The seven destinations that are better in the rain

Which destinations pass Mark Jones’ rainy day test?

Some Scottish islands are said to be more atmospheric in the rain (iStock)

It’s raining in the Maldives. The forecast is for more rain and dark skies, until the sun makes a brief appearance in the middle of next week.

But I’m not in the Maldives. I’m in a luxurious eco-cabin called 57 Nord above a loch overlooking the Isle of Skye. It’s raining here too. “Raining” is too weak a description. There are 70mph gusts of horizontal wet stuff that hit you in the face like shards of freezing glass. Occasionally, the rain turns to hail. The foam is ripping across the loch and the long grass at the edge of the property is stiff as steel wire in the wild breeze. The barbecue firepit is currently a small pond.

And I couldn’t be happier. The log burner is going nicely and I’m wearing a cosy cashmere cardigan I bought yesterday (off-season is bargain time for Scottish knitwear). If the weather clears, I’ll go for a hike. If not, I’ll just hunker down with a big book, a coffee pot and a bottle of Dalmore. It’s February in Scotland, for heaven’s sake.

I hope the people who have paid £2,000 (and the rest) a head for their Maldives paradise experience are facing the day with the same equanimity.

Property experts call it The Rainy Day Test. Look at that place you’re interested in buying. Now imagine spending the longest, darkest, dreariest day there. (If you’ve been in Britain this winter, you won’t have to imagine very hard.) You’re inside all day and night: still interested?

So I’ve applied The Rainy Day Test to holiday destinations. Long sunny days and rosy sunsets over the sea are very well. But there’s more to the world – more colour, romance, drama – and for those things, you need weather. Lots of it.

Here are my seven GoreTex-friendly places for superior hunkering down.

Ardelve and Skye, Highlands

The Isle of Skye is known for its storms (Mark Jones)

I’ve been here almost a week. There have been 11 rainbows, three hailstorms, an hour of snow and 19 intervals of glorious Scottish winter sunshine. I’ve taken 240 photos. The light and colour is incredible. Instead of bland sunshine and shadows, you get teal seas with brilliant white waves, fluorescent grasses, kelp and lichens against a charcoal sky.

True, walking to the Fairy Pools on Skye was a bit like Captain Scott’s last expedition to the South Pole. But there were still loads of people, mainly European visitors, doing it. For them, the Highlands are exotic, unique, wild and challenging. Yet lily-livered Britons say: “Isn’t it a bit miserable this time of year?”

It is not. Sure, most of the cafes and craft shops are closed; but so are the midge colonies. Best of all, you get to consume as much soup, cake, whisky and fudge as you can take – then burn it all off in a five-minute walk in the gale that’s raging outside the pub.

Where to hunker down: Hame Hotel, Skye

South Island, New Zealand

If you haven’t been to New Zealand in the rain, have you even been? (Getty) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Even if the stuff from the skies isn’t making you wet, you’ll be finding ways to get soaked via a canoe, whitewater raft or steaming hot pool. Like the Scotland it resembles, New Zealand only makes sense when there are scudding clouds, sudden squalls and a nice pinot noir to enjoy as the rain hammers against the window.

Where to hunker down: Azur Lodge, Queenstown

Forks, Washington State, US

Forks is better known as the setting of Twilight (Getty) (Getty Images)

When Stephanie Meyer, an Arizona-based writer, was seeking a location for her vampire saga, she looked up “the wettest place in the USA”. That would allow her undead heroes to avoid the sunlight. It would also produce the least likely tourist boom in history, as teenage girls from all over the world dragged their parents to the gloomy little timber town of Forks on the Washington peninsula inspired by the Twilight books and films. They were looking for Edward Cullen and his werewolf rival, Jacob.

Blue skies and cheery sunlight would spoil the whole trip. Thankfully, there’s not much chance of that in Forks. And there are plenty of pop-up shops selling Edward posters for when the rain gets too heavy.

Where to hunker down: The Forks Motel

West Coast, Ireland

View across the water to Galway City (iStock)

It’s one of my favourite tourism euphemisms. In Galway, Mayo, Connemara and Kerry, a “soft day” just means it’s raining, only not quite as much as usual. But it sounds kind of comforting and cosy: and in a way it is, as some of Europe’s cleanest air wafts in on all-enveloping humid waves.

As with the Highlands, those famously green hills, coloured doorways and white pubs stand out even better in your Instagram posts against the soft grey skies.

Where to hunker down: Roundstone House Hotel, Connemara

Salalah, Oman

Salalah during rainy season (Getty) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

From June to September every year, the India monsoon kisses the far south-west corner of Arabia. The khareef, as it’s known, brings grey, drizzly days where the temperatures struggle to get into the 20s. So while half of Europe is seeking sun, sand and other things beginning with “s”, thousands of hot and bothered holidaymakers from the Emirates, Qatar, Saudi and the rest head to Oman for dreary skies and dependable drizzle.

It’s boomtime for the southern city of Salalah – one of the most unlikely high seasons on the planet.

Where to hunker down: The Anantara Al-Baleed resort, Salalah (if you can get a room)

Jutland, Denmark

Sunset on one of Jutland’s empty beaches (Getty) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Skagen school of painters created a very Nordic variation on Impressionism. The town they made their home, on the northern tip of Jutland, is a place of extraordinary opalescent light. You only get that if there’s lots of weather around.

So rug up and take one of the planet’s more bracing walks to Grenen, the place where the Baltic and North seas meet in a choppy swirl of grey and green water. Give me that over a sweaty walk along a Caribbean beach any day.

Where to hunker down: Ruth’s

Gower, Wales

The Gower on a non-rainy day (iStock) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

My last choice had to be Britain again. You instinctively head northwest, to the dripping Lakes and famously soggy Manchester. But the stats show that Manchester is not the magnet for rain-lovers it’s cracked up to be: the city is only 15th in the list of soggiest British cities. The number one spot is taken by Cardiff. The capital of Wales, with 1,152mm of rainfall annually, is also the Capital of Squalls, Showers and Squelch.

I’m not convinced the city itself passes the RDT, so head instead to the Gower peninsula beyond Swansea. I won’t lie: a brilliant summer morning is the best time to enjoy those long stretches of sand and sweet green bays. But I’ve put in plenty of hardy hours trudging the coastal path in boot and waterproofs: and out of season, it’s one of the most refreshing places on the island to be.

Where to hunker down: The Fairyhill Hotel