Thanks to the alchemy of good temperatures, lower prices and wider choice, the next six weeks are a golden time in Europe’s key holiday destinations. The French have left Corsica and the Italians their neighbouring island of Sardinia because they wouldn’t dream of staying on after the end of August. The British have never subscribed to such prescriptive behaviour, which means we can nip into their villas and spin out summer for a delightful few extra weeks of sunset-gazing and wearing linen shirts and floaty kaftans to the local market.
Prices lower dramatically for villas – especially those that sleep five or more – but temperatures should only be dipping a little for the next few weeks. If hotels are more your mood, some of the smaller and most adorable ones, even on the Côte d’Azur or surfy Comporta in Portugal, are likely to have availability. As a bonus, with fewer holidaymakers around, you can pretty much bank on walking into the beachside restaurant and finding a table.
The waters of the Med have had months to warm up and you’ll still find proper temperature highs in places such as Cyprus. We’ve also cast our net towards Turkey and Morocco, where, with luck, for the first time this summer, it won’t be too hot to wander around a souk but you’ll still love cooling down in your hotel’s pool. Activity holidays – whether you want to go kiteboarding in Portugal, kayaking around Kas in Turkey, or sailing around the Canaries – become pleasurable rather than heat-related endurance tests.
When it comes to the places and activities that shine in September, we haven’t just concentrated on beach resorts. Locals are currently displacing backpackers at cafe tables as Italian and Spanish cities dial down from baking to pleasingly hot and urban cultural life returns; the new opera season at La Fenice in Venice starts this weekend.
In the perverse way that British weather always has, UK temperatures may even rise this month, so we’ve included a couple of staycation options too, especially if this week’s air traffic control issues have put you off flying.