23 of the best places for summer sun

Times

6 days ago

Ah, summer: that long-anticipated season when city life decamps into the streets, cocktail hours migrate to rooftops and long, golden beach days work their slow magic. Whether you soak up the rays from a river raft in Slovenia — where pit stops to sample the country's superb orange wine are practically obligatory — or with a barefoot dash into Bali's sparkling surf is entirely up to you.
Now is also the time for meandering road trips through Oregon's Cascade mountains and wild swimming jaunts in South Jutland, and when conservation-led safaris promising front-row savannah seats to Kenya's great migration come into their own. For adventurers, there are whale sharks off Mexico's Isla Holbox and for India-bound romantics, a magnificent Rajasthan palace (at off-peak prices).
Spanning waterfalls in Guyana to seafood-fuelled odysseys that make the most of the northern hemisphere's seemingly endless hours of daylight, this is our pick of the best places to find reliable summer sun in spades.
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In Guatemala's highlands, an hour's drive west of the capital, Antigua is a place to swap beach-lounging for Spanish-colonial splendour — and volcanoes. The city is home to several and taking a snap of the 3,760m (12,336 ft) Volcán de Agua through the custard-yellow Santa Catalina Arch is a rite of passage for first-timers.
July is 'green' season, when you'll get bursts of tropical rain, yes, but also cooler evenings, fewer crowds and plenty of sunshine. Stroll cobbled streets lined with candy-coloured façades, shop for vibrant, handwoven textiles or tour a coffee finca, before toasting the day's adventures with a local rum and a stack of empanadas. Late July is festival time, when the streets fill with floats, music and the scent of syrupy, deep-fried buñuelos (fried dough fritters).
Consider the tranquil Hotel Museo Spa Casa Santo Domingo for your base: the former convent boasts six permanent museums and two art galleries for culture fixes between spa treatments and dips in the gorgeous pool.
Come summer, skis make way for flip-flops in Italy's largely German-speaking far north, when serpentine roads flanked by fragrant pines take on a golden, Med-like glow. Follow the South Tyrolean wine route through biblical landscapes dotted with vines and cypresses to Lake Kalterer See, the province's warmest Alpine lake, where the sight of Castelchiaro towering over water dotted with pedalos and windsurfers is not one you'll forget in a hurry. Ditto picnics of village breads, cheeses and charcuterie, best paired with a ruby-red local schiava. For something more high-octane, you've got mountain bike trails galore, or head to Merano 2000, above the spa town of Meran, where the 1.1km Alpin Bob summer toboggan run proves that sledding thrills are a year-round affair.
Check into the five-star Hotel Chalet Mirabell, whose 6,000 sq m spa has luxurious pools, saunas and hay baths; there are also guided hikes and other family-friendly activities (including options with the resident llamas and alpacas).
Located at the border of France and Germany, Basel is the sort of place that allows you to visit three countries in a day, all on public transport with Swiss efficiency. The annual Art Basel fair kicks off the summer season in June, after which the banks of the Rhine suddenly erupt with activity. The quintessential pastime here is to drift down the river with a Wickelfisch, a waterproof swim bag that stores all your belongings. But if that sounds too daunting, you could try a refreshing dip in the city's many water fountains — it's not just acceptable but actively encouraged here. Elsewhere, the cobbled streets of the old town provide an interesting contrast to the stunning array of modern architecture, while attractions such as the Museum Tinguely will change your perception of the Swiss identity for ever.
The historic Krafft Basel is right on the river, with alfresco dining that overlooks the water and steps that lead down to the banks of the Rhine.
• Read our full guide to Switzerland
Split in two by the Danube, Novi Sad makes for a budget-friendly break thanks to a favourable exchange rate and the fact that it's largely a university city. The right bank of the river feels medieval and is dominated by the 18th-century Petrovaradin Fortress, the unlikely setting of Serbia's biggest drum'n'bass and techno event, the Exit Festival. Come at any other time of the year and you'll find a peaceful spot with unobstructed and breathtaking views of the river, plus walks that extend into the Fruska Gora mountains. The left bank is comparatively modern, with lively bars and restaurants tucked between quite magnificent baroque and neo-Byzantine architecture. There's also a small beach, known as the Strand, that gets packed out in the warmer months.
