25 summer holidays for under £500

Most of the self-catering options are through agencies - if the one you want has gone, the company will have others to choose from - and all hotels have decent availability in the summer.

And no, we haven't cheated. We've included the cost of your accommodation, flights and car hire if you need it. If the break's suitable for children, we've used peak-season, school-hols prices.

And, if you're driving, we've allowed for ferries and motorway tolls. So yes, you really can have a memorable break for forgettable amounts of cash. Here's how.

Prices are per person, and were correct at the time of going to press. Flight prices are especially liable to change, and are expected to rise as summer approaches

£97 Family Scotland

For cottages in the UK, the best bet for a bargain is often to steer away from the tourist honeypots in favour of less familiar but just as lovely areas. In Scotland, Perthshire is the big draw, but the lovely glens of Angus, next door, are often overlooked - so much less crowded. In pretty Glen Isla, Ecosse Unique (01835 822277, www.unique-cottages.co.uk) has Braefoot Cottage, a comfortable converted roadman's house sleeping four in three bedrooms. Loch Lintrathen is 100yd away, quaint Kirriemuir a few minutes' drive. At the peak, it's just £385 a week.

£115 Uncrowded Cumbria

The Lake District teems in summer, but just outside it, and just as beautiful, is the Eden Valley and the Stag Inn, at Dufton, which dates from 1703. It's simply splendid walking country, bang on the Pennine Way, near High Cup Gill. For smaller kids, attractions include the castle at Appleby, a bird-of-prey centre, ostrich and alpaca farms nearby, and steamboat rides on Ullswater. The old stable block next to the Stag is now a smart two-bedroom cottage, sleeping four and available for £460 in the summer peak with Cumbrian Cottages (01228 599960, www.cumbrian-cottages.co.uk).

£119 Rustic Dordogne

If you're content to live the simple life, the Dordogne can be surprisingly cheap. Bouquier (ref L623) is an old detached stone cottage at the edge of a tiny village: no trendiness here, just oak beams, gingham tablecloths and unpretentious wooden furniture. No pool either, but who needs one when there's good river swimming nearby? And the chateau-crowned gorgeousness of the Dordogne valley is on your doorstep, with Sarlat, Beynac and the Lascaux caves all a short drive away. Sleeping four, it costs a paltry £421 for the week from August 23 with Cottages4you (0870 078 2100, www.cottages4you.co.uk) - and that includes Dover-Calais ferry crossings. Throw in £55 for tolls and you have £119 apiece, and a slightly astonished expression.

£185 Luxury Loire

Got to be another cottage at that price, yes? No. Just £185 each will get you a superb restored 15th-century manor house in the Loire Atlantique. In August. Including the ferry. Of course, there's a trick: you'll need a few pals (14, to be precise), but get organised, team up with another family or two, and you've got yourself a bargain. La Simonais is bristling with the sort of stuff you think you can't get for that kind of money: a real sense of history, with exposed beams, original wooden staircases and ancient stone walls; but modern design and comfort, with a heated indoor pool, a flatscreen TV and stylishly minimalist furnishings. You're half an hour from the excellent beaches of Pornichet and La Baule, and within striking distance of buzzing Nantes. It costs £2,580 for a week in peak season, including Dover-Calais crossings for four cars, with VFB (01452 716840, www.vfbholidays.co.uk; quote property PEA.44).

£188 Devon cream

Now, thatched cottages in the West Country do not come cheap. But Modbury Cottage, tucked away down a long forest lane in the countryside, between Dartmoor and the beaches of Bideford Bay, is as close as you'll get, and cute to boot: beams everywhere, open fireplaces, an original bread oven, and floors that have a healthy disrespect for the horizontal. There's a babbling brook in the garden, too. It sleeps four and costs £752 for a week in August, with Marsdens (01271 813777, www.marsdens.co.uk).

£218 Norman affair

This one's for financially challenged romantics, a dinky 16th-century watchtower for two tucked away in rural Normandy. It was built by the Huguenot occupants of the attached fortified farm to look out for approaching irate Catholics, but these days the view is all space and peace, a patchwork of cattle-filled fields spreading down to long, empty beaches that just cry out to be strolled along hand in hand. The charming owners have carefully retained the building's authenticity, the rolling country round about is steeped in history (cute Bayeux is nearby) - and, just as important, there are some rather decent restaurants. Try the seafood at La Marée, in Grandcamp Maisy. The tower costs £255 for a week in June (00 33 2 31 22 64 45). Brittany Ferries (0870 907 6103, www.brittany-ferries.co.uk ) has Poole-Cherbourg crossings for about £180 return; it's just a 40-minute drive from the port.

