Best Summer Holiday Destinations in 2026: 20 Top Places for couples, families and every type of traveller
22 juni 2026
If you've done Malaga, you've done Faro, and the thought of another August on a packed Costa fills you with mild dread, this is the list for you. These are 20 of the best summer holiday destinations in 2026: original picks, all direct from London Stansted (where the most convenient flight airlines operate), sorted by trip type so you can jump straight to what suits you. Think of it as a top summer holiday destinations list, and none of them are obvious.
From underrated holiday destinations that rarely make the listicles to great-value escapes and proper family beaches, London Stansted's 200-plus routes make it the UK's most connected airport for Europe.
Stick around to the end, too: we'll tell you the simplest way to reach the airport before you go.
- Start here: standout originals
- Best family summer holiday destinations
- Cheap summer holiday destinations
- Best summer holiday destinations for couples
- Underrated holiday destinations
- Getting to London Stansted with Flibco
- Ready to go?
Start here: standout originals
Some destinations don't fit neatly into a category. These four are simply the most original picks on the list: a mid-Atlantic archipelago, an eastern capital on the rise, one of the Med's finest coastlines and a Habsburg city that most people fly straight past. As holiday destinations in Europe for summer 2026, this is where to start. Before you go, it's also worth checking a practical guide on what to pack for a holiday to make sure you've got the essentials covered.
1. Ponta Delgada, Azores (Portugal)
The Azores sit out in the mid-Atlantic, closer to Canada than to Lisbon, and São Miguel feels like it.
The twin crater lakes of Sete Cidades are the obvious draw, but the island has plenty besides: thermal bathing at Furnas, whale and dolphin watching in open water, volcanic black-sand coves.
Summer brings the driest, calmest weather and the best sea conditions for boat trips.
It's the boldest pick on this list, and one of the few places in Europe that genuinely feels like a discovery.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted roughly once a week, around four hours fifteen minutes.
2. Tirana, Albania
The Albanian capital has been quietly building a reputation as one of the more interesting city breaks on the Mediterranean, and the prices are still well below anywhere else on this list.
The Blloku district is the social heart of the city, full of cafes and bars that stay busy late; Skanderbeg Square and the Dajti cable car take care of the sightseeing.
The bigger draw for many is heading south to the Albanian Riviera, where the beaches around Ksamil and Dhermi rival Greece for colour without the crowds or the cost.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted throughout the summer.
3. Olbia, Sardinia (Italy)
Olbia is a working port rather than a resort, and that's part of what makes it a better arrival point than its name recognition suggests.
It puts you at the edge of the Gallura, a corner of northeastern Sardinia that includes the Costa Smeralda and some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean.
As Italy summer holiday destinations go, this is one of the most underrated entry points: beaches at Cala Brandinchi and Porto Istana within easy reach, boat trips to the Maddalena archipelago, and from June the sea warm and flat.
BA CityFlyer operates the route on Saturdays and Sundays, from 23 May to 27 September 2026.
4. Trieste, Friuli (Italy)
Trieste spent centuries as the main port of the Habsburg Empire, and the architecture, the coffee culture and a certain northern European composure still set it apart from anywhere else on the Adriatic.
The grand Unità d'Italia Square opens onto the sea, the Miramare Castle sits on a promontory just outside town, and the Carso plateau above the city has serious local wines and good walking.
In summer the Barcola promenade fills with locals swimming from the rocks, which is the best free afternoon you'll have in Italy.
Ryanair connects London Stansted to Trieste around five times a week, just over two hours.
Best family summer holiday destinations
Wide beaches, easy logistics, a gentle pace: these four cover the full range of what makes a family summer holiday destination work in practice. From a Greek island with reliably calm water to a Scandinavian city with beaches and bikes, there's something here for every kind of travelling family. If you're planning around school holidays and looking to maximise time away, it's worth checking the bank holiday and long weekends calendar before booking.
5. Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (Greece)
Kefalonia is one of the larger Greek islands, green and mountainous in the interior, with some of the best beaches in the Ionian on its western coast.
Myrtos is the one that gets photographed, but the island has plenty of quieter spots and a relaxed pace that suits families well.
The Melissani underground lake is worth a boat trip, and the resort towns of Lassi and Skala offer easy, low-key bases with good tavernas and calm water for swimming.
Loggerhead turtles nest around Argostoli in summer, which tends to go down well.
Jet2 and Ryanair both fly direct from London Stansted on a seasonal schedule running roughly June to October.
6. Almería, Andalusia (Spain)
Almería sits in Spain's sunniest, driest corner and it earns that reputation: Cabo de Gata, the volcanic natural park just east of the city, has some of the least crowded beaches on the entire Mediterranean coast.
Playa de los Muertos and the coves around San José are the highlights, far enough from the main resort belt to stay quiet even in August.
Inland, the Tabernas desert doubles as a film set (Sergio Leone shot here) and the Oasys Mini Hollywood park makes a straightforward half-day out with children.
The Alcazaba fortress above the city is worth an hour of anyone's time.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted to Almería throughout the summer.
7. Riga, Latvia
Riga makes an interesting case for oe of the best summer holiday destination for families that doesn't involve a beach at all, though there is one: Jūrmala, a long stretch of white sand and pine forest about thirty minutes from the city centre by train, only really comes alive in summer.
The old town is a Unesco World Heritage Site, compact and walkable, and the Art Nouveau district has some of the most elaborate building facades in Europe.
Days are long in the Baltic summer, the weather is mild rather than hot, and the city is genuinely affordable.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted year-round.
8. Malmö, Sweden
Malmö is Scandinavia's answer to a summer city break: relaxed, green, easy to get around by bike, with the Ribersborg city beach right on the edge of the centre and the Øresund Bridge to Copenhagen a short train ride away.
The Western Harbour district and the Turning Torso tower are the architectural set pieces, but the city works best at a slow pace, particularly in July and August when the long daylight hours make outdoor everything possible.
For families who find southern Europe too hot in peak summer, it's a genuinely good alternative.
Ryanair launched twice-weekly flights from London Stansted in April 2026.
Cheap summer holiday destinations
Low fares to the airport are only part of the equation. These four cheap summer holiday destinations earn their place on the list because the costs stay low once you land: affordable food, reasonable accommodation and, in some cases, genuinely uncrowded beaches. Many would also make excellent choices for some of the best weekend breaks in Europe, thanks to their easy access and relatively low day-to-day costs.
In fact, for cheap European summer holiday destinations, it's hard to beat this group.
9. Bari, Puglia (Italy)
Puglia has had a moment for a few years now, but Bari remains one of the most affordable entry points to the region.
The old town, Bari Vecchia, is a tightly woven maze of whitewashed lanes worth an afternoon on its own; after that, the rest of the heel of Italy opens up easily.
Alberobello's trulli, the clifftop town of Polignano a Mare and the long beaches of the Salento are all within reach by train or hire car.
August brings the sagre, the local food festivals that dot the region's calendar.
Ryanair flies from London Stansted to Bari daily, making it one of the most flexible routes on this list.
10. Kaunas, Lithuania
Kaunas is compact, handsome and very good value: a Baltic city that sees a fraction of the visitors Vilnius gets, despite having a well-preserved old town, a long riverside boulevard and one of the most intact collections of interwar modernist architecture in Europe (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site).
In summer the Nemunas and Neris rivers come into their own, with bars and terraces along the banks and a relaxed pace that makes it easy to fill a few days without a plan.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted seasonally, roughly April to October.
11. Wrocław, Poland
One of Europe's larger market squares, a network of islands connected by over a hundred bridges, a dense student population that keeps prices low and energy high: Wrocław makes a strong case for itself as a city break.
