The winter is a great time to book cheap summer holidays with early booking bargains.  Low cost hotel and self catering accommodation, bargain flights and cheap car hire are all available now for summer 2010 holidays!

Summer holidays in the UK are recognized as departing between May and October, and this is the period that you will discover that the abundance of bargain charter and low cost summer flights can be matched with super low priced accommodation either cheap hotel s, reduce priced apartments or cut priced villas.

Teletext Holidays are offering cheap summer holidays from £172 per person leaving from Stansted on 26 August for 7 nights in Majorca, with Ibiza selling from £214 per person leaving the UK on 29 August for 7 nights (both holidays, staying in self catering accommodation).

Thomas Cook are also promoting numerous special offer summer holidays with savings of up to £400 per couple, cheap holidays from £149 per person and no flight supplements on a huge number of 2010 summer holidays.

Cheap family holidays may also be booked during the winter for travel in the summer, with numerous tour operators offering hundreds of free child places.

Other ways to ensure cheap summer holidays is by avoiding school holidays during July and August (and May Bank holiday), and by being flexible with your travel dates and days of the week, and if possible, by choosing a number of different destinations.

For just £210 per person you could spend a week in the Canary Island of Tenerife in the Hacienda Del Sol (“Std3” self catering accommodation) from Tuesday 18 May with Directline Holidays. The cheapest accommodation at the same apartment complex but travelling on Saturday 7 August for 7 nights is currently priced at £385 per person (“1brm” self catering accommodation).

Great locations to choose your cheap summer holidays are the Canaries such as Tenerife and Lanzarote, Spain including the Costa del Sol and Costa Brava, Greek Island summer holidays to beautiful locations such as Corfu, Crete and Skiathos, the Algarve in Portugal and Bulgaria for summer 2010 holidays.

Choose a cheap holiday further afield and you could spend your bargain summer holiday in Turkey, Egypt or Tunisia in Africa or Jamaica, St Lucia or the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.

All prices and availability were correct on 27 November 2009 but may change.

If you don’t want to travel far for winter sun, then the Spanish archipelago of Canary Islands is an ideal choice. Situated off the west coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean there are ten islands, although just six are well know; Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma and La Gomera.

The average winter temperature in the Canaries is 20 degrees centigrade, with the south coastal areas being particularly warm during the winter especially in the south of each island. There are usually lots of cheap package holidays to the Canary Islands flying from the length and breadth of the UK (Gatwick to Glasgow). Charter flights are run by the numerous package companies, and there are also great bargains to be had with low cost carriers.

In little over four hours you can be in Tenerife, flying into either Tenerife South (Reina Sofia) airport or Los Rodeos Tenerife North. Enjoy the freedom to explore the island with a hire car allowing you the flexibility to travel where you want, when you want to! Tenerife’s Mount Teide or El Teide is Spain’s highest peak; a currently dormant volcano with staggering views on a clear day. Visit the island’s capital of Santa Cruz in the north with its endless tapas bars, cafes and restaurants, and during the winter, stay in Playa de las Americas in the south, a party hot spot during the summer but still a great place for dining and having fun, during the winter.

Closest to the African coast is Lanzarote, with a climate that is drier and hotter than the other Canary Islands due to its location and the fact that it is relatively flat. Lanzarote is also ideal for a whole host of watersports including kitesurfing and windsurfing.

Stay in the south of Gran Canaria for the best winter weather on the island as winter weather in the north can be wetter. Some of the best beaches are located here with the extensive dunes of Maspalomas being a “must visit”.

Fuerteventura’s weather is quite similar to Lanzarote although the winter weather does not vary as much throughout the island (north or south etc). Another great location for wind surfing based water sport activities!

Located just off the west coast of North Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, are the seven Spanish Canary Islands.
 
Book a holiday to Tenerife, the largest Canary Island, and you will have chosen a destination which offers diverse scenery, is popular all year round, is full of fascinating discoveries for families, the 18-30 groups and older couples, as well as an area which boasts stunning coastlines with either white or black sandy beaches!

There are two airports on Tenerife with Los Rodeos airport in the north and the more popular charter base of Reina Sofia airport near Costa del Silencio, in the south.  Car hire may be collected from either Tenerife airport but be sure to book it and return it to the correct location!

The most popular resort in northern Tenerife is Puerto de la Cruz. Head to the Lago Martianez area and here you will discover flea markets and a large shopping centre, the Martianez Pond (a complex of seawater pools), and the glorious Loro Park, or head further along the coast where part of the beach consists of black volcanic sand and you will discover a surfer’s paradise.

The 24 hour purpose built resort of Playa de las Americas is on the south coast of Tenerife, neighbouring the towns of Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje. This is the ideal resort for the 18-30 crowds and groups looking for nonstop day and night entertainment, with teams of bars, discos and nightclubs which can be found at Veronica’s strip, Staco and the Patch. There is however, much for young families to do too in Playa de las Americas, but they may choose to stay in the quieter resort of Los Cristianos and take the regular mini train to Playa instead where there are also markets, shops, hosts of international restaurants, the huge AquaPark and smaller parks, as well as zoos and reserves.

A visit to the spectacular Mount Teide volcano will be enjoyed by all, and taking a tour of Tenerife by road is the perfect way to discover that there is so much more to this island than just clubs and activities.  The forests and subtropical vegetation of the north is a quite a contrast to the rugged south; the beaches a mixture of volcanic sand and the white granules imported from the Sahara desert.  Watersports are plentiful around Tenerife with wakeboarding, surfing, fishing, boat rides and much more. There is a great choice of land based activities too including tennis, hiking through Barranco del Infierno (Hells Gorge), go karting and cycling, and visits to Loro Parque (Parrot Park) and historic Villa de la Orotava!