Nothing gets me through the first few gloomy months of the year like knowing I have a guaranteed holiday ahead. I only have to see the dates in the diary to imagine that blast of oven-warm air when I step off the plane; that first sip of ice-cold rosé in the sun. It’s a good enough reason to get ahead and book this summer’s holiday now.
Of course, the truly organised have already been there, done that and got the booking confirmation email to prove it. But it’s still not too late to find a great break, no matter what the perfect summer holiday looks like to you.
If it involves a beach and a good book, it’s hard to go wrong with the classic Mediterranean destinations. I go to Greece almost every year and nothing says relaxation to me quite like eating a crisp Greek salad outside a taverna by the sea. Venture away from the best-known spots and you’ll bag an even sweeter deal, particularly when travelling with kids in the peak school holiday period. Look instead to Albania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and even the lesser-visited parts of Croatia, where accommodation and food prices are considerably lower.
Some of my most memorable summer holidays have happened when I least expected them. I’ve hiked past waterfalls and wildflower meadows in the Swiss Alps; hired a house in France and whiled away a week cycling, visiting food markets and playing cards; mooched round museums and even gone whale-watching on a coastal city break in Reykjavik. There was barely a pool in sight, yet every trip did exactly what was needed, forcing me to switch off so I returned home feeling more relaxed.
Whether you’re craving a fly-and-flop or prefer to cram in some culture while you’re away, there are ways to cut costs this summer too. Look at flying midweek when prices tend to be cheaper; consider cities and destinations in northern Europe that are less popular with families and Med sunseekers; and don’t even think about travelling in the school holidays unless you have to — June can be half the price. Here are some great holidays for under £800pp to get you dreaming of long summer days.
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1. Five-star beach resort in Parga, Greece
Pretty Parga in the northwest of mainland Greece is a real beauty, with a taverna-lined port, 11th-century hilltop castle and brightly coloured houses overlooking a brilliant blue sea. The five-star Parga Beach Resort is a 20-minute stroll away along a golden beach and offers walking tours of the town as well as sunrise kayaking tours, yacht and bike rental, yoga classes and weekly barbecue nights. Smart airy suites sleeping four have a balcony or terrace and there are four pools, a spa, a waterfront restaurant and a beach bar serving snacks straight to your lounger.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £762pp, including flights
• 16 of the best quiet Greek islands
2. Sport in the sunshine in Murcia, Spain
If the idea of lazing around sipping cocktails for a week fills you with dread, the Grand Hyatt La Manga Club Golf & Spa has plenty to fill your days. Between the Calblanque National Park and the Mediterranean Sea, the five-star resort is a sports fan’s dream, with three golf courses, squash courts, a climbing wall, mini-golf, horse riding facilities, a diving school, a football centre and not one but a whopping 28 tennis courts. There’s also a sprawling subterranean spa, 11 restaurants including an izakaya sushi bar and a regular shuttle service to La Cala beach.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £659pp, including flights
3. Discover Kotor’s old town and peaks near Tivat, Montenegro
It’s worth dragging yourself away from the private 86m beach at the Palma Hotel Tivat in the swish seaside town of Tivat. The superyachts and designer stores of Porto Montenegro are a 15-minute walk away, while the charming Unesco-listed town of Kotor is 20 minutes by car and has medieval city walls, Venetian palaces and a brand-new cable car to whizz up Lovcen mountain for panoramic views over the bay (£19; kotorcablecar.com). The hotel itself has modern, recently renovated rooms, most of which have sea views, a spa with hydro-massage pool and a buffet restaurant.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £783pp, including flights and coach transfers
• 21 of the best luxury villas in Montenegro
4. Hiking and snorkelling in Protaras, Cyprus
With two pools, a tennis court, a beach on the doorstep and all-inclusive packages that offer unlimited ice cream every day, the Tsokkos Protaras Beach Hotel ticks all the fly-and-flop boxes for families. Yet the hotel is also smack-bang in the centre of Protaras town in eastern Cyprus, with its Cypriot restaurants and boutiques if you want to do more than lie by the pool. Go snorkelling in the crystal-clear waters of Fig Tree Bay, hike the trails in Cape Greco National Forest Park or hop in a taxi to Ayia Napa 15 minutes away for beach bars, shopping and an ancient Greece-themed waterpark (from £13; waterworldwaterpark.com).
