Europe's best-kept holiday secrets, according to our experts
When it comes to choosing a holiday destination, it pays to be different. Where's the fun in sharing your summer plans with friends only to find out they, too, will be joining the crowds on the very same stretch of Costa? Admit it, there's little joy in exploring the likes of Dubrovnik or Barcelona shoulder-to-shoulder with your fellow Britons or returning to the same hotel on Turkey's Turquoise coast to spend a week feasting on the same buffet as last year.
To help spark some imagination when researching your summer break, we've reached out to The Telegraph's destination expert. As locals in Britain's most popular holiday hotspots, they know where to go when the summer crowds descend and you're in search of an authentic escape that's really worth sharing at the school gate – here they reveal their holiday secrets.
Italy
Valle Maira, Piedmont
Alternative to: Rural Tuscany
I first visited the Valle Maira – a long, Alpine valley in Italy's northwest corner – to hike its old Occitan trails, now beautifully linked as a long-distance path (Percorsi Occitani).
What I found – beyond some of the best walking in Italy – was a not only a virtually untouched region (we saw no other walkers in 10 days) but an area, even by Italian standards, that was unbelievably rich and varied – sleepy medieval villages, distinguished by beautiful wooden houses; ancient, fresco-covered churches; excellent food and wine; delightful, romantic places to stay; and sublime pastoral scenery (as good as any Tuscany), along with breath-taking high, Alpine landscapes. Add time in nearby Turin, itself unsung, and you have a perfect Italian mix of town and country.
It's hard to compare all of Tuscany – few places can match the artistic legacy of its towns and cities – but if you're searching for an alternative to its more popular rural corners, Valle Maira is a hidden gem.
Insider tips
Be sure to visit Elva for the church of Santa Maria Assunta and its extraordinary frescoed interior. Two of my favourite places to stay, both fine bases, are Locanda del Silenzio (doubles from £115) and Ceaglio (from £84 per person, half board).
How to do it
Inntravel (0165 361 7001) is almost alone in packaging a trip to the Valle Maira; a seven-day walking-based stay costs from £1,500 per person.
Tim Jepson
Turkey
Palamutbükü
Alternative to: Marmaris
Just 55 miles west of the busy, full-English-breakfast-orientated resort of Marmaris, the picturesque village of Palamutbükü is my reminder that delightfully low-key breaks are still possible on Turkey's increasingly popular Turquoise Coast.
Situated on the south shore of the narrow, limestone finger of the unspoilt Datça Peninsula, with views out to the nearby Greek islands of Symi, Tilos and Rhodes, Palamutbükü is as tranquil as can be. There really is nothing here except the smallest of yacht harbours, a handful of simple but appealing places to eat and a score or so pensions and small hotels. Even in high season, when Marmaris is bursting at the seams, there's plenty of room on the long, multi-coloured shingle and sand beach, which shelves into a remarkably clear blue sea.
Insider tip
Don't miss the spectacularly situated ruins of ancient Knidos at the tip of the peninsula, just seven miles from Palamutbükü. It's open daily (tickets £4.15).
How to do it
The beachfront Beyaz Inci, on the eastern fringes of the village, has e18 two- and three-bedrooms. Set in pleasant grounds shaded by pine, citrus and olive trees, it has its own private stretch of beach laid out with loungers and sunshades. Doubles from £149 per night. Return flights from Gatwick to Dalaman with Wizz Air from £59.
France
Hérault
Alternative to: the Côte d'Azur
In Hérault, people snigger into their rosé as those on the Riviera fork out €50 for a lounger. The wine is cheaper, the beaches and villages less crowded, and the only place that gets really busy is the Medieval village of Pézenas for the Saturday market, with its teetering trestle tables of fresh shellfish.
I first came here with friends shortly after graduating. We cycled around the Étang de Thau, a vast saltwater lagoon separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow spit of land, stopping to slurp oysters at unassuming waterside shacks. Although half a dozen oysters cost just €10 on-site, Le St Barth Tarbouriech supplies several nearby Michelin-starred restaurants. The lagoon view is priceless.