£239 Walker's Wales

Y Felin, a roomy cottage for two in the quiet Pembrokeshire village of Moylgrove, is well placed for long walks along the peninsula's dramatic but strangely unsung coastal path. It's pretty, too: a traditional double-fronted stone cottage, with a sun-trap patio for breakfast and a wood burner if the evenings turn chilly. It costs £477 for the week from June 14, with Coastal Cottages (01437 772760, www.coastalcottages.co.uk).

£260 Classic Tuscany

For the price of a wet weekend in Blackpool? It can be done: the trick is to go outside peak season and choose your accommodation carefully. Take La Sughera: two Tuscan farmhouses, on a 1,000-acre wine estate 20 miles from Pisa, that have been converted into five apartments. We know, that word makes the heart sink, but these are wonderful - full of charm and smoky smells from the open fireplaces, with thick stone walls, ancient tiled floors, and shuttered windows opening onto an indecently curvy vista of rolling vine-clad hills. The magnificence of Florence, Lucca and Siena is an easy drive away, you can taste the estate's excellent wines, and the pool is terrific. Book with Tuscan Holidays (015394 31120, www.tuscanholidays. co.uk) before February 29 for a 15% discount - so the two-bedroom Giulebbe costs £629 for the week from June 14. EasyJet (www.easyjet.co.uk) has flights from Luton to Pisa from about £70; car hire is £130 with EasyCar (www.easycar. co.uk ). A smidgen over a grand for four - daylight robbery.

£290 Sweetest Suffolk

Lavenham is one of the best-preserved villages in England, a pastel-painted architectural confection of fine medieval houses (there are more than 200 listed buildings here) in the midst of scenic but still working countryside. Bury St Edmunds and Constable's beloved Dedham Vale are nearby, and the area is packed with treasure-trove antiques shops. Wool Cottage is a piece of Lavenham history, with buckets of beams and an engagingly tumbledown look, but all the comforts (flatscreen TV, cinema sound and so on). Sleeping two, it costs £580 for a week in June, through Premier Cottages (01271 336050, www. premiercottages.com).

£302 The other Portugal

The countryside around Porto is seriously undervalued anyway - all the Brits flock down to the Algarve, leaving the unspoilt wooded hills and long, empty beaches of the Minho to the cognoscenti. Put that together with a big property and you're talking about serious bargains. Like the 17th-century Casa do Valle, an exquisitely restored hilltop house with pool at the heart of a 750-acre vinho verde estate - good river swimming and fishing, excellent local restaurants, and pretty villages to tour in the rugged country round about. It sleeps 11, but let's give ourselves some space and call it 10: in July or August, the property costs £1,365 for a week with Portuguese Affair (020 7385 4775, www.portugueseaffair. com), which will also arrange hire of three cars for £609. Saturday flights from Stansted to Porto with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) cost about £105, if you book soon. Do your sums, and that's £302 apiece.

£330 Camping in style

There are scores of camp sites across France. They're often very cheap. They usually feel it. Here's something completely different. Mille Etoiles (00 33 4 66 24 21 81, www.canvaschic.com) has 14 yurts in a thick oak forest, perched over a gorge in the Ardèche. It's a blend of luxury (big, proper beds, some four-posters; sparse but stylish furniture; rugs on the wooden floors) and simplicity (lamps and candles for light; swimming in the river, rather than a pool; an all-round back-to-nature feel). Days are lazy, evenings magical - if you don't want to cook, they serve restaurant-quality French and Spanish food (£20 for three courses), and local musicians are often invited for fireside performances. A week in the summer hols costs £930, B&B, for a family of four - and, cleverly, changeover is Tuesday, which means cheaper flights. Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) has returns to Nîmes for about £60. Holiday Autos (www.holidayautos.com) has a week's car hire for about £150, bringing the total bill to £1,320.

£340 Trendy trulli

These traditional houses, with their conical roofs, score highly on the quaintometer - and they're found in Puglia, Italy's up-and-coming holiday region. Trullo Fedelle is a lovely example, with charm oozing out of its bare stone walls and, thanks to a sensitive conversion, stylish modern fittings. It's set in five acres of olive groves, and there are vines, figs and nut trees - help yourself, the owners say. Stylish restaurants around, too. Sleeping six in three bedrooms, it costs £750 for a week in high season, through Holiday Lets (01234 756940, www.holidaylets.net). Getting there's the pricey bit: with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com), weekend August returns to Brindisi currently cost about £180. Still, add an estate car for about £220 a week, with EasyCar (www.easycar.co.uk), and the whole trip comes in at about £340 each for six.