Hunting the city's bronze dwarf statues has become a slightly ridiculous but genuinely enjoyable walking tour; the Cathedral Island and the Centennial Hall (another Unesco site) are worth the detour.
Beer gardens and riverside bars fill up on summer evenings, and the dining scene is serious without being expensive.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted year-round.
12. Comiso, south-east Sicily (Italy)
Comiso is the quiet back door into one of Sicily's most rewarding corners.
The airport sits close to Ragusa, Modica and Noto, the three Baroque towns that form the island's Unesco-listed south-eastern triangle, and the coast around Marina di Ragusa and the Vendicari nature reserve is among the least commercialised on the island.
If you want Sicily without Taormina's crowds or Catania's airport chaos, this is the route to take.
Hot, dry and reliably sunny from June, with warm sea and long beach days.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted on a seasonal basis.
Best summer holiday destinations for couples
Atmosphere, scenery and a pace that rewards slowing down: these four best summer holiday destinations for couples share the quality of feeling genuinely worth the journey. A floodlit medieval citadel, an Aegean resort town, a Dalmatian seafront at sunset and deep Andalusian Andalucia make a strong shortlist.
13. Carcassonne, Languedoc (France)
Few France summer holiday destinations deliver quite the same visual impact as Carcassonne at dusk, when the floodlights come on and the double-walled citadel glows against the darkening sky.
Walking the ramparts above the valley is a properly memorable couple of hours; beyond the walls, the Canal du Midi runs through the surrounding countryside for cycling and boat trips.
The Festival de Carcassonne in July brings theatre and music into the arena within the walls, and the Bastille Day fireworks on 14 July are worth planning around.
Ryanair flies daily from London Stansted, April to October.
14. Bodrum, Turkey
Bodrum sits on Turkey's Aegean coast, whitewashed and marina-fronted, with a medieval castle keeping watch over the harbour.
The town is lively without being relentless: beach clubs at Gümbet, quieter coves around Gümüşlük, gulet trips through the bays of the peninsula.
The water stays warm well into the evening, and the fresh fish at the harbour-side restaurants is a reason to linger.
AJet launches a twice-weekly direct service from London Stansted on 26 June 2026.
15. Zadar, Dalmatia (Croatia)
Zadar is the kind of city people tend to discover once and return to.
The old town juts into the Adriatic on a narrow peninsula, Roman forum and Venetian churches within easy walking distance of each other, and the waterfront Sea Organ turns wave movement into ambient sound.
Sunsets here have their own reputation. The Kornati archipelago is just offshore, and Krka and Plitvice are both reachable as day trips.
Croatia summer holiday destinations don't come much more atmospheric.
Ryanair flies from London Stansted seasonally, with a reduced schedule in 2026.
16. Jerez, Costa de la Luz (Spain)
Jerez rewards arriving without a fixed plan.
The sherry bodegas take most of a morning, the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre puts on equestrian displays worth seeking out, and a flamenco evening at one of the peñas feels nothing like a tourist-circuit performance.
The coast an hour away is wide, windswept Atlantic: Cádiz and Conil de la Frontera are considerably quieter than anything on the Costa del Sol.
As a Spain summer holiday destination, this corner of Andalusia is still under the radar.
Jet2 flies twice weekly from London Stansted, from 1 May 2026.
Underrated holiday destinations
The places on this list don't have image problems exactly, but they do tend to get overlooked. These are four underrated holiday destinations that deserve a closer look: a northern Greek port city, a pine-covered Aegean island, an Atlantic city break in green Spain, and a deep-south French town that trades on wine, canals and one of the most raucous summer festivals in Europe.
17. Kavala, northern Greece
Kavala is one of those Greek cities most visitors fly straight past, which is precisely what makes it worth stopping for.
The old town climbs above a working harbour, a Byzantine aqueduct runs through the upper city, and the fortress offers a wide view across the northern Aegean.