Bike has remained my preferred mode of transport, and on my last trip, I cycled the headily-named 80km Œnovélo loop, through vines and along the Canal du Midi. Learn from my mistakes and split it over two days to maximise drinking time.
Insider tip
Defying inauspicious beginnings (this water jousting festival started in 1666), Hérault is still at its most festive during the Joutes de Sète (Aug 21 to 26 2025).
How to do it
Doubles with breakfast at Château les Carrasses start from £170. Easyjet and British Airways both have direct UK–Montpellier flights.
Anna Richards
Spain
If you've a hankering for Spanish paths less trodden, for fresher air and cleaner beaches, affordable seafood and locals not completely jaded by tourism, consider Galicia.
Its capital, Santiago de Compostela, is a quietly impressive city of monumental buildings and arcaded streets, with the spectacular cathedral at its core. As the final point on the Camino de Santiago pilgrims' route, it has a headstart of several centuries when it comes to receiving visitors, the legacy of which is a fine range of hotels and some superb restaurants in every price bracket. Within an easy drive of the capital are colourful fishing villages such as Combarro and O Grove, endless beaches (most famously, perhaps, the pristine strips of the Cíes islands) and the dramatic lighthouse at Fisterra.
Insider tip
To really get away from it all, take a boat from Sanxenxo to the vehicle-free Illa de Ons and its sandy beaches.
How to do it
The Parador de Santiago de Compostela (0034 981 582 200; paradores.es) has double rooms from £140, including breakfast. You can fly from London Stansted to Santiago de Compostela with Ryanair (ryanair.com) from £32 return.
Sally Davies
Greece
Sitia, Crete
Alternative to: Chania
With its picture postcard Venetian architecture and lustrous cobbled streets lined with (often pricey) tavernas and souvenir shops, Crete's erstwhile capital Chania is a magnet for summer tourists. By comparison, my go-to region on Greece's biggest island is so secret that most people don't even realise it has an airport.
At the heart of one of Greece's most recently created Unesco Geoparks, the town of Sitia in East Crete has barely changed since I first visited 35 years ago. Descending in a welter of San-Francisco-steep streets from its Venetian kastro high above, Sitia centres on a sleepy harbour bobbing with kingfisher-bright kaiki fishing boats, and surrounded by budget-friendly tavernas. Consider Raki Meze or Inodion, where I've spent many balmy evenings soaking up tumblers of firewater raki with herb-spiked chunks of sausage, garlic-laden fried snails and other bite-sized meze snacks.
A short stroll away from the town centre (or a quick pedal with the city's new electric bike sharing scheme) Sitia's blond sand beaches are rarely crowded, even in the height of summer.
Insider tip
For a livelier vibe, the seaside resort of Palaikastro, with its boho cafes and sandy coves (popular with windsurfers), is a 15-minute drive from Sitia.
How to do it
Sitia Beach Resort & Spa (0030 28430 28826; sitiabeach.com) has double rooms from £95, including breakfast. You can fly from London Heathrow to Sitia via Athens return with Aegean (aegeanair.com) from £225 return.
Heidi Fuller-love
Croatia
Šibenik
Alternative to: Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar
While the Dalmatian coastal cities of Dubrovnik, Split, and Zadar get ghastly crowded with summer tourists, low-key Šibenik provides a welcome refuge of normality.
Built into a hillside site overlooking a sheltered channel where the River Krka meets the Adriatic, Šibenik's medieval old town is a maze of cobbled alleys connected by steep stone stairways. Its main attractions are the splendid 15th-century Gothic-Renaissance Unesco-listed Cathedral (I adore the tiny baptistery, with its marble vaulted ceiling carved as fine as lace), and three sturdy hillside fortresses. Of these, St Michael's Fortress makes an absolutely stunning venue for open-air rooftop concerts – recent performers include Morcheeba and Air, and Morrissey will play this summer. Nearby, the cafe in the Medieval Mediterranean Garden, planted with fig trees, roses and aromatic medicinal herbs, is a restful retreat for a drink.