£354 Have ass, will travel

It's an odd one, this, but bear with us. The trouble with independent walking holidays is having to lug all your stuff around ... so get a donkey to do it for you. Really, it's all the rage in France - there are more than 100 outfits that will rent you an asinine pal, give you a crash course in donkey maintenance and wave you off to stroll the hills with your four-legged bag-carrier (they'll take up to 40kg). At Etats d'Anes (00 33 4 75 38 91 92), they'll design you a route through the rolling hills of the Ardèche and reserve your place at small family inns along the way: the owner, Alphonse, reckons that, despite their recalcitrant reputation, his 19 donkeys are willing and easy to handle, and enjoy the company. In June, seven days' donkey hire costs £160; quadruped-friendly auberges are £28pp per night, half-board. Flights from Luton to Nîmes cost about £50 with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair. com), and return train transfers cost £28pp (the company will pick you up from Langogne station). So, with two sharing, it's just £354 each: all you have to find is lunch and some decent grazing. For lots more donkey options, visit www.ane-et-rando.com.

£355 Go slow in Gozo

Malta's little sister island is a bit of a backwater - charming, isolated, but not especially cheap. Which is why it's surprising to find a high-quality villa, in the school summer hols, at this price. Kaccaturi is a dream of a place, stone-built in Gozitan style - which means lots of arches and beams - with a decent pool and long, long views down to the sea. Ceiling fans, rather than air-con, but they're more authentic and do the job just as well; there are five bedrooms, so a family of six could really spread out. For mum and dad, attractions include good restaurants and fascinating history (the most ancient temples on earth are here, dating from before 2500BC); for active kids, it's good cycling country (hire bikes in the capital, Victoria, a few miles from the villa); and for little ones, there's an excellent sandy beach at nearby Ramla Bay. With Meon Villas (0800 783 1410, www.meonvillas.co.uk), the week from August 26 costs £2,130 for two adults and four children, including flights with EasyJet from Gatwick, and a minivan - that's £355 each.

£361 Chic Andalusia

Go to a little, independent country hotel in Spain's deep south and you expect charm. But with this one, you get style too. The 10-room Almunia del Valle (00 34 958 308010) is an unlikely boutique offering, hidden deep in the countryside (hold your nerve - it's a slightly hairy mountain drive to get here), but just 20 minutes from the splendours of Granada. It has traditional slate on the floors, but modern art on the walls, a huge lounge and library, excellent food, a tranquil terrace, a good pool and quite astonishing views. It's an ideal romantic break for two, so we're going out of peak season, when doubles cost £80 per night, B&B. EasyJet (www.easyjet.co.uk) has midweek flights from Luton to Malaga for about £55 in June; EasyCar (www.easycar.co.uk) has two-seaters for just £52 a week. That brings seven nights in at £722.

£409 Bike Bavaria

The Altmühl valley is Mitteleuropa at its storybook best, twisting and turning through the glorious Franconia region before emptying into the Danube. The river cuts through limestone cliffs, past precipitous vineyards and thick forest, with ancient towns and fairy-tale castles: if it weren't for the tempting concentration of breweries around here, you'd suspect the whole area had been concocted by Disney. And, bafflingly, the British don't go there - which must be why flights from Stansted to nearby Nuremberg cost a piffling £46 return in June with Air Berlin (www.airberlin.com). The way to see it is by paddle or pedal. A local outfit, Natour (www. natour.de), has canoes and cycles for hire: a seven-day tour on two wheels, covering 105 miles and staying at small, family-run hotels, costs £310, B&B, plus £33 for bike hire. Add £20 each for rail transfers and it's a magical break for mundane money.

