Unless stated, prices are per person, and include flights and transfers for packages outside the UK.
Cornish modern
£
Family friendly
There’s a reason why this Alex Michaelis-designed white box at the eastern end of Praa Sands hasn’t been snapped up for summer: the four-bedroom house is new on the books, so has yet to acquire the automatic “fully booked” status of all the best places to stay in Cornwall. But with its polished concrete floors, ultramodern kitchen, woodburner, wetroom and entertainment den, and the beach mere steps from the plate-glass back door, it soon will. Upstairs, there are three predictably glamorous double rooms, as well as a bunk room, taking the occupancy to 11 — which makes the hefty price a bit more affordable: from £1,850 a week in low season, or £4,999 at peak times (0330 160 7458, beachspoke.com).
Mexico’s secret coast
£££
Two hours north of the party town of Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, lies a tiny slice of paradise called Chacala. Jungle-covered hills roll down to a curve of white sand where local families romp in balmy surf, beach restaurants serve citrus-scented ceviche and tamarind margaritas for less than a fiver, elderly mariachi bands wander the sands and a man called Charlie sells ice cream from a 1930s handcart. In the hills, forest trails lead to Indiana Jones-style Aztec sites — and at the southern end of the beach is the magnificent Mar de Jade. Part hotel (pool, hammocks, restaurant and bar) and part yoga retreat, it’s run by Dr Laura del Valle, a superannuated Buddhist hippie feminist who has slowly transformed the place from a health clinic into a commune and now something close to the apotheosis of a chilled beach hotel. A week here costs £934, full-board, excluding flights (00 52 327 219 4000, mardejade.com). Thomson Airways has returns to Puerto Vallarta from £465.
Live the Southwold dream
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Family friendly
There’s not much new to report in Southwold. It remains the prettiest resort on the Suffolk coast, with a bonkers pier, charming beach huts and fish shacks down by the harbour. The only thing that’s changed is that, in this time of Brexit uncertainty, it’s likely that all the best cottages will be snapped up by summer staycationers by the end of this month. So, if you want to live the dream, you’ll need to act fast. The Pink House, which sleeps four, will do fine: it’s your typical cosy 19th-century seaside cottage, near the Adnams brewery and a few doors up from the Sole Bay Inn. A week in high season costs £740 (0330 160 7459, suffolk-secrets.co.uk).
Quieter than Cephalonia, Ionian Islands
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Family friendly
Once home to Odysseus, Ithaca is now tranquil, while neighbouring Cephalonia is rammed. This means you can have stretches of this lush island, with its Venetian villages, beautiful coves and ancient ruins (Odysseus’s palace is in Agios Athanasios, in the north), pretty much to yourself, especially if you go either side of high season. Stay at the family-owned Alicelia Boutique Inn — 15 minutes from Dexa beach and 20yd from the port — from just £160pp a week in late June (booking.com). Fly to Cephalonia with Monarch, then catch the ferry from Sami (£2.50 each way).
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A budget find in Galicia
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Family friendly
If you were looking for a room on the Galician coast, you’d probably drive straight past Hotel Alen do Mar, with its unfashionably retro sign and a reception area that looks like a Seat dealership... and you’d never know what a treasure you’d missed. But now the secret is out. Last year, a Spanish newspaper rated the 11-room property on the Fisterra peninsula one of the top three beach hotels in the country — and when you get past check-in, you’ll see why. The rough-walled rooms are scattered through a pine forest that, in early summer, is ablaze with wild flowers. It has boutique-quality bathrooms, beds as soft as clouds and terraces with views of Playa Langosteira, the best beach on this spectacular coast. It takes a minute to reach the sand and just 10 more to arrive at Don Percebe, a seafood joint in Langosteira. Doubles start at £84 a night in high season (00 34 981 740745, hotelalendomar.com). Fly to Santiago de Compostela with Ryanair.
