Destination guides

Short-haul (mainland)… EUR

Spain

Britain's number-one holiday country rewards picking one trip and going deep, whether that's a Barcelona city break, a Costa beach week or Andalusia's postcard south.

Western Europe

France

Your nearest big holiday country, and the one you can reach without flying — Eurostar to central Paris in about 2h16, or your own car on the ferry.

Short-haul — and the… EUR

Short-haul (north); m… EUR

Italy

Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples: Italy rewards picking one or two and going deep, with the Frecciarossa spine doing the heavy lifting between them.

Short/medium-haul — a… EUR

Greece

With Athens on the mainland and a hundred-plus inhabited islands offshore, the single choice that shapes your whole holiday is which island.

Short-haul (mainland)… EUR

Portugal

One small country holds four holidays: city breaks in Lisbon and Porto, an Algarve beach week, Madeira's mild walking and the Douro's wine.

Ireland

Under the Common Travel Area you can live and work here without a stamp, so the only real choice is whether to drive the wild west coast or stay car-free in the cities.

North America

United States

The hard part of America isn't the language, it's the small print: an approved ESTA that still doesn't guarantee entry, and a shelf price that's never the price you pay.

Long-haul USD

Northwestern Europe

Netherlands

Amsterdam is a sub-90-minute flight or a direct Eurostar, and every other Dutch city is a short train ride on, making this the natural long-weekend country.

Western Asia / Mediterranean

Turkey

Three very different holidays sit under one flag: a city break straddling two continents in Istanbul, charter-flight beaches on the Aegean, and dawn balloons over Cappadocia's rock valleys.

Medium-haul (just und… TRY

Poland

Kraków's medieval square, Warsaw's rebuilt museums and a pint for around £3 make Poland the best-value city break a short flight from the UK.

Short-haul PLN

Germany

Pick one trip and go deep — Berlin's history, Bavaria's beer halls, the castle-strewn Rhine or the December markets — and let the ICE, not a hire car, link it up.

Medium-haul, but it l… EUR

Eastern Mediterranean

Cyprus

The Med's sunniest island also feels the most familiar — English everywhere, driving on the left, UK plugs — and rewards a one-base week with a hire car.

Croatia

Really one long, island-fringed coastline, so the win is choosing your stretch — walled Dubrovnik, lively Split or the islands — not driving the lot.

Short-haul-long / med… EGP

North Africa

Egypt

Two trips wear one flag here: a low-hassle Red Sea beach week, or the Pyramids and Luxor culture circuit — and the mistake is treating them as the same holiday.

Middle East

United Arab Emirates

Britain's favourite winter-sun long-haul comes with a live caveat: as of June 2026 the FCDO advises against all but essential travel, so reconfirm the position before you book anything.

Long-haul AED

Malta

UK plugs, English everywhere and driving on the left make Malta the easiest Mediterranean island to land in, a legacy of 150 years as a British colony.

Medium-haul EUR

Switzerland

Go slow and go by train: Lucerne, Zermatt and the Jungfrau reward the rail traveller, and the real question is whether the Swiss Travel Pass earns its keep against the eye-watering prices.

Short-haul CHF

Austria

Three different holidays under one flag — imperial Vienna and Salzburg, Tyrolean ski weeks, summer on the Salzkammergut lakes — and the trick is choosing just one.

North Africa

Morocco

Under four hours from Gatwick lands you somewhere that feels a world away, best treated as a Marrakech-and-desert touring loop rather than a beach holiday.

Short-haul MAD

South Asia

India

Brits tend to rush India or overthink it; give the Golden Triangle a proper week, sort the £20 e-visa online, and it rewards going slow.

Long-haul INR

Southeast Asia

Thailand

Here the calendar matters more than the map: the Andaman and the Gulf coasts run on opposite monsoons, so you book your beach by the month, not the brochure.

Long-haul THB

Short-haul, single ga… HUF

Hungary

For most Brits Hungary means Budapest — a grand riverside capital of thermal baths and ruin bars, priced well below Western Europe and barely two hours away.

Southeast Europe

Bulgaria

Prices shape everything in the EU's cheapest country, whether you come for Bansko's ski weeks, the Black Sea in summer or Roman Plovdiv.

Short/medium-haul EUR

Nordic Europe

Iceland

Waterfalls, glaciers and the northern lights are the draw, not Reykjavík — a three-hour flight to a nature trip where the F-road rule can void your hire-car insurance.

Short-haul ISK

North America

Mexico

There are two Mexicos: the all-inclusive Caribbean of Cancún and the Riviera Maya, and Mexico City, one of the world's great food-and-culture capitals.

Long-haul MXN

North America

Canada

It's the second-largest country on earth, so the biggest planning win is admitting you can't see it in a fortnight and picking one region.

Long-haul CAD

North Africa

Tunisia

Three hours from Gatwick for winter sun, Carthage and a fringe of Sahara, so long as you know where the FCDO's no-go border zones actually fall.

Short-haul TND

East Asia

Japan

Britain's favourite long-haul adventure goes wrong when you over-pack the map; the first trip is Tokyo and Kyoto done well, nothing more.

Long-haul JPY

Southern Africa

South Africa

Cape Town and the Garden Route are a relaxed self-drive coast; the Kruger is a Big Five safari running on a different season entirely, so plan it as two trips.

Long-haul (overnight,… ZAR

Oceania

Australia

Everything sits further apart than Brits expect, so the real question is which corner you give your fortnight to — not how to cram it all in.

Ultra-long-haul AUD

Southeast Asia

Vietnam

A 1,650km country shaped like a stretched 'S', where north, centre and south run on three different weather clocks and that geography quietly drives every good decision you make.

Long-haul VND

Southeast Asia

Indonesia

Most Brits say 'Bali' and mean Indonesia, an archipelago so big that picking a single island for the week is the only honest plan.

Long-haul IDR

South Asia

Sri Lanka

The best-value long-haul holiday Britain can take right now is also the easiest to mistime, with two monsoons crossing the island and a free 30-day ETA to sort first.

Long-haul LKR

Caribbean

Dominican Republic

Most Brits book this as an all-inclusive package and barely think again — and for a resort beach week, that instinct is mostly right.

Long-haul beach DOP

Caribbean

Jamaica

Ten hours nonstop to Montego Bay and English everywhere, but the trip turns on one call: all-inclusive resort or strike out independent.

Long-haul JMD

Caribbean

Barbados

The Caribbean island that asks the least of a UK traveller: nonstop from London, no visa, English everywhere, and ZR vans most tourists never try.

Medium/long-haul BBD

Indian Ocean

Mauritius

Most people buy Mauritius as a package and never research it, which is how they miss that flights leave Gatwick not Heathrow and the choice of coast shapes the whole week.

Long-haul MUR

Indian Ocean

Maldives

The villa matters less than how you reach it: seaplane, speedboat or domestic flight from Malé is the decision that makes or breaks a Maldives week.

Long-haul MVR

Southeast Europe

Montenegro

Three hours to the Adriatic and it pays in euros despite sitting outside the EU, so fly into Tivat and time your Kotor visit around the cruise-ship crush.