Navigation menu advice

I was hoping someone might be able to direct me to any resources that could help with the following task I have set myself (much searching on google etc has yet to produce one).
I am creating site that has quite a few pages and would like the navigation menu to be an external piece of xhtml code that can be imported so that, say, I need to add or subtract a link - I do not have to do it across upwards of 25 pages. I'm aware that PHP has an include() function that would be useful, BUT, this is not the preferred option (as is iFrames). How else can I import this menu list into each .html file?

1) Frames: bad option.
2) iFrames: bad option.
3) Server-side includes (SSI): good option. Literal include of another document.
4) Simple include() in your favourite server-side language: moderate option. Does not preserve separation of concerns.
5) Server-side language with templates, include in the template language: good option.