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £725pp, including flights (olympicholidays.com)
5. See Capri, Positano and Pompeii with a stay in Sorrento, Italy
Spend days gorging on pasta and gelato, pottering round piazzas and sunbathing on a shingle beach in the chic clifftop town of Sorrento. There are regular ferries to the island of Capri (£13; naplesbayferry.com) while the ruins of ancient Pompeii are half an hour by train (from £8; italiatren.com). Stay at Sorrento’s central Hotel La Meridiana. It has a rooftop terrace overlooking the Bay of Naples, simply decorated rooms in all-white with cobalt blue accents, and three-course à la carte dinners included each evening.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £736pp, including flights and coach transfers
6. Adults-only retreat in Tenerife, Spain
There’ll be no bawling babies at the buffet on this week-long escape to the Costa Adeje region of Tenerife. The adult-only Iberostar Selection Sabila is a stylish hotel with minimalist interiors, two ocean-view pools, a spa and Torviscas Beach right outside. There’s a golf course and two waterparks within two miles, or the beachfront town of Los Cristianos is a ten-minute taxi ride away for pavement cafés, street markets and whale-watching boat trips (£17; mardeonstenerife.com).
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £799pp, including flights
• 19 of the best hotels in Tenerife
7. Alpine hiking in Mayrhofen, Austria
Prices plummet in the Alps once the snow melts and the skiers go home, but summer is the best time to enjoy hiking, golfing and whitewater rafting. Stay at the traditional chalet Pension Almhof with its wooden balconies and sun-trap garden and you can walk to the centre of Mayrhofen, where gondolas will whisk you up the Penken and Ahorn mountains for biking, kayaking and cafés with a view. Still pining for snow? The 3,250m high Hintertux glacier is 20 minutes away by car for year-round snowball fights and tobogganing (£40; hintertuxergletscher.at).
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £666pp, including flights
8. All-inclusive on a blue-flag beach in Kusadasi, Turkey
There’s no final bill to fear at the all-inclusive Fantasia De Luxe just outside Kusadasi in Turkey. All meals, snacks and drinks are included, as well as exercise classes, beach volleyball contests, themed buffets and nightly shows at the on-site theatre. There are four pools to choose from, including one just for children, and the hotel is on a 150m-long sandy beach where motorised water sports are available for an extra cost. The Unesco-listed ancient city of Ephesus is half an hour’s drive away.
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £799pp, including flights
9. Culture by the sea in Valletta, Malta
Big-name hotels are best avoided over summer if you’re watching the budget, but you can still smugly snag a bargain at Valletta’s Grand Hotel Excelsior. Built between the city’s bastion walls and the sea, the hotel has its own yacht marina, indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, the only private sandy beach in Valletta and the best breakfast buffet in town. Valletta’s main gate is moments away and the walled city of Mdina is half an hour away by bus (£2.30; publictransport.com.mt).
Details Seven nights’ room-only from £701pp, including flights
• 14 of the best hotels in Valletta
10. City culture and cycling in Copenhagen, Denmark
Avoid beach boredom by opting for an extended city break this summer. Sea-fronting Copenhagen has plenty to fill a week, including canal boat tours (£19; stromma.com), free harbourside swimming pools and excellent museums including the National Museum of Denmark (£16; en.natmus.dk). There are 239 miles of bike lanes to explore plus the central Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park said to have inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland (£19; tivoli.dk). Absalon Hotel is five minutes’ walk from Tivoli and has funky, colourful rooms, a casual café and bikes to hire.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £716pp, including flights (tui.co.uk)
• 17 of the best hotels in Copenhagen
11. Tennis, golf and more in Algarve, Portugal
Pack your clubs for a stay at Penina Hotel & Golf Resort in Portugal’s Algarve, which has a driving range, putting green and two golf courses including one that has hosted the Portuguese Open ten times. Elsewhere, there’s a floodlit tennis court, beach club and jogging track; there’s also a spa, six restaurants and the largest outdoor pool in Portugal if doing nothing’s more your style. Free shuttles are provided to the blue flag-rated Praia de Alvor and the tranquil village, with its restaurant-lined cobbled streets and nearby nature reserve, Ria de Alvor.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £679pp, including flights (trailfinders.com)
• Read our Algarve guide
12. Family-friendly hotel in Sibenik, Croatia
Kids aren’t an afterthought at the Amadria Park Kids Hotel in Sibenik on the Dalmatian coast. Billing itself as Croatia’s first children’s hotel, it has extensive kids’ entertainment from discos to movie nights, several play areas, a games room, pirate-themed mini-golf and a sports centre offering football, basketball and tennis. The vast Aquapark Dalmatia is close by (from £13; aquapark-dalmatia.com), but it’s also well worth a wander around Sibenik itself, which has a postcard-pretty old town, medieval fortress and plenty of ice-cream shops to bribe the kids with.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £726pp, including flights
13. A chic Palermo bolt hole in Sicily, Italy
Variously ruled by the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans and the Greeks, the Sicilian capital of Palermo is a sun-baked maze of medieval alleyways, grandiose piazzas and lavish churches. Days are spent wandering wide boulevards and ambling round markets, but there are white-sand beaches including Mondello and Addaura within easy reach. Stay centrally at the design-led Hotel Plaza Opera, which has a spa with a Turkish bath, a fine-dining restaurant and a rooftop cocktail bar overlooking the city’s rooftops and Utveggion Castle.
