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The Sun
9 hours ago
- The Sun
Six of the best long-haul holidays to take this summer from beautiful beach resorts to affordable luxe hotels
HOLIDAYMAKERS are hungry for long-haul getaways this year – and it is no surprise, considering the soaring costs in popular European hotspots. Thomas Cook has reported a ten per cent year-on-year increase in bookings for far-flung breaks and recent research from holiday operator On The Beach found getaways to Europe could easily set you back more than to farther afield. On The Beach's Zoe Harris said: 'The gap between long-haul prices and short-haul has decreased and the idea of a new, far-out destination is clearly pulling a lot of Brits, hence why bookings are up.' So, why not save your pennies and ditch your favourite sunshine spot for somewhere new and maybe even more exotic? Sophie Swietochowski shares her pick of long-haul holiday s for short-haul prices . . . KANDY, SRI LANKA SAVE around £500, if you swap a £1,200pp holiday on the Greek island of Santorini for a £769pp seven-night adventure at the 4* Radisson Hotel in the mountainous city of Kandy. Sri Lanka, where coconut palms line the roads and wild elephants roam freely, is often reserved for special occasions, but with prices like this, it doesn't need to be. 7 Carved into the hillside, the resort's modern and simple bedrooms come with lush views of tropical greenery. Going with a breakfast-only package means you can tuck into plates of fresh fruit piled on top of hot waffles and thick yoghurt before setting off for a day exploring the beautiful country. Kandy is the cultural capital of the island and is littered with intricately decorated temples. GO: Seven nights' B&B costs from £769pp including flights from Heathrow on September 8. 2025. See Orlando, US THRILLSEEKERS should look to Florida instead of Europe for their summer break this year. The Disney parks are just 15 minutes by car from the 3* Sonesta ES Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista, where a week costs less than £800pp with TUI. But if you were to head to Paris – home to the European Disneyland – at the same time of year, you'd struggle to bag a TUI package for less than £1,000pp. You can use the cash you have saved on travel costs to pay a visit to Epic Universe, the first new theme park to come to Orlando in 25 years. When you are not being thrown upside down on a roller-coaster, the palm tree-laden ES Suites is the perfect place to relax with barbecue grills in the gardens, for guests to use. GO: Seven nights' self-catering costs from £759pp based on two sharing a one-bedroom apartment and includes flights from Gatwick on 15. See DUBAI, UAE THE glittering skyscrapers of Dubai are easier than ever to reach, and you could save a fair whack by heading here for around £700pp instead of Spain' s Marbella, where a week's break in July can cost upwards of £1,000pp. Well positioned – less than a five-minute drive from cultural sites like the Jumeirah Mosque and under ten minutes from glam beach clubs like Nikki Beach – the 4* Jumeira Rotana is an ideal base for first-timers. Temperatures can reach 40C in summer, but don't let that put you off, as many of the city's top attractions are air-conditioned. Make your way to the top of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper to soak up the best views of the skyline. Or, if you really need to cool down, head to Ski Dubai, with 22,500 square metres of ski slopes. GO: Seven nights' B&B costs from £723pp including flights from Manchester on July 2. See PUNTA CANA, DOMINICAN REP WHEN it comes to fly-and-flop breaks, you may want to consider opting for the Dominican Republic over the Greek islands. A 4* break in Mykonos will cost £2,700pp in June, much more than this On The Beach deal to Punta Cana for £739pp. 7 The chic Sunscape Coco Punta Cana is a sleepy 4* resort on the Dominican Republic's eastern coast, where temperatures reach a balmy 32C towards the end of this month. Expect white-sand beaches overlooking turquoise waters, cocktails and a cushioned cabana shaded by palms. This place has everything within easy reach. There's an outdoor pool, private beach, casino, poolside bar, watersports centre, a la carte restaurant, beach volleyball, spa and more. And with an all-inclusive package, the only thing you need to focus on is topping up your tan. GO: Seven nights' all-inclusive costs from £739pp including flights from Gatwick on June 21. See MUSCAT, OMAN IF you are a fan of Dubai, but want somewhere more affordable, the Middle Eastern gem of Oman is the UAE's laid-back sister. A 5* luxury holiday at the Sheraton Oman Hotel, will only set you back £669pp. This price is staggeringly low if you compare it with a stay in a European Sheraton hotel – a package for its Mallorca hotel during the same week is just shy of £1,200pp with British Airways. Muscat is a great spot for culture vultures – home to winding souks crammed with spices, breathtakingly beautiful mosques that shimmer in the sun and golden sand dunes stretching for miles. Make sure to take advantage of the hotel's outdoor Courtyard Oasis, crammed with tropical plants, a restaurant and the spa – which claims to be one of the best in Oman. KHAO LAK, THAILAND WE'VE all got White Lotus fever. But instead of visiting Sicily (where the second series was filmed), head to Thailand (the location for series three) to bag a proper bargain. 7 A seven-night TUI package at the 4* The Leaf On The Sands, by Katathani costs just over £800pp, while a holiday in a 4* hotel in Sicily, during the same week, could set you back about £1,000pp or more. Surrounded by tropical greenery, in the beach resort region of Khao Lak, a little north of Phuket, The Leaf On The Sands offers two swimming pools where you can catch the rays while listening to birdsong. Do not get too comfy, though, as there is so much adventure waiting – treks through the Lam Ru National Park, trips to the Wat Suwan Khuha Temple or snorkelling around a shipwreck. GO: Seven nights' B&B is from £838pp including flights from Heathrow on September 11. See
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Europe's worst destinations for flight delays revealed - and one of Brits' favourite beach hotspots tops the list...
