Not too late for some fun in the sun

Had you planned to spend the school holidays in the UK, with the hope of warming yourself in the glow of the Olympic torch? Perhaps it's not looking like such a good idea now after all. It seems like the rain hasn’t stopped falling since May and it's almost impossible to plan for any outdoor activity. Yet children want to play outside and should get some outdoors physical activity every day. It's a difficult problem to solve when you have to contend with the British summer!

Perhaps a last-minute getaway is what the doctor would order. Many people think that booking holidays at the eleventh hour is the most expensive way to travel, but in fact, this can be the moment when you secure the best offers on the web if you’re willing to be flexible about the destination you want to travel to. There are thousands of cheap flights available on the internet so start browsing today and see where you will be travelling to in the coming weeks.

Flybe, for instance, which is Europe’s largest regional carrier, has dozens of flight to the sunny shores of France, Spain, Croatia and Majorca where the temperature simmers and the waters are warm and clear. Travellers living near Birmingham might want to board a direct flight from Birmingham airport for Dubrovnik, a beautiful city on the Adriatric sea coast of Croatia. As well as boasting sun-drenched beaches, Dubrovnik is famous for its ancient churches and museums, so you can combine sun-bathing and culture during the day before heading out to sample Croatia’s famous coastal nightlife scene in the evening.

For families living in or close to the South-East, Southampton airport offers some of the best choices of destinations to sunny southern Europe. From Southampton, Flybe offers some of the cheapest flights to Malaga and Alicante in Spain, Faro in Portugal, Nice in southern France and Palma on the Spanish island of Majorca. Each of these destinations will continue to see temperatures into the early thirty degrees until September so it's not too late to catch some rays before the seasons change.

If you prefer a quieter style of holiday you might want to consider the North West French coastline instead of Spain’s Costa del Sol. Flybe offers flights from London Gatwick and Manchester to the Atlantic coastal city of Nantes while passengers in Southampton, Exeter and Manchester can fly directly to Rennes Brittany. While cooler and wetter than southern Europe, this part of France is excellent for boating, sailing and wind-surfing with the strong Atlantic winds and waves putting plenty of energy in your sails. It's also less crowded, more picturesque and the beaches are even cleaner than those further south.