Summer Staycations: Where to Go in July and August Without the Crowds

Summer is the hardest season to do well in Britain, for one reason: everyone goes to the same places at the same time. The school holidays compress demand into six weeks, and the best-known coastal destinations absorb it badly. The answer isn't to avoid the coast — it's to pick a different bit of it.

Coast without the queues

Northumberland has some of the finest beaches in Britain and a fraction of the visitors of the south-west. Long stretches of sand, castles along the shoreline, and a coastal path that's rarely crowded even in August. The water is cold — bracingly so — but the beaches themselves are exceptional.

Pembrokeshire offers a comparable coastline in Wales, with a national park path running the length of it and a large number of separate beaches, which spreads people out. St Davids makes a good base at the western end.

In Scotland, the coast around Oban and out to Mull gives you beaches, islands and very long daylight hours. Midsummer this far north means light until well past ten in the evening, which effectively lengthens every day of the trip.

If you do want the south-west

Cornwall and Devon are busy in August for good reason. If you go, the practical advice is unglamorous but effective: book early, base yourself away from the honeypot towns, and do the popular beaches early in the morning or after five, when the day visitors have gone. Lyme Regis and the smaller Dorset coast towns are often easier than the Cornish headline names.

Making use of the long days

Britain's summer advantage is daylight, and the further north you go the more of it you get. In the Cairngorms or on Skye it never gets fully dark at midsummer, which makes long evening walks possible in a way that isn't true in September.

That's worth building a trip around. Evenings are the quietest time at almost every attraction and viewpoint in the country, and in high summer you have four or five usable hours after most day visitors have left.

Practical realities of peak season

Book well ahead, or go entirely flexible. There's no middle ground in August. Either commit early to the accommodation you want, or accept that you'll take what's left — see last-minute options if it's the latter.

Consider camping. It's the one form of accommodation that remains reasonably priced in peak season, and it puts you closer to the coast and countryside than equivalent-cost hotels. See the camping guide for sites.

Watch the roads, not the distance. Summer traffic to the south-west and the Lake District can turn a four-hour drive into seven on a Saturday. Travelling midweek, or very early, is worth more than any route choice.

Don't over-plan. British summer weather still doesn't cooperate, and the best summer trips tend to be the ones with a flexible list rather than a fixed itinerary.