The 20 best value summer holiday destinations (2024)

What goes up must come down. That’s the theory, anyway. But while gravity suffers no fools or exceptions, the cost of living seems to be obsessed with one direction, and one direction only.

Nothing to do with Harry Styles, of course; just the prices of everything from fuel to household energy via tubs of butter and boxes of eggs – all of which have risen consistently over the last few months, while showing no ambition to fall back to the levels they were at even a year ago. Inflation? We’re all stuck in one giant bouncy castle.

So where does this leave the humble holiday? With budgets gnawed at all sides, and the monthly pay-cheque fighting a rearguard action against a stream of outgoings, the dash to the beach in July must be under threat, right? Well perhaps. Or perhaps not.

History has shown that, in tough economic times, we tend to keep our main summer escapes in the lifeboat long after our big nights out, theatre tickets and restaurant feasts have been consigned to the depths. The turbulence of 2023 is no different. Survey results released by the travel-industry body ABTA on January 6 revealed that 61 per cent of Britons still intend to go abroad this year (with 31 per cent of us booking early). Crisis? What crisis?

Still, there is a difference between a stubborn determination to feel the sun on your skin and the sand between your toes, and financial recklessness. We may be resolute in our desire to get away, but there is no harm in trying to do so without counting the last penny.

In other words, 2023 may be the year of the low-cost hot-weather break. The 20 holidays laid out below share a few things in common. All of them avoid the more notably expensive hotspots of the European summer – the Cote D’Azur, the Amalfi Coast, the most gilded islands of the Greek Aegean. All of them pin their hopes to the months of June, July and August. And all of them deliver their promise for under £1,000 per person.

Cheap? That’s a matter of personal perspective. Cheerful? That’s the idea. When the headlines are bleak and the future uncertain, a holiday can be a gloriously restorative thing – even, or perhaps especially, if it costs a little less than you might ordinarily spend.

Here are 20 options to get you started.

A sure thing in Saranda

Albania often crops up in articles such as this, hailed as “the last undiscovered corner of the Adriatic” (or some such combination of words), where seaside bargains are still to be had. While there is an accuracy to this – Greece’s north-westerly neighbour is undoubtedly cheap, and certainly less appreciated as a destination than the likes of Italy and Croatia – the standard cautionary caveat about the poor quality of its beach hotels is increasingly out of date. Albania has a solid range of waterside properties, especially if you head for southerly Saranda – where you can look across to Corfu from your balcony.

Do it: Sunvil (020 8758 4758; sunvil.co.uk) has a seven-night B&B break to the four-star Brilant Hotel, flying from Birmingham on June 25, from £950 per person

Balkan bliss in Portoroz

Croatia’s seemingly unstoppable rise as a favoured destination for European sun-seekers has come – in places – with upwardly mobile prices to match. The same “popularity inflation” is less in evidence in its immediate neighbour to the north.

Slovenia can claim a mere sliver of Adriatic coast; just 29 miles of it before Italy draws its own line down to the water. But it makes the most of these slim pickings on the Piran peninsula – where the town of the same name offers the churches and orange rooftops so visible on Croatian postcards, and the resort zone of Portoroz deals in comfortable hotels on sheltered waters.

Do it: Balkan Holidays (020 75435555; balkanholidays.co.uk) has a one-week half-board stay at the four-star Hotel Riviera, flying from Gatwick on July 30, from £879 a head.

Hot weather, low cost, in Hammamet

The smallest nation on the broad shoulder of North Africa is a low-cost option whichever season you choose. In truth, the general perception of Tunisia as a destination is yet to recover in full from the terror attacks of 2015, but it remains a quietly welcoming country with gorgeous beaches – and prices can be very competitive, even at the height of August.

Do it: Sunshine (0871 223 3160; sunshine.co.uk) has a seven-night all-inclusive getaway to the four-star seafront Houda Yasmine Hammamet resort, flying from Gatwick on August 8, from £809 per person (including transfers and checked bags).