Šibenik even has its own cluster of islands served by local ferries – tiny car-free Zlarin and Prvić, with their limpid waters, rocky shores, silvery-green olive groves and old stone cottages, are my favourites.
Insider tip
Be sure to eat at least once in the candle-lit courtyard at Pelegrini, opposite the Cathedral, in my opinion, the best restaurant in Croatia.
How to do it
Hotel Life Palace (00385 22 219 004; hotel-lifepalace.hr/) has double rooms from €90 including breakfast. You can fly from Manchester to Split with Jet2 from £131 return.
Jane Foster
Portugal
Arréabida
'Comporta is no longer the secret it once was,' whispered over chilled vinho verde between the cognoscenti. It has been discovered. Its powder-white beaches are now frequented by day-trippers and guests of the hotels that are opening at a fast and furious pace. The original celebrity villa owners – who put Comporta on the map – are being crowded out. So, where to go now?
My answer is to the unspoilt, green, rolling hills of Arrábida, just a little further north – an area of natural park, which encompasses the ancient towns of Setúbal and Azeitão. The former is famous for its oysters, the latter for its muscatel wines and its powerful, unguent, eponymous, sheep's cheese. There are walking trails along the cliff tops and golden beaches tucked underneath them, such as Praia dos Galapinhos, fringed by crystal clear waters. In the many bays lie restaurants, like O Farol (Farol), which you can swim into from a boat, or drive down to, dreaming of the coriander-flecked, garlicky clams awaiting you. Bottlenose dolphins are resident in the Sado Estuary, and I have been lucky enough to witness their joyful frolicking.
Insider Tip
This area was once one of the largest natural banks of oyster production in Europe. Head to the town market, Mercado de Livramento, in Setúbal to taste the goods. At the Exporsado stand, you can taste them on the spot, along with a glass of local sparkling wine, while they are shucking the oysters for you.
How to do it
Overlooking vineyards, framed by the Arrábida mountains, with a private path down to the sea, (00 351 265 249 650; hotelcasapalmela.pt), a still family-owned manor house, offers double rooms from £182 per night, including breakfast. You can fly from London Heathrow to Lisbon with British Airways (ba.com) from £193 return.
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Metro
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The underrated Swiss lake town that's like Como without the crowds
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On weekends, I explored many of the surrounding villages, but I never made it to the village known as the 'jewel of Lake Maggiore'. Neither, it seems, do the vast majority of tourists. The town has no railway station, so anyone without a car arrives into neighbouring Locarno. From there, a bus or taxi will take you past golden fields to Ascona in less than 15 minutes. When I visit in late May, I have no trouble getting a table at any of the waterfront restaurants. Ferries are only half full, and the pedestrianised promenade is quiet without being sleepy. Glittering yachts bob on gentle waves and speedboats zip across the marina. It's elegant, alluring, and there's not a tour guide's umbrella in sight. One hour south of the border in Como, the picture is different. Over the past decade, the idyllic lake town has been engulfed by tourism. As many as 1.4 million visitors descend on its glitzy shores each year, and the overwhelming hordes have sparked calls for a Venice-style tourist tax. 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The giant lost Edinburgh building that once took up half of the Meadows
Taking up roughly half of the Meadows park, it was among the grandest and most architecturally stunning buildings ever constructed in Edinburgh, yet it stood in its completed state for barely six months. Had it survived, the main pavilion for the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886 would surely be regarded a piece of architecture of national significance. Standing 120 feet high, the impressive structure was topped with a large domed roof decorated with the signs of the zodiac and took up approximately half of the Meadows parkland between Brougham Place and Middle Meadow Walk. READ MORE - The creepy Edinburgh graveyard where the real Harry Potter characters are buried READ MORE - Inside 'ghost town' shopping centre near Edinburgh that's been left to rot Beyond the magnificent main entrance was attached a series of galleries containing all the wonders of the Victorian age. Opened by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the legendary exhibition ran for a little over five months from May 6 to October 30, 1886, and showcased the very latest scientific, cultural and social advances