Bank holidays 2018: Find the best places to visit with our easy guide

Practical suggestions for 2018's remaining bank holidays

Monday 19 March 2018 19:09 GMT
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Time it right and you can hit the beach in Sri Lanka without taking so much time off work
Time it right and you can hit the beach in Sri Lanka without taking so much time off work

With the worst of winter behind us and Easter around the corner, here’s a look ahead at the upcoming bank holidays and some ideas of where to go to make the most of your time off.

Easter: Friday 30 March – Monday 2 April

The Easter bank holiday weekend gives you a clear four days out of the office, so book a couple of days either side and you can go further afield for guaranteed sun. Sri Lanka is a good bet – Easter falls at the end of the dry season and temperatures are likely to be in the high 20s. Sri Lanka of course has everything – beaches, lush green fields, national parks and colonial towns – so there’s plenty to get your teeth into.

May bank holiday: Monday 7 May

You’ve only got one day off – best make sure it’s going to be warm. Try Malta – for all too long it’s had an old-people-on-a-budget reputation, but the number of 25-44-year-olds visiting increased 26 per cent last year, according to its tourist office. City breaks to Valletta, 2018’s European Capital of Culture, are also booming – three-night stays are now the fastest growing type of holiday to the island and there’s a packed calendar of events planned throughout the year.

To make a full weekend of it, Annie Mac Presents: Lost & Found Festival will return to Malta for the third year running from 3-6 May. But if raving isn’t your thing there’s also Valletta Green Festival which will see central square Pjazza San Gorg covered in a huge floral carpet (composed of some 80,000 potted plants), alongside family-friendly activities and access to some of the capital’s little-known historical sites, including the 400-year-old gardens of the Archbishop’s Palace and the Convent of St Catherine.

Spring bank holiday: Monday 28 May

The best time to visit Greece is spring and early summer, before the hordes of tourists and scorching temperatures hit. But don’t think it has to be Athens; Thessaloniki has been dubbed the culinary capital of Greece, where Mediterranean and Eastern-influences merge. Even better, prices are budget-friendly.

Take a walk round Kapani Market, the oldest public market in the city which sells everything from spices to cheese; or sip a coffee like a local at one of the dozens of cafes and bars along the boardwalk looking out to sea.

There’s also plenty of history to take in with evidence of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman history dotted around the city.

Edinburgh is a good choice for the August bank holiday (Getty)

Summer bank holiday: Monday 27 August

Going abroad over the August bank holiday means wallet-gouging flights and relentless crowds, so keep it closer to home. Try Edinburgh, for the last few days of the Fringe (which runs 3-27 August) – it’ll be crowded, of course, but you won’t have had to brave an airport to get there. The festival overlaps with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which runs 11-27 August this year. Speakers have yet to be announced but the event is expected to attract around 1,000 authors in over 800 events for adults and children.

Christmas: Monday 25-26 December

With a minimal time difference and southern hemisphere temperatures, South Africa is a top pick for Brits seeking a destination which offers more than just sun and beaches. Glamorous Cape Town should have recovered from the worst of its water shortage by December, but now’s the time to visit Johannesburg, which is winning plaudits for its regeneration projects and rapidly growing inner city area.

Then there are the national parks, of course – but it’s worth swapping Kruger for somewhere like iSimangaliso wetlands park, which Nelson Mandela described as “the only place on the globe where the oldest land mammal (the rhinoceros) and the world’s biggest terrestrial mammal (the elephant) share an ecosystem with the world’s oldest fish (the coelacanth) and the world’s biggest marine mammal (the whale)”. Roll your holiday over New Year to get an extra day out of the office, too.

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