I swapped a European holiday for a UK break – the lack of stress was priceless

Like most people in this country, I’m having sleepless nights over my summer holiday. I swing between delight that I locked in cheap flights by booking in January, and worry my beach break might be cancelled. I’m not alone in my insecurities over summer travel. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led to global energy shortages and it’s unclear how airlines will manage during the summer months, when there is typically a 25 per cent increase in flights in and out of the UK.

The head of the International Air Transport Association has warned that higher ticket prices were “inevitable” as the price of jet fuel goes up. Meanwhile, some airlines are cutting prices to encourage wary travellers to book tickets.

It looks like those who didn’t book early are betting on the UK instead this year, with hospitality reporting an increase in UK holidays. Both Booking.com and Airbnb told the BBC they are seeing an uptick in interest and reservations for domestic bookings, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said we may need to change where we holiday this year.

I have found myself reminiscing about the no-fly UK holiday I took with my family last year. No airport queues. No dog care dramas. No wallet-draining data. We enjoyed almost ideal weather, scaled hills and spotted seals, swam off three coasts and ate regional food from bara brith to giant parmos, bags of Pontefract liquorice and platters of Scottish seafood. If it wasn’t for the worry over British weather (which increasingly seems irrational, given the scorching weather we’re having), I’d have done it again in a heartbeat.

After two summers sheltering from oppressive heat and forest fires – 2023 in the Algarve and 2024 in New York – for 2025 we were committed to finding a holiday with less travel, lower temperatures and hopefully fewer adverse weather situations. Oh, and saving a bit of money would be a bonus, too.

In the end we spent £3,000 less than we had the year before. That said, I’m not convinced holidaying in the UK is a fair comparison with three weeks in New York, which is notoriously expensive, but on our UK trip we paid for all our accommodation, whereas in the US we mostly stayed with – and were fed by – friends and family, paying for six nights in hotels across the holiday. It still cost six grand.

A fairer comparison than New York is our 2023 holiday in the Algarve, where we often go as we can borrow the accommodation. We spent £668 on flights from Manchester to Faro in August 2023 and £575 on car hire, while last year our travel costs added up to just £236 on diesel. While we spent similar amounts on each holiday – just over £3,000 – we borrowed our accommodation in Portugal, which would have cost between £3,000 and £4,000.

Our initial plan for 2025 was to go to Ireland as none of us have been before. We live in east Kent but first drove all the way to Anglesey, a 380-mile journey, as we’d planned to meet family there when we thought we were going to Ireland. After three days revisiting the cliff walks, blustery beaches and pub gardens I holidayed in as a child, we drove 230 miles across to North Yorkshire, not far inland from Whitby, for an almost off-grid week.

If you don’t enjoy long drives, our trip won’t be your idea of an easy ride, but my husband is happy at the wheel for days and I find it far preferable to airport security.

The stress of booking was reduced by our lack of organisation. By the time we came to look for accommodation in June, we were limited by availability. I was keen on the Lake District and the Highlands, and we ended up with a night in Betws-y-coed, three in Anglesey, five in Yorkshire, in a shepherd’s hut on a farm, and another five nights in a beautiful former crofter’s cottage near Lochinver on Scotland’s northeast coast, a few hours drive north of Inverness and over 700 miles from home.

The UK holiday felt longer and more rewarding because we did and saw so much, whereas on European beach holidays I tend to laze around reading with the odd afternoon drive or stroll. Teenagers aren’t always well suited to long driving trips trapped in the car with their parents, so we took the opportunity while our daughter is young. She had far more freedom than at home and went off for adventures with the dog, walking over fields and exploring on her own terms, something she can’t normally do as we live by busy roads. Screen-time was handy on the long drives, but otherwise we had poor reception and decided to read books instead and she sped through her favourite stories.

There were drawbacks. The cost of living in the UK is so much higher than in Portugal, even in the pricier holiday spots, and we were far more careful about what we spent on food and drink. In Portugal, main courses of freshly-grilled fish might cost €12 or €15, plates of sardines and chips even less. Alcohol is far cheaper, in the shops and in bars. We stuck to pints and sandwiches in the pub and had BBQS and picnics, along with a couple of really special meals out. Eating mussels, scallops and langoustines with a view of white sands and clear water in Scotland didn’t feel far off the Caribbean.

Did we escape the heat? Yes and no. One afternoon, we fled the blazing sun after a few hours at an agricultural show (the dog won a rosette). I hadn’t expected, as I closed the windows and laid towels at the bottom of the door of our shepherds hut that evening, to encounter fires in the UK, but the devastating Langdale Forest/Fylingdales Moor turned out to be the biggest fire in the history of the North York Moors National Park and remained an active major incident for six weeks. My hope, as we drifted off in the cosy hut, was that someone would remember us if we needed to evacuate.

It never came to that and we drove on to Scotland, where the midges thankfully only showed up for an hour at dawn each day. I see people complain of overcrowding at popular UK holiday spots, such as Cornwall and the Lakes, but we explored parts of the country that are just as breathtaking with none of the crowds. I’d go again if we could count on another lovely summer – but I don’t want poor weather to spoil the memories.