If, like me, you are despairing of the British summer this year and craving some sunshine, then it’s not too late to grab a holiday in Greece. One of my suppliers has some great offers for trips starting between 18 August and 3 September to various Greek islands from £629 pp (assuming two people share a room and including flights from Gatwick or Manchester – other airports available). If you’re interested, then please get in touch.
But perhaps you want to wait until schools are back and get your dose of vitamin D later in the year. In that case, read on for my top 5 recommendations for sun in autumn and early winter. All my recommendations are less than 7 hours’ direct flying time from the UK, offer reliably warm weather, little chance of rain, gorgeous landscapes and more to do than lie on a beach.
Please get in touch if you would like help booking these destinations. In most cases it costs no more to book through me than booking direct with a tour operator but you will have the advantage of a friendly personal travel agent, available outside office hours, full of creative ideas who can help you find the best tour operator for your trip or help you build the trip yourself. No job too big or small!
Autumn Sunshine Holiday Inspiration
Cape Verde
November is the start of the dry season in the Cape Verde Islands and a lovely time of year to go to see the verdant valleys as well as the more drier lunar landscapes and of course white sand beaches. Although many visitors go to Cape Verde to flop on the beautiful beaches, there is so much more to discover in these islands. I would suggest you visit at least one or two other islands during your trip. Perfect for a ten day blast of sunshine in November and also a great hiking destination.You can taste delicious fish and sea food (I have never eaten so much tuna carpaccio!) and amazing locally grown food. As well as hiking, you can take sailing trips (maybe even see whales), snorkel and kite surf. Flying time is just around six hours on direct flights from the UK. But you can also combine a trip to Cape Verde with a couple of days in Lisbon en route. The islands have consistently warm day time temperatures of mid twenties.
Click here to read more about trips to Cape Verde
Jordan
After the scorching heat of the summer months when temperatures are often in the forties, October is a lovely time of year to visit Jordan. Just a 5 ½ hour flight from the UK, Jordan has a near perfect combination of history and culture, adventure, stunning landscapes and some excellent resorts for topping up your tan (and floating in the dead sea of course!). The most iconic sites in Jordan are Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. Although these should definitely be on your itinerary, there are some other less visited sites which you should visit including some Roman ruins to rival Rome, a biosphere reserve where you can take some lovely hikes, and a number of important religious sites such as Mount Nebo where God showed Moses the promised land. The food is delicious too. In Aqaba in the south and also in the Dead Sea, temperatures stay in the mid-twenties well into November, although the rest of the country starts to get chilly. If you travel in November, you can also take advantage of Easyjet flights to Aqaba from Gatwick which are significantly cheaper than direct flights with Royal Jordanian.
Click here to read about trips to Jordan
Tenerife
September and October are great times to visit the quieter areas of Tenerife and its sister island La Gomera. For those of you that like walking, these islands provide some great trails in volcanic landscapes and cloud forest. If you don’t fancy the 10 hour strenuous trek to the summit of mount Teide you can take a cable car for the fantastic views. I suggest staying in one of the lovely boutique hotels in the quieter authentic towns of Garachico and San Christobel de Laguna. Flying time is between 4 -5 hours with an onward ferry for La Gomera and temperatures are generally in the high twenties at this time of year.
Click here to read more about Tenerife and La Gomera
Morocco
September and October are a lovely time to visit Morrocco with the scorching heat of summer fading and the winter cold yet to arrive. You can expect temperatures of high twenties to low thirties in September and mid to high twenties in October. I don’t think there is ever a quiet time of year in Marrakech – that’s half its attraction – but elsewhere in the country things are a little quieter. In just seven days you can spend some time in the hustle and bustle of Marrakech, a few days hiking the Atlas Mountains and a night in the desert. If you have more time you can take in Morocco’s Atlantic coast, the palm groves, souks and kasbahs of towns such as Skoura and Ouarzazate and even venture into the rolling dunes of the Erg Chebbi desert. Flying time is less than four hours form the UK.
Click here to read more about Morocco.