Meet in the middle in Montenegro

There is, of course, a middle-ground between Albania and Croatia. Literally, in the case of Montenegro, which sits directly between them. It serves up some of the former’s semi-undiscovered aesthetic on 182 miles of Adriatic seafront, where the Dynamic Alps never feel very far away – and lots of the latter’s sophistication in the resorts along the waves. Depending on where you choose, the price can be more Albanian than Dalmatian Riviera.

Do it: Love Holidays (01234 230 440; loveholidays.com) has a seven-night stay at the four-star Palmon Bay Hotel & Spa (all but on the Croatian border at Igalo), flying from Stansted on August 1, from £948 per person (with transfers and checked bags).

Main attractions on the inverted Ionian

You can spend a sizeable amount on a high-season dash to one of the more elegant Greek islands; equally, you can save a euro or two if you choose the mainland over the sun-kissed outcrops of the Aegean or Ionian. That said, you can still enjoy the latter sea if you aim for Epirus, the most north-westerly corner of the country, where Greece pushes up against the Albanian border – just from the inside looking out, rather than from a villa on Corfu. Not that there will be a drop in the quality of your holiday if you organise a week in Parga – an endlessly pretty town which adorns the seafront, directly across from Paxos.

Do it: Olympic Holidays (020 84926868; olympicholidays.com) has a week’s stay for a family of four at the five-star Parga Beach Resort, flying from Manchester to Preveza – the best-placed airport for the mainland north-west – on August 6, from £3,501 in total.

More than the medina in Marrakech

The country at Africa’s north-west corner is an increasingly solid choice for good-value winter sun; its 1,140 miles of coastline stretching languidly from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. But it also works if you really want to raise the temperature in summer. And you don’t necessarily need the seafront for this. For all its image as a hub of mysticism and markets, Marrakech – which roasts at around 35C in July and August – is also a place for indolence, its perimeter dotted with resorts where you barely need to leave your lounger.

Do it: First Choice (020 3451 2716; firstchoice.co.uk) offers a week’s all-inclusive stay at the four-star Riu Tikida Garden, flying from Bristol on July 31, from £786 per person.

Look North on the shore of Lake Ohrid

It isn’t a million miles from Parga to Ohrid; just 240, in fact. But while Greece and North Macedonia are rarely the best of friends (the “North” was added to the latter’s name in 2019, to distinguish it from the Greek region), there is a certain symmetry in mountainous scenery, temperature and helpful pricing. Of course, North Macedonia has no coastline, but it does have one of Europe’s overlooked treasures. The small city of Ohrid sits on the lake of the same name; an inland sea of sorts – with hotels and summer weather to match.

Do it: Regent (0117 453 7485; regent-holidays.co.uk) serves up “City and Lakes: Skopje & Lake Ohrid”, an eight-day tour of the country. From £910 per person, including flights.

Beyond Bodrum in tempting Turkey

The south-west corner of Turkey – where a country which straddles two continents pushes an elbow into the Aegean – is rarely anything but a competitively priced option for British holidaymakers; equipped with numerous affordable resorts, and underpinned by a currency (the lira) that never seems to offer bad value, however the pound behaves.

Do it: Some 50 miles north of glitzier Bodrum, Yalikoy can deliver further savings for those keeping a rein on the budget. On The Beach (0871 474 3000; onthebeach.co.uk) has a seven-night all-inclusive break for a family of four to the five-star Lucas Didim Resort, flying from Newcastle on July 27, from £843 per person (£3,370 in total).

Mid-priced magic at Mellieha

Although it sits within the Eurozone, Malta is generally as reliable a source of holiday value as Turkey; a little-country-that-can whose flanks are lined with good-quality hotels, many of them peering out over beaches of suitable softness. Mellieha, at the north end of the main island, is a case in point – snoozing in the sun next to the bay of the same name.

Do it: Tui (020 3451 2688; tui.co.uk) sells summer getaways to the Db Seabank Resort & Spa – an enormous family-friendly four-star resort on the seafront at Mellieha, festooned with a variety of indoor and outdoor pools. A seven-night all-inclusive stay for a family of four, departing from Gatwick on July 28, costs from £2,845 in total (£712 per person).

