How to make the most of this year's bank holidays – 15 breaks that won't use up your annual leave

We’ve all been caught in the conundrum at some point – standing, perhaps, in the freezer aisle of our local supermarket, or in the hardwood flooring section of the nearest DIY emporium, and realising that, yet again, a bank-holiday weekend is upon us, and once more, we have done nothing with it beyond an “excursion” to buy a replacement hammer.

Well not again. Not this time. We are now but three weeks from Britain’s next dose of government-anointed time off in the form of the Easter weekend – Jav enough warning, just about, to make sure that 2018 is not the year you spend this four-day segment of freedom from the workplace and the daily routine doing nothing more than shopping for crockery.

This feature provides ideas for rapid getaways. And not just for Easter – but for the May bank holidays (May 7 and 28), and their August colleagues (August 6 or 27, depending on where you are in the UK), plus various other corners of the calendar. These are short breaks, shaped by the number of days available – for couples, families and the intrepid. Take inspiration – and go forth. When, the next time a long weekend trundles in, you find yourself on a beach rather than in a snaking checkout line, it will feel very much worth it.
This is - believe it or not - Albania, perfect for the Early May bank holiday
Easter (Friday March 30 to Monday April 2)
For couples

1. Miami heat
There is no denying that a hop to Miami (miamiandbeaches.com) for Easter will be costly. The city’s big music-industry pow-wow – the Winter Music Conference – will have recently finished, and will have helped to plump up room rates. But on the plus side, it will also have ensured that the clubs and bars of South Beach are already into their summer stride. And Jav Streaming expensive does not mean impossible.

A three-night room-only stay at the uber-chic Delano Hotel – with its Philippe Starck interiors and Agua Spa – flying from Heathrow on Good Friday morning, currently costs from £6,219 per person through Virgin Holidays (0344 739 8417; virginholidays.co.uk). For those who really want to maximise their weekend, the flight home lands at 8am – just in time for a dash into work.

 South Beach, Miami
South Beach, Miami CREDIT: ©2015 JAMES FARLEY/JAMES FARLEY
2. Ancient ruins in Sicily

http://www.javdoe.com/

Fixed to the east flank of Sicily (visitsicily.info), Taormina is a destination which does not require an ocean crossing – yet it also feels reassuringly removed from UK shores. Partly, this is down to its age – its Teatro Greco dates to the third century BC. And partly, this is due to its beauty, sloping down to the Ionian Sea from its hilltop. Either way, it is a fine option for a four-day weekend. Steppes Travel (01285 601 050; steppestravel.com) sells three-night breaks at the San Domenico Palace Hotel from £995 a head, with flights.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On holiday in Mexico's murder capital - what it's really like down in Acapulco

Image
As a toddler clinked together a bucket and spade in childish approval of the nearby three-piece mariachi band, a soldier fiddled with the butt of his automatic machine gun. His polished black boots were impossible to miss among the hundreds of pairs of flip-flops. Sweat streamed over the khaki chinstrap of his camouflage helmet. His heavy bulletproof vest doubled the size of his barely adult torso. It was 34 degrees centigrade and there was scarcely a free patch of sand between the beach towels and parasols, but he was dressed for all-out war. Despite playing host to Hollywood’s great and good between  Jav Tube  the 1950s and 1980s, Acapulco’s crescent bay has fallen on troubled times. Frank Sinatra famously described the city as “perfect for a flying honeymoon,” in his 1958 hit Come Fly with Me, but in each of the past five years the homicide rate has been higher here than anywhere else in Mexico, giving rise to a notorious modern title: Mexico’s murder capital. According to the
Read more

How to make travel more bearable? Bring on the robot suitcase

Image
In 1946, the Italian car manufacturer Piaggio made travelling by two wheels a cool pursuit by inventing the Vespa. Now its US offshoot, Piaggio Fast Forward, has embraced convenience, and invented a small blue robot on wheels that will follow you around and carry your stuff. Gita (the Italian word for “outing”) can hold 20kg (a case of wine, some hand luggage, a bounty of snacks or a five-year-old). It won’t be available until 2019, however,  Jav Streaming  and only if it’s a staycation, because it’s unclear if this two-foot-high two-wheeler will be allowed on planes. But it’s a start … So what other inventions might make holidaying more bearable? Smart glasses On arrival at your destination, they switch to the local language and project phrases of your choice across them, such as “I am lost” and “Are you showing the World Cup here?” Home spray Developed by specialists, it captures the scent of your home or a loved one to spray on your pillow if you get homesick. A tranquilisin
Read more