Book an apartment and take your time — the nature trails around the city are particularly lovely in summer.
Once known for its raves and sunrise parties, the Greek island has gone glam in recent decades. Supermodels, superyachts, designer boutiques and cabana-lined beach clubs are now the norm, although that sense of decadence remains. Summer is peak posturing time but, for all the absence of subtlety, there's something addictive about it all. Beyond a sugar-white, oh-so-Cycladic old town, it's also easy to find the natural beauty that pulls everyone here — wondrous beaches and brilliant light.
The hotel scene here has never been hotter. Among the newbies is the arty, all-vegan Koukoumi Vegan Hotel.
• Best things to do in Mykonos• Read our full guide to Greece
Although it's a bit more 'discovered' these days, Albania's long seaside remains attractive — aided by the olive grove hills overlooking those golden bays — and it's sensationally affordable in European terms. Its two main resort towns are Durres and Sarande but in peak summer, make for Ksamil and its offshore islands to escape most day-tripping Tirana families. Very close by is Butrint, an ancient, Unesco-listed city and just one historical marvel you'll find along this coast. Others include Gjirokastra's giant hilltop castle and Durres's ruined Roman amphitheatre.
Overlooking Ksamil's gin-clear waters, the Utopia Hotel has white cabanas on its private beach 2km away.
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Italy's Amalfi coast is rightly renowned, but mamma mia does it get busy in summer. About two hours south from there, the Cilento coast is infinitely quieter — even at the height of July — and has plenty of blue-flag beaches. Instead of Pompeii, there's Paestum: the sprawling remains of an ancient Greek city with splendidly complete Doric temples. You'll also find affordable, attractive towns such as gently chichi Castellabate and healthy-living Acciaroli, famous for its many centenarians — plus some of the finest buffalo mozzarella in Italy.
Take a private tour that offers plenty of free time: the solo travel specialist Just You has an eight-day itinerary starting and ending in Naples.
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Jutland is Denmark's continental peninsula and its southern section shares a border — and occasional cultural echoes — with Germany. Although Legoland charms children, this is chiefly an area of wild places and open spaces. Hills rise from rivers as castles crown forests and moors cede to marshlands. Surprisingly warm in August, the coast yields a series of fine sandy beaches, especially on islands such as Fano or Romo.
One worthy man-made addition to all this natural finery is Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark, famed for its half-timbered houses. Stay at its original base, the Hotel Dagmar.
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The most fêted French Riviera locales — Cannes, Nice, Antibes and St Tropez — are as certain to be overcrowded during sun-soaked summers as locals are to be sipping chilled rosé. Even so, their unique brand of glam is unmissable, as are all the palm-lined beaches, bars and boutiques. One solution is to visit such places on people-watching, tan-maintaining day trips, but otherwise hole up in a still-authentic and less expensive Côte d'Azur town. Framed by plunging peaks and possessing the prettiest of Mediterranean harbours, tree-lined Beaulieu-sur-Mer is one such charmer.
Beaulieu's Le Havre Bleu boutique hotel occupies a blue-shuttered, belle époque villa, just a few minutes from the beach.
• Read our full guide to France
As the Turquoise Coast — Bodrum, Marmaris et al — got busier and busier, savvy Turkey fans preserved their summer breaks by relocating north to the sunkissed Cesme peninsula. Even now, a laid-back innocence survives, with aniseed fields or olive groves between hot-spring spas and pretty beaches (albeit more suited to windsurfing than swimming). As for the towns, none rivals Alacati for romance: its bougainvillea-scented cobblestone streets host cafés, folksy restaurants and a growing cluster of boutique shops.
In Alacati, Warehouse by the Stay has a big pool, a bigger art collection and its own beachside deck.