Betting on Black in Bulgaria

The wide body of water which waits at the “other” end of Europe is also often mentioned in articles such as this, and generally with as much of a sneer as is directed at Albania. But the Black Sea is a perfectly viable destination if all you want of a holiday is a beach and a suntan. Bulgaria is perhaps the most accessible of the countries along the water’s edge; not just because it has 235 miles of shoreline, but because you can fly straight into Varna – easyJet offers a direct summer service from Gatwick. The city is Bulgaria’s third biggest, and its main port, but you can still find comfy hotels and soft sands on its fringes.

Do it: Easyjet Holidays (0330 5515165; easyjet.com/holidays) has an all-inclusive week for a family of four at the four-star Marina Grand Beach Hotel, flying out on July 23, for £2,641 in all.

Golden sands beyond the Green Line

While its status remains deeply controversial – it has been occupied by Turkey since 1974, and the invasion which sundered the island into two parts – “Northern Cyprus” generally makes for a less expensive week’s holiday on the Mediterranean’s third biggest island than the resorts in the more celebrated south of the country. For that lower price, you can hole up in a hotel near Kyrenia (known as “Girne” by Turkish-Cypriots), the coastal city whose impressively sturdy castle has witnessed the Roman, Lusignan, Venetian and Ottoman eras – as well as the current long-running state of stable instability.

Do it: Opodo (020 7660 8892; opodo.co.uk) offers a one-week all-inclusive stay at the four-star Riverside Garden Resort, flying from Heathrow on July 29, from £717 per person.

Courting the Caspian in Azerbaijan

If you are determined to push the concept of a low-cost European beach break to one of its geographical extremes, you might wander all the way east to Azerbaijan, and the line in the sand where the continent draws to a close on the shore of the Caspian Sea (cartographers, reply with your furious counter-arguments online). It means a flight of no meagre distance (2,450 miles and more than five hours), but the reward is a capital of futuristic gleam – Baku’s skyscrapers preen at the water’s edge – and a surrounding peninsula (the Absheron) whose beaches bask in temperatures of 30C in July and August.

Do it: Expedia (020 3024 8211; expedia.co.uk) has a seven-night stay at the AF Hotel & Aqua Park (a four-star retreat with a wealth of pools and slides, on the north flank of the peninsula at Novkhani), flying from Stansted on July 23, costs from £816 per person.

Back to basics in Brittany

The simplest way to keep costs in check on a summer break is to retreat into the Eighties, and the form of family holiday that was so prevalent before the budget-airline boom: the “camping” escape into northern France. Fortunately, sites are much more elaborate than they were 40-odd years ago; cosy cabins have long since superseded the creak of canvas.

Do it: Eurocamp (01606 787 125; eurocamp.co.uk) offers a range of parks in Brittany – including Des Menhirs, a four-star enclave with a swathe of pools, slides and kids’ clubs, on the south side of the peninsula at Carnac. A seven-night break for a family of four in a two-bedroom “Classic” cabin (which comes with bunk beds), checking in on August 12, costs from £1,283 in total (rising to £2,031, including return Portsmouth-St Malo ferries).

Don’t Knokke it, try it, in Belgium

France is not the only possibility for a ferry-hop to the continent in August, but it is certainly more appreciated than Belgium, whose shoreline is rarely considered by those planning a high-season getaway. This is a shame, as these 42 miles of dunes and small towns have a quaint loveliness in summer – and lie within easy reach for British tourists.

Even Knokke, the most genteel of Belgium’s seaside resorts, which all but spills over the border with the Netherlands, is just 85 miles up the coast from Calais. It offers access to the tidal inlets of the Zwin nature reserve (zwin.be), as well as its own long line of beach.

Do it: Vrbo (020 8827 1971; vrbo.com) has a wide selection of properties in Knokke, including a two-bedroom apartment (ref: 11203997), suitable for a family of four, which can be hired in the week starting August 5 for £1,406 in total (not including travel costs).