Details Seven nights’ room-only from £799pp, including flights
14. Motor your own boat in Brittany, France
Holiday under your own steam by hiring a boat to chug down the waterways of Brittany in northern France. There’s no need for prior experience and boats like the five-sleeper Sheba have a kitchen area, a bathroom and a deck for sunbathing. Sail from Messac and take your time, stopping as you fancy to tour the medieval Château de Josselin in Morbihan, try oysters in La Roche-Bernard or visit the museums of Malestroit. Bring back a baguette, Port Salut fromage and local muscadet for dinner on board.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering £342pp based on five sharing. Take the ferry to St Malo
15. Archaeology and hikes on Crete, Greece
Ever-popular Crete is easier than ever to get to this summer with Jet2 adding new flights to the largest Greek island. With its archaeological sites, peaceful fishing ports and spectacular gorges for hiking, there’s plenty to see beyond the beaches including the Venetian harbour, cobbled streets and 16th-century fortress of the northern city of Rethymno. Stay just outside in the all-inclusive four-star Minos Mare, with its blue flag-rated beach, garden-wrapped pool and seafront fish restaurant.
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £789pp, including flights (olympicholidays.com)
• 23 of the best hotels in Crete for 2025
16. A week by the pool in Marbella, Spain
With more than 300 days of sunshine each year, Marbella is a dead cert for a week of poolside snoozing. In the peaceful residential district of Guadalmina, the Barcelo Marbella is far enough away from the mega-money beach clubs and super-yacht scene of Puerto Banus to guarantee peace and quiet, but still a ten-minute taxi ride when you fancy a night out. There’s a golf course right next door, a wellness centre, two outdoor pools with Balinese beds and an on-site food truck for grab-and-go cocktails and snacks.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £779pp, including flights and transfers
17. Family stay in the forest in Heijen, Netherlands
You might need to win the lottery to book Center Parcs in the UK during the school summer holidays, but hop across the North Sea and you can nab an identical break for half the price. The Het Heijderbos park in the southern Netherlands, an hour’s drive from Eindhoven, has all the same family-friendly perks: cosy forest cabins, a pool complex with rapids and slides, six restaurants and a supermarket for self-catering, plus all kinds of bookable activities from zip wires to an escape room.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering from £312pp based on four sharing (centerparcs.eu). Fly to Eindhoven
18. A villa near the sites in Tuscany, Italy
A Tuscan villa surrounded by cypress trees is the stuff of summer holiday legend, usually with a price tag to match. Yet go with a group of ten and this classic 19th-century stone manor house is almost a bargain. It has five bedrooms, an outdoor dining area, terraced gardens and a decent-sized heated pool, plus there’s wild river swimming nearby in Gorgo del Ciliegio. The historic town of Sansepolcro is two miles away for frescoes by Piero della Francesca, while Perugia, Arezzo and Assisi are within an hour for days out.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering from £596pp based on ten sharing (scottwilliams.co.uk). Fly to Florence
19. Family campsite with a waterpark in St Brevin les Pins, France
You won’t even have to sleep under canvas on this bargain campsite holiday in the Loire-Atlantique region on the west coast of France, two hours from the nearest ferry port in St Malo. You’ll stay in a chalet-style mobile home sleeping four in two bedrooms with a kitchen and covered terrace with sunloungers. Between a forest and a sandy beach, Le Fief campsite has a large waterpark, a kids’ club, a spa, mini golf and a full programme of sports activities. Loire Valley vineyards are within cycling distance.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £462pp, including ferry crossing
20. Island hopping trip in Stockholm, Sweden
Going to Greece isn’t the only option for wannabe island-hoppers. Sweden’s capital is spread over 14 islands, with a further 24,000 in the surrounding archipelago, which should just about keep you busy for a week. Base yourself in Stockholm at the central Scandic Malmen Stockholm, with its in-house pub and bike rental, then take ferries for day trips to islands including forest-filled Arholma and Vaxholm with its cafés and fortress (from £8 return; waxholmsbolaget.se). You could also hike some of the new Stockholm Archipelago Trail, which opened in November linking 22 islands for the first time.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £670pp, including flights
21. Hiking and wellness in Geneva, Switzerland
Avoid the heat of the Med and get some mountain air this summer instead. The four-star Everness Hotel & Resort by Lake Geneva is a 15-minute drive from the city in the Vaud region but you’ll barely budge from the heated outdoor pool with mountain views. There’s an extensive spa, padel courts, a kids’ club and rooms with balconies overlooking the lake. Several hiking and biking trails lead from the hotel, and there’s a winery offering tastings half an hour’s walk away (cavedelacharrue.ch).
