City breaks are now more popular than beach holidays and more of us than ever before will explore a new country in 2016. These are just two of the holiday trends revealed in a recent survey by Sainsburys Travel Insurance. If you’ve still to firm up your holiday plans, we can reveal the most popular annual leave hot-spots; how much salary you’ll spend and what you’ll do once you get there.
Kotor Bay Montenegro
With annual leave disappearing like snow off a dyke, it’s important to cram as much as we can into the our precious holiday entitlement. If like me, you love the buzz of the city and the solitude of the great outdoors – why not enjoy both by seeking city breaks that offer mountain escapes. I’ve hand-picked five radically different destinations where you can spend the day clambering up mountains and be back in time for evening cocktails.
Alhambra Palace
After six months of training, I finally set off on my Atlas Mountain trek last week in a state of excitement and trepidation. Would all the hard work pay off? How would I cope with altitude sickness, the trots or a combination of both? And most importantly, would I make it to the summit of the mighty Mount Toubkal? All is revealed…….
Atlas Mountains skyline
With autumn beckoning, we have just a few weeks left to savour lunch breaks alfresco and parade our sandals on the tube. If you’ve been toiling away while colleagues sizzle on foreign beaches, September heralds a smug season of off-peak travel prices and cooler temperatures on the continent. What better time to visit sultry Seville where you can gorge on tapas and flamenco to your heart’s content without the crowds. Read our top five things to do on an autumn short break to Seville.
Flamenco
Following my May Bank Holiday Snowdon ascent, my training schedule has recently ramped up a gear in preparation my first international trek in September. On top of my twice weekly-runs and daily lunch break stair climbing antics, I decided it was time to head for the hills again, this time, on a mini break to the Lake District. With walking poles and Compeed plasters at the ready, (lessons learnt from last time), I set off from work last Friday lunchtime to explore Britain’s largest hiking playground.
With the annual summer holiday exodus about to hit offices, those left behind to pick up the pieces can still escape to a weekend of fun and freedom at one of many Great British Summer Festivals. Proving there’s so much more to summertime frolics than Glastonbury, we’ve compiled a list of the most eclectic festivals taking place across the British Isles this summer. From hot air ballooning to oyster shucking, there’s a festival to suit everyone – some even with luxury toilets.
The landing of the oyster
With only four months to go (yikes) until my Atlas Mountain trek, I decided to head for the hills this May bank holiday weekend to do my first ever mountain climb. Equipped with compeed plasters, gloves, scarves and a mountain of cereal bars, I left my desk at lunchtime on Friday to join thirteen other intrepid Londoners destined for Mount Snowdon in the Welsh outback.
Mount Snowdon
After a stressful working week, what could be more soothing than the thought of slipping away to your very own country retreat. But before most of us have googled weekend breaks in the Cotswolds, visions of a grid-locked M25 sends us scurrying home for a glass of wine instead. Cooped up in concrete for another weekend, few realise that only twelve miles from central London lies a fairy tale Manor house nestled in 40 acres of award-winning gardens and woodlands. (leave a comment below for a chance to win a stay at the Grim’s Dyke hotel)
Grim’s Dyke gardens
“Turn left just past Jesus,” instructed the reception manager. Grabbing my bag with a grin, I wondered what other surprises lay in store for me during my first night in a Nunnery. Seeking a weekend of calm and serenity far from the corporate pressure cooker, I was delighted to accept an invitation to the grand opening of Stanbrook Abbey in rural Worcestershire.
Stanbrook Abbey
As daylight commutes, lunch breaks al-fresco and post-work Pimms make a welcome return, we’ve finally made it through winter. But while we’re dusting off our sandals down south, in the harsher Scottish climes where winters are frequently a feat of endurance, spring is celebrated with far more pomp and ceremony. Edinburgh’s Beltane Fire Festival is a mystical night of Pagan pageantry crammed with stirring twilight creatures, fire dancers, flame throwers and giant, glowing toadstools.
Beltane Fire Festival 2013