Millions of Brits are eagerly counting down the days to their summer getaways, but be warned - not all routes to holiday hotspots are smooth sailing. Antalya, the postcard-perfect Turkish resort known for its golden coastline, ancient ruins and turquoise waters, has just been crowned Europe's worst destination for summer flight delays. Despite it ranking as the 12th most popular place to fly from the UK, 23.4 per cent of UK flights arrived over an hour late to the southern Turkish airport in the summer months of 2024, while 938 out of 4,008 flights were delayed by more than one hour. That's according to a new study by JamPrime, which analysed Civil Aviation Authority data to uncover the 20 destinations most plagued by long flight delays. Looking at the top 50 most flown-to airports from the UK in June, July, and August last year, the team ranked destinations by the percentage of flights delayed by an hour or more - and Antalya came out on top, for all the wrong reasons. Last summer, almost a quarter of flights from the UK to Antalya were delayed by 60 minutes or more. And with over 4,000 flights making that journey during the season, that's a lot of passengers stuck waiting at the gate or doing laps around duty-free. Milan Malpensa was second-worst overall with 19.46 per cent of flights delayed, equating to nearly one in five flights held up by at least an hour. Hungary's capital, Budapest, came third in the rankings, with 311 of 1,610 UK flights - or 19.32 per cent - delayed by at least an hour. Greece's island airports were also hit hard, as Rhodes ranked fourth with 16.03 per cent of flights delayed, while Heraklion came seventh with 14.86 per cent - a total of almost 650 major delays across the two. Two more popular Turkish destinations were in fifth and sixth place in the analysis. Dalaman, on the country's southwestern coast, saw 15.78 per cent of flights from UK airports delayed by at least an hour, while the figure for Istanbul stood at 15 per cent. Together, over 1,700 UK flights to Turkey's three busiest summer destinations were severely delayed. The top ten of the summer lateness rankings was completed by Naples in Italy (14.6 per cent) in eighth, Guernsey (14.56 per cent) in ninth and Paphos in Cyprus (14.49 per cent) in tenth. Meanwhile, Dublin, the UK's most popular summer route with over 10,000 flights, came 21st in the study, though its airport still saw 1,118 delays of an hour or more. Across all UK airports in the study, 10.56 per cent of flights were delayed over 60 minutes - approximately 28,000 late departures during the peak season. JamPrime founder Ben Nicholls warned that with memories of last summer's global IT meltdown still fresh, travellers should be prepared for possible setbacks again this year. He said: 'Millions of Brits wait all year to jet off on their summer holidays, but this research shows that they might face frustrating delays, especially when flying to certain destinations. 'The data is based on flights during the summer months of 2024, and July last year saw the global CrowdStrike-related IT outages which significantly impacted airports around the world, so travellers and airlines will be hoping that no such issues occur this year as the summer holidays arrive.' It comes as Gatwick has retained its unwanted title as the country's worst airport for delays – with departures last year running on average 23 minutes late. The figures come as a busy summer holiday period looms and amid a warning from the travel industry that such delays risk leaving passengers feeling that they are not 'respected'. The data is an improvement for Gatwick from nearly 27 minutes in the previous 12 months but it is still longer than at any other domestic airport, said the Civil Aviation Authority.
