Physical Address

304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124

Six holiday destinations where you won’t find other Britons

Are you stuck in Spain, fixated on France, fed up with Turkey? Our expert recommends six alternatives still waiting to be discovered

Britons are creatures of habit when it comes to travel, and the top 10 countries for trips abroad – according to the annual passenger survey by the ONS – has barely changed in the last 10 years. Germany out, Turkey in – and that’s it as far as trend changes go. 
Truth is, not much has changed since the birth of the package holiday – except perhaps that we now go to Croatia and Slovenia rather than Yugoslavia. The spectre of overtourism might drive some of us to seek out “secret places” in tried-and-tested countries. But we are, on the whole, even lazier about choosing our destinations than we are when we get to them.
Spain and France occupy slots one and two on the tourism table. Franco really pulled a fast one with the former. Pack them in, tan them hard, serve them weak sangria. And France has established itself as the middle-class Disneyland par excellence. Gîtes thrum every summer to the same conversations. This pair also tops the World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) global table for visitors. 
But Europe is far more exciting than paella avec frites. How about Albania, Romania, Bulgaria or, if you must have your posh plonk and sniffy waiter, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg or Andorra?
There are stacks of countries, near and far, that remain scandalously ignored by Britons. For example, 1.2m Britons go to Morocco and Tunisia each year but only a few thousand go to Algeria; 1.3m of us go to Dubai, but only a fraction of this number go to Oman. Parts of the Canaries are like Margate with good weather, but why not try a little further south – Cape Verde has season-beating sunshine – or west: the Azores still only draw a few thousand British tourists. 
What would the holiday map look like if we only widened our horizons?
It’s 2,837 miles from London to the Cape Verde capital Praia. But the country can be reached with ease from the UK. It is on the radar of package giant Tui, which offers direct flights to the island of Sal from Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Glasgow, Gatwick, Manchester and Newcastle. When you get there, you’ll be near the Equator. The nearest the archipelago comes to a swing in temperature is the five-degree gap between the January average of 25C, and the 30C which defines September.
In the 1980s, Kuoni’s best sellers included trips to Thailand. Ever since, the notion of smiley “paradise islands” has stuck around like a faded brochure, luring more than half a million of us annually. But only around 100,000 UK residents visited South Korea in 2023. Despite the K-Pop craze, film and TV successes and the global reach of its tech and industrial sectors, the country remains a great unknown for most Westerners. 
It’s one of the most rugged countries on earth, with 70 per cent of its landmass made up of mountains. Just the size of Portugal, it packs in a lot of holiday options. The cities are pulsating centres of neon lights, humming sidewalks, glimmering high-rises and street markets bursting with sights, sounds and aromas. It’s also a land of sandy beaches and over 3,300 islands. Much of the craggy landscape is blanketed in deep pine forests, and the countryside is home to Buddhist temples, rolling hills, rice paddies and tranquil villages.
The only thing most Britons knew about Turkey prior to around 1985 was that the capital was Istanbul not Constantinople, thanks to a hit song. Its transformation into a cheap alternative to Greece began in earnest in the 1990s, and it now attracts around 55 million overseas visitors a year (including 3.2m Britons). 
For reliable sunshine, tasty mezze and Euro-style resorts, Turkey does OK. But why not take one extra step to the east, perhaps using Turkish Airlines, which flies to more nations than any other carrier, and try a Silk Road country. You won’t get the same beaches – though the Caspian Sea is surprisingly beautiful in summer – but you’ll be dazzled by Islamic treasures, dramatic road and rail trips, the vast landscapes of the Central Asian steppe and the quirky culture left behind now Russian rule has receded.
In the 1980s, tour operator Instasun offered trips to Florida costing from only £139 for a week. Soon the US was a mainstream holiday destination. Now Londoners and Mancunians pop to New York as if it were closer than Glasgow (given the trains, it often feels that’s the case). 
But the Americas are long, wild and amazing. Much of the US once belonged to the Spanish Empire and, frankly, Mexico is like Texas or Arizona but tastier, more alluring and more authentic. Buenos Aires is like Chicago when it comes to steaks, but also beautiful and balmy, especially when it’s winter in the north. Brazil’s green parks can compete with any in the States and its beaches are more exciting than those you’d find in California or Florida. The flights to all these might be a tad pricier – there’s less competition – but the value for money once you’re there, whether for hotels and transport or food and drink, will cancel out any extra up-front costs. 
A couple of decades ago, Algeria was about as aspirational as Afghanistan is today. Islamists fought government forces in a bloody civil war and only oil workers risked the trip in return for danger money and round-the-clock armed security. The FCDO currently “advises against all travel to parts of Algeria” but the bulk of the map is green. So, just across from the cramped coasts and clogged islands of the European Med is a massive country – Africa’s biggest in fact – that has Med beaches and Roman ruins, but no tourists. 
It also has cuisine to rival Beirut’s, history that outstrips Valletta’s, sunshine the equal of Malaga’s and hospitality untainted by mass tourism. Algeria sits on the same latitude as Sicily and Granada, making the flight time from Heathrow a barely believable two hours and 40 minutes. 
Yugotours grew to be one of top 10 package holiday operators during the Eighties and Yugoslavia became a rival to Spain and Greece – cooler, cheaper, odder. Game of Thrones, no-frills flights and a herd mentality have turned Dubrovnik into a headlining hell-hole, and Split can be rammed in summer too. So, why not give Serbia a whirl?
In September 2023, Belgrade rejoined the roster of cities served directly by British Airways from Heathrow, ending a 13-year absence brought on by said no-frills airlines crowding the market. Then, a year later, the service was axed. Was it a case of rotten marketing? Ask any resident of any country in the former Yugoslavia to name their regional capital and they’ll reply, without hesitation, and with great enthusiasm, “Beograd”. It’s a major cultural and political capital with a deep history. 
It has great food, from hearty kebabs (cevapi – served with sour cream and chopped onion) to haute cuisine. It has a massive Eastern Orthodox church, said to be the world’s largest. It has a fabled nightlife. It has two rivers. And the Belgrade-Bar line, connecting the Serbian capital to one of Montenegro’s biggest sea ports, which passes through swoon-worthy mountains and lakes while crossing one of the world’s highest viaducts. Vojvodina, the Tara National Park, the Manasija Monastery and Zlatibor make for great two-day escapes or parts of a highlights tour. There are still direct flights to Nikola Tesla international; Wizz from Luton, Air Serbia from Heathrow.

en_USEnglish