3 exotic year-end holiday destinations

For many years, Singapore has been well connected by air to Western Europe, the United States, and many parts of Asia.

Now with new, expanded flight networks, previously hard-to-reach regions  are now a possibility as a year-end holiday choice.

Helsinki: Appreciate design in a design capital

At first glance, Helsinki is a modest, well-kept city. Look closer and you will find creative energy, style and culture running through its Finnish veins. In May 2011, Finnair started flying direct to Helsinki from Singapore every day.

New flight time: 12 hours

Old flight time: 18 hours with a layover in Hong Kong

In that time you could …

Have dinner at Luomo: One of Helsinki’s four Michelin-starred restaurants, Luomo (Vironkatu 8, FI-00170 Helsinki; +358 9 135 7287; www.luomo.fi/en) was conferred the prestigious ranking in 2011 and serves a modern degustation menu featuring fusion dishes like foie gras miso and Lebanon lamb. For the most stellar dining though, head to Chez Dominque (Rikhardinkatu 4, 00130 Helsinki; +358 9 612 7393), a French-Nordic institution that has two-Michelin stars and was placed 23 on S. Pellegrino’s World’s Best 50 Restaurants of 2010.

Visit Helsinki’s Design District: As its name implies, it is a neighborhood where art and creativity flourish. Among the dozens of galleries, boutique hotels, shops and cafes, zero in on the Design Museum, the Museum of Finnish Architecture and Design Forum -- an absolutely delightful design shop and showcase offering products from the city’s cutting edge designers.

Other reasons to visit: This is a serious northern European city that has plenty of art, culture and a beautiful waterfront locale. Summer is obviously the best time to visit, during which the city’s squares and streets come alive as people emerge from their winter hideouts. St. Petersburg is only a day trip away by boat.

Where to stay: Hip boutique hotels are where savvy travelers stay in Helsinki. Crowning the crop is Klaus K (Bulevardi 2-4, 00120 Helsinki; +358 20 770 4700; www.klauskhotel.com). Founded and run by Marc and Mia Skvorc, each of the hotel's 137 rooms reflects one of Finland's national Kalevala epic's emotional themes, such as mysticism, passion, desire, or even envy. A newer addition to the boutique hotel scene is Hotel Fabian (Fabianinkatu 7, 00130 Helsinki; +358 9 6128 2000; www.hotelfabian.fi), a stylish 58-room establishment right next to the Design District and a short walk from the Market Square.

São Paulo: Live it up in a vibrant city

An urban giant, São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil and indeed the whole southern hemisphere. To say that 17 million people inhabit this mega-opolis is a conservative estimate. It is also the most culturally diverse and its overflowing calendar of events, including the Brazilian Grand Prix, means there’s always something happening year round. In March 2011 Singapore Airlines started flying to São Paulo via Barcelona, reducing the length of a very long flight drastically.

New flight time: 24 hours with a layover in Barcelona

Old flight time: 30-40 hours with layovers in New York and a European city, usually London, Paris or Frankfurt

In that time you could …

Visit Ibirapuera Park: The most frequented park in the city, home to joggers, picnickers, street vendors, buskers and performers as well as the Modern Art Museum and Japanese Pavilion. Some of the city’s biggest art events are also held here; the famous São Paulo Biennale and São Paulo International Art Fair.

Party at Carnival: While Rio de Janeiro’s carnival may be more famous, São Paulo’s is no less celebratory. Taking place at the Sambódromo, a purpose built parade square, but spilling over onto the streets, São Paulo’s carnival is a sea of feathered and masked samba dancers battling it out for supremacy. It takes places on a weekend at the end of February or beginning of March.

Attend a gay parade: One parade that São Paulo does than Rio is Gay Pride. The largest Pride parade in the world, São Paulo’s Gay Pride drew an astounding four million participants this year. Pride events stretched over the month of June, and included talks, fairs, Gay Day at theme park Play Center and, of course, the fabulous, flamboyant parade.

Other reasons to visit: In this teeming city you can find anything and everything, more than 100 museums, theatrerd staging ballet, opera and drama, major concerts, big sporting events, and a dizzying array of shops, restaurants, bars and clubs.

Where to stay: Many of this sprawling city’s hotels are clustered around Ibirapuera Park. To splurge check into the luxurious Hotel Sofitel (Rua Sena Madureira 1355 Bloco 1, Ibirapuera, São Paulo 04021051; +55 11 32010800; www.sofitel.com). For something more affordable try the Novotel São Paulo (Rua Sena Madureira 1355, Bloco 2, Ibirapuera, São Paulo 04021051; +55 11 2853 7900; www.novotel.com).

Vladivostok: Discover an Eastern frontier

The final stop on the serpentine Trans-Siberian railway, this Russian city is located in the wild southeastern frontier of the Federation. Described as a “wayward son.” Vladivostok has many off-roads and hidden gems to explore. Since October 2011, Vladivostok Air has been flying from Singapore to Vladivostok twice a week.

New flight time: 10-12 hours with a layover in Hong Kong.

Old flight time: Previously, getting to Vladivostok was a pain. Flights often involved multiple stops in a combination of Guangzhou, Beijing, Harbin, Tokyo or Seoul and took anywhere between 14-25 hours.

• More on CNNGo: From Vladivostok to Singapore, with love

In that time you could …

Do a walking tour of the city: With its hilly streets and mix of old and new, Soviet and commercial edifices, just moving around on foot will give you a good sense of the place. Don’t miss the waterfront areas, where you will find bars and restaurants, historical buildings and statues and some of the amazing views of Golden Horn Bay.

Other reasons to visit: The secret land of Kamchatka is just a short flight away. Closed to the world and even to Russians until quite recently, this is a magical wilderness lost in time. Volcanoes and geysers rule the earth here as they have for thousands of years, and the glaciers, forests, rivers and seas of this garden of Eden are brimming with wolves, bears, minks, salmon, cod and other wildlife that struggle to survive elsewhere. Tours can be organized from Vladivostok.

Where to stay: Good hotels are hard to come by in this town that is still rough around the edges. That might change when the Hyatt opens two properties here in 2012 but for now one of the best of the lot appears to be the Azimut Amur Bay Hotel (Naberezhnaya Str.9, Vladivostok 690091; +7 423 246 2090; www.azimuthotels.ru) with a fabulous view of the bay.