With the threat of flight cancellations looming and the EU rolling out new red tape, the idea of a holiday at home this summer is particularly appealing. But as new stats have reinforced, with Britons increasingly opting for staycations, prices have inevitably rocketed: a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in average daily rates for short-term rentals in Cornwall has been reported, for example.
Perhaps, then, this year it’s time to try one of the country’s less trendy – but still lovely – destinations, so you can holiday at home without paying the inflated price. Here are my picks.
Carmarthenshire
In a dash for popular Pembrokeshire, many holidaymakers pass right by the Carmarthenshire coast. Well, more fool them. The county has 70-ish miles of seashore, featuring three castles, lovely Laugharne (Dylan Thomas’s old stomping ground) and oodles of interesting sand: seek out remote Morfa Bychan beach by walking the Wales Coast Path or comb Cefn Sidan’s silky dunes for remnants of the many ships scuttled here.
Top pick is Pendine’s seven-mile stretch of sand, where drivers have been setting land speed records since 1924 and where the Museum of Speed, revamped in 2024, will entertain kids, big and small, for hours (at just £7.50/£4.20 a ticket). Also in Pendine, Morfa Bay Adventures offers activities such as abseiling and ziplining from £12pp, or atmospheric forays into pirate-haunted caves from £35pp.
Where to stay
The smart Caban hotel (01267 224622) has sea-view family rooms from £130pn in August. A family room at Cornwall’s Watergate Bay Hotel is admittedly fancier, but costs from £620pn.
Northumberland
Northumberland isn’t exactly unfashionable. It’s just a long way for lots of us to go, which ensures it’s far less crowded than it ought to be. Most of its shores lie within the Northumberland Coast National Landscape, including cute Craster; mighty Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh castles; and many vast, golden strands.
But consider Amble instead, which sits just outside. It has a lively vibe, two beaches, colourful beach huts and boat trips to see puffins on Coquet Island (£20/£15 adult/child), a lesser-known option than trips to the Farne Islands. It’s only a three-mile coast path walk to imposing Warkworth Castle, three more to pretty Alnmouth, “Northumberland’s Tobermory”, with its candy-hued houses and soft, sandy beach.
Where to stay
Radcliffes Lodge (07943 682727) is a boutique hostel on Amble’s marina, with rooms sleeping four to eight from £90pn. The Upper Deck (01573 226711), a studio for two in Alnmouth, costs from £590pw in July. The cheapest available Airbnb apartment in Tobermory is £640 for only five nights.
Essex
Of all England’s counties, only Cornwall (675 miles) has a longer coastline than Essex (562 miles). And, though it’s not as “fashionable”, there’s plenty of seaside delight to be found here. Gems include Walton-on-the-Naze, where you can walk the Blue Flag beach, climb the 18th-century tower, visit the Naze Nature Discovery Centre and forage for fossils: this is Essex’s answer to the Jurassic Coast.
The Naze borders Hamford Water National Nature Reserve, one of the county’s last truly wild places, and explorable on a seal-watching boat trip from Harwich (£29pp). For more old-school charm, try Frinton-on-Sea, former grand dame of the Essex Riviera, with its grassy seafront Greensward, art deco villas, cricket club, summer theatre and pastel beach huts – hire a luxe one for the day (£85).
Where to stay
A short walk from the sea, Lee Wick Farm (01255 823281) offers good-value cottages, glamping and camping. Megapods, sleeping four, cost from £99pn; fancier Lushna cabins, sleeping two to four, from £99pn.
Lincolnshire
According to Sykes Holiday Cottages’ 2026 Staycation Index, Britain’s most affordable spot for a week’s stay is Louth, the lovely Lincolnshire market town, only 10 miles from the underrated North Sea coast. Head due east and you hit Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes National Nature Reserve, an enormity of sand, sky and salt flats that remains uncrowded even in peak season.
Mablethorpe, just south, with its beach huts and traditional seaside fun, is busier. But beyond that the Lincolnshire Coast quietens again. There’s Sandilands, where a golf course is being rewilded for nature and a new café is opening this summer, and there’s vast, dune-backed Moggs Eye, completely uncommercialised save for the Boatshed café, with its panoramic roof terrace. The icing on the cake is Anderby Creek, one of the UK’s best beaches.
Where to stay
Sykes Cottages offers Eastview in Saltfleetby, sleeping four, from £572pw in July and family-friendly Maple Lodge, part of a Landal resort in Louth, from £631pw. Lodges at Landal Bude start from £1,250pw.
Anglesey
Last year, this paper declared Anglesey Britain’s best island. No surprise: the whole thing is a Unesco Geopark, harbouring 1.8 billion years of earth history; it has historic sites, beaches of all stripes and a superb 125-mile coast path. Indeed, Anglesey isn’t so much out of fashion as above it – a classic summer holiday destination that somehow comes without the crowds, traffic or costs found elsewhere.
Handsome Beaumaris is a good base for wandering, crabbing, visiting the immense castle (tickets are a reasonable £10.40) and heading to Penmon Point to spot seabirds and porpoises. Or stay near Porth Swtan (Church Bay), in the remote north-west, for quiet coves, spectacular sunsets, the cute Swtan folk museum (which runs activities for kids) and local seafood at the Lobster Pot.
Where to stay
Oyster Holiday Cottages (01248 305430) offers Glan Yr Afon in Church Bay, sleeping five, from £1,195pw in July, Ty Hydref in Beaumaris, sleeping two, from £825pw. The cheapest one-bed in St Ives (via Sykes) costs around £1,330pw.
Moray Coast, Aberdeenshire
Sprawling east of Inverness, the Moray Coast is unplagued by NC500 traffic, and offers a quieter alternative to popular St Andrews and the East Neuk of Fife. It’s speckled with pretty fishing villages – clifftop Portknockie, the boat-building hub of Portsoy, cute little Cullen, where Lily’s Kitchen Cafe serves up award-winning skink. It also offers some of Britain’s best dolphin-watching – visit Spey Bay’s free Scottish Dolphin Centre for info and to borrow binoculars, or head out on a RIB trip with North58 (£45/38 adult/child).
Moray is also sunnier – and less midge-y – than much of western Scotland, ideal for summer days messing about on the beach. Try Lossiemouth, great for surfing, SUPing and bracing wild dips, or swim off the endless white sands of Findhorn, where the Watershed Sauna takes the edge off the chill (£15).
Where to stay
Portsoy’s neat beachfront Sail Loft Hostel (01261 842222) offers four-bed and six-bed dorms, with access to a full kitchen, from £31pppn; tent/van pitches from £25pn.