Best beach on the Costa Brava
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Family friendly
Half a dozen of the best beaches in Spain lie along a 10-mile stretch of coast in the Baix Emporda, from Llafranc to Sa Riera, and the pick of them all is Tamariu. Why, from all these riches? Because it combines the best of the rest — pine trees, a choice of sand for castling or balconies of flat rock, and pools that make excellent wine coolers. But mainly because of the Hotel Tamariu, a 17-room beach hotel that has been in the Pellicer-Trilla family since 1930. The rooms are simple and bright, with fab sea views, and breakfast on the beach terrace is a joy. Topping it all, though, is the service from siblings Anna, Susan and Luis, who do it all with love. The best months are June and September, when a week starts at £378, B&B, excluding flights (00 34 972 620031, tamariu.com). Fly to Girona with Ryanair.
Snazzy camping, Brittany
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Family friendly
If you get it right, a week’s camping in France is pretty much the perfect family holiday. It’s cheap, the wine is fabulous and the kids, in the brief moments when you see them, will be having a ball. A new operator, Firefly, has a portfolio of French campsites that offer all of the above. Our pick is Escalle St Gilles, on the vast Groasguen beach, where “camping” translates as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom mobile home with a flatscreen TV, a raised deck and a boutiquey sail canopy. Facilities include a water park, a spa, a kids’ club and a bar. A week in August starts at £666 for six (0330 160 7461, fireflyholidays.co.uk). Brittany Ferries has return Portsmouth-St Malo crossings from £545.
Last chance to see the Andaman Islands
££££
New destinations come along all the time, and the old ones get buried under concrete. Which brings us to the Andaman Islands, a paradise archipelago on the east side of the Bay of Bengal. The 550 islands are closer to Bangkok than they are to Delhi, but India owns them and that’s that. Most are deserted, others are protected, and just a dozen or so, dominated by Havelock Island, are open to tourists. It’s a languorous place of tin shacks, bath-warm seas and swimming elephants — but this idyll could be coming to an end, as the Indian government has announced plans to develop five more islands, Taj Hotels is building a 100-room resort on 45 acres of beachfront on Havelock, and a £1.2bn redevelopment of Port Blair is afoot. Go now, before it changes for ever: a nine-night trip split between the chic Barefoot at Havelock and the boutiquey, British-owned Jalakara starts at £2,195 (020 8265 3064, millispotter.com).
Fantasy beach hunt, Aquitaine — family friendly
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Family friendly
A few hundred yards off the beach in the French Atlantic resort of Hossegor, there’s a serpentine underwater canyon. Swells push deep water up it and, as the valley floor rises, the water is forced upwards, making it the world’s most powerful wave machine and turning Hossegor into the surf capital of Europe. But you don’t need to be a surfer to soak up the vibe. The Lac d’Hossegor, just behind town, is great for younger children, with sandy beaches and warm, calm water. The hippest place to stay is Cabane de la Plage, a fantasy beach hut that opens onto the sands: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a chic kitchen and a terrace. A week for six in July or August starts at £2,168 (0330 160 7462, alternative-aquitaine.co.uk). Fly to Biarritz with Ryanair.
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Ibizan style in Sri Lanka
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Ibiza-style house partying has arrived in Sri Lanka with the opening of the adults-only KK Beach, on the palm-fringed sands of Koggala, eight miles east of Galle. It’s more like a villa than a hotel, with six sleek suites and a collection of hip public areas decorated with an ever-changing collection of Sri Lankan art (which you’re encouraged to put on your account). There’s a pool, and a menu of gentle Sri Lankan curries and western dishes served with a local twist. If you can bear to be torn away from the beach-club atmosphere, free shuttles will take you inland for cocktails, dinner and more local art and design at the property’s sister hotel, Kahanda Kanda. A week starts at £1,499, B&B (01494 678400, turquoiseholidays.co.uk).
Eden in the Adriatic, Croatia
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Croatian tourism began right here on St Clement’s Island, back in 1906. One hundred and eleven years later, the same family are running the place. The lush, exotic vegetation makes it something close to Eden plonked in a bright blue sea: slick and modern it ain’t, but if you appreciate faded glamour and a laid-back vibe, the island’s Palmizana resort fits the bill. It offers six bungalows, seven villas, a restaurant and a tiny beach. A week starts at £425, excluding flights (00 385 91 478 3111, palmizana.com). Fly to Split with easyJet.
