch FreshUp (£250), which claims to be the world’s first device to dissolve odours from clothes without using water, solvents or detergents. Instead, Bosch says it uses “plasma technology” to break the bonds between odour molecules when the device is run over fabric. Alternatively, try hip laundry brand (yes, really) Kair’s finishing sprays (£14) to freshen clothes with scents of wild juniper and bergamot. bosch-home.co.uk; kair.care

11. The new inflatable 12’0” Compact stand-up paddle board from Red Paddle Company (£1,499) is ideal for those who want to explore a coastline or remote lake. With a drawn-out shape to improve glide, and a bungee system for cargo, it packs down to half the size of a standard touring paddle board, thanks to a patented method of folding along a split deck, and can be carried in a lightweight backpack with lumbar support. red-equipment.co.uk

12. Ordnance Survey, the UK’s 230-year-old mapping agency, has been expanding its range of gifts for cartophiles. New this Christmas are sets of dry bags (£40 for three) featuring maps of Scafell Pike, Snowdon and Ben Nevis — perhaps useful if your actual map blows away — and “packing cubes” (£33 for set of three) to separate your toiletries, tech items or clothes within your rucksack. ordnancesurvey.co.uk

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