Where’s Hot in August from the UK: Best Holiday Destinations

August is the hottest, busiest month for UK holidaymakers, and prices reflect that. But these four destinations still deliver strong value, especially if you book at least six weeks ahead or travel in the second half of the month. They also cover four very different types of holiday: Italian luxury beaches, a Mediterranean island with serious food culture, Turkey’s famous all-inclusive value and a Balkan coastline most of your friends have not been to yet.

For a full overview of where works each month, see our guide to where’s hot from the UK.

Sardinia

Sardinia has some of the best beaches in Europe, and August is when the island is at its most vivid. The water around Cala Goloritzé, La Pelosa and Spiaggia del Principe is a shade of blue that looks more Caribbean than Mediterranean. The Costa Smeralda attracts serious money, but the rest of the island is more accessible than people assume, particularly the south and west coasts.

Flights from the UK run direct to Cagliari, Olbia and Alghero from London, Manchester and Bristol, with journey times around two and a half hours. Olbia is the closest airport to the Costa Smeralda. Alghero, in the north-west, is a quieter entry point with a charming medieval centre and easy access to La Pelosa beach. If your priority is cost, Cagliari in the south is typically the cheapest gateway.

August is peak season and prices are at their highest, particularly for accommodation in the north. Booking at least eight weeks out gives you meaningfully better rates. The second half of August, from around the 20th onwards, starts to see prices ease as Italian school holidays wind down. Travel after the 20th and you get the same weather with noticeably fewer crowds.

Sicily

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and one of the most rewarding destinations in Europe for a week’s holiday. August is its hottest month, with temperatures in Palermo and Catania regularly hitting 32 degrees. The beaches along the south coast, particularly around Agrigento and Sciacca, are world-class and far less crowded than Sardinia’s equivalent.

Sicily also has something few other summer beach destinations can match: serious food culture, Greek and Roman ruins, and Europe’s largest active volcano. Mount Etna is a day trip from Catania or Taormina. A cable car and 4×4 transfer takes you to around 3,000 metres, where it is noticeably cooler than the coast. Down below, Taormina is one of the most photographed towns in Italy, with its clifftop Greek theatre looking out over the sea and Etna simultaneously.

Direct flights from the UK go to Catania in the east and Palermo in the west, with Ryanair and Jet2 serving both from multiple UK airports. Package holidays to Sicily tend to be good value compared with equivalent Sardinia trips. A week’s self-catering or B&B in August, flights included, typically comes in below £400 per person if you book early and are flexible on accommodation standard.

Turkey

Turkey is consistently the best value August destination from the UK, and it is not close. All-inclusive packages to the Antalya and Dalaman regions regularly come in at under £500 per person for a week, including flights. You get 33-plus degrees, calm turquoise sea, solid infrastructure and enough food included to make eating outside the resort a bonus rather than a necessity. For families in particular, Turkey in August is hard to beat on a cost basis.

The Turkish Riviera stretches from Antalya west to Fethiye and Dalaman. Antalya itself has a genuinely lovely old town, Kaleici, with Roman walls and Ottoman architecture that rewards an afternoon’s exploration. Side has Hellenistic ruins directly on the beach. Ölüdeniz, near Fethiye, has the Blue Lagoon: a sheltered turquoise bay backed by green mountains that justifiably appears on every shortlist of the Mediterranean’s best beaches.

Turkey is outside the EU, which means no ETIAS requirement and no roaming charges under most UK mobile plans. UK passport holders get 90 days visa-free. The lira has remained weak, which keeps on-the-ground costs low for anything outside your all-inclusive package: excursions, meals out and local transport are all cheap by UK standards.

Montenegro

Montenegro is the destination most UK travellers have not seriously considered yet, which is precisely why it is worth looking at now. The Bay of Kotor is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most dramatic pieces of coastline in Europe: a deep, fjord-like bay ringed by mountains, with medieval walled towns dotted along its edge. Kotor old town is genuinely exceptional and, compared with Dubrovnik just across the Croatian border, genuinely affordable.

The beaches around Budva and Sveti Stefan are the main draw for sun-seekers. Sveti Stefan, the famous island village connected to the mainland by a causeway, has one of the most photographed views in the Adriatic. Sea temperatures in August sit around 26 degrees. Inland, the Durmitor National Park offers dramatic mountain scenery for anyone wanting more than a beach holiday, with hiking, rafting and some of the darkest skies in Europe.

Direct flights from the UK to Tivat, the closest airport to Kotor, run with easyJet and Ryanair from Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester. Journey times are around two hours and 45 minutes. Montenegro is not in the EU or the Schengen area, so no visa is required for UK passport holders. Package holidays are less common here than for the other destinations in this guide, so most travellers book flights and accommodation separately, which gives more flexibility on where you stay.

For more summer destination ideas, see our where’s hot in July guide or browse all our where’s hot destination guides.

Further afield: long-haul options for August

August is peak season and long-haul prices reflect it. East Africa is the standout exception: Zanzibar and the Kenyan coast are in their dry season, genuinely hot, and considerably cheaper than they are in the UK winter.

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