Island-hopping in the Cyclades
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When you’re island-hopping, the sadness of leaving one perfect isle is balanced by the thrill of visiting another. See for yourself on the Cycladic islands of Serifos and Sifnos. Mass tourism has bypassed Serifos, which is odd, because the beaches there are as good as those on hugely popular Milos. Whatever: the place is yours for a week, staying at the Alexandros-Vassilia Hotel, on Livadakia beach. Then hop across to the foodie, less sleepy island of Sifnos for a week at the Efrosini Hotel, on Platis Gialos beach. Prices start at £942pp, B&B (0330 160 7463, sunvil.co.uk).
Capri’s big sister, Italy
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Volcanic Ischia is prettier and cheaper than its celebrity little sister, Capri, yet it receives a fraction of the visitors. The most attractive of its six towns is Lacco Ameno, in the northwest, a place of bougainvillea, cafes, and, in the meticulously placed deckchairs of the lovely Spiaggia di San Montano, proof that something the Italians really know how to organise is a beach. It’s also home to the Negombo Thermal Gardens: the Mediterranean version of Reykjavik’s Blue Lagoon, with a dozen wonderfully landscaped pools at different temperatures scattered among the rocks and trees. The top tip is not to come in July or August, when it’s hot, crowded and expensive. Wait until September and all of those numbers will drop. A week’s half-board at the romantic Garden & Villas resort costs £1,315 in August, but a month later it’s £965 (020 7359 3938, realholidays.co.uk).
Oysters and surfing, Morocco
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The seaside town of Oualidia, far from anywhere on the Atlantic coast, has long attracted legions of underworked Frenchwomen writing design blogs, and rich, cigar-smoking Moroccans — thus earning it the nickname “the St Tropez of Morocco”. As a consequence, a town that should be scraping by on fishing has become an oasis of sophistication on an otherwise barren coast. It’s built between a shimmering surf beach and a mesmerising lagoon, and the grilled crab and fresh oysters sold on the beach are worth the price of the trip alone. You’ll stay at La Sultana, a seaside outpost for the Marrakesh elite. It’s a 12-room, honeymoon-standard boutique hotel on the lagoon beach, with a spa that offers an award-winning four-hand massage. Bring expensive sunglasses for the sunsets, binoculars for the birdwatching and board shorts for the surf. A week starts at £1,465, B&B (01242 787800, redsavannah.com).
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Minimalism and mindfulness in the Algarve
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Family friendly
Scandi design comes to the western edge of Europe at this minimalist clifftop hotel just outside Sagres. The low-rise whitewashed concrete blocks are the last thing you’d expect to find down a dirt track, but the Lisbon-based boutique-hotel firm Memmo didn’t choose the place for the access; it chose it for the magnificent sea views and golden beaches of the Algarve’s west end. There’s a youthful feel here, driven by Baleeira’s surf culture — something the hotel plugs into with its own surf school. Don’t worry if you’re not a plank-rider: yoga, cycling, guided walks along the Rota Vicentina, wreck-diving, fishing trips and cetacean-watching are all on offer, while the spa and a restaurant with a woodfired oven offer a glimpse of a future where Ikea does pizza. A week starts at £658, B&B (0800 294 9323, classic-collection.co.uk).
Join the Monopoli set, Italy
£££
Halfway between Bari and Brindisi, on the Puglian coast, is the fishing port of Monopoli — a seaside town that will take you back to the days before Airbnb, selfie sticks and Instagrammed puddings. Stay at Don Ferrante Dimore di Charme, a former fortress that’s equal parts Ibiza, Dubrovnik and Capri — 10 rooms, a rooftop pool and restaurant, and the sound of the waves breaking. The Coccaro Beach Club, on one of the best beaches in the country, is a 15-minute taxi ride south. A June week in the Dama Bianca suite, which has a patio, costs £1,146, B&B, excluding flights (0330 100 3180, mrandmrssmith.com). Fly to Bari with Ryanair.