that the western world had to offer at that time. The more than 20,000 exhibits, a selection of curiosities and scientific marvels from around the globe, drew hundreds of thousands of visitors over the course of the summer months. The vast array of items, many sourced from the far flung corners of the world, included "educational appliances; Italian furniture and marble; violins from Prague; Turkish embroidery; illustrations of mining, pottery, sugar-refining, sea industries, paper-making, printing, and railway, tram-way and other vehicular appliances'. Among the major crowd pleasers for locals, however, was the recreation of a typical 17th century Edinburgh Old Town street, featuring long lost structures such as the Netherbow Port - the city's ancient gateway, and the Black Turnpike, a medieval building that once stood near the Tron Kirk. The 17th century street exhibit was widely praised for its painstaking attention to detail and appeared on a number of postcards to help promote the exhibition. The areas surrounding the main pavilion also received special treatment. The Meadows were transformed to include landscaped gardens, with a fountain, rockery, and even a bandstand. Also situated in the park was a full-scale 'ideal home' filled with all the latest conveniences available, such flushing toilets, electricity and a bespoke kitchen. In the evenings, the grounds around the exhibition were spectacularly illuminated with more than 3,000 electric lamps - the largest illumination scheme ever devised in Scotland at that time. While relics, such as stone entrance pillars and a sundial, from the 1886 International Exhibition can still be found around the Meadows today, the main pavilion is long gone. Despite calls for the grand hall to stay, the authorities cited an 1827 Act of Parliament which prevented permanent buildings on the Meadows. The pavilion was duly dismantled when the International Exhibition closed in late 1886.
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Padstow was featured alongside nine others in a list from The Telegraph, which was highlighting coastal destinations that made for a refined trip. The publication said: "While there's a certain nostalgic joy to the type of coastal resort that's all candy floss, waltzers and slot machines, there's arguably greater pleasure in towns that have the seascapes and the golden sand but that are more cute than kitsch. "More sourdough than doughnut. More vibrant arts scene than end-of-the-pier innuendo. More artisanal ice cream than Mr Whippy." The full list of Britain's best genteel seaside towns can be found on The Telegraph website here. Why is Padstow among Britain's most genteel seaside towns? Padstow is obviously known for its variety of restaurants, which have made it a haven for diners and give it a refined quality. The Telegraph wrote: "Peaceful fishing village turned foodie phenomenon, Padstow is the British coast's tastiest choice. "Rick Stein is the main man about town, of course. His original Seafood Restaurant turns 50 this year, but has since been joined by a smorgasbord of other venues; for sociable platters served with Camel Valley sparkling, try his Seafood Bar & Fishmongers." For other options, try Paul Ainsworth at No.6 if you want to go "fancy", while BinTwo is a recommended wine bar/bottle shop. The publication adds: "Balance all this consumption with a walk along the cracking coast path and a ferry trip over to – even posher? – Rock, 'Britain's Saint-Tropez'." Another place to try out is the Padstow Kitchen Garden, which was created by former Rick Stein chef and seventh-generation farmer Ross Geach. You can gorge on "greenhouse dinners" here as part of 'feasts' that they run, or take part in a course learning how to cook nutritious meals using vegetables you've grown yourself. In terms of a place to stay, The Telegraph recommends Plum Cottage, which has only opened this year. It is said to be "an exquisitely restored, Grade-II listed, antique-filled hideaway". What else can you see and do around Padstow? As the Visit Cornwall website says, Padstow is more than "just great places to eat". It adds: "It's still a working harbour, it's surrounded by glorious beaches, and offers a base to explore the Camel estuary." The town is surrounded by "two breathtaking National Landscapes" in the Camel Estuary and Carnewas to Stepper Point. Recommended reading: It says: "This area is rich in natural beauty, home to rare plant species and one of the UK's most protected mammals, the otter. It's the perfect spot to slow down and enjoy the tranquillity of nature." Outside of the fine dining, there are plenty of cafes, bistros and pubs where people can enjoy some quality food and drink offerings. Some of these include The Harbour Inn, Old Custom House, The Shipwrights and The Golden Lion.