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £747pp, including flights
22. A cultural city break in Prague, Czech Republic
Can’t make it away for a full week this summer? Grab a long weekend and squeeze in a city break instead. This Trailfinders package makes it simple, including flights, private transfers, a central four-star hotel, a guided cruise down the Vltava River and a foodie walking tour, trying traditional delicacies including Czech dumplings and strudel. While away the rest of your time strolling the cobbled streets of the old town, gawping at the gothic St Vitus cathedral, taking in the view from the Unesco-listed Prague Castle (go before breakfast to avoid the crowds) or sinking a Czech beer or three.
Details Three nights’ room only from £589pp, including flights, a walking tour and a river cruise (trailfinders.com)
• 21 of the best things to do in Prague for 2025
23. Explore a secret coastline in Portoroz, Slovenia
While Brits flock to the Med, Slovenians keep their own 30-mile coastline on the Istrian peninsula all to themselves. With its clutch of museums, medieval towns and boat-fresh seafood, it has plenty in common with its Italian neighbour apart from the prices. The Hotel Riviera is built directly on a private beach with sea spa pools for wallowing, water sports including jet skis and windsurfing, and a beach club serving locally grown Malvasia wine. A waterfront promenade stretches the two miles to Piran with its Venetian old town, bell tower and salt pans.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £677pp, including flights
24. Ancient sites and sands in Paphos, Cyprus
There are no sweltering coach trips required to tick off the major sights on this holiday to Paphos in southwest Cyprus. The fascinating Unesco-listed archaeological site Tombs of the Kings, which dates from the 3rd century BC, is just across the road from the four-star Avlida Hotel so you can squeeze in some culture between cocktails (£2; gov.cy/culture). The beach is a ten-minute walk away and the bars, restaurants and harbour of Paphos are a quick taxi ride. There’s also nightly live music, quizzes and karaoke in the hotel itself.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £501pp, including flights
25. A beachside bargain in Marmaris, Turkey
One-bedroom apartments at Club Candan in Marmaris in southwest Turkey come with a lounge, a balcony for pre-dinner drinks from the nearby supermarket, and a fully equipped kitchenette so you can rustle up a few meals yourself and drastically cut costs. There’s a weekly Turkish barbecue with belly dancing when you fancy a night off cooking, and the complex is just a ten-minute walk to both the beach and the centre of Marmaris. Rooms face a lagoon pool with a waterslide, snack bar and children’s paddling pool.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering from £430pp, including flights and transfers
26. Luxe sea-view apartments in Sardinia, Italy
If you can’t quite stretch to your very own Sardinian villa, the Residence Il Mitro is the next best thing. Surrounded by olive trees, this cluster of apartments — each with its own kitchenette, terrace and entrance — share a large seawater pool and there are two sandy beaches steps away. A motorboat can whisk you from the private pier to tour the nearby La Maddalena Islands with white-sand beaches and turquoise waters reminiscent of the Caribbean.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for five from £783pp (sardinianplaces.co.uk). Fly to Olbia
27. Feasting and fine wine in a château near Lyons, France
There’s no school holiday price increase with this package from Contiki as this is strictly an adults-only holiday. It includes three nights in a 16th-century château surrounded by vineyards where you’ll enjoy a welcome cheese and wine party, yoga on the lawn, a visit to a Beaujolais winery for a vino-paired lunch and a foodie walking tour of Lyons, which has more restaurants per head than any other city in France. Toast your final night with an included farewell dinner in Oignt, officially designated one of the most beautiful villages of France.
Details Three nights’ half-board from £472pp, including some extra meals, a walking tour, vineyard visit and yoga class. Fly to Lyons
28. Beach clubs and kayaking in Ksamil, Albania
Fancy the talcum powder-white sand and clear azure water of the Maldives without the long-haul flight? The beach resort of Ksamil on the Albanian Riviera has been dubbed Europe’s answer to the Indian Ocean paradise but with rock-bottom prices. Hotels are fairly basic but the Nobbu Hotel Ksamil has a knockout seafront location and trendy beach clubs within walking distance. Snorkel straight from the sand or rent a glass-bottomed kayak to explore the uninhabited islands off the coast (£21; @ksamil_water_sport).
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £357pp, including flights
• How this surprising country became Europe’s best-value luxury stay
29. France’s well-heeled island in Corsica, France
Best known for its clifftop towns, show-stopping beaches and well-heeled holidaymakers, this French island next to Sardinia has long been a favourite stop for passing billionaires’ yachts. Avoid the popular south coast and head north to stay for less at the family-run Hôtel Beau Rivage, which is right on the beach in the village of Algajola and has 27 elegant rooms and a seafront terrace for breakfast. Jump on the coastal narrow-gauge train to visit Calvi 20 minutes away with its medieval citadel and stylish harbour (£5 one-way; train-corse.com).
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £712pp, including flights (justcorsica.co.uk)
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