£420 Affordable Mallorca

There are two sides to the biggest Balearic. One is Magaluf and Cala d'Or - cheap and, unless you're seriously into chips and tat, not too cheerful. The other is the trendy hotels and millionaires' mansions of the Tramuntana mountains. It often seems there's nothing in between. But how's this - a rambling restored old farmhouse, with a private pool, overlooking rolling hills, but within walking distance of chic, sought-after Pollensa, and just three miles from the beach? Ca'n Redo (ref SMP011) has pretty gardens, and three double bedrooms; the week from July 26 costs £1,515 with Hoseasons (0844 847 1170, www. hoseasonsvillas.com). At the last count, you could fly to Palma from 27 (yes, 27) UK airports, with a dozen airlines. Take your pick: for that date, ours is from Gatwick, out with Flythomascook.com and back with EasyJet (www. easyjet.co.uk), for about £140. Carrentals.co.uk will do two compact cars for £172, bringing it all in at £420pp.

£420 Gallic glamour

You don't expect chic for this sort of money, but here it is - the Ile de Ré, darling of the Paris smart set. They moved here en masse after deciding the Côte d'Azur was smug and overpriced, and no wonder: it's France's sunniest spot outside the Riviera, with fine beaches, excellent seafood, good wine and pretty, flower-strewn villages. These days, the island's well-preserved old port, St Martin de Ré, has more genuine glamour than St Trop: you might spot Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis or Princess Caroline of Monaco strolling along the quay. But the Brits aren't going in droves yet, so flights in August are peanuts. Go to La Rochelle with EasyJet (www.easyjet.co.uk), from Gatwick, and weekend returns start at less than £80 (half that if you can fly midweek): or choose from eight other UK airports, with Flybe (0871 522 6100, www.flybe.com), Jet2 (0871 226 1737, www.jet2. com) or Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com). Stay at Villa Ste Marie, a sweet two-bedroom house in a pretty village; a week in August costs £1,205 with Wake Up in France (01484 680855, www.wakeupinfrance.co.uk). Take a taxi from the airport (seven miles), hire bikes to get around, and £420 each should see four of you right for the week.

£450 Posh in Le Marche

It's a region that's been touted as the new Tuscany for so long that rates have caught up with its neighbour over the Apennines - but even in Le Marche, our budget will stretch to the Hunting Lodge, a gorgeous 18th-century house standing alone in a spectacular hillside position, with extensive gardens and a vast infinity pool. Previously a bit of a ruin, it was fully refurbished in 2006 using local stone, terracotta floors and sturdy aged wooden beams. There's a good beach at Fano, 15 miles away. The place sleeps 12 (six bedrooms, six showers), and a week in August starts at £2,820, with Owners Syndicate (020 7401 1086, www.ownerssyndicate. com). Fly with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com), which currently has flights from Stansted or Liverpool to Ancona for about £150pp; Holiday Autos (www. holidayautos.co.uk) will do a couple of seven-seater Renault Espaces for about £780. Tot all that up and it comes to a rather neat £450pp - not bad for this level of simple luxury.

£450 A chateau in Gers

Yes, a real one, with turrets and everything, in 120 acres of parkland, with a formal salon and a grand piano and a billiard room and oak panels and antique fireplaces and chandeliers and spa baths and a sauna and a pool ... And, do you know what? You can afford it. Château Bernede, in the Gers, southwest France, sleeps 12 in eight bedrooms; a week in July or August costs £4,925 with The Gascony Secret (0844 800 1637, www.gascony-secret.com). Dover-Calais ferry crossings currently start at about £80 for a car with four passengers, with SeaFrance (www.seafrance. com). Budget for three, pop on the motorway tolls, and we reckon a serious slice of ancien régime luxury will cost a dozen of you less than £450 each.

£475 Barging Brittany

Canal cruises are a gorgeous way to see France - there's no hurry, the scenery changes constantly and the children love it. You could do the Lot or the Camargue, but our favourite is Brittany, and a week's easy cruising from Messac to the wonderfully evocative 14th-century chateau at Josselin, on the picturesque Nantes-Brest canal. Plenty of crêpes (and cider for you), 36 locks to keep that junior crew busy, and, when you want to stretch your legs, it's great walking country. A four-berth, two-cabin boat will set you back £1,900 for the week from August 8, including insurance, fuel and high-speed Portsmouth-Caen crossings - it's about a two-hour drive to the boatyard. Contact Le Boat (023 9222 4252, www.leboat.co.uk).

£483 Unspoilt Algarve

There are some surprisingly quiet and pretty spots away from the overdeveloped coast. Santa Barbara de Nexe is just 20 minutes inland from the fleshpots of Faro, but it's a sleepy old place, up in the foothills. A couple of miles outside the village, Casa Moinho is a smart, detached, whitewalled villa with three double bedrooms, wide lawns, a big pool, terraces and lovely views to the coast - decent beaches are 12 miles away. Rent it for the week of July 26, through James (0800 074 0122, www.jamesvillas.co.uk), and it costs £483pp for six, including flights from Luton; book by tomorrow and car hire is thrown in free.

