5 holiday ideas to maximise the long bank holiday weekends

With four bank holidays fast approaching, spring is a great time to travel. Additional days off on Good Friday on 3 April, Easter Monday on 6 April, the early May bank holiday on 4 May and the spring bank holiday on 25 May mean that, for many, you can escape from the office without having to eat into too much of your annual leave.

As a bonus for parents, the April bank holidays and the spring bank holiday also coincide with the school Easter break and May half term for many areas.

If you’ve left it late to book, we’ve got you covered. Here are some of the best Easter and May bank holiday trip ideas, based on our insider insight into where’s currently cheap and trending.

1. Explore a European city in style

European cities are blooming in spring and temperatures are warming up, making sitting outside with a coffee a possibility, and exploring by foot a pleasure.

The tulips are out in Amsterdam, cherry blossom adds a pop of colour to Berlin and Barcelona’s Park Guell will have even more colour from its flowers to complement Gaudi’s art.

If you’re looking for luxury, our recent research showed that Lisbon is the best value spot for a premium city break, with the average price for a five-star city break being just £308pp. This was followed by Krakow (£321pp) and Berlin (£357pp).

The good news is there are still deals to be had, even over the bank holiday weekends. There are currently two-night five-star city breaks in Lisbon with flights from Stansted on 2 May from just £332pp, based on two travelling. For families, we found three-night city breaks in Lisbon over the spring May bank holiday weekend, at the start of May half term, from £339pp for a four-star break and from £434pp for a five-star trip based on flights from Stansted on 23 May.

2. Head to an Easter holiday sweet spot

With Easter falling early this year and the school holidays starting in either late March or early April, families will have to work a bit harder to find guaranteed warmth. So, we researched this year’s Easter school holiday sweet spots – the destinations that offer both warm weather and great value.

The Algarve claimed the top spot with average high temperatures of 21°C and an average price of £520pp for a seven-night holiday. Lanzarote came second (23°C; £758pp), Agadir was third (24°C; £765pp) and Fuerteventura snuck in the fourth spot (22°C; £800pp).

There are still last-minute Easter holiday deals out there if you’re craving sunshine with the kids. When we looked, we found seven-night holidays to the Algarve over the Easter holidays from £351pp, with flights from Bristol on 5 April. If you’re based in the northwest, we found seven-night holidays to Lanzarote from £328pp, with flights from Manchester on 6 April.

3. Soak up some Spanish sun on the beach

View of golden sands and a curved promenade lined with palm trees with a honey-coloured church in the background

Spain is always a winner for a getaway thanks to its beautiful beaches, endless tapas and sunshine. And it’s been a holiday destination of choice for Brits for more than 70 years. Need another reason to visit? Spain can be an affordable destination, too, whether you’re looking to escape for a long weekend or a fancy a week or two in the sun.

To help you jet away to Spain for less, we dug into our data to find out which the most affordable coastlines on mainland Spain were. Our number one spot was awarded to lesser-known Costa Calida, along the southeastern region of Murcia. Here the average price for a seven-night holiday was just £457pp. Costa Brava took the number two spot with holiday prices averaging £471pp and Costa Dorada crept in at number three with an average holiday price of £538pp.

If you’re looking for fun and sun in Spain over the May half term, Costa Dorada is a good option as the average high temperature in May is 22°C. Plus, Costa Dorada is home to one of Europe’s largest theme parks, PortAventura World, just outside Tarragona.

At the moment, there are seven-night deals to Costa Dorada over May half term from just £409pp self-catering with flights from Liverpool or from £469pp for all-inclusive with flights from Stansted based on two adults and a two children (age seven and nine) travelling.

4. Go to a cheap Greek island

Small traditional fishing village of Mochlos, Crete, Greece.

Temperatures in Greece start to hit the late teens in April and early 20s in May (with average high temperatures of 23°C in Crete and Kefalonia). So, whether you’re looking to take the kids away or enjoy some island downtime with your other half or friends, it’s a lovely time to visit before the crowds of summer descend.

We crunched the numbers at TravelSupermarket HQ to find out which Greek islands were offering the best value for money in 2026 – and the results weren’t what we expected.

Based on searches for seven-night holidays on our site between 16 September 2025 and 15 March 2026, Kefalonia is currently the cheapest Greek island for a week-long getaway with an average holiday price of £596pp. Lefkas was second with average holiday prices of £606pp and, surprisingly, Santorini came in third with average holiday prices of £637pp.

As the largest of the Ionian islands, there’s a huge range of accommodation on Kefalonia with some of the most affordable hotels and apartments in the resorts of Lassi and Katelios. If you’re quick, you’ll find seven-night deals on a self-catering basis in Kefalonia from just £299pp based on travel on 3 May with flights from Stansted. If you’d like to take advantage of the spring bank holiday at the end of the May and to take the kids away for half term, we found seven-night deals from Manchester staying in Katelios on a self-catering basis from £572pp based on travel on 24 May.

5. Head west for sunshine somewhere new

A boardwalk leading between grasses and across sand to a white-sand beach with bright blue waters in the Caribbean

If you’re looking for higher temperatures than Europe can offer in spring, we’ve seen a surge of interest in Caribbean holidays on TravelSupermarket with overall search volume up 81% in the two weeks following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East.

And Brits are looking beyond the big hitters – we’ve seen the change in search share go up by 119% to the Turks & Caicos Islands, up 100% to the Dominican Republic and Tobago is trending with searches up 79%.

While prices are higher than those to Europe, so too are temperatures with maximum daytime temperatures of 30°C in the Dominican Republic in April and May. Perfect weather for relaxing on the country’s pearly white-sand beaches under a palm tree.

Tempted? We found seven-night all-inclusive deals to the Dominican Republic, making the most of the early May bank holiday, from just £1,221pp with flights from Gatwick on 3 May. If you’d like to travel a day earlier and not have to race straight back to your desk, the same deal is £1,332pp, based on travel on 2 May.

Please note: All prices and research was accurate at the time of writing (25 March 2026) and is subject to change and availability.