Trip planning guides
Each guide answers one planning question — where, when, for how long and from which airport — then hands you to the destination page or the trip search to check fares and places to stay for your dates.
Christmas and New Year 2026
Four different trips hide behind “Christmas travel”: a market weekend in late November or early December, a stay over the 24th to the 26th in a city that keeps running, the same three days somewhere warm instead, and the New Year turn. They suit different cities, different trip lengths and different booking habits — the market weekends fill first, the Christmas days themselves are when many attractions close (or, in a few confirmed cases, do not), and New Year is the week when places to stay are hardest to find. Each guide separates what is confirmed for this season from what has not been announced yet.
Christmas market weekend breaks 2026, from the UK
Which weekend, which city, and how long to stay, matched against what is confirmed open.
Spending Christmas itself away from home, from the UK
Which destinations stay open on 24-26 December, which shut down, and how to shape a Christmas-week trip around the ones that do.
New Year's Eve city breaks 2026–27, from the UK
What's confirmed for 31 December 2026, what isn't, and how to shape the trip around it.
Christmas and New Year in the sun, from the UK
What is confirmed for 24–31 December across the mildest UK-reachable destinations, and how mild each one is by the numbers.
Christmas in Egypt: Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh or Hurghada?
Which of Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada suits a Christmas 2026 trip, with 4- and 7-night shapes and how 7 January differs from 25 December.
Christmas in Cyprus: Paphos, Limassol, Nicosia or Troodos?
Paphos, Limassol, Nicosia or Troodos for Christmas 2026: what is shut 24 to 26 December, the Christmas villages season, and 4- and 7-night shapes.
Weekends, winter sun and spring sun from the UK
The questions that come up again and again when planning from a UK airport: which cities genuinely fit a two- or three-night weekend once the journey to the airport and the transfer into town are counted, where is actually warm across winter and into spring, and — for a family working around the school calendar — where to go for February half-term or the Easter holidays specifically. These guides answer all four from flight times, monthly climate averages and checked council term dates, then link each choice to its destination page with your airport already selected.
Weekend city breaks from Stansted, Manchester and London
Which city fits a Friday-to-Monday trip, grouped by whether Stansted, Manchester, Gatwick or Heathrow gets you there fastest.
Winter sun from the UK, compared
Canary Islands, Madeira, Cyprus, Malta and the Algarve, compared on real climate averages and flight time.
Long-haul winter sun from the UK, compared
Dubai, Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada and Antalya, compared on real climate averages and nonstop flights, including where Antalya is not winter sun.
Where to go for February half-term 2027
Which February half-term dates apply where, and how to choose between sun, a city break and a short winter break, with real flight times.
Spring sun 2027, where’s warm enough in March or April
Which UK spring-sun destinations are worth it in March versus April, and what Easter 2027 changes about when to go.
From Cyprus
From Larnaca or Paphos the flights to Central Europe are longer than from London, so a market trip needs more nights, warmer clothes than a Cyprus December suggests, and a destination with a direct flight rather than a long connection — true for a Christmas market weekend, an ordinary winter city break, the New Year turn, and a 2027 Easter trip alike, whichever of the two five-weeks-apart Easter dates you build it around. The New Year guide asks a narrower question than the winter one: not just which city is a genuine nonstop, but which of those cities actually puts on a real New Year's Eve.
Christmas market trips from Cyprus, 2026
Which markets are nonstop from Larnaca or Paphos, and what a Cyprus December does not prepare you for.
Winter city breaks from Larnaca and Paphos
Eight nonstop city breaks from Larnaca or Paphos this winter, grouped by flight time, with the weather trade-off against a Cyprus December.
Easter 2027 trips from Larnaca or Paphos
Orthodox Easter (2 May) and Western Easter (28 March) fall five weeks apart in 2027. Here's which nonstop cities from Cyprus suit each, and how long to stay.
New Year's Eve city breaks from Larnaca and Paphos
Which nonstop cities from Larnaca or Paphos have a real New Year's Eve event, which are just a quiet city break over the date, and what the holiday week costs.