Thrill then chill in the UAE
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Family friendly
What do you do when half the family wants rollercoasters and shopping malls, but the other half craves healthy exercise and natural solitude? One solution is Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. Last year, the former opened four theme parks, including Bollywood Parks, Motiongate, Legoland and IMG Worlds of Adventure — the biggest indoor theme park on the planet. Add to that the world-beating Aqua Venture and Wild Wadi water parks, and obscene levels of retail temptation, and you’ve got a load of overexcitement you’ll need another holiday to get over. So head half an hour north to Ras Al Khaimah: flamingo-filled beaches, craggy mountains and desert wilderness make this the perfect spot for some post-theme-park decompression.
A 10-day break, with five nights’ B&B at the luxury Jebeli Palm Tree Court, in Dubai, then five all-inclusive nights at the beachfront Rixos Bab al Bahr, starts at £1,599 for adults and £699 for kids, including theme-park tickets (020 3733 6507, bestattravel.co.uk).
High life for less on Minorca
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When Cugo Gran opened in 2015, the 11-bedroom converted farmhouse outside San Climent was designed for the Spanish glitterati. The 250-acre estate, landscaped gardens, vineyard and infinity pool were intended for billionaire house parties and catered by an army of staff. Which is why, in high season, a week’s rental starts at £60,500. But this year it’s opening as a boutique hotel during the low and mid-season. The nearest beach is four miles south at Es Canutells, and the nightlife of Mahon is the same distance northeast. Best time to visit is late May, when a week in a double room starts at £1,268pp, B&B (00 34 671 528958, cugogranmenorca.com). Fly to Mahon with easyJet.
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Teen dream, Greece
££
Family friendly
The Sani Resort, a group of four hotels on the Kassandra peninsula, in Thessaloniki, has earned a reputation as Greece’s top family-holiday spot. It has done so by realising that happy kids make happy parents, but this year it’s taking on the near-impossible challenge of making teens happy, too. Sani Dunes, opening in June, is billed as a “grown-up environment” where under-12s are banned and the focus is on keeping amused an age group that famously knows everything and is impressed by nothing. Let’s see how long they stay that way, with sailing, football and dance academies, musicals and shows. The resort also has three à la carte restaurants and a spa on the beach. A week starts at £630, half-board (020 3553 7543, theprivatetravelcompany.co.uk).
The trend: Cambodia’s beaches
Washed by the Gulf of Thailand, Cambodia’s beaches are every bit as Instagrammable as those of its neighbour to the west — and, crucially, they’re quieter, writes Laura Goulden. They’ve also recently become that bit better connected to the rest of the world, thanks to direct Cambodia Angkor Air flights from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Sihanoukville, which launched last summer.
Sihanoukville is also accessible via an hour’s flight from Siem Reap or a 3½-hour drive from Phnom Penh.
This improved access to one of the last unspoilt regions in Southeast Asia (once you get out of Sihanoukville itself) has been duly noted by some of the world’s dreamiest hotel brands — and the first of what is likely to be a flurry of openings is slated for the second half of 2017.
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Leading the charge is Alila Villas Koh Russey (kohrussey.com), which is due to open in August on a private island a short speedboat ride from Sihanoukville. It will sport seriously slick white and wood decor, and have a vast spa. Room rates are likely to be about £250 a night, which could be worse, considering that the Villa properties are the brand’s most upmarket offering, and that rooms at the equivalent Balinese outpost cost at least twice as much.
Alila will be followed, towards the end of the year, by a Six Senses (sixsenses.com) on nearby Krabey Island. The decor will fit the brand’s signature rustic-luxury mould — expect lots of turquoise scatter cushions and billowing muslin — while outside it’s all untouched white beaches and jungle.
What’s that? You can’t wait that long? It is possible to go now, but the only high-end base is the glamorous Song Saa Private Island resort (songsaa.com). Rooms here start at £690 a night — although Turquoise Holidays is offering a week combining Song Saa with Angkor Wat from £2,335pp, including flights (turquoiseholidays.co.uk).
The more budget-minded traveller might prefer a cute, affordable boutique base such as Tamu (doubles from £86, tamucambodia.com), on laid-back Otres Beach, south of Sihanoukville.