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The Dalmatian coast is no secret these days and summers here are predictably heaving. Far better, then, to ditch Dubrovnik or Hvar in favour of a quieter corner. Brac fits the bill. Best known for Zlatni Rat, its remarkable V-shaped beach, the third-largest island in Croatia also brings great variety: pine forests, vineyards, orchards and ancient cliff monasteries — all accessed by the Via Brattia long-distance path — segue into sleepy fishing villages and quietly stylish resorts such as red-roofed Bol, where cocktail bars face colourful fishing boats.
Stylish yet affordable, the Bluesun Hotel Borak is equidistant from Bol and Zlatni Rat, and has an outdoor pool for cooling off in.
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August is a canny time to visit Rajasthan in northern India. It'll be hot — averaging 28C — yet much less so than May or June. You'll likely have to endure some showers, but bargain-priced accommodation and crowd-free sightseeing soften the blow. Far fewer tourists will interrupt your photos of the Pink and Blue Cities, Jaipur and Jodhpur, named for their singularly coloured buildings, nor those of desert forts, finely carved temples and lakeside palaces. Perhaps most pleasingly, you'll even have the tiger-patrolled Ranthambore National Park much more to yourself.
The 15-day Rajasthan Experience tour from Intrepid Travel includes visits to Jaipur and Jodhpur, as well as taking in the spectacular Taj Mahal in Agra.
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Curiously, Isla Holbox's drawback is also its greatest asset. Reaching this slender slice of land involves the faintest of faffs: a 30-minute ferry from the Yucatan peninsula's tip after a two-hour drive from Mexico's Playa del Carmen or Cancun. Hardly the stuff of great explorers, but enough to dissuade most. Consequently, Holbox remains a blissed-out holiday destination of hammocks, barefoot beach cafés and unpaved roads. That's even true in summer, when whale-shark pods gather offshore to gorge on plankton.
Promoting ethical whale-shark swimming tours, the eco-boutique Las Nubes Holbox has a spa and neighbours Yum Balam's nature reserve.
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For some, summer holidays aren't summer holidays unless they involve a villa with its own swimming pool. And mellow Menorca, one of Spain's lower-profile Balearic islands, has plenty of those. Nor is that the only perk: there are more than 100 beaches between two elegant, atmospheric old ports in Mahon and Ciutadella. Shops sell the isle's hip avarca sandals and the A-list gallerist Hauser & Wirth has converted an offshore naval hospital into its most surprising contemporary art space yet.
Pool villas along Punta Prima bay put you within easy reach of that gallery as well as Mahon's shops and restaurants.
• Best hotels in Menorca• Read our full guide to Spain
Tiny Slovenia has handsome cities — led by Ljubljana, whose centre is a car-free web of art nouveau lanes — yet its countryside tempts most. That's thanks to plentiful pine forests and Lake Bled, where peaks and a castle loom idyllically over the pointy-roofed island chapel. In nearby Triglav National Park, activity-lovers can hike, cycle or river-raft. Slovenia's gastronomy is equally diverse, swearing by local fodder and pairing well with some of Europe's best orange wines. At this time of year a 30-mile coastline also comes into its own.
Start at Barbara Piran Beach Hotel, a sophisticated property with a spa and alfresco restaurant serving up Mediterranean flavours.
Now served by a direct British Airways flight, Portland's youthful attractions range from a high-calibre food and beer scene to the sustainable music festival Pickathon each summer (July 31 to August 3 in 2025). The remainder of surrounding Oregon, one of America's Pacific Northwest states, is a riot of nature: snowy Cascade mountains and their aquamarine Crater Lake here; river gorges and forests there. Protected against development or private ownership, its 363-mile coastline contains various fine beaches. Those in the milder southern 'banana belt', such as Lone Ranch, are ideal to conclude a perfect summer break.
Explore at your own pace with a fly-drive tour roaming the state. British Airways offers packages in partnership with Avis and Budget.
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Between July and September, the unceasing great migration reaches an apogee as its 1.5 million wildebeest and accompanying zebra and gazelles come to cross the Mara river — while hungry lions or leopards prepare an ambush. With everything at stake, this is nature-viewing at its most elemental and dramatic. After bouncing around the Masai Mara National Reserve in 4x4s, recuperate on Kenya's palm-fringed coast. It'll be warm and dry along the mainland's Diani Beach, 11 miles of white sand offering dives, dhow boat tours, swims and spa treatments.
