Driving Experiences in January

Nowhere else can you ride a 1950s American convertible through a living city that never replaced them. When the US embargo cut off new cars and parts, Havana kept its Chevrolets, Fords, Buicks and Cadillacs running with improvised engineering, and those almendrones are now the city's signature. The best trips are not a lap of the Malecon in a painted prop but a drive with an owner-mechanic who restored the car himself, out along the seawall, through Vedado and Miramar, past the Plaza de la Revolucion. NostalgiCar, run by a Havana family who also keep a working restoration garage, and OldCarTours both put you with Cuban drivers who know the cars and the streets rather than a scripted photo stop.

Dubai has a higher concentration of high-performance driving options than almost any city outside a dedicated motorsport hub. The Dubai Autodrome in Motor City runs regular track days open to the public, supercar rental companies operate from every tourist district, and a growing number of specialist driving experience providers offer everything from single-seater taster laps to multi-day advanced driver training. The infrastructure is modern, the weather reliable October through April, and the logistics around it are frictionless. For drivers who want to combine a circuit experience with a full city visit, Dubai is the easiest destination on this list.