The real draw is the short ferry crossing to Thassos, a pine-forested island with beaches that stay quieter than almost anywhere in the Cyclades.
For summer 2026, the most straightforward route from London Stansted is via Athens with Ryanair or Jet2, then Aegean Airlines to Kavala.
Good news for next year: Jet2 launches a weekly direct from London Stansted from May 2027.
18. Samos, North Aegean (Greece)
Samos sits just off the Turkish coast, greener and lusher than the Cyclades, with a wine-making tradition that goes back to antiquity.
The beaches at Tsamadou and Lemonakia are among the best in the eastern Aegean, and the Heraion and Pythagoreio, two Unesco World Heritage Sites, give the island a serious historical layer beyond the beach.
A day trip across the strait to Turkey is easy to arrange from Pythagoreio. As underrated summer holiday destinations go, Samos is one of the more convincing cases.
Jet2 flies twice weekly direct from London Stansted, from 7 May 2026.
19. Santander, Cantabria (Spain)
Santander doesn't get the attention of San Sebastián or Bilbao, but it makes a strong case: a working port city with long Atlantic beaches right on the edge of the centre and the Picos de Europa a short drive inland.
El Sardinero is wide and sea-breeze cooled, the Centro Botín on the waterfront is worth a morning, and the pintxos bars are worth considerably longer.
Bilbao and San Sebastián are both easy day trips.
Ryanair flies from London Stansted five times a week, around two hours direct.
20. Béziers, Occitanie (France)
Béziers sits above the coast in the flat Languedoc plain, close enough to the beaches of Valras and Cap d'Agde for a proper beach day but with enough character to be a destination in its own right.
The Fonseranes staircase of locks on the Canal du Midi is just outside town, the Saint-Nazaire cathedral is architecturally striking, and the wine villages of the Languedoc are on the doorstep.
Mid-August brings the Feria de Béziers, one of the biggest summer festivals in southern France.
Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 1 May to 30 September 2026.
Getting to London Stansted with Flibco
Before any of the above becomes real, there's the small matter of getting to the airport.
No better way to do so that with the Flibco coach to London Stansted, that runs 24/7 with departures every 30 minutes, stopping at Redbridge, Stratford and Liverpool Street in central London, as well as a separate north London route from Finsbury Park via Wood Green and Enfield.
Tickets start from £7.49 when booked online in advance, which makes it one of the most affordable ways to reach London Stansted, with no parking costs, no congestion charge and no last-minute surprises. Luggage is included, there's Wi-Fi on board, and a flexible ticket means you can adjust your plans without penalty.
Ready to go?
Twenty destinations, all a direct flight from London Stansted (or very nearly), covering everything from mid-Atlantic crater lakes to deep-south French canal towns.
The easiest first step is the same for all twenty: get to London Stansted with Flibco and let the holiday take it from there!
Ponta Delgada Image by Katharina Kiese via Pixabay
Tirana Image via Pixabay
Olbia Image by Only Sardinia Autonoleggio , noleggio auto olbia via Pixabay
Trieste Image by Sabine Rabenberger via Pixabay
Keafalonia Image by Dmitry Rodionov via Pixabay
Almeria Image by Enrique via Pixabay
Riga Image by Makalu via Pixabay
Malmo Image by Laura Åkerblom via Pixabay
Trulli Image by svb2016 via Pixabay
Kaunas Image by Makalu via Pixabay
Kaunas Image by Evelin de Bruin via Pixabay
Noto Image (Comiso paragraph) by Robert Cheaib via Pixabay
Carcassone Image by hjrivas via Pixabay
Bodrum Image by Ender BOZ via Pixabay
Zadar Image by Peggy via Pixabay
Jerez de la Frontera Image by Antonio Garcia Prats via Pixabay
Thassos Image by Alexandru Manole via Pixabay
Samos Image by Daniel Stuhlpfarrer via Pixabay
Santander Image by Kiddopedia via Pixabay
Beziers Image by jeanmi via Pixabay