A classic 'bush and beach' break feels like two holidays in one; Tourhub has a range of tours that take in the Masai Mara and other highlights.
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While most of southeast Asia is deluged by monsoons, Bali stays hot and dry during summer with eight to ten hours of daily sunshine on average. While this does mean that south-coast resorts around Kuta will be busy — including their vast beaches, whose choppy waters better suit surfers than swimmers — there's still many a languid, leafy hotel to be found hidden between rice paddies in this Indonesian island's interior. Ubud, famous for its wellness options, is an essential day trip, as are Mount Agung's 80-plus ornate temples.
One such secluded rural retreat is Wapa di Ume, close to Ubud, a boutique hotel with two picturesque pools.
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In tourism terms, this French-overseen island's greatest asset is its flexibility. A holiday here might purely revolve around white-sand beaches — those of the Agriates Desert in the north, or southerly Palombaggia. It could involve scenic trains, historic towns such as fortified Bonifacio or natural wonders including the rouged Calanques de Piana rock spires. Or it can be exploring the beautiful, cooler, more rugged interior of Corsica, where hiking, cycling, canyoning, ziplining and a zillion other activities are possible. All of which means there's room for everyone — especially in late August, when France's school holidays draw to an end.
The island's accommodation scene is no less rangy, with great self-catering stays and hotels for all budgets. Few of the latter type are as stylish as beachside Le Pinarello, which opens seasonally from the spring.
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The west coast of Sweden is renowned for the quality of its seafood — langoustines and oysters in particular — which often finds its way to Michelin-starred restaurants in the capital Stockholm. But it could hardly be more delicious and fresh than if you eat it plucked straight from the sea. In Bohuslan, you can couple this seafood odyssey with a road trip that takes in the region's many islands and scenic villages. Fjallbacka and Marstrand are among the most picturesque, with those classic rust-coloured wooden huts and sail boats off the coast.
Fly into Gothenburg with British Airways and hire a car for the scenic trip north.
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Leave the Algarve to summer's hordes and try the beach-studded, family-friendly Comporta area instead. Ninety minutes' drive south from Lisbon, this is the chicest destination in Portugal. Its namesake village gives onto a nature-reserve coastline; discreet villas proliferate, many observing the classic Comporta style: a fisherman's hut-type façade and whitewashed, wood-beamed interiors. Also prominent are yoga classes, horse rides through rice paddies or pine forests and fine dining in shack-style barefoot restaurants. Be sure to visit Carrasqueira, where an old port is stilted over the Sado river estuary.
Stay in a luxury villa: Oliver's Travels has a number of options with pools that would be great for a multi-generational getaway.
• Read our full guide to Portugal
Malawi remains an unsung safari destination despite the efforts of African Parks. This non-profit has rejuvenated the country's wildlife reserves — working to prevent poaching, restore game, improve accommodation and empower locals — including forested Majete and riverside Liwonde, one of the continent's most photogenic national parks. In summer, with water scarce, it's easier to see elephants, lions and honking hippos on walking, boat or classic 4×4 safaris. Just north begins Lake Malawi, with the season's sultry temperatures suiting its sandy beaches, diving, snorkelling and kayaking.
Malawi is a key feature of a 16-night tour of east Africa with Intrepid, which starts at Victoria Falls and ends in Stone Town. Game drives are included.
As rainforest covers most of Guyana, this small South American nation abounds with jungle camps whose expeditions look for giant anteaters, caymans and jaguars. In addition to treks to remote Kaieteur Falls, the world's longest single-drop waterfall, a growing number of offerings also allow visitors to support indigenous Amerindian communities. But don't neglect the English-speaking country's coast, whose beaches and British-colonial capital Georgetown relish the dry season in late August.
Trailfinders has a brilliant seven-night tour that ticks off Guyana's best bits, including visits to rainforests, remote communities and buzzy Georgetown.
trailfinders.com
Additional reporting by Qin Xie