Coolcations: Where the UK Actually Stays Cool in Summer

"Coolcation" — a summer holiday chosen to escape the heat rather than find it — was added to the Collins dictionary in 2025, the year the Met Office recorded the UK's warmest summer on record. Holiday companies have noticed: cottages.com reported searches for the word up 420% in three months. Most of the coverage points at Scandinavia. The UK has its own answer, and the Met Office's long-term averages show exactly where it is.

What the averages say

The figures below are the average daily maximum in July across 1991–2020, from Met Office climate stations. The UK as a whole averages 19.6°C. Heathrow averages 23.9°C — and that, more than anything, is what people are escaping.

The genuinely cool end

Lerwick in Shetland averages just 14.4°C in July, nearly ten degrees below London. Kirkwall on Orkney averages 16.1°C, Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis 16.3°C, and the north of Skye 16.9°C. When the south swelters, this is where it is felt least.

Cool, and much easier to reach

Braemar, high in the Cairngorms, averages 18.2°C. So does Capel Curig in Snowdonia. Malham Tarn, up on the limestone above Malham in the Yorkshire Dales, averages 17.4°C — altitude doing the work that latitude does in Shetland.

The surprise: most of the UK is already cool

Boulmer, on the Northumberland coast near Alnwick, averages 18.7°C. Camborne in Cornwall averages exactly the same. Scarborough averages 19.2°C, and Keswick, in a sheltered valley in the Lake District, 19.8°C — slightly above the UK average.

The honest reading is that the big gap is between London and the south-east and everywhere else. Almost any British coast is four or five degrees cooler than the capital on an average July day, and you do not need to go north to get that: the sea does it in Cornwall too.

What the averages do not tell you

An average is not a forecast

These are thirty-year means. Recent summers have often run above them, even in cool places, and a hot spell can reach anywhere. Choose somewhere that is cool on average, not somewhere guaranteed to be.

Cool usually means wet and windy too

The places that stay coolest are cool because they face the Atlantic or sit high up, and both bring rain and wind. Shetland in July is bright, fresh and often blowy. In the Highlands and on Skye, the midges are at their worst from June to August, especially on still evenings by water.

Go up, not just north

Temperature falls with height — roughly 0.6–1°C for every 100 metres. A valley town can be warm while the fells above it are pleasant, which is why Keswick averages warmer than Malham Tarn. If you want to stay cool on a hot day, plan the walk, not just the base.

Planning a coolcation

The far north rewards the long light as much as the cool: in midsummer Shetland barely gets dark at all. Ferries and island accommodation book up early for July and August, so the islands need planning months ahead. For something easier, the Northumberland coast around Bamburgh and Seahouses, or the North York Moors coast at Whitby, gives you most of the cooling for a fraction of the travel.

Our guides to UK island staycations, Scotland and quietcations cover the same ground from other angles.