Channel your energies in Guernsey

You don’t even need to leave the British Isles if the old-fashioned throwback of a ferry into the blue really appeals. The second largest of the Channel Islands, Guernsey, lives – in the nicest possible way – in something of a time-warp, with its small hotels, seafront strolls and gentle atmosphere. And while you won’t necessarily break a sweat in its mid-summer heat (about 20C), the cost of a holiday on its sands won’t break the budget either.

Do it: Channel Islands Direct (0800 640 9058; channelislandsdirect.co.uk) has a nine-night getaway to the three-star Saints Bay hotel, on the south coast of the island at Icart Point, driving across via car-ferry from Poole on July 28, from £880 per person.

Constanta craving in Romania

Immediately to the north, Romania cannot match its neighbour for length of Black Sea coast (“just” the 152 miles), but it deals in the same happy simplicities – hotels of more than sufficient quality, overlooking broad curves of sand, at acceptable prices, and under a sun beaming at around 26C in July and August. The most obvious plan is to aim for Constanta; a seafront city which, founded in 600BC, can claim to be one of Europe’s oldest. More relevantly, it also receives a direct flight from the UK; Wizz Air from Luton.

Do it: A seven-night stay at the four-star Hotel Continental Forum Constanta (on Playa Modern), flying out on July 30, costs from £799 per person (0905 707 000; wizzair.com).

Peace and pedalling in coastal Denmark

Going north for a European beach is no bad idea. In fact, it might be worth flying further than you think, to the lower reaches of Scandinavia. Denmark may not offer incessant heat in high summer, but the low Twenties Celsius will be enough if what you want is a holiday defined by sea breezes, safe cycle paths and a general air of unhurried relaxation.

Do it: Located some 50 miles south of Copenhagen, the Feddet Strand Resort is the sort of “campsite” that Denmark does so well – a five-star retreat next to the beach, with cabins, playgrounds, pools and bicycles for rent. Vacansoleil (0333 700 5050; vacansoleil.co.uk) has a seven-night stay in a two-bedroom “Chalet Iroko” (large enough for a family of four), arriving on August 5, from £1,476 in total (flights extra).

All aglow in the Algarve

If you are going to aim for a blue-riband European beach zone amid the airport rush of the school summer holidays, Portugal tends to be much kinder to British wallets than Italy’s hotspots or the south of France. Such is the scope and scale of the accommodation market in the Algarve that even the busiest month of the year for holidays on the sand – August – does not have to mean prices that will keep you awake long after you fly home.

Do it: Carvoeiro is one of the Algarve’s best-equipped tourism hotspots. Jet2 Holidays (0800 408 0778; jet2holidays.com) has a seven-night self-catering stay at Colina Village (a comfy cluster of three-star apartments, with pools and tennis courts) for a family of four, flying from Glasgow on August 5, from £2,612 in total (£653 a head).

Costa living in southern Spain

The same equation – take an Iberian beach zone and multiply it by a staggering range of accommodation options – means competitive packages are available east of the Algarve and over the border on Spain’s Costa del Sol. True, there are pricey, glamorous resorts around Marbella – but in a region so devoted to tourism, mid-range hotels also abound.

Do it: A week at the four-star Senator Marbella Spa, flying from Gatwick on August 5, starts at £653 per person via British Airways Holidays (0344 493 0787; ba.com/holidays).

Slide away to the Balearics

It pays to be picky if you prefer Spain’s Balearic Islands to its mainland Costas. Mallorca has a near-endless supply of accommodation, but its villas tend to be highly priced in August; Ibiza’s chic vibe is often reflected in the cost of staying there. Menorca, though, is a splendid compromise – less fashionable than its archipelago colleagues (though no less beautiful), and happy to play inexpensive host as summer unfurls along its shoreline.

Do it: Thomas Cook (020 8016 3295; thomascook.com) offers getaways to the Hotel Sur Menorca & Splash – a four-star resort with its own waterpark at Punta Prima. A one-week stay for a family of four, flying from East Midlands on August 13, starts at £2294 in total.

Related Topics

• Europe,
• Cost of living crisis