£495 Slovenia's vineyards

Across the rolling winelands of Slovenia, you'll see little houses cropping up among the fields: they're vineyard cottages, traditionally used as weekend homes by families tending their grapes. They're extremely romantic, and pretty cheap - an increasing number are being converted into holiday homes. Matjazeva Domacija is a 150-year-old thatched place, restored and refurbished with antique furniture, and has the original kitchen range and baker's oven. The area is packed with history (nearby Novo Mesto dates to 1365), there's good local food and wine, and it's excellent walking country. Just Slovenia (01373 814230, www.justslovenia.co.uk) has a week for two in peak season for £495 each, including flights and car hire.

£500 Croatia's finest

Inland Istria has a landscape to rival Tuscany, but doesn't play host to half of Islington each summer - so it isn't (quite) so pricey. Casa Lucia is a stylish stone house in a splendid hillside position near Motovun, an exquisite medieval mountain town, with four bedrooms (all with ensuites), polished wood floors, vaulted ceilings, a cool terrace and a pool with terrific views. The food round here is wonderful, too - try the Zigante restaurant for dishes fulsomely laced with local truffles. A week in August costs £2,250, with Vintage Travel (0845 344 0420, www.vintagetravel.co.uk). Getting there's not cheap - Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) has Saturday returns from Stansted to Pula for about £180, and 121 Car Hire (www.121carhire.com) will rent you two compact cars for about £260. Between eight, that's a shade under £500 apiece in peak season. Mind you, this one would be ideal for a group of adult friends, too, exploring the countryside, beaches and ancient coastal towns of Porec and Rovinj: do it in June and, with lower air fares and accommodation prices, you're talking £320 each.

£500 Turkey for two

If you pay for flights as far as this, it usually follows that you won't have enough cash left, in this price range, for a decent hotel once you get there. But the 12-room Ece is a neat little place in a gorgeous spot on the tiny, pedestrianised island of Sovalye, in the gulf of Fethiye. It's quiet . . . very quiet, with tremendous views, a small pool, good sea swimming, kayaks and a dinghy to sail, romantic sunsets to savour, and that's about it. But the hotel runs its own water taxi over to Fethiye town, which offers a noisy but excellent market, restaurants, ancient ruins and good day walks along the coastal hills. It's better for couples than families, and June's the time to go, before the heat sets in: with Exclusive Escapes (020 8605 3500, www.exclusiveescapes. co.uk), a week costs £500, B&B, including flights from London or Manchester and a day's gulet cruise.

Find your own budget break

WE'VE GIVEN YOU 25 cheap but charming holidays to choose from, but there are plenty more out there. Coming up with your own isn't rocket science - our five top tips will give you a head start.

1 Choose your moment When you take that holiday can make just as much difference as where you go. If you can, avoid the school holidays (roughly July 23 to September 3 for state schools in England and Wales), when flights and accommodation can double or even treble in price. If you're stuck with school dates, you can still save on many flights if you can travel outside weekends. From London to Pisa in August, for instance, weekday fares are about half those on Saturdays.

2 Think big Who needs money, as long as you've got friends? When it comes to holiday homes, if you can gather together a crowd of pals, you can rent a dream property for peanuts - that's why we can include chateaux, stately homes and chic barn conversions on our list.

3 Don't go too far On this budget, air fares are taking up a big chunk of your money, and they're inevitably going to rise the further you go - so think carefully before setting your sights on Greece, Turkey or the Canaries.

4 Don't hang around... If you're booking your own no-frills flights, do it now. Prices are likely to shoot up as summer approaches.

5 ...unless you've got the nerve It's a gamble, but you could sit tight and wait for last-minute reductions. If they materialise, they'll probably be for packages to the mass-market resorts we've been avoiding - but there is a way to use them. Hold your nerve and weeks on the Costa Brava, Mallorca and the Costa del Sol can go as low as £100: use the flight, stay a night or two at the hotel to get your bearings, then hire a car and head off to take pot luck, finding your own cheap but lovely local hotels - there are pretty, unspoilt areas close to all of the above. Keep an eye on www.teletext.co.uk, www.latedeals.co.uk and www. holidayhypermarket.co.uk.